How do you judge the distance from parked car while driving?

KS2010

When driving how do you judge the left side of your car when passing parked vehicles? When passing parked vehicles I always get nervous that the left front of the car might hit the parked car so I drive usually a lot on the right of the center line. Is there a better way to judge the distance between left side of your car and the parked vehicle on the left?

Reply 1

Y333EEE

Use the force!

Nah in all seriousness just practice, it's one of those things which practice makes perfect

Reply 2

mattcam94

Know your car.

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 3

nemothefish19

A quick check of your left wing mirror will usually show you how close you are.

Also agree with the above replies :smile:

Reply 4

Advisor

Original post by nemothefish19

A quick check of your left wing mirror will usually show you how close you are.

Best response yet :smile:

Imagine you are pushing a heavy shopping trolley through a busy supermarket car park. Now imagine you are pushing it through a small space between parked cars (or even parked people!). You will instinctively look at the right edge, then the left edge, then the right edge again, until you are satisfied that there is clearance space on both sides and that the space is roughly equidistant.

Driving a car through a narrow gap uses a similar judgement, but you will have to turn your head to check the mirror on the right has space, and the mirror on the left has space.. etc.

One thing I've noticed about learner drivers who have poor spatial awareness and tend to clip parked cars... they invariably have poor mirror use too. If they never look in their mirrors, or just rely on the centre mirror, they tend to be oblivious of how close they're getting to parked cars until the instructor / examiner grabs the wheel or they hear the *clonk*.

Your instructor should help you to develop judgement. You must allow enough room for a parked car's door to open, or a pedestrian to take one step out then see you. If you have to cross the white line in the middle of the road, or enter a hatched area to do so, then so be it.

Final thought for the day: Less space, less pace.

Reply 5

nemothefish19

Original post by Advisor

Best response yet :smile:

Your response is the best yet :biggrin:

I especially like the thought of the day!

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 6

2710

Original post by KS2010

I had this problem at the start too. What I did was, when in traffic (or empty road), I was slow enough to get as close to the parked cars as possible so that I could get a feel for the spatial distance. Keep doing this and you will get a feel for how much space you actually have when driving faster.

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Reply 7

Camoxide

It'a just something you slowly get used to, You'll become used to the width of the car and you use position on the right hand side to estimate where the left hand side of the car is. It's something you stop thinking about after a while, you kind of become more in tune with the car.

Reply 8

Runninground

Original post by Advisor

Your instructor should help you to develop judgement. You must allow enough room for a parked car's door to open, or a pedestrian to take one step out then see you. If you have to cross the white line in the middle of the road, or enter a hatched area to do so, then so be it.

Well lets be honest.......... practically that's not always possible.

There is a road on my way to work with cars parked up along one side. If you follow the rule of leaving a doors width then you'll either have people coming the other way slamming their brakes on or you'll take all day to get down the road. You need to stay close to the parked cars so both you and the cars coming down can get past.

Reply 9

Advisor

Original post by Runninground

There is a road on my way to work with cars parked up along one side. If you follow the rule of leaving a doors width then you'll either have people coming the other way slamming their brakes on or you'll take all day to get down the road. You need to stay close to the parked cars so both you and the cars coming down can get past.

But the poor pedestrian that takes one step out from between two panel vans gets hit with your door mirror before he has time to see you coming. Not good.

That sounds like a meeting situation. If the parked cars are on your side of the road, you must give way to the oncoming traffic. Of course, you mustn't make them slam on for you, but if you're about to skim door mirrors, you will just have to bite the bullet and pause / hold back for a moment. This may not necessarily mean a complete stop, so it shouldn't "take all day" to get down the road. With a little forward planning, you can time your approach to each door mirror so that you're not arriving at the same time as each oncoming car. A little weaving in and out into the gaps between oncoming cars gives you both a little progress and enough clearance.

If you follow the "less space, less pace" mantra, then you'll still be able to react in time in the event of a door opening, or a pedestrian stepping out.