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Driving lessons - struggling to learn the parking

mickey

Hello

I have been diagnosed with Asperger's and I am learning to drive. I have had over 100 hours worth of driving tuition with an instructor but I'm still struggling with the manouvres, particularly the parallel parking and reversing around a corner. I can reverse in a straight line but when it comes to reversing into a gap or reversing around a corner, I tend to get confused about 

1. when to steer

2. which way to steer

3. how much to steer

I can do it when being prompted but as soon as the instructor leaves me to do it independently, I feel unsure.

If I practice parking into a particular gap 4 times under instruction, I might be able to do it by myself the 5th time, but as soon as we move to a different type of road, I suddenly can't do it independently. For example, I might be able to do it on a flat and very wide road, but when I try to do it on a narrow road which is on a hill, everything seems different. Or when I return to the same road a few weeks later and the weather conditions are different, it's like I've never done it before.

I wondered if anybody on this forum has any tips for me that might help me learn? I think one of the problems I have with the parallel parking is that I find it hard to judge the angle between the car and the kerb. It's supposed to be between 35 and 45 degrees when you need to straighten the wheels out, and if I straighten the wheels out when it's 50 degrees, this will affect how much steering I will need to do, but I can't remember how I'm supposed to compensate the 'incorrect' angle (am I supposed to steer at a different point compared to when it's 35, and do I steer more than usual or less than usual)?). The best thing would be if I could always straighten the wheels out at the same point, but how can I tell if it is the right moment to straighten the wheels out?

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  • IntenseWorld said:

    I mean of the car's body and in relation to each other.  Ignore the kerb and everything else.

    If there is no car behind then you would have to use whatever else is there as a guide and if that is nothing, then you shouldn't have a problem.

    Sorry but I still don't understand what you mean by "inside" and "outside" when you say "when your outside rear corner is perfectly lined up with the inside front corner of the car behind the space". Inside/outside what? Which of the two rear corners on my car should be lined up with which corner of the other car/skip that is behind me? It would be easier to understand if you said 'the rear corner on your car that is nearest to the kerb needs to be lined up with the front corner of the car behind which is also nearest to the kerb' - is that what you meant?

    "If there is no car behind then you would have to use whatever else is there as a guide and if that is nothing, then you shouldn't have a problem." But, if you use something as a guide and that guide is removed, then how would you not have a problem? Not sure I'm following you here. How can you use the car behind you as a guide when that isn't going to be the case on the driving test? On the practical test, they are supposed to choose a much larger gap where there isn't a car immediately behind the space you want to park into.

    If you ignored "the kerb and everything else", you would most certainly fail the test because you're supposed to be checking all around for pedestrians, cyclists and traffic.

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  • IntenseWorld said:

    I mean of the car's body and in relation to each other.  Ignore the kerb and everything else.

    If there is no car behind then you would have to use whatever else is there as a guide and if that is nothing, then you shouldn't have a problem.

    Sorry but I still don't understand what you mean by "inside" and "outside" when you say "when your outside rear corner is perfectly lined up with the inside front corner of the car behind the space". Inside/outside what? Which of the two rear corners on my car should be lined up with which corner of the other car/skip that is behind me? It would be easier to understand if you said 'the rear corner on your car that is nearest to the kerb needs to be lined up with the front corner of the car behind which is also nearest to the kerb' - is that what you meant?

    "If there is no car behind then you would have to use whatever else is there as a guide and if that is nothing, then you shouldn't have a problem." But, if you use something as a guide and that guide is removed, then how would you not have a problem? Not sure I'm following you here. How can you use the car behind you as a guide when that isn't going to be the case on the driving test? On the practical test, they are supposed to choose a much larger gap where there isn't a car immediately behind the space you want to park into.

    If you ignored "the kerb and everything else", you would most certainly fail the test because you're supposed to be checking all around for pedestrians, cyclists and traffic.

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