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Highway Code and parking
My granddaughter is about to take her driving test, and consequently I have been revising my highway code, via the AA's 2007 edition.
There seems to be very dubious, if not erroneous, advice on the topic of parking on a hill, and I am wondering if anyone else has pointed this out.
It says, quite correctly, that when parking facing downhill one should apply the brake, select reverse gear, and turn the front wheels towards the kerb, so that if the brakes fail, the car will move into the kerb and, hopefully, come to a stop.
But when facing uphill, the advice is to brake, select a forward gear, and turn the front wheels away from the kerb, presumably so that again the car will move backwards, into the kerb.
However, it seems to me that if there was a very low kerb, the front wheels could well simply mount the kerb allowing the car to continue backwards across the road into approaching traffic, whereas if the front wheels were, as before, turned towards the kerb, there is no such risk, and the car would continue backwards across the kerb, not into the road.
Or have I missed something ?
There seems to be very dubious, if not erroneous, advice on the topic of parking on a hill, and I am wondering if anyone else has pointed this out.
It says, quite correctly, that when parking facing downhill one should apply the brake, select reverse gear, and turn the front wheels towards the kerb, so that if the brakes fail, the car will move into the kerb and, hopefully, come to a stop.
But when facing uphill, the advice is to brake, select a forward gear, and turn the front wheels away from the kerb, presumably so that again the car will move backwards, into the kerb.
However, it seems to me that if there was a very low kerb, the front wheels could well simply mount the kerb allowing the car to continue backwards across the road into approaching traffic, whereas if the front wheels were, as before, turned towards the kerb, there is no such risk, and the car would continue backwards across the kerb, not into the road.
Or have I missed something ?
Asked on 9 February 2011 by mark gunston
Answered by
Honest John
There is sense in what you write. The advice should be to turn the front wheels towards the kerb so if the brakes fail the rear wheels will hit the kerb and even if they mount the kerb the car will cross the footway rather than the road.
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