[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by gd1418

You are right Samurai. That's the way I too was taught when learning driving way back in 1976..

For a road with a kerb, agree completely that facing uphill the steering wheel needs to be turned away from the kerb and when facing downhill, towards the kerb.

But what about a road with no kerb? If there is a wall on the side, on an uphill , if the steering wheel is pointing towards the side of the road, the rear of the car will roll into the wall while the front sticks out a little. If the steering wheel had been pointing towards the road, the rear will roll onto the path of oncoming cars and it will only stop rolling after it has rolled halfway across the road and is at a right angle.

Therefore for parking on a road without a kerb, it is safer for other road users if you park with the steering wheel pointing towards the kerb.

[Thad E Ginathom]

It is not necessary to remember the permutations --- just that the car should roll so that the front or front wheels come quickly to rest against the kerb or wall.

Wall means more grief than kerb --- but not nearly as much as might be caused by the car rolling freely on the hill or accross the road!

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by spadival

there are plenty of rocks/bricks available in India. Use them, provided you remember to remove them and not leave them lying around on the road like those idiot truck drivers do.

I used to think that this is an India-specific thing ie. using bricks to restrict movement of vehicles that are parked.

Till I saw the Japanese using them religiously, even on level surfaces. Mainly for buses. And instead of bricks, they use wooden blocks that are shaped such that one end snugly fits the profile of the tyre.

[alto99]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I used to think that this is an India-specific thing ie. using bricks to restrict movement of vehicles that are parked.

Till I saw the Japanese using them religiously, even on level surfaces. Mainly for buses. And instead of bricks, they use wooden blocks that are shaped such that one end snugly fits the profile of the tyre.

In old days (10 years before) I have seen such blocks in our own Khandala ghat (NH-4 uphill section) used by many truckers while going uphill in traffic jams which were very common in those days.
The cleaners usually jumps off the vehicle when they anticipate that the truck would stop and puts the block behind the rear wheel. It might not be happening now a days thanks to the expressway.

[spadival]

Yeah. Have you noticed how they keep the likes or Airbus and Boeing jets from rolling around at airports - age old trick of putting a stop against the wheels.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by prabuddhadg

I did visualise. The road is uphill. You stop at the left side of the road, 6" from the kerb. Turn the steering wheel to the right (away from the kerb). So now if you drive away now, the car will turn to the right.

Ok, let's take this assumption, 6 inch from curb.

Originally Posted by prabuddhadg

If there is no kerb, the left front wheel may fall into the ditch on the left or if there is no ditch, the car keeps rolling and the front wheels draw an arc and the rear wheels move away from the kerb until the car has moved across the road and is at a right angle to the incline.

Hold on there... now there is no curb? In that case park further to the side until you find an obstruction.

See, here is the problem with no curb assumption. How did you park 6" from the curb if there is no curb? Then you simply parked too far away from the side. If there is no curb, then park it closer to the border of the road. If the border is a wall, isn't is better your front end hits it instead of back-end? The front end will have protruding tyre which will hit the wall first (unless you have long overhang), but the backend won't have such protection.

Ball is back in your court now.

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Ok, let's take this assumption, 6 inch from curb.

Hold on there... now there is no curb? In that case park further to the side until you find an obstruction.

See, here is the problem with no curb assumption. How did you park 6" from the curb if there is no curb? Then you simply parked too far away from the side. If there is no curb, then park it closer to the border of the road. If the border is a wall, isn't is better your front end hits it instead of back-end? The front end will have protruding tyre which will hit the wall first (unless you have long overhang), but the backend won't have such protection.

Ball is back in your court now.

Come on Samurai. If you want to pretend what I said is confusing, you are at liberty.

Perhaps you have been busy at work. Whatever the reason, you have not been able to read even my first post to you in this regard, carefully enough. I would request you to please refer to Post # 39 once again. That, read with Post # 41 will give you a clearer idea what I was trying to say in the first place.

Picking out single sentences from here and there will only muddle things further.

See, it is not necessary that there will be only kerbs or walls next to roads. There could be a ditch or even just a mud/ dirt patch, which is the most common on most Indian by lanes. When you are near such a patch, it is difficult to position the car close to the wall. Visualise this. This may help.

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by alto99

In old days (10 years before) I have seen such blocks in our own Khandala ghat (NH-4 uphill section) used by many truckers while going uphill in traffic jams which were very common in those days.
The cleaners usually jumps off the vehicle when they anticipate that the truck would stop and puts the block behind the rear wheel. It might not be happening now a days thanks to the expressway.

Originally Posted by spadival

Yeah. Have you noticed how they keep the likes or Airbus and Boeing jets from rolling around at airports - age old trick of putting a stop against the wheels.

That actually is the safest and surest way to park. Simple, no arguments.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

• use ‘park’ if your car has an automatic gearbox

won't it be nice if manual drive also had a "park" gear?

[Samurai]

Prabuddha, I read it very carefully, again. In case of uphill parking, if there is no curb, and there is ample space on the non-road side, then it doesn't matter which way you turn the wheel. In both cases it will turn 90 degree.

But I assume that the driver will park such that there is some obstruction on the non-road side. Then turning towards road, will be safe, but not other way.

Finally, if there is no curb, use a stone to act like curb and turn the wheel towards road.

In uphill parking, turning towards the side is not safe irrespective of the curb.

And I am done with this topic which got restarted allover after 2 years.

[sreenivass]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Actually that's not true. I am saying the wheels should be away from the curb in an incline, in both LHD and RHD situation. Which means wheels should be turned left if parking on the right side of the road and turned right if parking on the left side of the road.

Anyway, I'll too will stop arguing since I also am not able to convince anybody.

Samurai,

I agree its not the method you invented, rather the one recommended by DMV all over US. BTW you could get fined for not parking correctly on an incline.

Revharder, we could try new methods, but unless we get them on paper (law by motor vehicles act) we run the risk of traffic violation. The ones pointed by Samurai are not papers or publications, those are regulations made by Department of Motor Vehicles in the US and else where.

Coming back to the point of parking 2-3 feet from curb, the max distance is 18 inches and you can park much closer like even 1 or 2 inches from curb to make sure we leave more room on the road. Tires are not allowed to touch the curb.

Please look at the DMV (Dept of motor vehicles, CA) web site and page 42
http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/dl600.pdf.

[Rehaan]

Samurai is correct (since post 1) with regards to parking when there is a curb.
Its a hard concept for most to grasp since most of us are used to parking atleast 1ft from the curb
In other places (NYC for example) you can get a ticket if you car is parked more than 6" from the curb if i am not mistaken.
To understand what samurai has said, you just have to visualize the tyre being turned and pressing against the kerb. The car will not move at all. The kerb IS your solid brick behind the wheel.

Prabuddhadg got it absolutely right with regards to parking without a kerb in his very first mention of it in post #39. His further attempts were just to clarify his initial (correct) point which was not accepted.
There are definitely occasions where you can park on an incline and there is no kerb + there is no way you can park close enough to something solid for it to stop your car from rolling.

However, if you leave your car in a low gear (1st/reverse) AND pull the handbrake firmly - chances are you will never run into the situation of needing a kerb.

cya
R

[gd1418]

In airline parlance they are called 'chokes'. If you observe & listen carefully inside the airport, you might hear airline executives talking on their walkie-talkie saying - "chokes on" or "the chokes are off"...

Originally Posted by spadival

Yeah. Have you noticed how they keep the likes or Airbus and Boeing jets from rolling around at airports - age old trick of putting a stop against the wheels.

[ashthedivx]

Originally Posted by gd1418

In airline parlance they are called 'chokes'. If you observe & listen carefully inside the airport, you might hear airline executives talking on their walkie-talkie saying - "chokes on" or "the chokes are off"...

I too have noticed the same thing many times....

[sreenivass]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Samurai is correct (since post 1) with regards to parking when there is a curb.
Its a hard concept for most to grasp since most of us are used to parking atleast 1ft from the curb
In other places (NYC for example) you can get a ticket if you car is parked more than 6" from the curb if i am not mistaken.
To understand what samurai has said, you just have to visualize the tyre being turned and pressing against the kerb. The car will not move at all. The kerb IS your solid brick behind the wheel.

Prabuddhadg got it absolutely right with regards to parking without a kerb in his very first mention of it in post #39. His further attempts were just to clarify his initial (correct) point which was not accepted.
There are definitely occasions where you can park on an incline and there is no kerb + there is no way you can park close enough to something solid for it to stop your car from rolling.

However, if you leave your car in a low gear (1st/reverse) AND pull the handbrake firmly - chances are you will never run into the situation of needing a kerb.

cya
R

Correct Rehaan, the direction of wheels is different in parking scenarios with and without curb.

Without curb the principle is to ensure vehicle goes outside of the road if it rolls. Even this is covered in DMV driver handbooks.