In a recent blog we spoke about the fear of parallel parking. It is absolutely true; most drivers will avoid parallel parking at all costs because there is such a danger in causing an accident. When you are learning to drive you do have to learn how to parallel park, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make it easier on yourself and your vehicle with reverse sensors. We are going to describe how you want to parallel park and what the parking sensors can tell you.

Just the mention of parallel parking seems to strike fear in the heart of many new and experienced drivers. Drivers learning to take their test can spend weeks improving this technique and continue to perfect it once they pass their test.

Its a fact that many people try to avoid parallel parking where ever possible, however if you live in or near a large city, no matter how hard you try, you will eventually find the need to parallel park your car.

Parallel parking is difficult because it requires you to have extremely acute spatial perception of your environment and everything in it within close proximity. You need to be aware at all times, exactly where each corner of your vehicle is in relation to all other objects around the car, be it vehicles, people, traffic signs, etc.

To aid manoeuvrability large trucks have flexible locators situated on their bumpers so the driver knows exactly where the edges of their front bumpers (which are the widest part of the truck), are positioned so he can pass other vehicles and make turns without error.

Misjudging where your bumpers or fenders are can cause you to hit the car in front of you or the car to your rear as you attempt to get comfortably into the parking space. You can also so easily hop on the curb; hit a parking meter or some other object on the pavement or sidewalk.

But the most frustrating is scuffing or damaging the sidewall of your tyre or new alloy wheel by catching it on the curb. Incidentally a serious consequence of a damaged sidewall is a subsequent blow out which is highly dangerous while driving at speed.

You also need to be fully aware if there is any traffic coming up behind you, passing or parking. Since you are backing up, if another driver turns a corner and runs into you, it will be your fault, period!
 
Fortunately, a simple parking sensor can prevent these incidents and problems by pre-warning you when an object is close, so you can react with time to spare.

To find out how a parking sensor can aid, help and assist you with your parallel parking skills, preventing accidents large or small, go to Parking Dynamics

In Part 4 we will discuss a common injury and how we can prevent this.

You have probably heard large trucks or lorries making a beeping sound when they are backing up. This is to warn any pedestrians or even those driving other vehicles that they are moving in a certain direction and to pay attention and take heed. The reason that large trucks have these back up sensors is because the drivers are not always able to see behind them. 

I live on the outskirts of London and we have to park in the street. Parallel parking has never been my forte, to put it mildly. My parking was dreadful and half of the time my car was not parked properly. I was ticketed on more than one occasion. 

Now whenever I parallel park on the street in front of my house, the beepers never go off. I am glad that I have the Mitsubishi parking sensors on my car, however, as they have prevented me from hitting curbs and other objects such as trolleys in parking lots.