9.1 Parking and Reversing

9.1 Parking and Reversing

Quick Answer: Indiana parallel parking is five official steps: signal; stay at least two feet from the car in front and align rear bumpers; reverse until even with that car's front door, then turn sharply right to a 45-degree angle; turn left sharply, then gradually, once your front passes its rear; straighten and pull forward. Downhill = wheels toward the curb. Uphill = wheels away from the curb. No curb = wheels away from the street. Signal when leaving a space, look both directions, and double-check while backing. Reverse by turning your body to the right to look through the back window — never use only the rearview mirror, and never back into an intersection to turn around. Do not park on highways unless signed, in intersections or crosswalks, on sidewalks or in front of driveways, within 15 feet of a fire hydrant or in fire lanes, on bridges, elevated structures, or tunnels, at yellow curbs, beside another parked vehicle, in reserved disability stalls without a valid placard, or in the diagonally striped access aisle even with a valid placard.

Parking and reversing sit in Indiana Driver's Manual Chapter 7 (Safe Vehicle Operation). The knowledge exam's traffic maneuvers and rules component draws from Chapters 6, 7, and 8. The driving skills exam watches the same habits: bumper alignment, wheel direction on a hill, and whether you look through the back window instead of trusting a mirror.

Parallel parking: five official steps

The manual's sequence is for an empty space with vehicles parked in front of it and behind it. Skipping a step or reversing the wheel directions is how you clip the car in front or swing your rear into the travel lane.

1. Signal your intention to park. Through-traffic needs to know you are leaving the lane.
2. Position parallel with the vehicle parked in front of the empty space and maintain at least two feet from this vehicle. Align your rear bumper with that vehicle's rear bumper (Figure A). Two feet is a clearance, not a hint to squeeze closer.
3. Reverse slowly until the front of your vehicle is even with the front door of the parallel car. Turn the wheel sharply to the right and reverse slowly until you are at a 45-degree angle (Figure B).
4. When the front of your vehicle passes the rear of the parallel car, turn your steering wheel to the left sharply, then gradually, while backing into the space (Figure C).
5. Straighten your wheels and pull forward in the space (Figure D).

A common skills-exam fail is turning the wheel before the front-door landmark, or forgetting the second steering change in step 4. Another is hugging the parked car closer than two feet so the rear cannot swing in.

Hill parking: curb versus no curb

Wheel direction changes with the grade and whether a curb exists.

• Facing downhill: wheels toward the curb. If the vehicle rolls, the tires hit the curb instead of rolling into the street.
• Facing uphill: wheels away from the curb. If it rolls, the back of the tire catches the curb.
• No curb: wheels away from the street. That points the vehicle toward the shoulder or ditch, not into moving traffic, whether you are going up or down.

Do not mix "away from the curb" with "away from the street." Uphill-with-curb is away from the curb. No-curb is away from the street itself.

Leaving a parking space and reversing

Use your turn signal when entering traffic from a parking space. Look in both directions and double-check for cars and pedestrians when backing out. A parked SUV hides a bicycle or a child at your bumper. The signal tells through-traffic you are about to occupy the lane; the look is what finds the person you would hit.

Reversing is more difficult than driving forward because the vehicle itself blocks your field of vision, and it is harder to control speed and direction.

• Turn your body to the right to look through the back window.
• Never use only the rearview mirror for reversing.
• Go slowly, watching carefully in all directions.
• Never back into an intersection in order to turn around.

A backup camera does not cancel the right-shoulder look. Cameras and mirrors miss low objects and pedestrians at the rear corners. Backing into an intersection to turn around puts your slowest, blindest movement where other drivers expect the box to be empty. Use a driveway, a parking lot, or a legal three-point-turn location instead.

Illegal parking and accessible aisles

The Driver's Manual prohibits parking in these common places:

• Highways (unless indicated otherwise)
• Within intersections or on pedestrian crosswalks
• On sidewalks or in front of any driveway
• Within 15 feet of a fire hydrant or in fire lanes
• Bridges or other elevated structures, such as on a highway or a tunnel
• Adjacent to yellow curbs
• Beside another parked vehicle (double parking)
• Spots reserved for those with disabilities unless you have a valid parking placard
• The diagonally striped area next to accessible parking spaces

Memorize 15 feet for hydrants. "Close enough that I can still see the hydrant" is not the rule. Chapter 7's interstate section adds a related limit: except for an emergency or a disabled vehicle, do not stop or park on an interstate shoulder. Yellow curbs are no-parking even if the space looks unused. Double parking is parking beside another parked vehicle.

Reserved disability stalls are marked with a sign and pavement markings. You need a valid parking placard (or qualifying plate) to use the stall itself. The diagonally striped area beside that stall is not extra parking. It is the access aisle for a wheelchair user to transfer, or for an accessible vehicle to deploy its ramp. Parking in this striped area is prohibited even if you are in possession of a valid parking placard. Chapter 3 repeats the same rule: the striped space is prohibited at all times, even with a valid placard. A placard does not buy the hatch marks.

Indiana scenarios

Downtown parallel. A space opens between two cars. You signal, stop parallel with the car in front, keep at least two feet, and match rear bumpers. You reverse to that car's front door, cut right to 45 degrees, then left after your front clears its rear, straighten, and ease forward.

Ohio River hill. Facing downhill next to a curb: wheels toward the curb. Facing uphill with a curb: wheels away from the curb. Rural shoulder with no curb: wheels away from the street.

Grocery-lot reverse. You signal, look both ways, and double-check for a cart and a pedestrian. You turn your body right to see through the back window instead of watching only the rearview mirror.

Stadium hydrant and BMV aisle. The curb looks empty except for a hydrant: parking within 15 feet is illegal. A hatch-marked stripe beside a van-accessible stall is still off limits even with a valid placard.

Exam traps

• Turning wheels uphill toward the curb (that is the downhill rule).
• Using the no-curb rule when a curb is present, or the reverse.
• Hugging the front car closer than two feet, or aligning front bumpers instead of rear bumpers.
• Reversing the wheel sequence, or turning before the front-door landmark.
• Reversing with only the rearview mirror, or backing into an intersection to turn around.
• Memorizing 10 feet or 20 feet for hydrants instead of 15.
• Treating a valid placard as permission to occupy the diagonally striped aisle.
• Parking on a yellow curb, a crosswalk, or double-parking because it is "only for a minute."

Signal, two feet, rear-bumper alignment, right then left, hill wheels by curb, look through the back window, and leave the striped aisle empty.