Parallel Parking

Testing on Wednesday and maneuvers were definitely something I struggled with.

Any advice on parallel parking? In TX, for my school, we need to be watching for our 4 and 2 cones. This is the part that I mess up on. Like, once you're ready for the straight back part. I can never seem to understand how to correct myself if cone 2 is not in view, same with if 4 is not in view. I do get an extension bc I'm going through workforce solutions here in TX but I'd like to just pass the first time around.

The best advice I could say is ask your instructors on the pad for help. Tell them what you're struggling with and try to get some feedback from them on what your doing.

They are able to actually see what you're doing and where it's not working.

If you feel like you're not getting instruction enough, you need to find a way to get them to communicate with you. It males me question what is going on there that you don't seem comfortable with asking them.

I can't speak for others, but my maneuvers in school were scripted, they were the same thing every time. It was designed to get us to pass the test. IE, turn the wheel x number of times. Look for this mark on the pavement. So on and so forth. We didn't do it by cone numbers.

My Prime PSD trainer taught us both ways, how to actually move the trailer, and what marks to look for on the trailer, pavement, lines, and cones. Those marks were literally the "recipe" to parallel park on the pad. Doesn't work too hot in the real world! Don't ask me to parallel, as I'll drive another 50 miles to avoid it 🤪

The best advice I could say is ask your instructors on the pad for help. Tell them what you're struggling with and try to get some feedback from them on what your doing.

They are able to actually see what you're doing and where it's not working.

If you feel like you're not getting instruction enough, you need to find a way to get them to communicate with you. It males me question what is going on there that you don't seem comfortable with asking them.

I can't speak for others, but my maneuvers in school were scripted, they were the same thing every time. It was designed to get us to pass the test. IE, turn the wheel x number of times. Look for this mark on the pavement. So on and so forth. We didn't do it by cone numbers.

Yeah, I don't park like I learned in school, the maneuvers were simply to pass the test. Real world is quite a bit different. I parallel park pretty frequently just to practice it, but I just kind of do it by zen, instinctual. I often do it just to gain awareness of how the tractor and trailer move together. Some customers however, particularly a few hole in the wall beer distributors, it's the only way to get it in the dock.