The Difference Between Turning the Steering Wheel Too Early and Too Late When Reversing into a Parking Space
2 Answers
When reversing into a parking space, turning the steering wheel too early will result in a left-narrow and right-wide situation, while turning too late will result in a left-wide and right-narrow situation. Part of the content for Subject 2 is as follows: 1. Right-angle Turn: The right-angle turn is an assessment point in Subject 2 of the driver's test. It evaluates the ability of the motor vehicle driver to correctly manipulate the steering and accurately judge the inner and outer wheel differences when driving on rapidly changing road sections. Engage first gear, release the handbrake, slowly lift the clutch to maintain semi-linked uniform forward movement, keep the left wiper's left dot (the first rivet) of the car at a 20-centimeter distance from the yellow line on the right edge of the road, and then look at a point slightly in front of the middle door lock on the left front door of the car. 2. Curve Driving: Curve driving is an assessment point in Subject 2 of the driver's test, commonly known as the S-curve. The test requires the vehicle to drive on an S-shaped road surface of a specified width without squeezing the road edge lines, with smooth and free use of the steering. It assesses the motor vehicle driver's ability to manipulate the steering and control the vehicle's movement on curves. The purpose is to develop the driver's skill in steering application and mastery of wheel trajectory operation.
During my years as a driving instructor, I've seen countless students struggle with the timing of steering during reverse parking. If you turn the steering wheel too early, the front of the car gets too close to the corner of the parking space too soon, and you can see in the rearview mirror that the wheels are about to cross the line. The only solution is to quickly correct by turning the wheel back halfway, which often leaves the car body crooked. Turning too late is even more troublesome—the front of the car stays too far from the corner, and the rear sweeps across the opposite boundary line, usually forcing you to start over. Simply put, turning too early means the car hasn’t reached the ideal position yet, resulting in too sharp an angle that risks hitting the corner. Turning too late leaves the car at too wide an angle with little room for adjustment. I always tell students to remember three key moments: turn the wheel when the corner of the parking space appears in the rearview mirror, straighten the wheels when the car body aligns with the parking line, and practice repeatedly to develop that subtle sense of timing.
