Leaving a car between the curb and a safety zone is prohibited, and parking right next to railroad tracks is banned everywhere (many states bar parking within 50 feet of a crossing), so neither spot is legal.
Tip Do not park near railroad tracks (in many states, not within 50 feet), and never leave your car beside a safety zone.
Disability plates do not by themselves allow use of a reserved space; the person with a disability named on the vehicle's registration must be in the car. That person can be the driver or a passenger, so the driver does not have to be the one with the disability.
Tip Before pulling into a reserved space, make sure the person the plates were issued for is actually riding with you.
Angling the front tires this way means that if the brakes ever fail, the curb catches the car before it can roll into the street. Wheels left straight offer no such protection.
Tip Whether you face uphill or downhill, set the wheels so a runaway car would come to rest against the curb or the edge of the road.
The wheelchair symbol and the words RESERVED PARKING mark a space kept for drivers or passengers with a valid disability parking placard or license plate. Parking there without one is not allowed.
A "NO PARKING" sign still lets you pause for a moment to pick up or drop off passengers or goods, as long as you move on right away. Sitting in the driver's seat does not make it legal to park there, and leaving the car unattended to run an errand, even a short one, still counts as parking.
Tip Sitting behind the wheel does not turn parking into a legal stop; only a short stop to load or unload is permitted.
Unless the vehicle displays a disability license plate or placard, it may not be parked, stopped or left standing in a reserved accessible space, and an emergency is no excuse. These spaces must stay open for the people who need them.
Tip Without a valid disability plate or placard, do not use these spaces for any purpose, not even a quick pickup.
Sidewalks belong to pedestrians, so a vehicle may neither park on one nor travel along one. You may only drive across a sidewalk when entering or leaving a driveway, alley, or parking lot, and you must yield to anyone walking there.
Getting out on the street side is acceptable only when your open door and your body will not be in the path of approaching cars or cyclists. A red light at the corner does not guarantee a clear lane, and neither do hazard flashers.
Tip Before swinging your door open toward the street, glance back for cars and bikes coming your way.
On a level street, finish with your front wheels pointing straight ahead and the car centered in the space, with a gap at each end. Parking right up against another bumper makes it hard for anyone to pull out.
Tip A gap at each end of your car keeps both you and the drivers parked next to you from getting boxed in.
Hazard flashers warn approaching drivers that your vehicle is stopped, giving them time to slow down or steer around it. A blinking turn signal would wrongly suggest that you are about to pull out.
Tip Whenever your car sits stopped or parked beside traffic, the hazard flashers, not a turn signal, are the lights to use.
Mirrors leave large blind areas behind a vehicle, so they cannot show everything in your path. Turning your head to look out the rear window gives you the clearest view before you start moving backward.
A crosswalk exists wherever a sidewalk meets the road at an intersection, even without paint, and parking in one, marked or unmarked, is illegal. Keeping it clear protects people crossing on foot and keeps them visible to drivers.
Tip At an intersection, treat the path between the sidewalk corners as a crosswalk, painted or not.
Mirrors leave blind spots, so turn your head and look over your shoulder for approaching cars and cyclists before you pull out. A horn tap or hazard flashers will not tell you whether the lane is clear.
Tip Mirrors can miss a car sitting in your blind spot, so always add a quick look over your shoulder before leaving the curb.
A red curb marks a fire lane or another zone that must stay open for emergency vehicles, so stopping, standing, and parking there are all prohibited. Pulling onto a freeway shoulder is allowed when you have a real emergency.
Tip A curb painted red means no stopping of any kind, so do not pause there to let a passenger out or wait there with the engine idling.
Stopping, standing or parking in a crosswalk is never allowed, because it blocks the path of people crossing the street. The no-parking zone around a fire hydrant, by contrast, is much shorter than 50 feet.
Tip Crosswalks and sidewalks are off-limits for parking at all times, even if you plan to stay behind the wheel.
Every question in this set has its own page with the correct answer and an explanation.
