5 Important Things You Must Know Before You Park Your Car
Parking is the act of stopping and disengaging a vehicle and leaving it unoccupied.
Every driver of a motor vehicle should park in such a way that it does not cause danger, obstruction, or undue inconvenience to other road users.
You’re only permitted to park the way you want inside your compound where you stay alone.
1. How to park
Before parking, check your mirror and look out for other road users. Signal to show your intention to stop.
Remember the Look-Signal-Move routine which means: Look around and check your mirrors to assess the speed and position of traffic behind you – Signal to warn other road users what you intend doing – Move or Manoeuvre represents any change in speed or direction.
Before leaving your vehicle, switch off the engine and make sure your parking brake is on. Do not expose valuables in your vehicles. Where safety or anti-theft devices are installed, use them.
Remember to switch off your headlamps at night so your battery does not run down.
Use parking light when necessary.
2. Where not to park
You must not park wherever you see NO PARKING sign. You must not park wherever your vehicle will obstruct the views of other road users or constitute danger to them. For instance, don’t park at or near:
Road junction
Bends or corners
Brow or crest of a hill
Narrow bridge
Level crossing
Bus stop
Pedestrians crossing, or on either side of a crossing
School entrance or other entrances
Footpath, pavement or cycle path
The left hand side of the road (except in a oneway street).
On a narrow road
On flyovers, in tunnels or in underpasses (unless there are signs to say you may park there)
On expressways (except on the hard shoulder in an emergency)
On a single track road.
Outside a private entrance for vehicles
3. Do not block the view of traffic signs
You should not park your vehicle in such a manner that block road traffic signs. When you block these road traffic signs, you deny other motorists the chances of knowing what lies ahead of them. An example is blocking the ‘bending ahead’ road traffic sign.
4. Stay away from emergency entrances/exits
Do not park your vehicle to block or within 15 meters of entrances through which emergency vehicles go in and out, that is, near the entrance of:
Hospitals
Roadside clinics
Road Safety Stations
Fire Stations
Fire hydrants
Police stations
5. Do not obstruct the flow of traffic
Do not park where you would make the road narrow:
Alongside another parked vehicle
Opposite another vehicle if this would narrow the road to less than the width of two vehicles (double parking)
Near road works
The way and place you park really matters because wrong parking can hinder the movement of others especially during emergencies.
Kindly share with us the worst parking experience you’ve had using the comment section.
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