Three reasons to return the steering wheel straight when parking, new drivers should know
Driving instructors often require their students to turn the wheel straight when parking. This is not only for safety reasons but also for technical reasons.
Talking to VietNamNet, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung - a driving instructor with more than 20 years of experience said that during the driving instruction process, he always requires his students to park the car with the wheels straight before turning off the engine and getting out of the car.
"Many new learners park quite arbitrarily, not turning the wheel straight or thinking that this is unnecessary, having to turn the wheel anyway,... However, turning the front wheel straight is an almost mandatory rule that we always want to practice as a habit in the future driving process," Mr. Tung shared.
According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung, turning the steering wheel straight when parking is not only "beautiful" but also has reasons related to technology as well as driving safety. Specifically, this expert gives the following 3 main reasons:
The first,Straight steering helps to park neatly, without taking up space of other vehicles, especially in small areas such as parking lots, basements, places with many vehicles passing by,...
Imagine when you stop and turn the steering wheel too much to the left or right, the front wheel will bulge out and take up significantly more space, then your car is easily hit by another car.
Monday,Steering straight helps us to be safer when starting off because then the default direction of the car is in a straight line.
In case the driver is not paying attention, thinking that the car will go straight but in fact will go to the left or right, it can cause the car to collide with surrounding vehicles or obstacles, causing damage to the car. At that time, the driver is startled and "returns the wheel" but it is too late.
AndTuesdayis in terms of vehicle engineering. Mr. Tung analyzed, when parking without straightening the steering wheel, the car's tie rod system and steering rack are also more or less affected, if left for a long time, it can lead to the phenomenon of the car swaying and skewing.
The situation will be even more serious if the driver does not return the steering wheel straight and also parks on an uneven surface or with one foot on the sidewalk, causing the center of gravity to be uneven.
However, Mr. Tung also noted that in some special cases, it is still possible to park the car with the front wheels turned completely to one side. That is, when the car is parked on a very steep road, experienced drivers will "borrow" braking force from the sidewalk or wall to help the car not roll down the slope, while significantly reducing the load on the car's braking system.
But Mr. Tung said that this is a trick of experienced "old drivers", and new drivers should not use the above method because it can "do more harm than good". Therefore, this teacher still advises drivers to always return the steering wheel straight when parking.
"Steering straight helps you protect yourself and your car and most importantly, it trains your spatial awareness and balance skills both while driving and parking," said Mr. Tung.
