Unspoken Parking Rules That Driving Schools Won’t Teach You
3 min readGive yourself less stress on the road with these tips.
Swee lah! I finally got my driving license. But I realise hor parking in Singapore is damn mafan leh. Our spaces are so small that it’s hard to apply whatever I’ve learned from the driving school. But heng ah, my dad is a Grab driver and he has imparted a few unspoken parking rules that really helped me with my parking.
1. Always park as close to the side curb when possible
At my driving school, they taught me how to park zhun zhun, with equal spaces from the front, rear, left, and right.
But hor, if you do this in the real world, confirm your car door will get scratches. As such, park close to the side curb to give space to your neighbouring car! The rule of thumb is to be conscious of your surrounding, be considerate and give space to everyone.
2. At a parallel lot, the last car parks closer to the rear and the first car parks closer to the front
Why, you ask? So that the cars in the middle will have enough space to gostan or drive forward to exit the lot!
3. Try to park as deep into the lot as you possibly can
You wouldn’t want oncoming cars that are speeding to ram into your cars, so “hiding” them as deep as possible helps you avoid this risk. Plus, it also allows oncoming cars to not have to swerve in the opposite direction to avoid your car and cause unhappiness and disruption.
4. If you're parking close to another car, fold your side mirrors
This allows your neighbours to enter and exit their cars easily. Plus, it will definitely help avoid any of you accidentally smashing your mirrors.
5. Open your doors as gently as possible
Once parked, a car has tons of blind spots. So open your doors gently to avoid hurting any oncoming cyclists or pedestrians! Be sure to remind your passengers, especially old folks and young children, to be gentle too!
Unspoken rules to park safely in Singapore
So whether you’re a new driver navigating Singapore’s roads or lao jiao driver who’s experienced his fair share of accidents, these tips will help you park safely without damaging your car.
The eldest of the Tng family. Smart, buff, responsible, and very single. Bobby works in IT in the civil service and is a loyal son, brother and friend. Like his father, he is always brewing with ideas and his greatest wish is to be an entrepreneur one day.