The magic of sixty
- Details
- Published on Saturday, May 28, 2016
By Warren Smallwood
There are four blocks of angle parking in Rivers. Two are along Main Street and two on Second Avenue. All four blocks have double lines down the centre of the street. Research has shown that parking at a 60 degrees angle to the curb is the sweet spot for safety. Less than this makes it more difficult to look over your right shoulder when backing out. Angles greater than 60 degrees causes your car to go into the opposite lane when backing up.
There are two blind spots drivers usually don’t think about. They are just off either side of the rear of the car. The side mirrors usually cover along the side of the car and when the drivers crane their necks to look backward, eventually the door frame is in the way causing the blind spot. Imagine two drivers, parked on opposite sides of the street, in each other’s blind spot. Both are at the proper 60 degrees to the curb. They start to back out carefully at the same time. They slowly back out and look to their right to check for traffic coming behind them in their lane. Because of movement, both cars stay in the other’s blind spot. If you are still reading this, you may want to draw a picture to keep things straight!
When each car is about halfway out the drivers would look to their left, first checking to be sure their front fender will clear the vehicle beside them and then to look for traffic coming in the opposite lane. The final step would be to crank the wheel right and swing into the driving lane. With much sucking of breath, they find themselves stopped within arm’s length of another driver and wondering how the other got there. Thanks to the magic of 60 degrees, the only thing between them is a double yellow line.
To estimate a 60 degrees angle when parking, try to line up the right front and left rear of the car on a line 90 degrees to the curb. This math magic works because a car is about twice as long as it is wide. Of course, if you are driving an obscenely long truck or a car with a rabbit on the side, you will have to make some adjustments.
Getting to this angle can be approached two ways. A simple 30 degrees turn to park on the right side of the road is the easy, safe and legal method. The second involves a turn of 120 degrees and crossing that mysterious double line to park on the other side of the street. Doing this leaves the front wheels cranked to the left, which will make it harder to back out. It is also only allowed with a special permission voucher paid after the fact! To obtain the special permission voucher, cross the lines and park. Then wait patiently and a member of Rivers Police Service will be along shortly to give you the permission slip. It is good for one use only and can be paid for by mail or at the Brandon court house. The cost is just over $200.
Parking in front of the high school and at Rivers United Church are not angle parking. They can be accessed from either direction and parking is at 90 degrees. The usual rules of a Walmart parking lot apply.
Good luck and be careful out there! ALL other streets in Rivers are parallel parking. Fortunately Rivers doesn’t have a shortage of parking spots so we can usually just pull up and stop, not worry about wiggling into place.
