How to Parallel Park and Do a Three-Point Turn for the Ontario Road Test

What the examiner is marking

Not speed, and not perfection. The examiner scores observation (checking all around before and during every movement), control (slow, smooth, no curb strikes), position (parked within about 30 centimetres of the curb, reasonably parallel), and safety (signalling, yielding to traffic, not blocking the road longer than needed). Touching the curb lightly is a minor fault; mounting it is serious. Taking a second attempt, after checking around, is fine.

Parallel parking, step by step

1. Signal right and pull alongside the car you will park behind, about a metre away, with your rear bumper level with its rear bumper. Check mirrors and shoulder first.
2. Reverse slowly with full right lock until your car is at roughly a 45-degree angle. Reference point: the far corner of the front car appears in the middle of your rear passenger-side window, or your driver's seat is level with the front car's rear bumper. Look through the rear window while reversing.
3. Straighten the wheel and keep reversing until your front bumper clears the front car's rear bumper.
4. Full left lock and continue reversing until the car is parallel with the curb. Check the passenger-side mirror for curb distance.
5. Straighten and centre the car in the space with a short forward move if needed. Wheels straight, parking brake on if the examiner asks you to secure the car.
6. Leaving: signal, mirror, shoulder check, and pull out only when the road is clear.

Practise the reference points in one car, ideally the one you will test in. They move a little between vehicles, which is one reason to test in the car you learned in.

Three-point turn, step by step

1. Choose the spot the examiner indicates, usually a quiet street with no driveways in the way. Signal right, pull to the right edge and stop.
2. Check both ways and your mirrors, then signal left. When clear, turn the wheel fully left and move forward slowly across the road to the far curb, stopping before you touch it.
3. Turn the wheel fully right, check both ways again, and reverse slowly toward the near curb, looking through the rear window, stopping before the curb.
4. Turn the wheel left, check both ways, and drive forward into the correct lane in the new direction. Cancel the signal.

Three points means three movements. A fourth is not an automatic fail, but a five-point turn signals poor control. Use the full width of the road and the full steering lock, and stop each leg before the curb, not on it.

The mistakes that cost marks

• Not looking where you are going. Reversing while staring at the mirror or the dashboard. Look through the rear window, glancing at mirrors.
• Skipping checks between legs. Each movement in a three-point turn needs a look both ways. Traffic can appear mid-turn.
• Rushing. Speed is the enemy of both manoeuvres. Idle speed with the brake covered is right.
• Curb strikes. Usually from turning too late in parallel parking or reversing too far in the three-point turn. Stop earlier than you think.
• Finishing far from the curb or angled. Use the mirror for distance, then a small forward correction.
• Forgetting the signal when pulling out.

How to practise

Start with two cones or bins in an empty lot to learn the reference points, then move to a quiet street with real parked cars, which is what the test uses. Ten repetitions in a session, each one narrated out loud, does more than an hour of driving around. An instructor who works your DriveTest centre will know the streets examiners favour for manoeuvres; our centre guides for Downsview, Etobicoke, Metro East, Port Union, Mississauga and Brampton describe them. The rest of the test is covered in the G2 prep guide.

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