Turns, lanes, passing and parking
You park on a hill on a road that has no curb. Which way should you turn your front wheels?
- To the right, whether the vehicle faces uphill or downhill. Correct answer
- Toward the center of the road, whether it faces uphill or downhill.
- Straight ahead, and rely on the parking brake to hold it.
Why
Without a curb to catch a tire, the aim is that, if the brakes fail, the vehicle rolls away from the center of the road. Turning the wheels to the right does that in both directions, uphill and downhill. Turning them toward the center is backwards: that is part of the uphill rule only when there is a curb, where the wheels point away from it and the vehicle rolls back until the tire gently touches the curb. Straight wheels are not one of the handbook's options. A vehicle parked on a hill could roll if equipment fails, so the handbook asks for the wheel position and the parking brake together, with the vehicle left in park, or in gear for a manual transmission.
Where this comes from
California Driver's Handbook, June 2025 edition. The correct answer is To the right, whether the vehicle faces uphill or downhill.
The rule behind this one
Turns, lanes, passing and parking in California goes through the whole topic, with the page of the California Driver's Handbook behind every rule.
More on turns, lanes, passing and parking
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