When parking facing downhill you should…?
- Set your parking brake only
- Leave your front wheels parallel to the curb
- Turn your front wheels towards the curb or right shoulder ✓
- Turn your front wheels to the left and set your parking brake
Answer: C. Turn your front wheels towards the curb or right shoulder
When parking facing downhill, turn your front wheels towards the curb or right shoulder.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's hill-parking rule says that when you park facing downhill, you turn the front wheels toward the curb or right shoulder. It gives the reason directly: if the brakes become disengaged, wheels turned that way help keep the vehicle from rolling into traffic. The same section also says to set the parking brake and put the gear selector in park, or shift into first or reverse with a manual transmission. The question is about wheel direction, so the right choice is the one that turns the front wheels toward the curb or right shoulder.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. Set your parking brake only — Setting the parking brake only is incomplete, because the handbook also requires turning the front wheels toward the curb or right shoulder when parking downhill.
- B. Leave your front wheels parallel to the curb — Leaving the front wheels parallel to the curb does not follow the downhill rule, which says to turn them toward the curb or right shoulder.
- D. Turn your front wheels to the left and set your parking brake — Turning the front wheels to the left and setting the parking brake describes the uphill-with-a-curb direction, not the downhill direction.
Remember it
Think "down and in": facing downhill, point the wheels in toward the curb.