In which of the following scenarios should your wheels not be pointed straight ahead?
- When waiting to make a left turn at a traffic light.
- When parked on a hill or sloping driveway. ✓
- When parked on the side of a level roadway where there is no curb.
Answer: B. When parked on a hill or sloping driveway.
Your wheels should not be pointed straight ahead when you park on a hill or sloping driveway.
Why this is the answer
The California Driver Handbook says that when you park on a hill, the vehicle could roll if equipment fails, so you set the parking brake and leave it in park or in gear. It then gives directions for turning the front wheels: downhill toward the curb, uphill away from the curb, and with no curb to the right. All of those slope parking instructions involve turning the wheels rather than leaving them straight. That is why the hill or sloping driveway scenario is the one that calls for wheels not pointed straight ahead.
Why the other answers are wrong
- A. When waiting to make a left turn at a traffic light. — The handbook's wheel-turning instructions are for parking on a slope; waiting to make a left turn at a traffic light is not the parking scenario it describes.
- C. When parked on the side of a level roadway where there is no curb. — The no-curb instruction in the handbook applies when you park headed uphill or downhill without a curb; it does not make a level roadway the scenario for turning the wheels.
Remember it
Think of the slope as the trigger for turning the wheels.
Official handbook: California Driver Handbook (DL 600), Section 6: Navigating the Roads, p. 27