Parking on hills — Colorado Permit Test

Parking on hills on the Colorado permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.

The rules

When you stop your vehicle while headed downhill, turn your front wheels toward the curb and let the vehicle roll slowly until the front tire rests against it.

If the brake lets go, the curb stops the car rather than the traffic below. Touching the tire to it is what makes the curb work.

When you stop your vehicle while headed downhill, turn your front wheels toward the curb

Colorado Driver Handbook, p.14

When headed uphill where there is a curb, turn the front wheels away from the curb and let the vehicle roll backwards slowly until the rear part of the front wheel rests against the curb.

Rolling backward, the car needs the back of the front wheel against the curb to stop it. That only works with the wheels turned out.

When headed uphill where there is a curb, turn the front wheels away from the curb and let your vehicle roll Uphill parking backwards slowly until the rear part of the front wheel rests against the curb using it as a block.

Colorado Driver Handbook, p.14

When headed uphill without a curb, turn your front wheels to the right so that if the vehicle moves it will roll off the highway rather than into the roadway.

With no curb there is nothing to catch the car, so the only choice is which way it goes. Off the road is always better than into it.

When headed uphill without a curb, turn your front wheels to the right so that if your vehicle moves, it will roll Downhill parking off the highway, not into the roadway.

Colorado Driver Handbook, p.14

When headed downhill with no curb, also turn your wheels to the right.

It is the same reasoning as facing uphill: nothing will catch the car, so point it away from the traffic before you walk off.

When headed downhill with no curb, also turn your wheels to the right

Colorado Driver Handbook, p.14

On the test

Which way should the front wheels point when parked facing downhill at a curb?

Toward the curb. If the brake lets go, the curb stops the car rather than the traffic below. Touching the tire to it is what makes the curb work. Colorado Driver Handbook, p.14: “When you stop your vehicle while headed downhill, turn your front wheels toward the curb”

How this works

Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.

You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.

Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.

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Where these come from

Every rule here is checked against Colorado Driver Handbook, published by the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-16.