Leaving a parking space — New York Permit Test
Leaving a parking space on the New York permit test — 4 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
To pull away from a parallel parking space a driver should make sure their wheels are straight, back up to the vehicle behind them and turn their wheels away from the curb.
Straight wheels and a little room behind are what let the front end swing out cleanly.
Manual | 43 vehicle behind you and turn your wheels away from the curb. obey a traffic sign, signal or officer or to prevent conflicts with other vehicles.
The first of the six steps for entering traffic safely is to turn your head to look over your right shoulder and check through the rear window for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and other vehicles that can become a hazard.
The curb side is where people walk. They are the ones a mirror is worst at showing.
Turn your head to look over your right shoulder and check through the rear-window for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and other vehicles that can become a hazard
A driver leaving a parking space should use their interior rear-view mirror to watch for hazards behind the vehicle, and check their side mirrors for oncoming vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, in-line skaters and motorcyclists.
The mirrors are a first pass, not the whole check. They catch what is already moving.
Check your side mirrors for oncoming vehicles, pedestrians, bicyclists, in-line skaters, motorcyclists and other highway users
Before driving forward out of a parking space a driver should turn their head to look over their left shoulder out through the rear window, and make sure they can avoid the vehicle parked ahead.
The last look is toward the traffic you are joining. The car ahead is the thing you clip.
Turn your head to look over your left shoulder out through the rear-window and begin to slowly drive forward.
On the test
What should a driver do first to pull out of a parallel parking space?
Straighten the wheels and back up. Straight wheels and a little room behind are what let the front end swing out cleanly. New York State Driver's Manual, p.43: “Manual | 43 vehicle behind you and turn your wheels away from the curb. obey a traffic sign, signal or officer or to prevent conflicts with other vehicles.”
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 New York State Driver's Manual, published by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-09-15.