How Do I Know Exactly Where My Front Bumper Is?

• Idaho Law requires drivers to stop their vehicle before a stop line, crosswalk, or intersecting highway.
• Responsible Alert Driving students help each other develop habits of placing their vehicle exactly where they need it to be, by using vehicle reference points.
  
• Classmate feedback allows student drivers to determine how reference points on the vehicle translate to space around the vehicle.
• In the photo above, Taylor is showing the driver how far the front bumper is from the stop line that is aligned with the stop sign.
• The driver, Spencer, learned that his front bumper was about two feet from the stop line, after he had stopped so that the radio antenna appeared to cover the stop sign's post, from his line of sight in the driver's seat.

How Do I Stop Short of a Parking Curb or Cross Street?

• Responsible Alert Driving students help each other develop habits of driving skillfully, placing their vehicle exactly where they need it to be, by using vehicle reference points.
  
• Classmate feedback allows student drivers to determine how reference points on the vehicle translate to space around the vehicle.
• In the photo above, Ben is discovering how far he parked from the curb: about one-and-a-half feet.
• As Ben drove smoothly into the perpendicular parking place, he stopped when the curb appeared to touch the lower corner of each side view mirror.

• Practice this technique with a friend for making a "safety stop" before entering cross traffic.
• At a cross street with a curb, the cross street curb at your left and right will appear to line up with the bottom corner of each side view mirror.
• At a T-intersection onto a highway, the fog line (or edge of pavement when the fog line is absent) can be used in the same manner, allowing the driver to stop short of cross traffic.

How do I Measure Distances Behind the Vehicle when Backing Up?

How do I Keep from Backing into a Garage Door or Off a Cliff ?!

• Responsible Alert Driving students help each other develop habits of driving skillfully, placing their vehicle exactly where they need it to be, by using vehicle reference points.
  
• Classmate feedback allows student drivers to determine how reference points on the vehicle translate to space around the vehicle.
• In the photo above, Aron shows the student driver how far the rear bumper is from the grass line: about eighteen inches.
  

1. To stop at this safe distance, the driver looked over his shoulders into the the windows immediately behind the driver seat.
   
2. From the driver's perspective, the grass/pavement line appeared to cut a line about one-third of the window's width from the window's rear corner.
   

• Practice this technique with a friend for making a "safety stop" while backing up.
• As you experiment with the apparent placement of a perpendicular line in different locations of your rear windows, you will discover the ability to place your vehicle's rear bumper ten feet to ten inches away.
• Practice more and you will be able to place your vehicle precisely!