---- Robert Stevens <mtbiker62@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> On Jun 21, 2012, at 8:11 PM, David Beierl wrote:
>
> Some testimony to doing what you were taught when you learned to drive, and always turning your wheels in toward the curb...even if there isn't one.
>
> And he "may" have done that in this case, which because the van was parked facing uphill, if he applied the legal/proper technique, the wheels would
> have been turned to the right, which they were, and that is what directed the van into the neighbor's driveway. Turning the wheels "into the curb" is a
> different orientation when facing downhill, vs uphill, as the wheels are always turned in the same direction, to the right. (unless parking on a one-way
> street, and at the left curb.)

Facing downhill, turn the front wheels into the curb (wheel to the right).  Facing uphill, turn the front wheels from the curb, which will make the car roll toward the curb when it rolls back.  In fact, one should turn the wheels in the appropriate direction, and let the car roll till the front wheels contact the curb.  Here is the California Driver's Handbook instruction on the matter:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/hdbk/parking.htm

mcneely