You are driving along a city street with a row of parked cars on your right. Which lane position gives you the most room to react?

Why C is correct

Position is a form of space management that costs nothing and buys time. Sitting toward the left of the lane beside parked cars puts distance between you and every door that might open, every pedestrian who might step out from between vehicles, and every car that might pull away without looking. Go too far left and you crowd the centre line or the oncoming lane, so the target is the left third of your own lane rather than the centre line itself. There is no single position that is right everywhere — the choice changes the moment parked cars end, a cyclist appears, or the lane narrows.

Why the other options are wrong

A. As close to the parked cars as the lane allows

Hugging the parked cars leaves no margin whatsoever. A door opening half a metre from your mirror is not something you react to at city speed; it is a collision you have already arranged.

B. Weaving gently between both edges so you stay visible

Weaving makes you harder to read and strips other road users of predictable information. Consistency is what lets drivers and cyclists anticipate you, and drifting removes it.

D. In the exact centre of the lane under all conditions

Centring is a sensible default when neither edge holds a hazard, but it ignores the asymmetry here. Everything unexpected arrives from one side, so the useful open space is on the other.

On the road

The driver who hugs the parked cars is hit by an opening door. The driver holding the left third of the lane gets a fright and keeps going. Same street, same parked cars, roughly a metre of difference in where the car was aimed.

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