What is ‘reverse parking’ and why do I need to learn it?
Reverse parking is 1 of a possible 4 manoeuvres that you will have to learn for your driving test. It will involve you parking up behind a vehicle alongside a kerb, then driving up and stopping next to the parked car and finally reversing back to your original position, you wont have to park in between two parked cars like most learners assume. Due to the fact you have a 1 in 4 chance of having to carry out this manoeuvre during your driving test, you need to know how to pull it off perfectly every time, so
Fineline Driving Academy has put together this tutorial to teach you the method that we teach our learners everyday.
The reverse park skill will definitely come in handy in your every day driving routine, there will undoubtedly be many occasions where you will have to squeeze your car into a small gap where only reverse parking will allow you to do this. Normal parking (driving forwards into the space) requires a decent amount of space for your car to pull into neatly, reverse parking allows for your car to fit into a limited amount of space using quick steering whilst reversing and reference points which will be explained in this tutorial.
When can I perform the ‘reverse park’ manoeuvre?
If you are asked to perform the reverse park manoeuvre during your driving test then you can rest assured that the road you are on will be convenient and legal to carry out such an action, the examiner will make sure of this. If practising without a qualified driving instructor, you should make sure that you are not on a main road where reversing might create a hazard for other drivers, also if you are attempting to reverse into a limited opening then make sure the space is large enough for your car.
What will the examiner be looking for in this manoeuvre ?
There are a few things that your driving test examiner will mark you on if you are asked to perform this manoeuvre during your practical exam. The 3 items in particular and what is required for each to be satisfied during the test are shown below:
Control – Are you controlling the car properly or is the vehicle out of your control when performing this manoeuvre?
Accuracy – Is the manoeuvre carried out accurately? If you did it again would it be pretty similar to the first time?
Observation – Did you take effective observations before, after and during the manoeuvre? Did you react when you saw anything that might cause you a problem (such as another car or pedestrians)?
If the examiner is happy that all of these boxes are ticked then you can rest assured that the manoeuvre has been carried out successfully. Figure 1 below shows the section of the marking sheet which will be used if you carry out this manoeuvre during your practical driving test.
Figure 1. Part of the marking sheet for the reverse parking manoeuvre.
How to successfully reverse park on your driving test
In this section we will go through every detail for you to successfully perform the reverse park manoeuvre on your driving test, this is the method we teach our learners at Fineline Driving Academy and we feel it is one of the easiest methods around.
Lets begin with the starting position that you will be in before you begin the manoeuvre. The examiner will identify a safe road where the manoeuvre can be carried out and ask you to park on the left just before a car which they will point out. You should park up so that there is a healthy amount of room between yourself and the car in front (at least 4 car lengths).
Your examiner will now say something similar to:
‘I would like you to perform the reverse park manoeuvre with this car just in front of you using forward and reverse gears, keep the car reasonably close to kerb when you stop and complete the manoeuvre within 2 car lengths’
Begin by opening your window by a couple of inches so that you can hear any traffic around you easier. To begin the manoeuvre, the first thing you need to do is adopt a position where you are next to the vehicle in front of you so that you can begin reversing, you need to use the
POM routine (more information in the moving off & stopping tutorial) and line yourself up so that your left door mirror is in line with the front of the parked car (or the back of the parked car if it is facing the other way). Figure 2 shows what you should see when you look out of your left window.
Figure 2 .The view you should see out of the passenger window for the 1st part of the reverse park manoeuvre.
You need to make sure your car is completely parallel to the vehicle on your left, many of our learners end up at an angle or too close to the car which won’t get your manoeuvre off to a good start at all. You need to be no closer than 1 metre away from the parked car and to make sure you are straight, you should steer quite a lot and straighten up as you pass the car instead of straightening up at the end.
Now for the reverse parking itself, you should be aware that you are in the middle of the road now so be aware of other traffic. Keep looking around and listen out for traffic during the whole manoeuvre, it would be a real shame to fail just because you missed a car/pedestrian/cyclist. After you have selected reverse gear and have done your 6 point check (more information in the cockpit drill), begin to reverse until your door mirror reaches the middle of the parked car.
Figure 3. The view you should see out of your window when you line up your mirror with the middle of the parked car.
You should remember that the parked vehicle can be of any size, a small sized car or a large car and so you need to use your own careful judgement to see where the middle point of the whole car is. The steering wheel should still be straight when your mirror reaches the middle of the parked car, now stop and have a look at your right blind spot and the road ahead to check for anyone in your path before your car is about to swing out. If it is safe ahead and behind you, turn your wheel full lock to the left (full lock means as much as it can to the left), make sure your car is moving whilst you steer, you should steer quickly but move slowly during the whole manoeuvre. Keep moving back until your left mirror is in line with the back of the parked car (or the front of the car if it is parked the other way around). Figure 4 below shows this reference point:
Figure 4. The view you should see out of your window when you line up your mirror with the back/front of the parked car.
Once you reach the reference point shown in figure 4 above, this is the point at which you need to straighten up your wheel (turn your wheel back to the right by 1 and a quarter turns until the steering wheel is straight again). You now find yourself reversing in a straight line towards the kerb, here is where your own judgement comes into play. Keep reversing until you see something similar to figure 6 shown below:
Figure 5: Pizza slice for reverse parking
Figure 5 shows something similar to a pizza slice missing from a pizza (the pizza being the round blind spot mirror). You need to get your car to a reasonably close distance from the kerb and when you do, it is time to turn to the right so that you avoid hitting the kerb and finish parallel to the kerb, so steer full lock to the right whilst still reversing slowly and looking behind you. As your car begins to straighten up and line up parallel to the kerb, you will notice the pizza slice getting thinner until it opens up and shows your vehicle is straight, the below video shows what we mean:
VIDEO SHOWING PIZZA SLICE OPENING UP.
You car is now parallel to the kerb but your wheels are not straight (remember you just steered to the right when you saw the pizza slice), once you see something similar in your blind spot mirror as figure 8 below, you need to steer 1 and a quarter turns to the right to straighten up your wheels. Remember to keep looking out of your back window for the majority of the manoeuvre whilst stopping now and again to look all around to make sure it is clear. Reverse back so that there is around 1.5 car lengths between you and the parked car and then stop your vehicle, secure the vehicle and select neutral. Your examiner will now brief you on what to do next (usually they will say drive on when you are ready). Check out the following video of the manoeuvre from start to finish:
The key to mastering the reverse park manoeuvre is practise and a lot of it. As we mentioned before, this method has proved successful for our learners at Fineline Driving Academy for a number of years but we also noticed that our learners became more stronger with the manoeuvre with the more times they practised it.
What to do if you finish too far from the kerb.
As we mentioned already, there is a lot of your own judgement required to make this manoeuvre successful. This will be improved with the more times you practise, a common problem that arises with our learners during this manoeuvre is straightening the wheel at the end of the manoeuvre only to realise that you are too far from the kerb. This is a better problem to have than realising you are too close and about to hit the kerb, this section of the tutorial will explain what to do to get closer to the kerb if you are too far.
So you have got that pizza slice in your blind spot mirror (something similar to figure 7) and you’ve decided to turn your wheel full lock to the right so that your car can straighten up. Your car has now straightened up but you now see something similar to figure 8 below and it is clear that you are too far from the kerb.
Figure 8 : The view out of your left mirror if you have straightened up too early, notice the gap between your car and the kerb.
It is perfectly acceptable to adjust your car to get closer to the kerb, the routine for this is to use careful steering whilst moving your vehicle slowly. Steering whilst not moving is called ‘dry steering’ and won’t be received too well by your driving test examiner. If you realise that you are too far from the kerb, you need to turn your wheel by half a turn to the left, and then the same amount to the right, followed by straightening the wheel (the car should be steadily reversing whilst you steer). This action will result in your car getting closer to the kerb whilst still remaining parallel to the kerb and not at an angle, the below video shows what you need to do with the wheel and the effect it will have with your car:
Useful points to remember when carrying out the reverse park manoeuvre
Here are a few useful points that you should bear in mind when performing this manoeuvre. There are many things that you can easily forget so we have put together a list of common mistakes that many of our learners make during this manoeuvre for you to be careful of:
- Open your window a few inches as soon as you have been asked to perform the reverse park manoeuvre, this will help you realise if any cars are coming.
- If you see/hear another vehicle coming towards you, stop to let them pass if they have room or if you are blocking them off then you should continue with your manoeuvre. If you feel it will help, indicate left so that the other traffic know that you intend to park. Don’t forget your 6 point check when you carry on after you have stopped.
- Keep looking out of your back window with only glances towards your left door mirror, maintain looking around regularly.
- If you don’t end up too close to the kerb then you can adjust your car to end up closer but do this within 2 car lengths, this is perfectly acceptable.
- If you hit the kerb, stop your car and drive forward for around a metre and try again from that position. This has been acceptable in the past because it shows your examiner that you can recover from a mistake.
- As your car comes to a stop, you should be looking out of your back window.
- Make sure you check your right blind spot when you first steer left! Failure to do so will result in a fail because a cyclist/pedestrian/vehicle could collide with your car as it swings out.
- Don’t use the gas, just tease the clutch at the biting point to move the car.
- Avoid getting too close to the car you are parking behind, this will indicate poor judgement on your part.
FINELINES guide to the reverse parallel parking manoeuvre
We have broken down each individual part of this manoeuvre to make it easier to digest, use all of the photos and videos to get a feel for the manoeuvre before you try it out on the road. It might seem a lot to take in right now but once you have practised it a couple of times, it will become much easier. This end of tutorial section will go over the manoeuvre in a step by step fashion, remember to practise on a quiet road if you do attempt the manoeuvre yourself.
- When you are asked you perform the reverse park manoeuvre, open your window a couple of inches so that you can hear traffic more easily.
- Steer into the middle of the road and approach the parked car with your wheels straight. You should be no closer than 1 metre from the parked car and you need to stop when your mirror is in line with the front/back of the parked car depending on which way it is parked (figure 4).
- Do your 6 point check, reverse back in a straight line until your left door mirror is in line with the middle of the parked car. Once you have this reference point,
check your right blind spot and steer full lock to the left.
- Straighten up your wheel when your door mirror is in line with the back/front of the parked car (figure 6), depending on which way the parked car is facing.
- Once you get a similar view of your blind spot mirror as that shown in figure 7 (pizza slice), you should steer full lock to the right.
- Wait until the pizza slice opens up and then straighten up your wheel. If you are too far from the kerb, you can adjust your car to get closer.
- You should be moving whilst steering, a rule of thumb is to move slowly and steer quickly.
- Keep looking out of your back window during the whole manoeuvre, stop every 8 to 10 seconds to do an all around check. You should be looking out of your back window when your car comes to a final stop.
- If another vehicle turns up, or anything that might cause a hazard for you, you should stop and assess the situation. This will show the examiner that you have seen the hazard. If you are blocking the other traffic then carry on or if they can pass then let them, but do not wave them on.