The reverse parallel park for the purposes of the driving
test falls into 4 phases:
1.
The set
up position
2.
Straight reversing to the ‘point of turn’
3.
Steering the car to get behind the target
vehicle
4.
Steering the car back into the kerb
1.
Setting
up
Your car needs to be positioned slightly ahead of the target
vehicle, about a metre to the right of it.
Your car should be parallel with the kerb (as opposed to the target
vehicle that may be parked ‘off straight’ to the kerb).
2.
Straight
reverse
Select ‘Reverse’ gear straight away so that everyone behind
knows your intentions (white lights).
Straight reverse (looking out rear windscreen) until you are level with
the rear end of the target vehicle..... this is the ‘point of turn’
3.
Steering
behind the target car
Pause and do all round obs before any steering is put
on. (These must be all round obs, as you
are about to position the car across the road).
Steer to a 1 o/c angle (imagining starting at 12 o/c), then unwind the
steering wheel so that the car is straight reversing again.
4.
Bringing
the car back into the kerb
At the right time, steer to the right to bring the car back
in behind the target vehicle. Finishing
off within 2 car lengths of the target car, about a drains width from the kerb
, parallel to the kerb.
Some common questions that are asked:
Q. “What do I do if a
car comes up behind me when I’m at phase 1?”
A. Initially, your
training will concentrate on the sequence of events, and how to achieve the
necessary obs, pace and steering accuracy for the manoeuvre – this will all be
done in a traffic free, quiet area so that you have no pressures and
distractions. Once you can achieve the
desired actions, then you start doing it in busier locations. The beauty with this approach is that by
then, the timing of your actions will be so good, that the possibility of what
is being raised in this question actually happening is reduced. For sure, if you were to spend a lot of time
and effort at Phase 1 getting yourself set up correctly, then there would be a high
possibility of a car coming up behind and scuppering your plans – the trick is
to get yourself sufficiently trained so that the time taken to set up the
manoeuvre is minimal.
Q. “Do I have to go
slightly ahead of the target car when setting this up in Phase 1?”
A. No, however, it’s
strongly recommended, because it provides you valuable time to get in exactly
the right position before any reversing begins.
You can make a manoeuvre really difficult simply by setting it up wrong
at the start (this is true for any of the 5 manoeuvres). It also gives you time to accurately identify
the ‘point of turn’ in Phase 2 which is also a big deal and easily missed if
you don’t follow this advice. There are
reference points that can be identified to assist you in this aim.
Q. “How do I know
when I’m at 1 o/c as you call it?”
A. There is a
reference point in the rear windscreen relating to the kerb that can be
discovered in training so that it means you are looking behind you while
reversing (a big deal).
Q. “How do I know
when I’m at the ‘point of turn’?
A. By discovering a
means that you can identify it with ease.
I find manoeuvres are best kept simple simple simple. With training you will know exactly the ‘point
of turn’.
Q. “I seem to get my
direction of steering mixed up when I do this, how can I sort that out?”
A. By finding a
technique that you can rely on to give you confidence to get it right every
time. Generally speaking, if you want
the rear nearside wheel to move towards the kerb you need to steer towards the
kerb - and steer away from the kerb to bring the rear wheel away from the kerb. This works while travelling
forwards or backwards. However, there
are additional techniques that can be used to assist with this particular
problem. There is different directional
steering required at Phase 3 and Phase 4 – we would need to discover a way that
you will remember that ..... this need not be complicated, once we find a
useful technique this problem will ‘evaporate’ from your conscience.
Q. “Do I need to wait
if other vehicles come along while I’m doing this?”
A. On the one hand we
don’t want to create an unnecessary hazard by taking overly long to do this
manoeuvre, but also be mindful that vehicles, cyclists, pedestrians, motorbikes
can appear in our vicinity in real quick time.
So yes, being aware of who is around you is a big deal with this. Similarly to the answer of the very first
question, the trick is to practise initially with very little else affecting
you, so that your brain is able to concentrate on the necessary sequence of
actions. Being able to identify other
people/vehicles around you in good time, so that you can assess if they warrant
a pause in proceedings is a big skill, and one that it is necessary to practise
so that you never get ‘surprised’ by someone appearing from nowhere!
Q. “Will I always
need to reverse between parked cars?”
A. No! Funnily enough it rarely happens that
way. You tend to be asked to pull up
behind (but not too close) to the target car, and then asked to do the
manoeuvre. Unlike real life, they don’t
tend to ask you to park between cars on the test.
Q. “I find that no
matter how much I practise this manoeuvre, I can’t quite seem to master it –
what’s the secret with this?”
A. It’s the same
secret that applies to all manoeuvres and it’s the same secret I blab on about
in my driving videos on my YouTube channel “2010BIGTOM”. This all comes down to controlling the PACE
of the reversing. Once your left foot is
properly able to achieve a pace of LESS than a walking pace, then you will find
all the rest begins to fall into place.
Trying to do any manoeuvre at too quick a pace when reversing inevitably
results in a loss of position or adequate obs – both of which will result in
test fails I’m afraid to say. It is
therefore essential to master proper clutch control in your training (forwards
and reversing) before attempting the test manoeuvres.
Q. “If I mess up, can
I start again?”
A. It’s probably best
to think what would be acceptable in real life, post-test, to answer this
question. Whilst an examiner will allow
a certain amount of ‘understanding’ should your position go out, can you
imagine how other road users would react in real life if you were to repeatedly
chop and change, resetting to the start or making lots of shunts forward? Wouldn’t go down well with others, and it
equally wouldn’t go down well on your test.
My advice is to get yourself sufficiently trained so that this
eventuality does not even come into play.
But to directly answer your question, as with the other manoeuvres it
very much depends on how far you have got, ask the question by all means – the
examiner will tell you for sure.
Q. “Have I failed if
I hit the kerb?”
A. Not
necessarily. If you do ‘hit’ it as you
say with a ‘thump’, then yes, that is probably a demonstration of insufficient
obs/control to warrant a fail. But ‘kissing’
the kerb, and reacting in time to the situation whilst not desirable, is
understandable. In real life, on some ‘Turn
in the Road’ manouevures, ‘kissing’ the kerb is actually necessary to ensure
you are using the full width of the road, when it’s a particularly narrow
road. It’s a little bit like the reverse
bay park manoeuvre, my training aims at not even touching the white lines in
the bay, let alone crossing the white lines – and I feel the same way with
touching kerbs on test manoeuvres.
Try not to let this manoeuvre (and the others) get the
better of you before you’ve even started it.
A positive attitude is essential on these, and a determination to never
give up. But believe me everyone when I say, you absolutely MUST look in the direction you are travelling - physically turn your head and look I mean, relying on mirrors (with blindspots) will never be accepted on test.... never.
Above all else, keep things simple. The more complex things become, the more you
are loading up the brain and in ‘test conditions’ that can easily spell problems.
Any comments/questions please feel free to add below.
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