Reverse Parking - moneysaving? even for me?

anewman

nearlyrich wrote: »

I wish that more people realised how dangerous it is to reverse onto a main road, I see loads of idiots doing it everyday.

Not so long ago I saw a big massive articulated lorry reversing from a side-road into a 3 lane each way main road where the inside lane was for a specific turn off, and he managed to create a long line of horn beeping cars behind him. Took him ages to do it as well. It seemed like the lorry driver decided he didn't want to go where he had just turned into and decided to reverse out. Which surprises me as he could have re-joined the road in only 10 metres by following the road he turned into. I couldn't see any obstructions that would have prevented him from doing this, and there are no limits for HGV's on the road he had turned into (in fact there's a company down there that specialises in refrigerated lorries I think). Could have very easily caused an accident.

Had to be seen to be believed.

scbk

goldspanners wrote: »

i have driven vans from the day i passed my test,try looking at the blind spot of a van,very hard when you can only see metal,ive always found it easier to reverse with just the mirrors,rather than looking over my shoulder.i guess this is because ive had to do this as ive always been used to vans.

Same here, I reverse park as reversing out of a space in a van is asking for trouble

Usually at a supermarket etc I'll just park miles away and drive straight in and straight out though

Fitted a rear view camera aswell, I seem to do a lot of reversing, out of narrow overgrown lanes etc!

manda1205

I cant beleive people are asking how to reverse park, you shouldn't have passed your test if your not competent at reversing. And I also thought it was illegal to reverse into a main road? Maybe my dad just used to tell me that so I had no choice but to reverse into our drive. As for moneysaving, cant really save that much to make it worthwhile.

Stephen_Leak

It may have changed in the 30 years since I took my test, but reverse parking wasn't part of the test.

Despite this, my driving instructor taught me a foolproof technique for reverse parking. When reversing into the space, use your door mirror to line up the offside edge of your car with the nearside front corner of the parked car behind. I don't know how this works, but it does.

lolarentt

I have always reversed in to park, and was told this was correct defensive driving practice when I passed my ROSPA Advanced Driving test.

There are of course exceptions, eg when you need to load something bulky in a confined car park.

See other threads on car park prangs which demonstrate the problems of reversing out of restricted CP spaces blind!

tinkerbell84

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

It may have changed in the 30 years since I took my test, but reverse parking wasn't part of the test.

Despite this, my driving instructor taught me a foolproof technique for reverse parking. When reversing into the space, use your door mirror to line up the offside edge of your car with the nearside front corner of the parked car behind. I don't know how this works, but it does.

Surely it depends how the car behind (if there is one) is parked

Wig

On the fuel issue, the difference would be miniscule. The only reason to reverse in would be strategy.
*Reversing out into a busy road (does not really apply in supermarkets but on the other hand that's why they're called 'accidents' can happen anywhere anytime, driving out of a space forwards almost eliminates the risk of being hit by a car on the roadway).
*You may have parked near a junction on the roadway so cars may regularly stop at the juction (behind you) thus stopping you from reversing out (applies in car parks aswell as on main roads)
*You might have reason to fear for your life from outside forces.


As to reversing using mirrors only, I disagree, turning your head to look over your shoulder is by far the safest method - understood that older people are not as agile to be able to do this - If you turn your head your eyes can see 180[SIZE=-1]° [/SIZE]behind you. Looking in mirrors you can only see 10[SIZE=-1]° [/SIZE] - 30[SIZE=-1]° [/SIZE] at any one time.

SallyUK

I've been driving for over 20 years now (yes I'm a woman driver, and a good one at that! lol) and always, always reverse into spaces whenever I can. I hate having to drive forwards into a space.

Even when parking between two parked cars on a road, I've always enjoyed reverse parking and wasn't taught how to do this when I was taking driving lessons many years ago! lol

Sal
x

dawnydee73

anewman wrote: »

Maybe I'm a crap driver, but I usually find reversing in easier than forward parking, between two cars, unless I can go through one space into the next.

I'm another that finds it easier to reserve park, especially in narrow spaces. I always reverse onto my drive so maybe thats why I am more confident at it

Zazen999

I've had a couple of advanced driving sessions and reverse parking is advantageous for the reason stated above; for security and to save fuel. Also, most supermarket car park accidents occur because people are reversing backwards into the area where people are driving forwards. i was also told to park under or near lighting for obvious reasons [safety etc].

I also use mirrors rather than look behind when reversing into a tight space, but then again I have spent so many years driving large trucks/vans etc that it is an old habit.

My new car at the moment parks itself - how cool is that!!! It's a bit of a circus act when I have people in the car 'look - no hands' and all that! Much fun.