Reverse Parking - help please!

[blue-kat]

Hi pussycat and any other peeps,

just wondered have you got parallel parking licked now, and how did you manage it?

or is parking still difficult?

thanks

-

[debsutd]

can i just add, now i am not a sexist, but woman CANNOT PARK

 

i drive a mondeo estate and live on a narrow road, i can parralell park perfectly 99% of the time, i think women drive perfectly well

[lyndix]

i`ve always been pretty good at it(not bragging honest) but if someones watching me do it, tend to go a bit pear shaped.

i think a lot of it comes down to confidence.

[Darbees]

Reverse parking is very easy but difficult to describe in writing but I will take up the challenge and try. Like it or not it does seem to be a big boy girl issue. I find it's easiest to do all parking using mirrors and I never look over my shoulder to reverse. Bear in mind that van and lorry drivers have to do that and they are handling larger vehicles.

 

If you get yourself alongside the vehicle in front of the space on your left or right about 12 to 18 inch away, reverse and 6 inches or so before your back wheel is alongside the back of the other car turn the steering wheel full lock towards the kerb or otherparked car, look in the door mirror on the road side of your car and when you see the middle of the front of the car behind the space (the middle of radiator grill or number plate) in line with the back corner of yours adjust the steering to keep that point in sight, if you can see more of that car you will end up on the pavement. When you are sure that the front corner of your car will pass the car in front, turn full lock the oppposite way i.e towards the road, that will tuck the front end in and and make slight adjustments until you are parallel with the kerb. Then just shunt back or forwards to leave sufficient room for yourself and others to get back out.

 

Forklift trucks have rear steering because steering the back of a vehicle makes it easier to get into tight spaces, I always reverse into spaces in car parks too cos it's easier and also easier to drive back out again. It's all done with mirrors like magic!!

 

Best way to practise is on a road with a couple of other cars you cna move and once you get the hang of it make the gap smaller and smaller and eventually you will wonder why you ever started this thread (hopefully).

[MonkeyLover]

Oh! I'm glad I'm not the only one! I passed my test about 18 months ago, and haven't done a parallel park yet. For some reason, I did it perfectly on my test, but haven't managed it in my own car.

 

My instructor gave me a written instruction sheet on how to do it. I will have a go at sending it to you via a pm, but will have to do it later, cos gotta go now. I will also tell you who my instructor was - he was really good, and I know he does lessons in your own car if you want. He is based at Handsworth.

[Nigel Womersle]

I have just got new glasses which have very broad sides on them. You would be surprised how they limit your vision when looking over your shoulder to reverse. I wear the old ones now, whilst driving.

[Saxon]

Reverse parking is very easy but difficult to describe in writing but I will take up the challenge and try.

 

If you get yourself alongside the vehicle in front of the space on your left or right about 12 to 18 inch away, reverse and 6 inches or so before your back wheel is alongside the back of the other car turn the steering wheel full lock towards the kerb or otherparked car, look in the door mirror on the road side of your car and when you see the middle of the front of the car behind the space (the middle of radiator grill or number plate) in line with the back corner of yours adjust the steering to keep that point in sight, if you can see more of that car you will end up on the pavement. When you are sure that the front corner of your car will pass the car in front, turn full lock the oppposite way i.e towards the road, that will tuck the front end in and and make slight adjustments until you are parallel with the kerb. Then just shunt back or forwards to leave sufficient room for yourself and others to get back out.

Thats not bad actually.

 

I teach my pupils the following method, which is obviously very basic and its then up to the pupil to adapt it once they have a little more experience of the manoeuvre:

 

Pull alongside the 'target' car between 2 and 3 feet away from it, ending up slightly further forward than the target car (so that as you look left out of the passenger window, you are looking across the bonnet of the target car)

 

Then, having checked all round to make sure that nothing else is approaching, start to reverse in a straight line until the back end of your car is level with the back end of the target vehicle (you can judge this by looking through the rear nearside window - as soon as you see the corner of the target vehicle, you will miss it when you start to turn).

 

At this point, check your mirrors and over your right shoulder for any approaching vehicles, then do one turn (ie 360 degrees, NOT full lock) on the steering wheel to the left, keeping the vehcile moving SLOWLY all the time.

 

You then need to get to a 45 degree angle across the road (ie diagonally), at which point you do one full turn to the right, taking off the steering you had put on previously. This angle is absolutely vital - it is better to be at an angle of less than 45 degrees rather than over 45 degrees, as to go over 45 will mean that you are more likely to go up the kerb.

 

Your nearside door mirror then comes into play. When you're at 45 degrees, you should be able to see a triangle of road in the mirror, formed by the side of your car, the kerb on the road and the bottom of the mirror. If you can't, then adjust your mirror accordingly.

 

Keep moving back VERY slowly in a straight line until that triangle disappears and then do one turn to the right, which will start the front of your car coming in towards the kerb.

 

Finally, when your car is parallel to the kerb, do one turn to the left just to straighten your wheels up.

 

If you find that you are still going up the kerb or you are staying too far away from the kerb, then adjust the angle of the door mirror. Is going up the kerb, rais ethe door mirror fractionally; if staying too far away, then lower it.

 

I find it's easiest to do all parking using mirrors and I never look over my shoulder to reverse. Bear in mind that van and lorry drivers have to do that and they are handling larger vehicles.

Don't forget that the objective of looking over shoulders etc is so that you don't miss anything, such as a pedestrian walking behind the car (yes it does happen). Mirrors do not show you everything, although I take your point about van drivers etc.

[Darbees]

Difficult to explain in writing, it's one of those things which, when you know how to do it, is like explaining in words how to walk or carry a cup of tea upstairs without spilling it,

[newvanandman]

These people are on our bloody roads!

When you think about it, cars are lethal weapons, and there are people on here admitting they can't fully control them, and they are baffled when going backwards.

 

It makes me very nervous indeed.

 

Scary isnt it?

[*Cinderella*]

Parking is a practice based skill, like lots of other things in life. Maybe I'm not your average woman (I know how internal combustion engines work and I like power tools and can weld) but I can park and read maps too.

 

Research suggests that women tend to have less spacial awareness than men, and that this is why many find reverse parking (and map reading) difficult, particularly when they haven't been taught properly. Similar research shows women have far better skills at multi-tasking than men; you can probably weld, drill, read a map and have a conversation with your kids about how the day at school went all at the same time as reversing your stretch limo into the space just vacated by a Smart car.

 

Reverse parking used to be very much a skill acquired through practice. These days it's an applied technique that is best learnt from a qualified instructor (rather than your mate's partner or whoever). While many people develop a level of proficiency through practice, others just become more nervous and confirmed in their belief that they can't do it. Everyone should be able to learn the conventional taught technique which transforms the 'hopeless' reverse parker into a confident and successful one almost immediately.

 

Practising alone just tends to reinforce bad habits, so book yourself a lesson.