Attn Reg - Reversing!

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Discussion

TheExcession

Original Poster:

11,669 posts

251 months

Sunday 8th May 2016
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Hi Reg,

As I'm sure you are aware I'm assisting a learner at the moment.

One issue that is coming to the front is that when trying to reverse everything seems very easy to me during a demonstration, but the learner is really struggling to remember which way to turn the wheel.

I've been approaching this by saying turn the wheel toward the side you want the back of the car to move towards.

At the same time, and it is a long time since I took my test, I'm not sure if it is acceptable to reverse just using the mirrors.

I was taught to swing your upper torso around and look out of the back window with quick looks into both wing mirrors. It required a shift of your hip and bum position in the seat.

So, is it acceptable for a learner to reverse using only the mirrors, without twisting around?

Without wanting to seem like a smart arse, I'm used to reversing tractors and trailers where you turn the wheel in the opposite direction to the direction you want the trailer to go.

But the one thing I've tried to explain to my learner is that you often need to get from one lock to the other lock very quickly.

TheExcession

Original Poster:

11,669 posts

251 months

Wednesday 11th May 2016
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Where did my post go?

WTF?

I wrote a novel, where is it?

TheExcession

Original Poster:

11,669 posts

251 months

Thursday 26th May 2016
quotequote all
I have to be honest now and say that I've tried Reg's approach where the learner had to tell me how to reverse.

But I actually found me getting out of the car and letting the learner figure it out for them self to be a bit better.

A totally empty car park, where I got the learner to reverse out of one space into another in a swan neck manouvre. A to B.


| | |a| | |
v
| | | |b| |



There's a couple of issues here, the main one is having a safe space where the learner is actually in the car on their own. That's one big wake up for the learner.

Reg, you might try and remember back to the first time you drove a car on your own for the first time. I can remember the first time I sat behind the wheel without anyone else in the car.

TheExcession

Original Poster:

11,669 posts

251 months

Friday 27th May 2016
quotequote all
We tried this again today - the A->B offset reversing.

I was out of the car and just let her get on with it. What a result - 100% inch perfect. Couldn't have done it better myself - well perhaps a little quicker! hehe