End of the 3 point turn

[Vipers]

Beggars belief. The 3 point turn on driving tests could be scrapped because the government believe satnavs have made the manoeuvre obsolete. and the reverse around a corner will be scrapped as well.

They will be replaced with more commonplace manoeuvres such as reversing out of a parking bay.

At least some sense prevails when the RAC guy pointed out that "When satnavs lead us down a dead end we need to know how to perform a 3 point turn".

They are going to trial these proposals on 1000 learner drivers.

Meanwhile I am going out for a new sat nav which will never get me lost, fat chance.............

On the plus the article did say from April next year the speed limit for HGV's on dual carriageways will rise from 50 to 60, God knows why that will 4 months to implement that.

[thelawnet]

To be fair parallel parking is harder/more important. The lottery where you might get reversing round a corner, parallel parking or 3 point turn is silly. Just make everyone do parallel parking.

[RYH64E]

I can't remember the last time I had to do a three point turn, it should be taught to learner drivers but I don't think it needs to be part of the driving test. There are more important, and more frequently used, manoeuvres IMO.

[Vipers]

thelawnet said:

To be fair parallel parking is harder/more important. The lottery where you might get reversing round a corner, parallel parking or 3 point turn is silly. Just make everyone do parallel parking.

Agree about parallel parking, the standards need to improve a lot in my opinion. I think there was a standoff not so long ago, a woman would not reverse to let an oncoming vehicle past, turns out, she couldnt do it. Probably did it once for her test.

[Mobile Chicane]

Vipers said:

thelawnet said:

To be fair parallel parking is harder/more important. The lottery where you might get reversing round a corner, parallel parking or 3 point turn is silly. Just make everyone do parallel parking.

Agree about parallel parking, the standards need to improve a lot in my opinion. I think there was a standoff not so long ago, a woman would not reverse to let an oncoming vehicle past, turns out, she couldnt do it. Probably did it once for her test.

Was she driving a white Qashqai by any chance?

I encountered such a bint last summer on Box Hill, where (my right of way) I had to reverse the Elise 100 yards uphill because she couldn't reverse 5.

[Pickled]

Vipers said:

On the plus the article did say from April next year the speed limit for HGV's on dual carriageways will rise from 50 to 60, God knows why that will 4 months to implement that.

Pointless when they're limited to a max of 56 and some of the supermarkets run limiters of 52

[king arthur]

It's not the actual manoeuvre itself, it's the fact that it teaches you car control. You have to complete it without touching the kerb so you need to be able to judge where the front and rear wheels are. Isn't that still a relevant skill?

[sooty61]

Morons. So what about when you want to turn around to come home or do you just always follow the satnav? Whatever, it is a good demonstration of car control and should be retained, especially with the idiots in car parks who bump into my car and drive off.

[bristolracer]

Great- no more waiting for learners to practice on my street then

[B17NNS]

king arthur said:

It's not the actual manoeuvre itself, it's the fact that it teaches you car control. You have to complete it without touching the kerb so you need to be able to judge where the front and rear wheels are. Isn't that still a relevant skill?

I'd say so. The test should be made harder, not easier. Make them do all the manoeuvres. P plates after for a year. One strike and it's re-test time. That'll learn 'em.

[Baryonyx]

The standard of three point turns needs to be improved. Taxi drivers doing them on main roads, obstructing traffic flow in both directions, young drivers in tiny shopping cars making a simple three pointer into a ten pointer because they can't judge distance - bloody hopeless!

[RYH64E]

king arthur said:

It's not the actual manoeuvre itself, it's the fact that it teaches you car control. You have to complete it without touching the kerb so you need to be able to judge where the front and rear wheels are. Isn't that still a relevant skill?

It isn't a case of whether it's relevant or not, more a case of whether it's the best manoeuvre to include in a very limited test. There are many essential driving skills not included in the test, time constraints make it inevitable.

[king arthur]

Pickled said:

Vipers said:

On the plus the article did say from April next year the speed limit for HGV's on dual carriageways will rise from 50 to 60, God knows why that will 4 months to implement that.

Pointless when they're limited to a max of 56 and some of the supermarkets run limiters of 52

I know there's the proposal to raise the limit to 50 on single carriageways for trucks but I didn't know the proposal to raise it on dual carriageways was going ahead too?

[simoid]

Vipers said:

They will be replaced with more commonplace manoeuvres such as reversing out of a parking bay.

Why would anyone need to do that? Aren't we taught to reverse into bays?

[anonymous-user]

Mobile Chicane said:

Vipers said:

thelawnet said:

To be fair parallel parking is harder/more important. The lottery where you might get reversing round a corner, parallel parking or 3 point turn is silly. Just make everyone do parallel parking.

Agree about parallel parking, the standards need to improve a lot in my opinion. I think there was a standoff not so long ago, a woman would not reverse to let an oncoming vehicle past, turns out, she couldnt do it. Probably did it once for her test.

Was she driving a white Qashqai by any chance?

I encountered such a bint last summer on Box Hill, where (my right of way) I had to reverse the Elise 100 yards uphill because she couldn't reverse 5.

Neighbour of mine once fell about laughing when I asked if she was going to garage her car in anticipation of forecast snowfall.
"Me? Park a car? In there?"
Just to add some kind of scale, I have the identical build garage and can get the Defender in there and still open the driver's door fully.
She had a Clio at the time.

[p1esk]

Vipers said:

Beggars belief. The 3 point turn on driving tests could be scrapped because the government believe satnavs have made the manoeuvre obsolete. and the reverse around a corner will be scrapped as well.

They will be replaced with more commonplace manoeuvres such as reversing out of a parking bay.

At least some sense prevails when the RAC guy pointed out that "When satnavs lead us down a dead end we need to know how to perform a 3 point turn".

They are going to trial these proposals on 1000 learner drivers.

Meanwhile I am going out for a new sat nav which will never get me lost, fat chance.............

On the plus the article did say from April next year the speed limit for HGV's on dual carriageways will rise from 50 to 60, God knows why that will 4 months to implement that.

Are they not limited to a maximum of 56 mph anyway? I'd rather they raise the HGV speed limit from 40 to 50 mph on single carriageway roads, or have they already done that? IIRC it was being considered.

On the subject of parking, ahould they not test the ability to reverse into a parking bay, rather than the ability to reverse out?

Edit: Ah, sorry, I see those points have been covered.

Edited by p1esk on Saturday 29th November 18:21

[Squiggs]

I think it's fairly logical that the 3 point turn is being withdrawn.
Most roads nowadays are either too busy or have too many cars parked on them to safely perform the manoeuvre
I can't remember the last time I did one - and with the exception of the constant stream of learner drivers practising and blocking wide side or estate roads nor can I remember the last time I saw anybody else perform the manoeuvre.
In my opinion it's become outdated - we don't have a bloke walking along waving a red flag any more - and when was the last time you used or saw properly used hand signals?

[rambo19]

Did'nt think there was a 3 point turn on a driving test, when I took my test, 27 yrs ago, it was 'turn around by means of forward and reverse gears'.

[wst]

rambo19 said:

Did'nt think there was a 3 point turn on a driving test, when I took my test, 27 yrs ago, it was 'turn around by means of forward and reverse gears'.

3 point term is the colloquialism and you know what OP means, stop being a pedantic pain in the arse and go have a pint.

[paolow]

Dont want to derail the thread - but what is the deal with parrallel parking and taking the test in a car with reverse sensors? Are they allowed? do driving school cars have them? If I took the test in my own car and it had them would that be allowed?