Driving: Reverse Parking

[Ozanj]

I am an anxious driver but it got a lot worse when I got my new car, and where I really struggle is reverse bay parking. In a nice spacious supermarket bay I’m fine and can use the 3 line rule I learned from my instructor back in the day, but where I really struggle is our busy local town centre where the bays are narrow & there’s so much traffic that 9 / 10 times I lose my space if I try and do the manoevre how I’ve been taught. The 45 degree / angle method rarely works but I’m not sure that I’m doing it properly.

Does anyone have some kind of magic bullet way that I can reverse park as neatly as other drivers seem to do it? Or should I just accept that I need to avoid this carpark

*I am not

Go in forwards instead. It's a lot easier to reverse out of a space than it is to reverse into one, especially when you feel like you are being watched. Reversing out means that you are reversing into a much larger area. Try it, and see how you get on.

When you reserve line the parking line up with the end of your drivers door. Full lock to get you in and the straighten out (if that make sense)

Practice in car parks when stores are shut

Get three small matchboxes, put two in a line so there's just a little bit more than a matchbox worth of room between them. Use matchbox three as your car. "Drive" parallel with matchbox one, reverse so your rear bumper is just past theirs. Full lock and turn as another poster described. Using the matchboxes will help you visualise what you need to do and practice.

The other thing to do is get a really good awareness of the size of your car. If ever I change cars or get a hire car I pace it out so I understand in my head the dimensions in a very real way

Surely it's best to go in forward so you can get the shopping in the boot?

Practice I agree.

Get a smaller car perhaps?

Always reverse into a space as you never know what might park opposite you to make getting out difficult - unquote my driving instructor.

Yeah I bought a car with a reversing camera

But then how do you get the shopping in the boot? I never reverse in :)

@Frenchforkids3 and @Wolfcub are you both describing parallel parking? I thought the OP was talking about driving into parking bays.

The reason I ask is because I am nervous parallel parking (especially if someone is waiting behind me )

@ahoyshipmates

Go in forwards instead. It's a lot easier to reverse out of a space than it is to reverse into one, especially when you feel like you are being watched. Reversing out means that you are reversing into a much larger area. Try it, and see how you get on.

reversing out is really dangerous here at lunchtime so fwd parking isn’t really an option. Otherwise yes it would make life so much easier. When it’s super busy I park in a nearby supermarket and walk into town but lots of people must be doing it too so they have started putting warnings on dashboards

@Mizydoscape

Yeah I bought a car with a reversing camera

I am so tempted. I want one that bloody parks for me too

Mamette yes parallel parking. I generally assume if someone says reverse parking that that's what they mean. OP is that what you meant?

@ahoyshipmates

Go in forwards instead. It's a lot easier to reverse out of a space than it is to reverse into one, especially when you feel like you are being watched. Reversing out means that you are reversing into a much larger area. Try it, and see how you get on.

utter drivel. Reversing out is far more dangerous because of where the turning wheels are.

I spent 2 hours in an empty car park with my dad at 17 when I passed my test and ever since I’ve reverse parked 99% of the time. It’s a learned skill. If you can’t do it (and I do wish there were an Olympic category) you shouldn’t be driving.

@Wolfcub

Mamette yes parallel parking. I generally assume if someone says reverse parking that that's what they mean. OP is that what you meant?

No I meant bay parking. Parallel parking, suprisingly, is something I find easier in this car (don’t ask me to explain the logic lol)

@Mizydoscape

Yeah I bought a car with a reversing camera

I had to have a reversing camera on my SUV to get a sunroof. Fucking joke. I put duck tape on it before driving it home.

I agree @Billandben444
Only exception is the supermarket, where you can't get your trolley to the boot. Other than that I would always reverse in to a space.

OP I agree with pp who said to go when it is quiet and to practice.

GEnerally it is easier not to start at 90 degrees from the angle you want to end up on, but to pull away from the space as you drive past it, at an angle, so you have much less of an angle to turn into the space.

I probably do what you’re calling the 45 degree/angle method but I don’t remember my instructor calling it that.

Does this video help?
www.google.co.uk/search?q=bay+parking+45+degree+method&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari#kpvalbx=_qW8AYbnvB5LvgAaPx5jYAg12

Some car parks aren’t always wide enough to get over and into position but just readjust and go in again. I agree with go when it’s quiet and practice though. Once you line up the reference points in your car it’ll be much easier to do it with people watching.

Don't drive in forwards. People get away with thinking it's easier if there's a fair space, but the bigger the vehicle and the smaller the space the easier it is to reverse in. Not to mention safer. Hence why you see muppets doing 98 point manoeuvres to get their Chelsea tractor in a standard supermarket space and still leave it at an angle, but van & hgv drivers, or competent car drivers in small spaces reverse in straight first time. Even more so if you're parallel parking.

Your car is presumably front steering. So if you line the front wheels up, it doesn't necessarily follow the entire car will go directly after them. But if you line up your back wheels, you can steer the front end to follow.

There's no magic bullet, even with naturally brilliant spatial awareness it still requires practice. Having said that, I find wing mirrors are more use than the rear view mirror. I only use that to check for moving people and objects in a car, not to actually park. However I suppose that could be my driving experience but worth a try.

I haven't reverse bay parked since the day I passed my test I just drive in forwards!

I parallel park with no issues - though ironically that was my worst manoeuvre when I was learning!

I dont get parking front first into a bay. If there's a car either side of you you're taking a chance every time you reverse out.

Just learn to park properly. Go late at night, find a quiet corner and keep practicing, learn where the turning points are on your car.

When I changed my car, the lower edge of the side windows sloped upwards so I made a few boo boos when reverse parking into a bay as I was used to lining them up to get straight. I now use the wing mirrors and line up the painted white line (if it's still visible!) with the bottom of my car to get straight.

I have never, in 15 years of driving, reversed into a space. I'm the mumsnet Antichrist

@Billandben444

Always reverse into a space as you never know what might park opposite you to make getting out difficult - unquote my driving instructor.

I passed my test in 1981, have driven forwards into parking spaces thousands of times, and have never once found it difficult to reverse out again because someone has parked opposite.

Unless they'd completely blocked me in and driving out forwards would have been impossible as well.