To think that being able to actually drive involves more than just driving forward?!

[ScafellPoke]

I live in the countryside, which is also a tourist area. It drives me mad that I come across so many drivers who don’t know the width of their car and are compeltely unable to reverse competently in to a passing place!

Same situation except that I have to say I still find it really hard! I passed my test two years ago & still hate doing the backlanes without dp.
Plenty of beamer dickheads in the summer tho going too fast and blocking up the roads!

It's the drivers who blast straight through that that wind me up, even when they are nearest to a passing point.

I agree but I wish people would back off and let me make the manuover. I hate it when they are bumper to bumper and trying to push me on. Puts me off my stride and makes me get all flustered.

I wouldn't mind so much if there was no way through but people use our lanes as rat runs to the motorway then look all surprised when they have me (or one of my neighbours) in my truck with a livestock trailer on coming the other way. Even then it still sometimes ends up being me doing the reversing!

No alternative, I mean

I would partly blame (doesn't seem like quite the right word but it's the closest I can think of) the increasing safety of modern cars, it's quite shocking to climb into something so old that it doesn't need an MOT and be able to see clearly in all directions because the pillars are as thick as a match stick and the crumple zone consists of your knees. I would also blame driving instructors: it's in their interests for their students to pass in a timely fashion, so the cars they select will be easy to perform the required maneuvers in. The aim may not be to leave people unable to properly handle larger vehicles but this does seem to be a possible outcome.

But on the flip side visibility in my shogun is loads better than most other cars (hence why I don't mind doing the reversing too much, it's easy). It's usually the big posh (good vis) 4x4 that can't bear to risk reversing. Old dudes in fiestas usually give it a whirl even though they must barely be able to see anything, like you say @gronky

I don't get it - half the time I end up reversing my trailer back because some muppet can't handle reversing their wee car a few feet. Hopeless - folk shouldn't be on the road if they can't drive reasonably, and that includes reversing!

Where we used to live, there was a single track road used as a rat run, that also served a quarry and concrete plant. On a weekly basis the police would be called to adjudicate between a bequiffed twat and an artic with the right of way.

Yes, all very familiar here too. Why do they drive in the middle of the road? Just because it's a single lane road, doesn't mean that the middle is correct road positioning.

Oh I’m certainly not one to squeeze through or get bumper to bumper, but I do end up just reversing most of the time, even if I have to reverse more than theu would I’m faster and more capable so it’s quicker. But sometimes I think, how would they ever learn if I just do it for them?!

Also, the being in the middle of the road thing is annoying too! They can have a good couple feet on their side but would still rather get really close to clipping me than a drystone wall or hedge!

Also, big 4x4s that don’t like driving offroad on to the muddy or gravelly layby to let people past!

I can understand driving out from the edge when nothing else is coming as I’ve blown too many tyres catching stones at the edge where we live - but pull over when something comes the other way.

YANBU though. I’m considering a huge sign that says “nearest passing place behind you” to hold up when I meet someone who just sits there as I am fed up too!

I think you're being a bit unreasonable. I don't drive very often and when I do it's in a rental car so no, I don't really know the width of my car and it takes me a while to get used to it. Plus as someone else said the visibility out of some of these modern cars is atrocious, the back window in the last one I had was miniscule.

I don't though drive like a twat so if I do find myself on a narrow road needing to pass someone then I slow right down and hug the wall as much as I can and let them pass me so to speak. If I did need to reverse to a passing point then I would be able to but I would be slower than you doing so I'm sure.

It does annoy me though when I am driving to the conditions of the road, especially an unfamiliar road and I get someone right up my arse trying to hurry me up.

I’m very short, so I do find it hard to reverse as I can’t see over the boot to the ground immediately behind my car, and therefore have a large blind spot. But I still do it when required.
It does annoy me that it’s always people in big 4x4 off roaders who don’t want to get their tyres muddy, so force my little hatchback into the ditch/soggy verge/drystone wall instead!

I hate the local drivers who go way too fast down the country lanes because they "know the roads". Often they just rely on drivers coming the other way going slower or both making a very dramatic emergency stop.

drreed use your wind mirrors for reversing, much easier than rear view.

Again babdoc use your wing mirrors to reverse, not your rear window

Just use your rear window to check there’s nothing behind you.

There’s a reason why van drivers,
Lorry drivers, farmers are good at reversing. They use their wing mirrors

Driving instructors teach you how to pass a driving test, the real knowledge of how to actually drive comes mainly with the experience afterwards. Unfortunately too many people never leave their comfort zones (my sister is 35 and will still only use parking spaces she can drive straight in, and out of. If there aren't any she'll drive off) and therefore never learn much more than the basics. I still think rather than an exam learning to drive should be a gradual course with the driving instructor passing modules once they can see that you are doing them correctly repeatedly, rather than just a one hour judgement.

That’s a good idea nobhobs

We all love an easy space @nobhobs 😂 but I think you're right about it being a modular process.

And deffo agree practice using your mirrors to reverse, quiet carpark with clear lines will be good for that. I only ever use the rear window when backing up to hitch the trailer (with my cheat sticker to line up with the tow ball!). Once you get the hang of using your mirrors I bet you'll be a lot more confident at going backwards.

I like the idea of reversing (not just round a corner) to be in the driving test. There are so many times I've sat and waited for someone to dither about trying to reverse. I'm excellent at reversing due to living up a narrow track when learning to drive so I had to be able to reverse. It seems a skill a lot of people don't have, due to the things the test tests.

Oh god yes this. We live down a single track road (a rough one at that!!) which has a livery yard half way down it. The number of times I’ve come down it to be greeted by a near head on collision with someone driving their sodding horsebox far too fast is ridiculous. That lane may well be signposted as National Speed Limit but it is absolutely not suitable for doing that speed on in a car never mind a bloody horsebox with Christ knows how many tonne of animal in the back. Aside from the collision aspect it horrified me that they treat their horses like it- I like to give mine a comfy ride not an Alton Towers experience! And the people that can’t reverse are worse- there’s one woman from said livery yard who absolutely cannot reverse for the life of her. Now I could understand it if it weren’t her usual car or she wasn’t used to the road, but she’s had her horses there years and has been driving the same car the entire time. She is just really terrible. I’m talking almost ending up in a ditch for reversing literally a car’s length back. It’s painful to watch so I mostly just go back the several hundred yards as it’s just quicker and far less likely to require me to ring my husband to fetch the tractor and a rope.

And don’t even get me started on the 4x4s that are seemingly allergic to mud. I’m expected to go up a soft grass verge with a ditch in it in my focus but heaven forbid they might actually touch something that isn’t tarmac in their bloody Land Rover

My land rovers are always covered in mud. I don't mind going in the mud at all - but I don't appreciate townies in BMWs and Audis who think I should put it in a ditch so they don't have to go within 3 feet of their side of the road!