Did I have enough space to reverse

[YourJadeSquid]

Big white van was parked where the green dots are. I was parked where the red dots were.

I was trying to reverse but I couldn't. Van driver moved a little but then said I had enough room to get out. I honestly don't know if I'm just a bad driver or I needed that much space. He ended up moving and I got out.

Plenty of room. Might have to do a three point turn but that's normal.

Could you have pulled out the other way and turned around further up? I've done that before rather than struggle.

If it was parked on the pavement and not obstructing the road then how was it preventing you from reversing?

It's better for the car too , if you start and go into first gear.
When I did visits , I always reversed in , had to put bags on the back seat sometimes . Much safer to make a quick exit if need be

There is a lot of space to reverse in that image, even if the van was slightly on the road.

If you had reversing camera's then even better as you can really 'see' the amount of space behind you and use less moves to get out.

As PP said though, much better to reverse in where possible as driving out you can see everything and incoming traffic.

I was wondering that.

If you need to take up 3 spaces you’re definitely a poor parker.

Was any of the van parked off the edge of the green dots e.g. onto the road itself? The dots as you have them look quite narrow for a large van. If so I can see that might affect you getting out.

Whether it’s easier or not is down to personal preference really. But it doesn’t change the length of the car or the swing it needs so doesn’t affect the space needed.
From that picture there’s acres of space. At worst you might have to reverse and then move forward and reverse again, but it doesn’t look like that would be necessary.

It’s the steering that matters, not the size of the car. In a car with front wheel steering you can manoeuvre better driving out of the space than reversing out, which means you need less space to turn.

If you reverse out then you have to get nearly the full length of the car out of the space before you can start to turn.

If you turn sharply coming out forwards you’ll scrape the car next to you too.

Yes, enough room - it's nearly 2 lanes worth by the pic!!
And reverse parking is easier and it most certainly makes life easier when it comes to leaving again. I always reverse park.

oh dear.

Book a driving lesson to learn how and when to reverse park. Of course it makes a difference

The visibility is the importance of reversing in. When you reverse into a space, the chances of a child being in that space are slim, so when you go out forwards you have full visibility. But reversing out, your chances of seeing a toddler are slim. I know you have parking sensors but they are not 100% reliable 100% of the time, so I prefer to rely on my own eyes.

ETA looks like plenty of room to me. Maybe practice reverse parking in a quiet area of a car park to get your confidence up.

I really don't understand your diagram, you've marked as being in 3 spaces but you needed to reverse out so can't have been in a long vehicle parked sideways across them all?

And the green dots aren't even on the road, how would you get out of any other parking space - like in a supermarket with cars parked in the spaces the other side of the road, or if there was a wall there?

There is space but I can see why you were concerned. It wouldn’t have looked like as much space over the bonnet of a large car and having anything blocking your vision can be nerve wracking

Depends on the size of your car and what direction you were reversing. Was the van over the single dash lines too? If not you should be able to reverse to your left toward the open gap and turn right. Reversing right would be tight especially with a big car.

Well yes, obviously 🙄

But you can start the turn sooner than if you are reversing out. Try it if you don’t believe me!

Looks like loads of space tbh

Depends, were there cars parked either side of you?

Enough space but a bit tight for my liking

Yes that is plenty of space. Turquoise shows path as you turn out, going nowhere near where the van was. In the event that you felt you were getting too close it would be fine to do a little shuffle backwards when you got to a 45° angle to get a bit more space. No problem. You would have felt more confident doing so and had less worries about what the corners of your vehicle were if you'd reversed in in the first place. Sensible drivers always reverse into parking spaces because it is always easier to maneuver out forwards rather than backwards. Unconfident drivers who shouldn't really be on the roads prefer to go into a space forwards and hope that nothing will happen to make skillfull maneuvering or a clear view necessary.

Missed out image

Looks enough, reverse park if its an issue.

Even if the van was fully occupying the opposite ‘lane’, there is plenty of room to reverse out.

As PP said, it's too with the pivot point of the car which is different for front wheel ir rear wheel drive cars. In a front wheel drive, manoeuvrability into tight spaces is better in reverse because the turning motion us generated by the front wheels. When driving forwards out of a bay in a fwd you can start to turn sooner than when reversing out.

OP, I used to get into a lot of situations like this and I would struggle to reverse out - either two large vehicles were now next to me, or something like what you describe. I find it hard to assess distances and always thought I was nearer than I was. Sometimes someone would guide me out if I needed it.

At some point it clicked that it's sensible to reverse into the bay, even though I still find it tricky - ultimately it's less stressful and safer than having the reverse out. Like you I didn't get why it was easier, until I did! Now I reverse in as much as possible, as a precaution, and for practice.

Also, parking sensors at the front and back - very good for confidence.