Hello I'm Chris and in this video we're going to have a look at how to reverse park or parallel
park.
The object of this maneuver is to park behind a vehicle within the space of two car lengths
whilst looking out for other road users.
There are a variety of different methods to do this but I'm going to show you the easiest
and best one that I've seen. But, there is no perfect method and the method that you
learnt on your driving lesson might not work in your own car. So make sure that you use
your own judgement too, being ready to steer more if needed.
Towards the end of this video I'll also show you what to do if your parking is going wrong
and how to correct it.
We first need to make sure that it's safe to start. We'll have a good all round check,
including the blind spot and then signal if needed. We'll then drive alongside the car
that we're going to use, reasonably close to allow others to pass us, getting the left-hand
door mirror lined up with the back. Start with the front wheels straight. We will now
put it straight into reverse gear so that the white reverse lights come on behind, apply
the handbrake and then have a good all round check to make sure that it's safe to start.
Once you've checked the back window, we'll then slowly go back until the front of the
other car disappears into the door pillar of the passenger side. Now, sometimes the
other car might be facing the other way in which case you'd get the back of there car
disappearing into the door pillar. This is your point of turn.
Now we put the handbrake on and have another look round as the front is going to swing
out. Make sure that there is no other cyclists, pedestrians or other road users nearby and
then reverse back. I'd recommend steering it one whole turn to the left. Drive back
slowly. Eventually the kerb will appear in your left-hand door mirror and it will look
like it goes under the door handle, probably about an inch. Now, when it get's here, I'd
recommend giving it two whole turns to the right, this will bring your front in. Drive
slowly, but steer quickly.
Now bear in mind that you are going downhill because of the camber of the road, the car
might speed up, use your clutch control and brake.
During this maneuver make sure that you're constantly checking around, stopping if anybody
approaches.
Now once the front of the car is and it feels straight, we'll then give it one whole turn
to the left, driving the car slowly but steering quickly. Stopping once the front is in and
it feels straight.
That's called the 1-2-1 method, one to the left, two to the right and then one to left.
But, what would you do if it goes a bit wrong. Now this is where the left hand door mirror
will become quite useful, but be careful not to stare at it as the main place you should
be looking is the back window.
In the left hand door mirror I can see too much pavement, too much grass. Now because
of this I know that I'm going to hit the kerb so I'll steer more to the right to get away
from the kerb. Once I'm straight I'll then straighten the wheels back to the left.
That's what happens if you're going to hit the kerb but what happens if you're going
too far away from the kerb, too wide? Again in the left-hand door mirror I can see too
much road between me and the kerb, so I'll steer more to the left to get closer. Then
once I can see that I'm parallel with the kerb and straight I'll then straighten the
wheels back to the left.
What happens if it's still a disaster? Well don't worry as we have a back-up plan. Go
into first gear, make sure that it's safe all around and we'll go forward. I've gone
a bit wide so I'll bring it in, steering quickly but driving slowly, then steering right to
bring the back in and it's parked.
That's how you reverse park. We really hope this video has been useful, if it has then
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