Reversing Manoeuvre - Pull up on the right then reverse

The 4 Reversing Manoeuvres

Whilst on your driving test, you will be asked to perform one of four reversing manoeuvres. The pull up on the right side of the road, then reverse back is considered one of the easier ones, you just need to be extra vigilant and pick your moment when its safe to change road positions.

These instructions are if you are doing this manoeuvre in a 5 door Vauxhall Corsa and may vary slightly if practiced in another vehicle. Please note that most instructors have their own way of doing these manoeuvres.

Pull up on the right side of the road

1. There are several places where you could be asked to do this manoeuvre, one of the more common ones is either as you leave Llandegai Industrial estate or as you return. As you are probably aware it can be quite busy there so you will need to pick your moment.

2. The examiner will say something like "when it's safe to do so, I would like you to pull up on the right hand side of the road next to the kerb please".

3. So when it's safe and a good distance between you and any vehicles traveling towards you, do your mirror, mirror signal routine, making sure you check the blind spot over your right shoulder before you steer over to the right hand side of the road.

4. Don't put too much steering on as you move across otherwise you will go across at too steep an angle and you could hit the kerb. Steer the car so it becomes parallel with the kerb with a nice distance from the kerb, so that it is within a grids width, about 18 inches of the kerb.

5. When asked to do this, if you pull up on the right, where there are houses and drives, try to make sure you don't block someone's drive. Once you are happy with your position, stop apply the parking / hand brake and put the car in neutral making sure its safe.

6. The examiner will then ask you when it's safe to do so, reverse back a couple of cars length and stop. So start by doing a 6 point check, and when its safe to do so, when there are no cars traveling towards you from either direction start to reverse back really slowly about 1 or 2 miles per hour (mph)making sure you are still doing your effective observations. REMEMBER - if you see any pedestrians on the kerb next to you stop until they are away from you. Also if any vehicles or cyclists get within 2-3 car lengths of you then stop until they have gone.

7. Once you have reversed back a couple of car lengths, or the examiner might just say when it's ok to stop, apply your parking / hand brake and put the car in neutral.

8. The examiner will then say something like "when it's safe to do so, I would like you to move back over to the correct side of the road and follow the road ahead". So we're going to do our POM routine (prepare, observation, manoeuvre), get the car into first gear, find your bite and set your gas. On this occasion, because we are parked on the (wrong) side of the road, I like to put a signal on before we do our observations and move off.

9. Start you six point check from the right hand side on this occasion, because the last place you look, is where the danger could be coming from as you move off.

10. When it is safe to do so and only when it's safe you can move back over to the correct side of the road and follow the road ahead. Sometimes the traffic can be really busy, REMEMBER only go when you wont affect any other traffic, in Llandegai Industrial estate it can be quite busy and you may end up waiting a minute or more to move off, this is ok, you can ONLY go when it is safe to do so be patient!