How To Carry Out A Reverse Corner To The Left
The object of this manoeuvre is to be able to co-ordinate the speed of the vehicle, the steering and reverse around a left corner safely and under control.
Speed – Clutch control is the skill you need to master to be able to carry out this manoeuvre at a suitable speed. You need to keep the speed slow throughout the whole of the reverse around a corner exercise. By now, you should fully understand how to get the car moving slowly using clutch control. Refresh your memory by looking at previous information in this manual.
Observations – Full Observations need to be carried out before and throughout this manoeuvre. Prepare the car to reverse and just before releasing your handbrake, check over your right shoulder, ahead, and all the way around over your left shoulder, finishing by looking out of the back window. Do not start to reverse if there is another vehicle or road user likely to be affected by your movement. Continue to look out of the back window throughout the whole of the manoeuvre with regular checks all round. Should another vehicle approach, momentarily pause and allow it to pass safely. Make full observations again before starting to reverse again. Before you turn the steering wheel left and start to move around the corner, make sure you check ahead and behind over your right shoulder. When you steer, at this point the front of the car will swing into the middle of the road. It is important you have made these checks to ensure the front of your car will not swing into a passing vehicle.
Accuracy; Phase 1 – Before reversing in a straight line, look out of the back window and understand your reference point. You should see the kerb ’slice’ through the middle of the back window by the base of the rear wiper. This is your starting point. Reverse back in a straight line until you get to the point where you need to start steering left around the corner. You will know where this is because the kerb will start to move along the back window to the right corner, by the tip of the wiper. This is your second reference point.
Phase 2 – The objective now is to reverse around the corner staying reasonably close to the kerb. To do this you will need to try and keep the kerb in the corner of the back window, by the tip of the wiper. Turn the wheel to the left enough to keep the kerb in the corner. It is likely that one of two things will happen:
The kerb will either disappear from the back window behind the pillar inside the car. If this happens it means you are going too wide and need to steer towards the kerb slightly, or the kerb will start to get bigger and move back towards the centre of the back window. This means you are getting too close to the kerb and need to steer away slightly.
You are likely to need to make these small adjustments to the steering as you go around the corner.
Phase 3 – The back wheel is now around the corner and all you need to do is reverse along the final straight part of the kerb in the new road. You should be able to see nothing but straight kerb in the corner of the back window. As you reverse into the new road the kerb should move from the corner back to the centre of the back window, where you first started. You may need to make slight adjustments with your steering wheel at this point and use your left door mirror to confirm if the gap between the side of the car and the kerb is reasonable.
Please Note: There are a number of different reference points you can use to carry out this manoeuvre. The above illustrates the most common form.
