Reverse Bay Parking

How to deal with Reverse Bay Parking

There are many benefits to reversing into a parking bay.  For starters, reversing into a space is far easier than you might think and it takes up less room than driving in forward.   Plus, you can drive straight out again rather than having to reverse out, which can be dangerous.

Follow our step-by-step guide below on how to safely reverse into a parking bay:

1. Reversing to the right (or left). Give yourself plenty of space between you and the bays. Getting too close can make it more difficult.

2. First position – using full effective all round observations, position your car where there is a white line, marking the bays, adjacent to your central doorpost, at right angles. This is line number 1. Count back to the third space from that line. This is your target space, number 3.

3. Make your observations and start reversing (using clutch and brake control to keep slow). At the same time steer fully to the right (or left), carefully monitor your progress, allowing the rear end of the car to point towards the chosen bay, meanwhile, the front end will swing out.

4. You should see a white line in each side mirror. Adjust the steering to ensure the rear wheels pass into the third space. For ease, you may open your window and look out and down, to help you get between the lines.

5. Checking around for road users, carefully straighten the steering wheel and slowly reverse into the bay. As you approach the rear of the bay, look back over your right shoulder and make sure you don’t over shoot. There is often a wall, or another car behind you.

6. If you don’t get it right first time, don’t worry, safely pull forward out of the space, adjust your position, and reverse into the bay, hopefully this time between the lines. It is quite acceptable on test to make some forward adjustment, provided it is not overly repeated, or takes too much time.

7. There are other methods of reversing into a space. If the car park is quite small and space is limited, you may have to do a mini 3-point turn to allow you to get into a space. First, approach your chosen space, and, drive away from it, either at a 45-degree slant, or directly across and into the opposite space. Then reverse back into the space. This is often more practical, as steering is done in first gear. Practice in a quite car park, keep away from other vehicles, and try them all. When you have mastered this, try reversing in between two parked cars.

To watch a detailed video tutorial on how to complete the reverse bay parking manoeuvre plus and additional 50 further videos covering everything that you could be asked to perform in your driving test visit Driving Test Success Online.