Manoeuvres

Turn in the Road

Learning the turn in the road manoeuvre is a vital skill to master not only for the Driving test but beyond, as most full licence holders use this manoeuvre in their everyday driving. There are several ways of doing this manoeuvre and you can discuss further with your Echo Driving Instructor during your practical driving lessons.

In the mean time we have given one example of how to do the turn in the road.

Step 1: Use the POM routine

Prepare: into first gear, little gas, find biting point, keep feet still.

Observations: Make sure you take a 360 degree all round observations before the car moves, wait for any traffic to pass.

Move: Release hand break, steer briskly to the right until you have a full lock, making sure your speed is slow so that you can prepare to break on opposite side of the road. As you near about 1 metre from the opposite side of the road steer briskly to the left covering your breaks and make the car stop. Hand break on

Step 2:

Prepare: into reverse gear, little gas, find biting point, keep feet still.

Observations: Make sure you take a 360 degree all round observations before the car moves backwards and look mainly over your left shoulder, wait for any traffic to pass and if safe to do so….

Move: Release hand break, steer briskly to the left until you have a full lock, making sure your speed is slow so that you can prepare to break on opposite side of the road. As you near about 1 metre from the opposite side of the road steer briskly to the right covering your breaks and make the car stop. Hand break on

Step 3:

Prepare: into first gear, little gas, find biting point, keep feet still.

Observations: Make sure you take a 360 degree all round observations before the car moves, wait for any traffic to pass.

Move: Release hand break, steer right until you are in your normal driving position (1 metre from the kerb or parked cars), if it is safe gently give gas moving away.

Aurthor: Echo Driving School Tooting, Streatham, Balham

The Reverse parking Manoeuvre.

Hi all hope my write ups on manoeuvres are helping you remember your reference points so that when you are in the car with your Echo driving instructor you can ask him to clarify anything you do not understand. Also remember that the example below is only one way of doing the reverse parking manoeuvre and there are numerous ways of doing the manoeuvre.

The reverse parking manoeuvre will be used many time once you have achieved your goal of getting a full driving licence, so make sure that you get plenty of practice with your driving instructor and ask as many questions as you want if you do not understand.

Start the manoeuvre by stopping the vehicle a short distance from your target vehicle, and a little ahead of it (about a metre from the target vehicle). Don't forget to use MSM routine as you stop the car and give a left signal if it will benefit say another car that is behind you.

You will then prepare the car to move backwards, using POM, but selecting reverse gear.

Now, for a very common error committed on this manoeuvre by learners is the observation fault. The fault is that you must look back, out of the rear windscreen, before the wheels of the car turn even one inch.

You would not want to set off forward without looking in the direction of travel so do not move backwards whilst looking in the front direction. This is almost always a serious error, as it could potentially be very dangerous. Whilst on the move, do not, under any circumstances, rely solely on the mirrors for your vision to the rear. You must actually look to the rear for the majority of the manoeuvre.

Once your car reaches the 'point of turn' (your car door-pillar is aligned with the door-pillar of the target vehicle), you will start to steer one full turn to the left, you must take effective observation ahead of you for oncoming traffic, over your right shoulder and offside (right) door mirror before turning the steering wheel to the slightest degree. This is because, as soon as you start the turn, the front of the car will 'swing' out into the path of any other vehicles or pedestrians on the road.

As you see the door mirror of your car line up with the back of the other car, steer one full turn to the right still taking effective observation and stopping for any traffic you see. The final reference point is when the edge of the kerb disappears from you left wing mirror, as this happens you will need to steer to a full lock in the right direction. When you car is almost parallel with the kerb straighten up your steering and stop the car leaving room for you to pull away.

The manoeuvre must be completed with you in full and absolute control, regardless of the incline or how tight or busy the road may be. If your car is capable, you may find performing the manoeuvre with no gas to be far easier and smoother.

Reverse around a corner:

The reverse around a corner is the least popular manoeuvre out of all the manoeuvres. Leaner drivers find this exercise to be difficult due to a number of reasons. For example, due to the fact that every corner is different and there is no set amount of steering that a instructor can advise, one needs to steer as much as needed depending on the corner using your own judgement.

In your practical driving test you need to make sure that you can do this manoeuvre under full control, with due regard for other road users taking effective all round observations. During your practical driving test your examiner will ask you to pull up just before a side road on the left and point out the side road and ask you to reverse into it.

Once you understand what is required from you, you can perform this manoeuvre with easy. Start the manoeuvre by driving past the selected side road, checking for any obstructions such as parked cars or any children playing that could make your manoeuvre unsafe. Also don’t forget to look at the corner, this will allow you to judge how sharp or swallow the corner is.

Use the MSM (mirror signal manoeuvre) routine pull up about two car length from the corner and don’t forget to only signal left after you have passed the road, remember that the sharper the corner the further out you will need to be. Once stopped apply the handbrake and select neutral. Turn slightly into your seat, this allows you control the car more easy. Also you may remove your seatbelt if you feel restricted but REMEMBER you MUST put it back on before you drive off.

Select reverse gear and set the gas to a steady hum then bring the clutch pedal to the biting point and make an around observation. Keep the clutch pedal near the biting point lowering it as required depending on the incline or decline of the road. Try to keep the car moving very slowly (say an old person walking pace) this can be achieved with tight clutch control.

Remember as the car moves slowly backwards keep looking out of the rear window and as you see the edge of the kerb disappear from your left wing mirror; pause for a moment to have a look around for other road users as at this point the front of your car will begin to swing out into the road, this can potentially be the greatest hazard to other road users. Leave the right blind spot to last before you move again. If there are other road users wait until they pass as you should not cause them to slow down, stop or swerve before you complete your turn around the corner itself.

As a general guide you should be able to follow the kerb as it disappears from view in the back window and reappears in the side window. The amount of steering required will depends on how sharp the corner is.

If you see that there is a car coming from the road you are turning into, start by stopping the manoeuvre, let them make the decision to proceed or wait. If the other car decides to go wait until they have passed you or if they decide to wait behind you there may be little choice other than to go back round to your starting position..

Keep checking all around as you complete the manoeuvre, keep steering to the left until you see that the car has straight in the new road. Keep looking well down the road through the middle of the rear window. This will help you judge whether the car is parallel with the kerb. Glance in your nearside door mirror before you stop to check you are happy with your finish position.

Make sure you finish your reverse in a safe place about 2 to 3 car lengths from the junction to allow other road users to use it safely.

Remember:
Keep on the lookout all the time for other road users particularly pedestrians about to cross behind your car and vehicles approaching from any direction. If a pedestrian is walking near the junction stop and wait for them to reach safety on the other side before you continue moving.

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Manoeuvres