Locally we have a fair number of bridges over river, canal or railway that were built for the occasional horse and cart. Motor vehicles need to treat them as single track and use turn and turn about. None are busy enough for this to be a real issue, just approach with caution and creep/peep until you can see your way through.
Approaching this one goo.gl/maps/mPFi2 yesterday, roughly where the streetview camera is, to find two numpties had met in the middle. No contact but one the one headed in my direction, a Kia MPV, needed to reverse off. I pulled back as far as I could to make space - the Kia just needed to go straight back then 'wiggle' to nearside.
He/she just couldn't do it!! Ended up almost alongside me on wrong side of the road. Eventually driver managed to pull forward again and allow enough space for bridge to clear. I thought he was going to clobber the parapet though.
Another in same vein....
Early in spring I ran an event at a Youth Hostel with limited car parking. A long deep bay into which cars should park alongside each other, ideally reversing in. Wanted to get visitors cars as close together as possible - just enough space for doors to open - to maximise capacity.
One lady, mid forties I'd guess, and driving for years needed me to stand alongside and explain which way to turn wheel and when.
How common is this?
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 13 Jun 15 at 10:43
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Too common, unfortunately low speed manoeuvring is a skill that many do not have. Is there anyone who has not collected a car park ding? I do not expect anyone to admit to causing one with creative parking. :-)
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That is a regular occurrence down here with lots of single track roads. Often it is quicker for me to reverse the longer distance myself than to wait for some old dear to wander from hedge to hedge during the five minutes it takes her to back up 20 yards.
The only time I flatly refused to budge was when I met a caravan tower on a single track. I sat there with the classic "Look of dumb insolence" while he reversed the 100 yards or so back to the start of the lane to make room.
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>> The only time I flatly refused to budge was when I met a caravan tower
>> on a single track. I sat there with the classic "Look of dumb insolence" while
>> he reversed the 100 yards or so back to the start of the lane to
>> make room.
>>
I remember reading about a similar incident. A chap refused to back up as the passing point was a fair way back, a young lady in a Mini only had to reverse about 20 yards. She refused, so did he. After several minutes, she got out shouted she couldn't do it, locked the car up and stormed off! Be careful who you back into a corner ;-)
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>>
The only time I flatly refused to budge was when I met a caravan tower on a single track. I sat there with the classic "Look of dumb insolence" while he reversed the 100 yards or so back to the start of the lane to make room. <<
Why on earth would you do that?
We have at least 5 miles of single track to go down with the caravan on to get to the site and thankfully we all behave like adults and give way to the 'larger vehicle'.
When two 'caravan towers' meet whoever is nearest to the passing place backs up without a problem.
Didn't you used to be a driving instructor R O'r?
Pat
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>> Why on earth would you do that?
I thought that too. I'm still at the stage where, while I can reverse the outfit, I struggle a bit. Particularly with curves.
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>> >> Why on earth would you do that?
>>
>> I thought that too. I'm still at the stage where, while I can reverse the
>> outfit, I struggle a bit. Particularly with curves.
>>
Try practising the reverse from the C+E test, that's a good bit practice. Bit difficult to explain. Best googled.
www.ohto.co.uk/html/towing_test.html
Picture at the bottom, if you need a bit of practice that's a good place to start.
Last edited by: sooty123 on Sat 13 Jun 15 at 12:22
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We did the Caravan Club's beginner's course, which included that manoeuvre and the 90 degree turn typical of getting onto a pitch, before taking delivery of the 'van.
Keep saying we'll take the outfit onto the Community Centre car park and practice but need 'van at home with both of us AND nothing going on.
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If someone did that to me (I used to own a Hymer) I would turn the engine off, get in the back, make a cup of tea, and put my feet up.
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>> If someone did that to me (I used to own a Hymer) I would turn
>> the engine off, get in the back, make a cup of tea, and put my
>> feet up.
>>
Good job you didn't meet someone with similar facilities ;-)
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>>Good job you didn't meet someone with similar facilities ;-)
What, like Catwoman ;-)
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>> The only time I flatly refused to budge was when I met a caravan tower
>> on a single track. I sat there with the classic "Look of dumb insolence" while
>> he reversed the 100 yards or so back to the start of the lane to
>> make room.
Why would you be so nasty? He probably got down there accidentally. Try as I do to avoid them, it has happened to me once - it wasn't apparent it was single track when I turned into it.
I can reverse a trailer in general but hate reversing the caravan because it is impossible to see directly behind. I have tried getting the boss to look out for me but the communication breaks down almost immediately!
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>> The only time I flatly refused to budge was when I met a caravan tower
>> on a single track...
Why be so difficult?
I try to avoid single track roads when towing, but sometimes it cannot be helped. I go out of my way to help others, not just those whose lifestyles I agree with. Sad that you feel such venom.
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>>when I met a caravan tower
Its sad, but honestly true; I have spent some hours pondering over what a "caravan tower" is or was.
It has just clicked as I sit here that its "tower" as in "a person towing", not as in "the tall bit of a castle".
I think I need to lie down. Its the shock of AC drifting back in that's thrown me.
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>> >>when I met a caravan tower
>>
>> Its sad, but honestly true; I have spent some hours pondering over what a "caravan tower" is or was.
>>
>> It has just clicked as I sit here that its "tower" as in "a person towing", not as in "the tall bit of a castle".
>>
>> I think I need to lie down. Its the shock of AC drifting back in that's thrown me.
>>
Here is a further shock.
Here is a caravan tower
redneckstupid.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/redneck-mansion-1.jpg
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Yeee-haaa! Reminds me of one of these.
www.rotastaklayouts.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/P2030275.jpg
Handy little modules for dimwitted creatures to eat and sleep in. Also available for hamsters.
};---)
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and use turn and turn about.
Never heard that phrase before, what does it mean?
>> How common is this?
>>
Probably very, many people just don't get the practise at reversing, so it's difficult to reverse when you don't do it often.
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>> and use turn and turn about.
>>
>> Never heard that phrase before, what does it mean?
Take turns.
Four or five cars go through towards town then that direction stops to wait for those coming the other way.
Only necessary at peak times.
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>> Take turns.
>>
>> Four or five cars go through towards town then that direction stops to wait for
>> those coming the other way.
>>
>> Only necessary at peak times.
>>
Thanks, is that phrase local to your area?
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>> Thanks, is that phrase local to your area?
Not local to here. Might be Yorkshire?
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>> Not local to here. Might be Yorkshire?
>>
I don't think it's from Yorkshire. I've never heard it spoke there.
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>> I don't think it's from Yorkshire. I've never heard it spoke there.
Cannot think where I've picked it up. Suggested Yorkshire 'cos I was born and raised round Leeds.
Lived in Northamptonshire for last quarter century but I don't think it's here. Maybe Mrs B via her upbringing or parentage but that's a pretty eclectic mix.....
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These days I'd either sit tight or say, "I'll reverse your car" but I once met a car in narrow lane where he (it was a bloke too) was less than 20 yards from a passing place and indeed had he been a bit sharper on the brakes, might even have stopped in.
Insisted he could not reverse due to a neck condition and made me reverse about 1/4 mile back down a twisty single track road in the dark. I was only able to do it at all because my passenger held my inspection lamp as a makeshift headlight.
The Morgan trike of course doesn't have a reverse gear, but you get adept at not needing one and other than stupidity on the part of other road users, not a problem.
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>> Insisted he could not reverse due to a neck condition.......
What do necks have to do with reversing? Mirrors are not fitted for decoration or makeup application.
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>>Mirrors are not fitted for decoration or makeup application.
Is that right? .. well, I learn something new from this for rum every day.
:o}
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>>
>> What do necks have to do with reversing? Mirrors are not fitted for decoration or
>> makeup application.
>>
I've never used mirrors for reversing. I just turn round in my seat and then steer with one hand while looking backwards through the rear window.
You can't see the road straight behind the car with mirrors, but twisting round makes reversing as easy as driving forwards.
Using mirrors is painfully slow.
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I disagree.
I always use mirrors for reversing and even on a car, if set up properly, you can see all of the area you need to see.
Pat
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>>I always use mirrors for reversing and even on a car
Me too. In fact I cannot offhand think of any time when I do look over my shoulder to reverse.
I rather suspect that it comes from having driven vehicles where you simply couldn't see by looking over your shoulder.
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I do use mirrors for reversing, but it was not until I became a regular driver of a Mercedes 308 van did anything I drove really have decent mirrors. Of course you have to know what is behind you, but I could reverse into a car parking space with more aplomb than most cars. And for that matter, my driveway as well.
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My last car had reversing sensors and I got very used to reversing using the mirrors and my ears for the beeps.
My current car , as well as having sensors also has a rear view camera but the few times I have tried reversing using it I have made a hash of it. It is just alien to me to have my eyes focussed on a screen on my dashboard whilst I travel back so I stick to using the mirrors and listening to the beeps.
Having said all that, I am a guy so if I am reversing up against something like the wall, or another car in our crowded car park, I do use the screen for that last few inches to get as close as possible to the obstacle without touching it. It keeps me amused anyway!
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>>
>> I rather suspect that it comes from having driven vehicles where you simply couldn't see
>> by looking over your shoulder.
>>
Yes, obviously for reversing a van or lorry mirrors are absolutely indespensible.
But can you drive a car fast in reverse round an obstacle course just with mirrors?
I often encounter people on our local lanes who reverse very cautiously - accurately but slowly, to the passing place. I find usually it's quicker to zoom back by my method than wait for them.
Perhaps I'm built oddly. I don't look over my shoulder - I twist through nearly 180 degrees so that I'm facing the back of the car.
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>>But can you drive a car fast in reverse round an obstacle course just with mirrors?
*I* can drive in reverse with my mirrors as if not more *accurately* than *I* can with looking back.
However, going by some Top Gear / Fifth Gear / Mike Brewer / Mark Evans thing I saw a few years ago, the real experts can do it *faster* looking back.
But I wasn't looking for fast, and I can't do it anyway.
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The fastest method for me is looking through the back window, but mirrors are necessary for gateposts etc.
Caught my wife out though, about 30 years ago. I bought a Saab 96 for her use and she followed her usual routine of reversing into our driveway, looking in the mirror to line up the side of the car parallel to the wall that bordered the property.
The Saab 96 tapers towards the rear, so when the body is parallel to the wall, the car is aimed at the wall. She hit it.
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Fast and reversing is a combination to avoid I would have thought.
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>> Fast and reversing is a combination to avoid I would have thought.
It's difficult to reverse fast, and there are risks to do with the steering. If you release the wheel the steering will snap over to full lock and something stupid can happen.
When younger I used t turn round and look back, but I'm getting too old and stiff for that now. Softly softly, using all the mirrors, works a treat.
People round here are usually polite and show some form of acknowledgement when it's your turn to do the reversing. Such occasions are usually obvious, but sometimes a competent driver needs to give way to a hopeless faffing one. Easier for everyone.
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>> But can you drive a car fast in reverse round an obstacle course just with
>> mirrors?
not sure that need had ever popped up?
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>>But can you drive a car fast in reverse round an obstacle course just with mirrors?
As quickly as I want to, thank you. Going backwards too quickly is silly. You have to keep an eye on the forwards bit as well as the backwards bit, so if you've turned round to look out of the back window you can't.
I once hit a pillar in a multi-storey carpark on account of looking over my shoulder. It was quite clear behind; not in front. Haven't made that mistake since.
And I love reversing trailers. I've only towed things a handful of times, I don't get why people can't do it.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Mon 29 Jun 15 at 10:41
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>>
>> Cannot think where I've picked it up. Suggested Yorkshire 'cos I was born and raised
>> round Leeds.
>>
Sounds quite a normal if not particularly common useage to me.
Goes with Buggin's turn, Hobson's choice, Shanks's pony, etc. Just part of the rich vocabularly of Merrie England.
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>> Sounds quite a normal if not particularly common useage to me.
What, 'turn and turn about'? Very common usage from way back, almost a cliché but not quite.
Being crap at reversing is another thing. No good, that. You have to shape up and concentrate a bit.
Just a bit, no need to panic. But FFS don't hesitate for too long right in the middle of the soddin fairway, do us all a favour awrigh'?
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People have to practice if they are scared to reverse a car.The obvious answer I suppose but what else?
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Very common, in our experience. Lots of single-track roads rounds here, but that doesn't seem to translate into reversing ability. Isn't reversing around a corner part of the driving test any more?
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I was blocked once by a lady in a nice new Mini, who had just passed the passing place and couldn't manage to reverse back to it (the nearest passing place behind me was a long way back round a couple of kinks and curves).
I offered politely to do it for her. She accepted with relief, I moved her car, problem over.
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Each week I travel to our local Bee Keeping Association Apiary.. along single track roads with passing places. it's a lovely 6 miles -- over undulating ridges and valleys with high hedges so you depend on the person going down the hill to see you in advance and either stop in a passing place, or reverse into one.. or if worst comes, go onto the verge in a passing place.
My observations:
4x4 drivers cannot or will not reverse.
Drivers of new 4x4s will NOT mount the verge ..(how stupid is that?)
Drivers of the odd Mercedes cannot reverse.
The odd horse drivers are never an issue: they do go onto the verge :-) and always stop.. but never reverse.
Of course, at times to find a passing space you may have to reverse 300 meters round several blind corners ...
Fortunately the road is too narrow for really big 4x4s like Range Rovers to come along - they would likely get stuck having seen the incompetence of most 4x4 drivers..
The Jazz with auto and parking sensors is easy to reverse.. even up hills...
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No-can be but depends on examiner.
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Also,a lot of people reverse but forget front of car sticks out when you do.
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I drive a small van in the small lanes of South Devon.
My observations:
1, ladies of a certain age will not / can not reverse
2, holiday makers will not allow their cars within 1 foot of a hedge*
* definition of hedge in this context is any kind of strand poking out from a hedge.
It is far quicker to just reverse yourself, anything else is just painful to watch.
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>> It is far quicker to just reverse yourself, anything else is just painful to watch.
>>
On the contrary, it's wonderfully entertaining if you're not in a hurry. I always allow an extra half hour if I'm delivering on the Gower peninsula during holiday season, safe in the knowledge that I will encounter several car-loads of tourists who manage a passable imitation of a pinball machine during their efforts to reverse their car any more than five yards, especially if there's anything like a gradient involved.
If they take too long about it I make a show of picking up a magazine from the lorry's bunk behind my seat, and pretending to read it whilst watching their antics.
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>> If they take too long about it I make a show of picking up a magazine from the lorry's bunk behind my seat, and pretending to read it whilst watching their antics.
You're an evil cat Hogman... how many mute inglorious people in a hurry without blues and twos, how many precarious careers on the line? They can hang on something like that you know. Calling for a lot of very fast talking.
I'm often in a hurry, or think I am. Doesn't often really matter though.
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>> You're an evil cat Hogman... how many mute inglorious people in a hurry without blues
>> and twos, how many precarious careers on the line? They can hang on something like
>> that you know. Calling for a lot of very fast talking.
>>
Down the Gower, the non-natives are either tourists or retired. Neither, therefore, should be in any rush to get to their destination, since they've got all day to do it; and by my observations, that's often just as well.
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"I'm often in a hurry, or think I am. Doesn't often really matter though."
I'm as guilty as anyone of wanting to get past the car in front, but here on the Isle of Wight (which has about one mile of dual carriageway and loads of 'traffic calming') there are precious few opportunities, and you just know that the Nissan Micra you passed ten minutes ago is going to putter up behind you at the next set of traffic lights. I try to keep this in mind at such times:
Three facts, quite easy
Should be known to all
Would-be arrivers
Who set out on wheels
That roads are greasy
Safety margins small
And fellow drivers
Fellow imbeciles.
Piet Hein
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>> If they take too long about it I make a show of picking up a magazine from the lorry's bunk behind my seat, and pretending to read it whilst watching their antics.
You and Robin O'Reliant would get on well together.
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Oh, I don't do it every time. Down this end of Wales you always tell the natives by their ability to reverse and also by their habit of not using indicators until after they've completed a turn, or at the least when they're half-way through it.
I don't actually mind reversing myself to make the car driver's lot easier, even if sometimes it means me backing up further than they would've had to; but many of them simply make life difficult for themselves, very few seem to have any sense of spatial awareness and simply do not know how big (or small) their car is.
How some managed to get anywhere near driving test standard is beyond me; modern exterior mirrors are huge compared to older designs but very few car drivers actually have the nous to use them whilst reversing rather than performing ridiculous contortions to try and see past Aunty Elsie in the back seat.
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It's okay Harleyman, I used to drive small stuff such as Bedford TK's, Leyland Terrier's and Ford Custom Cabs, so I have some idea what it's like to be on the road 5 days a week.
I live in Cornwall now as you know, so have had 16 years of fun and games down narrow lanes.
My ole mate Don had the right idea I reckon. If he met another car coming towards him in a narrow lane, he would reverse his old battered Volvo 740 back about 20' pulling close into the hedge.
The oncoming driver would take one look at Don's car, and the narrow gap being offered to him, and then he would take the sensible option and reverse back as far as was required :)
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A lot of drivers' skills and ability are just going backwards more and more these days.....:-(
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>> It's okay Harleyman, I used to drive small stuff such as Bedford TK's, Leyland Terrier's
>> and Ford Custom Cabs, so I have some idea what it's like to be on
>> the road 5 days a week.
>>
Cut my teeth on those old monsters when I first came out of the Army; remember being really impressed with the Leyland as it had a radio! Mandraulic steering of course and brakes that wouldn't stop a clock.
Like your mate's style; used to employ my old GMC pickup to the same effect, it even frightened farmers in Land-Rovers into reversing faster than they were driving forwards.
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Drivers Who Cannot Reverse - Old Navy
