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I want to talk to you about Reverse Parking. Or as it's also called, Reverse
Bay Parking, Stall Parking or 90-Degree Reverse Parking. But all it really is, is
backing into a parking space.
So to start with, find an empty section of a parking
lot to practice in. Then start driving slowly down a row of spots and pick out
one ahead to back into.
As you're driving, leave at least three feet, or about a
meter, between the side of your vehicle and the front of the parking spots on
the side you're going to park in.
I would say more like even five feet if the
spacing allows it.
I'm going to park in one on the right side so I'm going to
put my right turn signal on to get other drivers attention and let them know what
I'm about to do.
Slow down to a crawl as you get close to the spot you picked.
That's the spot I'm going to back into.
It's marked on either side. And right next
to it, those cones mark the spot where someone else might be parked on that
side of me. The cones are good to have to practice with, but you don't have to buy cones.
You can just get some cardboard boxes and set those on the ground so
you'll know where the edges of the parking spot are.
And if you back into
them while you're practicing, no harm done, and you just know you need to pick
a different starting point the next time.
What you're going to do now is line a
part of your vehicle up with an outside reference point.
You're looking for the
reference point where you will start your backing from.
I'll show you where
that reference point is for this car and that will help you find where that point
is for your vehicle.
Because the point from which you start your backing can
vary slightly depending on the size and the turning radius of your vehicle.
But this will give you a starting point to work with.
I pull up past my spot and
move slowly forward. And then I stop when I can look out the passenger-side rear
window and see the closest line in my parking spot lined up in the bottom
right hand corner of that window.
From the outside, this is what the position of
my vehicle looks like in relation to the spot I want to park in.
This is the
second spot away from my spot where I'm going to park.
You can see that my front
wheels are pretty close to the second line of that spot, and the second line of
that spot roughly intersects where my steering wheel is.
Once you've lined your
vehicle up with the reference point that works for you, you're almost ready to
start backing, but not quite.
Because first, you have to carefully check the
area all around your vehicle for other traffic or pedestrians.
Check over your
shoulder, check your left and right mirrors, check your rear-view mirror,
check your backup camera if you have one, just to be sure the area is safe for you
to start backing.
And the rule of thumb about which way to turn your steering
wheel when you're backing is:
if your parking spot is on the right, you turn
your steering wheel all the way to the right.
And if your parking spot is on the
left of you, turn your steering wheel all the way to the left, and lock it there as
you're backing.
After you've checked all around and you know the area is safe,
put your foot on the brake, put your vehicle in reverse and you're going to
start backing.
And as soon as you start moving, turn that steering wheel all the
way to the right, and lock it there.
And just start backing. Back up slowly and
keep checking around you as you back.
I've got my wheel cranked all the way to the
right. I'm holding it there.
And I'm backing in between the cones into my parking spot.
Continue backing, and the rear end of your vehicle will swing
around into the parking spot.
As you're backing into the stall, the front of your
vehicle will start to straighten out.
And when it looks like it's starting to
point straight ahead, turn the steering wheel back to center
so you're backing straight into the spot.
You can kind of judge that by looking
straight ahead at another stall that's lined up with yours and going by those lines.
And if the parking spot is on your left, you'll need to find a reference
point for that too.
In my car, when I'm in the driver's seat looking left, I look
like I'm just about centered in that second spot past my parking spot.
Then I can turn my wheel all the way to the left and start backing.
I did this
with a smaller vehicle too, and found that the reference points for it were
slightly different than from my vehicle. They were close, but not quite the same.
That's the point of practice.
But what do your reference points look like when
there are other cars parked in the spots next to yours?
If the spot you're going
to back into is on your left, your reference point really remains the same.
You can see well enough out of your left side window that you can line up with
the middle of the second spot after yours.
If the parking spot you're backing
into is on your right side, then you do need a new reference point because
there'll be a car or truck blocking your view of the lines of the parking stall
on the pavement.
For my car I pull past the spot I'm going to park in until the
middle of the vehicle that's next to my spot is in that lower right hand corner
of my rear passenger-side window.
In an actual situation where you're backing
into a spot, and you see that you're going to be a little bit off from where
you would like to be to get right into the middle of that parking spot,
make some slight corrections to the path of your vehicle.
If you see you're going to
cut it a little bit short, turn your steering wheel a little bit back towards center.
That'll kind of straighten out your path as you're backing, and as you
make that correction for a few feet, then turn it back to the right again to
continue your backing turn.
If you see that you're going too wide and you're
going to overshoot your spot, put it in Drive and go forward a little bit to the
left to cut down on that angle. Then put it in reverse,
turn your wheel back to the right, and continue backing.
I've shown you the
reference points that work for my car, so go out and practice and find the
reference points that work for you.
Thanks for watching, and I hope this
helps somebody.
Take care and drive safe!
