Manoeuvres: Step 7 - Reverse Left
This exercise is no longer included in ADI Part Two, however, it's important that you are able to do it correctly and safely as it is still in the DVSA driving syllabus. Remember that teaching people to drive is not simply teaching the things that they have to do for test - the skills required for this manoeuvre are found in lots of everyday driving situations.
Another good reason for practising this manoeuvre is that the observation and control skills are much the same as the test manoeuvres - varied manoeuvring practise will help to make your skills, especially the key observation skills, habitual.
Our advice to instructors is that this manoeuvre, along with the right reverse and turn-in-the-road are taught near the end of a course of lessons to add variety for test standard learners. Lessons should not only include the required skills, but also information about when and where the manoeuvres are appropriate and the better alternatives that could be taken.
At the time of writing this in 2018 we already know of one 'L' test that would not have been able to continue and would have been abandoned by the examiner if the driver had not been able to turn the car around when the route ahead was blocked - the driver passed!
The key issues for this manoeuvre are:
Although this video refers to a side road, the same general advice relates to any opening that you intend to reverse into, especially if reversing into a driveway or other situation that requires you to cross a footpath.
Observation before starting to reverse is extremely important - always double check to make sure that you will not be causing danger or inconvenience.
If you have not yet studied the DriverActive information about reversing to the left please do so before watching the remaining videos.
The skills required for sharper corners are more like those needed for gateways or garages, etc.
As with all manoeuvres, regardless of your current skill level, start your practise in a quiet location.
Spend between 20 and 40 minutes practising this manoeuvre over the next week or so. Quiet suburban roads are ideal but also choose some roads where you have to give way to other drivers – in addition practise both sharp and sweeping corners.
Start with an average width road with rounded corners - the sort of roads you find on modern housing estates built in the last 30 years and then graduate to narrower roads with 90 degree corners, often found on older estates or terraced streets. Set yourself a challenge to see just how accurately you can reverse keeping a constant distance from the kerb at all times.
After your first practise session read the DriverActive notes again and ask yourself whether you are completing the left-reverse correctly.
Next: Parallel parking