Daren’s Driving Handbook
CHAPTER 6 - Backing, K-Turns, and U-Turns
If you’re REALLY trying to find an exception to the rule of "always looking way ahead of you in the path you want to be in... " here’s where you’ll find it.
When you’re backing up, always look way behind you in the path you want to be in. There. Feel better?
This’ll be a really "quick" chapter, because you KNOW all this by now. Right?
Here are the rules, in order, for backing up:
If you can avoid it, DON’T back up!
If you MUST back up, BACK UP STRAIGHT!
If you can’t back up straight, back up to your right (yes, that's so the back of the car is going to the right), constantly glancing at the front.
Try desperately to avoid having to back up to your left.
It’s usually better to back INTO a space (or a driveway) than to back out of it later.
When you need to back up...
Check your mirror
With your foot firmly on the brake, shift into reverse - WITHOUT LOOKING! (Practice this. Gearshift are made with "stops" in them. Play with your gearshift, and you'll see what I mean.)
Check your left blindspot
Turn around as far as you can over your right shoulder
Move slowly, preferably controlling the speed of the car with just the brake.
You need to keep stopping to glance at the front of the car, because as you're turning and backing up, the front of your car is going in the opposite direction.
Contrary to popular opinion, you CANNOT safely back up by looking in the rearview mirror. Remember the blindspots? By the time you see someone walking in the rearview mirror, he's behind your car already, and you're unlikely to have time to stop - depending on how close he is to your car.
Note: Most people get disoriented with "left" and "right" when they are backing up. YOU should NOT, because as always, you turn the wheel in the direction you want the car to go. Don’t even THINK "left and right," and it’s less confusing. (When we get to "CHAPTER 973 - Driving with a Trailer" I may need to modify this explanation slightly, but for now, it’s all good!)
"Backing Up Is Hard to Do" is a song I wrote many years ago. I’m sure your parents have a copy of that song somewhere in their "Old People’s Classics" collection, just like I do.
You should listen to that!
FOR A "K-TURN:"
Right signal because you’re pulling over and stopping
"Mirror/Signal/Blindspot"
Moving the car as slowly as possible, turn the wheel quickly to the left.
Stop before the point where your car crashes into the curb
Check your mirror, both blindspots, and back up slowly while turning the wheel ALL the way in the opposite direction.
Back up as far as you can without hitting the opposite curb.
STOP! Check all your blindspots, and then look where you want to go, in the center of the path you want to be in.
THAT’S a K-turn! Ready to practice?
By the way, if we REALLY have to "practice" U-Turns at this point, then you need to schedule your road test for 2002 or so...
READY TO PARK?
Knowing all that you already know, Parking is simply a matter of backing into the space that you want to be in. It is NO big deal.
Even if you just look the guy in the face and say, "LOOK! I can’t parallel park!" - you can STILL pass the road test. He is looking for your "awareness" of things like blindspots, and the parallel park by itself is NOT a big deal.
So, the parking is NOT a big deal!
