REVERSE AROUND THE CORNER – STEERING

When reversing, forget thinking in terms of ‘Left’ and ‘Right’.

But rather think in terms of ‘Towards’ and ‘Away’ from the kerb.

When you look forward the left-hand side of your car is nearest the pavement and the right-hand side of your car is nearest to the centre of the road. But when you turn

around to look through the rear window, from this perspective, the right-hand side is now nearest to the kerb and the left-hand side is now nearest the centre of the road.

Therefore, you shouldn’t think in terms of ‘Left’ and ‘Right’, but ‘Towards’ and ‘Away’.

When you look forwards and want to move closer to the kerb, which way would you need to turn the steering wheel? Towards the kerb.

When you look backwards out of the rear window and want to move the back of the car closer to the kerb, which way would you need to turn the steering wheel? Towards the kerb.

It is very easy to get confused with lefts and rights, because it is all too easy to assume that when you are now going backwards instead of forwards that you would need to turn the steering wheel in the opposite direction.

This is why using the terms ‘Towards’ and ‘Away’ is a much easier technique to employ and gets rid of any confusion.