How to Reverse Park

About two months ago, I had finally got my driving license. Driving on the road was not a problem for me¹¹ Actually, as soon as I got the license, I drove about 3 hours (with an experienced driver on the copilot seat) on an expressway on a rainy day, and I was not nervous at all., but parking was quite a challenge.

Parking spaces in reality are often much tighter than the ones in the driving test, and there may be other obstacles around, such as pedestrians, bicycles, and other cars. One has to be really careful and precise when parking, for safety reasons.

ConquerDriving²² https://www.youtube.com/@ConquerDriving, a YouTube channel run by Richard Fanders³³ He also makes some interesting videos about cars on another channel. See https://www.youtube.com/@RichardFanders. teaching people to drive, helped me a lot. I would like to talk about some of the steps and tips I learnt from his videos with my own practical experience.

Note that forward bay parking will not be covered in this post.

Safety announcement: The points mentioned in this post are not perfect and may vary from car to car. It’s important to adjust them based on feedback from your specific vehicle and situation. And make sure to keep everyone and everything safe at all times. Don’t take risks when parking, and if you are not sure about something, just stop the car with handbrake up and neutral gear, and get out of the car to check the surroundings.

Safety announcement 2: Dry steering, which means steering the car while it’s stationary, may do harm to the car. I personally don’t care about that⁴⁴ I quite agree with Richard’s thought on dry steering. Have a look at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCEgIlgjS_8.—but if you do, make sure to steer the car only when it’s moving.

Mirror adjustment

Before parking, it is recommended to adjust the wing mirrors a bit lower than the usual position, so as to give a better view of the close surroundings, such as the parking lines and the kerb.

Reverse Parallel parking

Before anything, I assume that the parking space is on the copilot’s side of the road, which is the common case. If the parking space is on the driver’s side, please deduct the correct directions yourself.

Step 1, line up the rear of the car with the front of the target parking lot. The distance between the car and the parking space should be around 0.5 metres to 1 metre. If there is a car in front of the target space, align the rears of the two cars, or the middle (B pillar), or else the wing mirrors—choose your comfort level.

Step 2, angle towards the kerb. Steer all the way⁵⁵ To steer all the way means to turn the steering wheel as much as possible in one direction, until it cannot be turned anymore. towards the direction of the target space, then start reversing. Keep reversing until the car is at around 30 to 45 degrees to the parking space. If there is a car behind the parking lot, you can judge the angle by looking at that car from the driver’s side wing mirror. The angle would be good if you are able to see about half of the face of the car, or to see one entire light and just the edge of the other light.

Step 3, go straight into the parking space. Straighten the steering wheel, and keep reversing. Use the wing mirror on the copilot’s side to judge the position. When the kerb is about under the handle of the back door, it’s probably close enough. If there is a car in front of the parking lot, you can judge with the A pillar of your car. Stop reversing when the A pillar is in line with the corner of that car, or when the light of that car seems above the A pillar.

Step 4, angle away from the kerb. Steer all the way to the driver’s side, the opposite direction of the kerb, i.e. the opposite of the direction in Step 2, and keep reversing until the car is straight. If the space is too tight, you may need to do tiny adjustments by going forward with steering towards the kerb and backward with stearing away from the kerb for several times.

To summarize, there are four steps:

1. Line up
2. Angle on
3. Go in
4. Angle off

Reverse Bay Parking

There are two common methods for reverse bay parking: one is used when there is much available space on the road, and the other is used when the space is tight.

Again, I assume that the parking lot is on the copilot’s side.

Method 1: Wide Space Method

To reverse bay park with a wide space on the road, follow these steps:

Step 1, get alongside and close to the target space. The distance between the car and the space is around 0.3 metres to 0.5 metres. Stop when the middle of the space is roughly in the middle of the car, or in other words, your shoulder or the B pillar of the car is lined up with the middle of the space.

Step 2, steer away from the space. Wheel all the way to the driver’s side, then advance until you can see, from the copilot’s side wing mirror, about 10% to 25% of the front edge line of the space. The space between the side edge line and the door handle of the back door signifies roughly the space between the car and the edge line.

Step 3, get close to the space. Straighten the steering wheel, and use the wing mirror on the copilot’s side to judge. Reverse until the front edge line of the space is right under the handle of the back door, or until the corner of the space is close to the bottom of the mirror.

Step 4, straighten the car. Steer all the way to the copilot’s side, look at the copilot’s side wing mirror again, then go back gradually until the side edge line is in line with the car.

Step 5, get into the space. Straighten the steering wheel, and reverse into the space. Use the wing mirrors to judge if the rear of the car is close enough to the rear of the space. Another way to judge is to use only the driver’s side wing mirror. Get the line at the front of the space underneath the wing mirror and close to the bottom of the arm of wing mirror.

Method 2: Tight Space Method

To be clear, let’s denote the target space as space 1, the space in front of it as space 2, and the space in front of space 2 as space 3. Once you decide the target space, keep close to the road edge, about 0.3 metres to 0.5 metres away, then follow these steps:

       ^   +------------------+
The    |   | space 3          |
car    |   +------------------+
goes   |   | space 2          |
this   |   +------------------+
way.   |   | space 1 (target) |
       |   +------------------+

Step 1, go straight ahead. Stop when the middle of space 3 is roughly in the middle of the car, or in other words, your shoulder or the B pillar of the car is lined up with the middle of the space 3.

Step 2, steer towards the space. Turn the steering wheel all the way to the copilot’s side, then reverse until the car is in line with the side edge line of the space.

Step 3, get into the space. Straighten the steering wheel, and reverse into the space.

A Small Tip for Reverse Parking

To perform a 90 degrees turn, you need a space of about half of the car’s length and a full steering wheel turn.