Reverse tips anyone

Hi ladies and gents just passed my class 1 in November and because of lock down a stayed in my current position
anyway I got a driver assessment with a major retailer I messed the reverse up I had to drive down the yard to a point where there was barriers placed along either side so I had to reverse down the barriers and do a right turn reverse onto a bay
anyway a was either going to hit the barrier or couldn’t get the cab round fast enough to straighten up with the trailer and then to top it all off I was getting so worked up I was steering the opposite way from what direction I wanted the trailer to go
any kind of pointers will be appreciated

Always try and get your trailer pointing roughly where you want to be before starting the reverse. I right angle reverse from an in-line position is a lot harder

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Although I passed my test many years ago on the second attempt it was probably more by luck than anything else. :slight_smile: On my first job instead of sitting in the canteen, I stood outside and watched drivers reversing onto bays. I asked one of the friendly looking ones for advice and he gave me this tip. Don’t bother jerking your head around watching the scenery, watch where your o/s rear trailer tyres are going, because that’s where you’re going to end up.
That advice stayed with me over the years and reversing is like riding a bike. You struggle, make mistakes and suddenly it just falls into place and you think to yourself, Oh, that’s how it’s done. Take your time, don’t rush and watch those tyres.

Watch you o/s wheels not rear of trailer, directly out of window not with mirrors.

I find holding steering wheel at the bottom with left hand then whatever way I need rear wheels to go thats the way I move my hand.

Take it slow, take shunts if needed, use every available bit of space, try and get as straight as possible before you start the reverse, don’t be afraid to get out and look.

I never thought I’d master the art of reversing, but it will come very quickly once you’ve done a few. I now have more trouble reversing my car as I’m so used to doing it all opposite

I can’t really offer any useful real world experience, hell I’m still waiting for my class 2 resit only trailer reversing I have done is a bit with a old pickup and a knackerd old horse box a John deere and farm trailer for a couple days years ago and playing euro truck sim, which while a long way from real world the idea is there.

What helped me with it in them was don’t sit there thinking you are reversing so you do things backwards, the left hand down right hand down makes it seem odd but if , you drive the trailer into the space, and think of your self pushing it into the space yourself it makes perfect sense so just move the truck to where you would push it to get what you want, use as little steering lock as you can because a little usually does fine and more angle on means you need to take more off so more chance to go squint.

Like I said this was a few goes faffing years ago and sat on a computer game and I still ■■■■ but thinking that way helped me at least get it roughly in the right direction and a quick shunt forward to straighten up sorted it from pointing in all sorts of random directions and getting very angry with myself

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There are no magic methods, other than lots of practice whenever you get the chance, that means every day find somewhere you can do no damage and reverse into a parking slot from all angles, when out on the road don’t choose the easy drive in drive out parking bay favoured by those who will never be able to reverse confidently, use it or lose it as they say.

One tip that never fails, start off with spotlessly clean windows and mirrors, and lights if its dark, if you can’t see you have already lost the battle.

Get a job doing general haulage, after 3 to 4 weeks or less you will be able to reverse :smiley: until then reverse as slowly as is possible and what i do is head out the window and drive the trailer wheels in if that makes sense.