Trouble:
Héraultais:
You can ask a school to do this and most would gladly take the money off you, but personally I would never have paid for this and as almost every situation is unique, it would ultimately be a waste of money.
I know every situation is different, but surely some points of reversing are the same?
Not at all. It depends on the wind, the sun, the time of day, the mood you’re in, exactly how you set up for the reverse, the load, the surface of the road etc etc etc.
Really, every reverse is unique, and no end of practice in a training environment will set you up for the real world.
Trouble:
As it stands now, what option do we have? We have to just keep “Having a go”, and yes, most folk are lovely and try and help, and yes I always get out and check. But, I for one, would pay for a training course in vehicle reversing.
I know they can never cover every eventuality for where you may end up tipping, but surely they can run though the most basic ones? Right angled on to a bay, blindside reverse, tight between to trailers, obstacles in the way etc?? So that you can be taught start positioning, what marker points indicate when you need to change direction, knowing when you`ve not got a cat in hells chance of making it and to start over rather than keep floggin’ a dead oss
It’s alot more simple I think that taking a course on reversing. all is needed is a few hours in a class room to understand what you are doing with the trailer. Why it moves the way it does, why we put opposite lock on to make it go that way. Once people understand the simple theory then you should do the practical, so they can put 1 + 1 together
Your basically pushing it back but manipulating the front to make the back go where it needs to
I did 9 days and then the test. On the last day - it was all day in the yard (Kent Metro) and doing nothing but reversing about the rather bumpy and muddy yard.
Twist left, around a traffic cone “Granny”
Twist right around another traffic cone “Kids on the Kerb”
Reverse straight back, get as close to cone right behind as possible without actually touching it (use chalk line scratched onto mudguard of trailer!)
All in all, practice makes perfect.
Yep, I still had the cold sweat being told to do a blind side onto bay one on my first work run that following weekend after I’d passed on the friday…
Made loads of mistakes on the test itself, but they were considered “minor”. Got told that “There is no limit for minor mistakes, but the first major one - and you’ve failed”.
(Minor= Stuff like crunching the gears, forget to signal out of roundabout, not checking mirrors at least 3 times every ten seconds, etc etc.)
“Major” - Touching let alone knocking over “Granny”
So… when you’re backing onto something straight on - a lot of people fail, because they reverse back, kiss-hit the dock or whatever, and then pull forward an inch. 
I went back, and pulled up still two inches off, without the “kiss on the buffers” - and that was considered “good enough”. Phew!
tommymanc:
Your basically pushing it back but manipulating the front to make the back go where it needs to
You’re using the steer axle to steer the drive axle through the chassis of the unit/prime mover and the drive axle then steers the trailer.Which is why unlike a rigid there’s no direct steering control over the trailer and if the drive axle is on the wrong lock at the start of the reverse it will stay there until it’s covered sufficient ground forward or back to change.Although it’s easier with a rigid and trailer than an artic in that regard because the tail sweep of the prime mover will actually help to steer the trailer or for that matter a drawbar/A frame over a shorter distance than an artic needs to change lock.
Where do you live i know a company give you 2 weeks training paid