Reversing tips, Class 2 - help please?

Hi all! I recently passed my class 2 licence and landed a job at the company who owns the company who trained me. I’ve completed two weeks work with a mentor, which I can still have with me going forward should I choose. The company has said as long as I need, but I don’t want to strain their patience and I’d like to be out on my own.

The thing I’m struggling with is reversing. It was never my strong suit in a car, tbh, and I’m having the same trouble in my lorry. Can anyone recommend any resources/ videos on reversing theory? I just want to have confidence in my decisions rather than winging it. I seem to do OK most of the time, but there was a couple of occasions last week where I was blocking a narrow road to reverse into another road and I got really flustered and could definitely have done better.

Thanks for any help you can give :slight_smile:

Tips.

  1. Have a window or 2 open to be able to hear Crunch! Help! and “FFS Drive!”
  2. Turn the bottom of the steering wheel in the direction you want the back of the trailer to go. And Turn the top of the steering wheel in the direction you want the front of the trailer to go.
  3. GOAL Get out and look

Video series.
youtube.com/@AdvancedTruckBacking

Hope that helps [emoji2]

Edit. Sorry didn’t notice the class 2. Ignore all of that except 1 & 3.
Don’t they give you guys a reversing camera?

From your username I guess you are female and I am going to try and be realistic/logical not sexist

In general the female brain does not do as well as the male brain when it comes to spatial awareness which is where the issue might be
I saw a TV programme about this issue many years ago where doctors and scientists got together to explore this

Watch bad parking programmes on TV and see the ratio between the sexes

Lots of practice will help but you cannot fight nature

PS - the female brain can multitask better than the male brain = fact
OH - and females use both sides of the brain for communication whereas us males only use one which is why you often see two females talking and listening at the same time

Use any opportunities you have for reversing in your daily life. Reversing into a space at the supermarket instead of driving in and things like that. Try and do it just using just wing mirrors.

Know the pivot point of your vehicle, which will be the middle of the rear wheel if a four wheeler or the midpoint between the wheels at the back on a six wheeler.

If reversing round something and space is limited, you can be quite close to whatever it is, a corner, or another vehicle etc.

Despite what people might say about it coming naturally to them, everyone learned and when people jump in different vehicles they have to learn or relearn how it handles differently.

Having said this, I have known people who simply can’t reverse at all, and that includes men by the way!

Hi,

Sometimes having somebody with you makes it harder since tend to overthink more what are they thinking and go squint.

Just like in class 1, better you set up the easier it is

while its not really got a “blindside” like with a trailer on, it is easier if you reverse so you can see the inside of it directly, or at least i do.

so drive past turn around somewhere and come back if needed, as you get towards it nose in the lorry towards the opening first then swing back out so get the back wheel as close as you can to the inside of where you need to turn and already have an angle with the arse end of the lorry towards where you need it, head out the window can help, or just with the mirrors go back and just drive that back wheel where you want it to go, and keep an eye out on the otherside to make sure you are not going to hit anything. don’t worry about getting out to look, taking a couple shunts back and forwards.

Blocking narrow roads to get in places, just part of the job of driving lorries, so don’t worry about it, take all the time you need todo it properly and safely, customers, and your boss won’t make you taking little longer than folk that have done it for decades, they will be far grumpier that you bashed the lorry, wall, gates, CEO’s car that was parked like a muppet

To come back to ROG’s point…

Research has shown that there is no clear-cut gender difference in spatial abilities. Some studies have suggested men may have a slight advantage in certain spatial tasks, such as mentally rotating objects, while women may perform better in other spatial tasks, such as spatial memory. However, these differences are not consistent and are often influenced by other factors, like as education and experience.

Similarly, while some studies have suggest women may be better at multitasking than men, other studies found no significant gender differences in multitasking abilities. But people who focus on one task at a time tend to be more productive and perform better.

It is important to be cautious when making generalizations about an entire gender’s abilities based on stereotypes or limited research findings. Each individual is unique and has their own strengths and weaknesses, regardless of their gender.

Get practice where you can and it will click.

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Shadows on the ground can be handy as you can see the gap decreasing as you closer to something.

Shop window reflections are also useful.

Obviously both are rarely available but worth using when they are.

If in doubt

G - get
O - out
A - and
L - look

And when someone asks if you can hurry up or do it faster, the best response is

I can do it fast or safe, which would you rather me do?

First of all congratulations on your pass and your new job. My reply is also written assuming you are a woman and my take on it, based on recent experience, and being a woman, is this: You say you seem to do OK most of the time, so that’s actually quite positive, no? What you want is to do OK or more than OK all of the time, so you’ve not too far to go. You also say that you got really flustered when you blocked an entrance while manoeuvring I wonder if it is more about confidence and less about spatial awareness.

If I may be permitted to make a sweeping generalisation, women are brought up to take up as little space as possible and to get out of the way and not draw attention to themselves. When you drive a lorry, you take up a lot of space, often can’t get out of the way and draw attention to yourself. So you have to go against your instincts. Once I learned to do that my confidence grew and I now perform 3 point turns in junctions left right and centre. Before, I would have driven 8 miles to the next roundabout to turn around (exaggeration, but you probably know what I mean).

Another element of confidence building was my approach to reversing. Basically, I learned to embrace it and not dread it. Accept that more often than not you will have to reverse into a drop. See every opportunity to reverse as an opportunity to learn and improve. Eventually it ALL feels right and clicks into place instead of just one or two parts of it doing that. I’m getting towards that point but I’m not quite there yet.

Example: Due to the nature of my jobs, I had never reversed onto a bay until last week, when I had to do it twice. One was in a farmyard with one bay. My first approach was slightly off and I didn’t have enough enough space to straighten up. So I pulled forward to try again and someone came out and helpfully told me to line my left mirror up with a join in the yard paving, which would get me onto the bay. I pulled forward a bit more and proceeded to line my right mirror up with the join, giving me a perfect view of the bay in my right mirror :laughing:
So I did a good reverse, just not in the right place! Third time lucky. I was able to laugh it off instead of agonise over it, but only because as my confidence has grown my imposter syndrome has diminished. Get used to assessing your own reverses: was the set up not quite right, did you turn too early, did you not pull far forward enough, did you mix up your right and left :unamused: or did you nail it?

As well as looking out for natural guidelines like lines in paving which sometimes are obvious and sometimes you don’t see until you GOAL, or someone points them out, other things I have learned have mostly already been mentioned. Don’t be afraid to use all the space available as that enables you to set up with a good angle and get that back wheel as close as you can to where you want it to go without having to deal with sharp angles.
Reversing around a corner is easy to oversteer - it’s less one big turn and straighten up and more turn a bit, straighten up a bit, repeat. Watch your back wheel. Use markers on your lorry (curtain straps, mudguards) and draw invisible lines to the ground to learn where the back of your lorry actually is. How many times have I got out the lorry to look only to find I have 5m in hand instead of the 5mm I thought. Then I have a good look in my mirrors to understand what I am actually seeing and why it looks like 5mm but is actually 5m. You can watch videos but nothing will substitute for practice.

Wow, if I had a quid for every time I heard “I’m not sexist/ racist but” from a truck driver since I started, followed by a sexist or racist comment, I’d be able to take a week off.

Thanks for all those offering genuine help, and to those who came just to tell me it’s “just natural” I’d be rubbish at reversing, please think about the image you’re giving of yourself / the industry. Dinosaurs have had their day, and not everything on TV is true. :unamused:

In other news, I’ve been out alone the past two days and have been doing really well, including one very tricky manoeuvre today where I did have to get out and calculate my angles. It’s going much better than I envisaged. Thank you again those who were kind enough to use their time to help out a newbie. :heart:

driveress:
First of all congratulations on your pass and your new job. … Etc.

Hi driveress, thanks, your comment gave me a lot of food for thought. I am going to try and do better at celebrating my wins, as every time I get into/ out of a situation unscathed is definitely good enough. I think you’re right about taking up space, and probably right about it being more about confidence than anything, and I’ll try and be more mindful of both.

As another poster said, it’s better to do it slowly than hit the truck/ another car, building, person etc.

josephinefaraway:
Wow, if I had a quid for every time I heard “I’m not sexist/ racist but” from a truck driver since I started, followed by a sexist or racist comment, I’d be able to take a week off.

Thanks for all those offering genuine help, and to those who came just to tell me it’s “just natural” I’d be rubbish at reversing, please think about the image you’re giving of yourself / the industry. Dinosaurs have had their day, and not everything on TV is true. :unamused:

In other news, I’ve been out alone the past two days and have been doing really well, including one very tricky manoeuvre today where I did have to get out and calculate my angles. It’s going much better than I envisaged. Thank you again those who were kind enough to use their time to help out a newbie. :heart:

I apologise if my earlier post caused you offence but that was certainly not my intention :blush:

josephinefaraway,
Practice practice practice, take it nice and easy and as others have said get out and look. Dont be concerned about holding the other selfimportant road users up for a couple moments, after all youre bigger than them and what are they going to do ?

Prior to retiring I have worked with many rigid and artic drivers of many years experiance, you can spot the proper ones , they may get out to asses the situation, look for helpful land marks or ( shudder* ) ask for useful help, in any case a wee delay is nothing comparef to it all going wrong.
After 40 odd years even I would “have a moment” and need to stop look and think about it, its all a part of the job.

  • generally applies to men !!

josephinefaraway:

driveress:
First of all congratulations on your pass and your new job. … Etc.

Hi driveress, thanks, your comment gave me a lot of food for thought. I am going to try and do better at celebrating my wins, as every time I get into/ out of a situation unscathed is definitely good enough. I think you’re right about taking up space, and probably right about it being more about confidence than anything, and I’ll try and be more mindful of both.

As another poster said, it’s better to do it slowly than hit the truck/ another car, building, person etc.

In other news, I’ve been out alone the past two days and have been doing really well, including one very tricky manoeuvre today where I did have to get out and calculate my angles. It’s going much better than I envisaged.

That’s all good to hear. It sounds like it’s all falling into place, and it will continue to do so pretty quickly. Definitely celebrate your wins and learn from them :smiley: You didn’t say what kind of driving you do, but I find finding places for the first time and getting in and out of them takes up a lot of energy. It makes such a huge difference when you know where you are going and what you are going to do when you get there. Something I should have added to my previous post is don’t be so hard on yourself - another thing women often grow up doing and it’s a hard habit to break because it’s so subconscious.

Hi Josephine faraway if you’re on a 6x2 rear steer you have to treat as a 4 wheeler with a long overhang . Wishing you the all the best in your driving career as I have had a long time doing it and still enjoying it.All the best. Cheers Ray

Hi all, just wanted to provide an update in case any of you are interested :grin:

So I very swiftly got the hang of it all… I’m always getting comments about how I managed whatever situation better than a lot of the men truckers! There’s been some “interesting” reverses up narrow country lanes, where I’ve had to pull both mirrors in briefly, to get to building sites, and other such situations. :grimacing::sweat_smile:

I’ve finally mastered parallel parking in my car too!

I started driving a car transporter (more bloody reversing!) in August, that doesn’t have a reversing camera like my 18T curtain-sider did, and seem to be doing just fine. My company are putting me through my class 1 licence in a couple of weeks too.

I can’t say I love the industry, but it has allowed me to buy my own home by myself, which has been a dream for a long time. When I rearrange my mortgage in a few years, I’ll probably leave off driving for something that’s a bit more active/ outdoorsy, but I am grateful that I ignored so many people who told me that I / women can’t do it. I am even more grateful for the people who told me I could, and all the people I’ve met along the way who’ve provided practical help and guidance… I’ve always felt I could ask other truckers for help if I was stuck or struggling. Trucking is a hard job and I love how we all do our best not to make it harder for each other :heart:

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