Safe Speed Forums

Come on now, thats askin a bit much of folks now aint it, leave there nice warm homes for 2 minutes just for the sake of doing somet sensible, even if it is to make there own life a bit easier

lol,

but being serious, tis a quite a good idea

Surely reversing off your drive without someone guiding you off is driving without due care and attention?

Also it makes sense to reverse onto your drive when thr engine is warm and the car easier to control

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I walk I cycle I drive and I vote

Read the replies. Just to let you know it was not a post & go.

I was sort of thinking along these lines too.

Trying to remember back to advice from my driving instructor here and old age makes these things a bit fuzzy, please bear with me. I believe he told me that the Must/Must not parts of the Highway Code are the Law but breaking any of the other rules may well constitute careless and inconsiderate driving.

Therefore, I'm inclined to think that reversing onto a main road falls under the "without due care and attention" bit but of course, it would depend on the individual circumstances.

Regards

Snert

We live along a very busy village road. In all our 20 years here, we have always reversed our vehicles into our driveway. Our entrance is narrow and it would be quite tricky to drive straight in because it goes up a slope and ends very abruptly at the garage door. It also means we face the "right way" when needing to leave again.
Anyone who reverses their car out onto a busy road without guidance, is a total clot in my opinion. You can't possibly see what's coming along the road unless you've got a neck long enough to peer out your back window.

I have seen people dice with death as they reverse out of gateways. It all boils down to the fact that they are too ****** lazy to reverse in when they get home at night. Our entrance could be widened but unless someone pays me the few thousand quid necessary to do it, it'll stay as it is.

Drivers today will find any excuse to justify their actions, whether it's speeding to get to a toilet, or tailgating because they're "late for deliveries".

I'd say it depends on where you live and how much of a veiw you have of the road you're driving onto. I live on an open plan estate and always park my car front end onto the drive, when I am reversing out into the road I have a good view of any cars coming from either direction. If I lived in a house where the road was obscured because of trees, fences, Brick walls, etc then I'd be more inclined to reverse into the drive.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

Yeah, I reverse my car out of the drive almost every day. (it wouldn't go in forwards) I've never had any problems being able to see what's coming.
Although I believe some people like to reverse while looking forwards. That doesn't make much sense to me though.

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Andrew.

It's got to be horses for courses. In general, with narrow drives on quiet residential roads, I really see no problem with driving in forwards and reversing out.

And if I reversed my car into my garage, I couldn't get stuff out of the boot

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"Show me someone who says that they have never exceeded a speed limit, and I'll show you a liar, or a menace." (Austin Williams - Director, Transport Research Group)

Any views expressed in this post are personal opinions and may not represent the views of Safe Speed

its one thing reversing out of a driveway onto a main road but dont those who do it realise that while reversing you are the lowest of the low and have to give way to everything?, a lot like giving way to traffic from the right?

i had to comment as twice today 2 drivers reversed off their drives into oncoming traffic causing me to have to brake sharpish and i do believe this is actually an offence

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Welcome to the UK, the Land of "Selective Freedoms"

It really ought to be an offence to reverse out onto a main road. Its common-sense that if you can't see properly to execute a reverse manouever, then you shouldnt be doing it, or should at least get someone to see you out. Oh of course, I forgot; common-sense is now a banned word.

I realise that there are always exceptions, and some have been stated here.; but there is too much of this "we'll do what we like" attitude that has developed among drivers over the past years, and turned the roads into a free-for-all.
I would strongly dispute the comment about quiet residential roads; there may not be a car coming, but what about pedestrians or a cyclist? If you can't see when you reverse out, due to trees or walls, then you shouldnt be doing it, quiet road or not. As for unloading the boot, well, do it before you put the car away; we do.
And, to back up traitorblair; yes, it is nerve-jangling, and many of these burks reverse without even looking and without a care in the world. Modern bad attitude......again.

Would you also apply that rule to driving *forwards* when, due to the positioning of walls/hedges/etc and the distance between your front bumper and your eyeline, you still can't see what's coming unless you drive out so far that you're blocking the path/road anyway? Sometimes you DO just have to slowly inch out, using horn and/or lights as necessary to warn anyone in the vicinity, and hope any oncoming road users are sufficiently alert to notice you.

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Chris

If you reverse out, you've got the whole length of the car (less bonnet) to get out before you can see from your driving seat. Driving forwards means you've only got the bonnet in front of you. Inching out is therefore easier to do frontwards than back'ards. I dont know many cars that have a bonnet longer than that section behind the driver's seat.

That's only true if your driveway is flanked by walls, dense hedges or similar - and even then, only when the obstruction is above the driver's eyeline.

Few driveways are like that because people coming out of driveways need to be able to see.

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Paul Smith
Our scrap speed cameras petition got over 28,000 sigs
The Safe Speed campaign demands a return to intelligent road safety

Actually it would depend on what car you drive. the distance from the drivers seat to the front of my bonnet is actually half a metre greater than the distance from my drivers seat to the rear of the car.

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Useless laws weaken necessary laws.

quote:
That's only true if your driveway is flanked by walls, dense hedges or similar - and even then, only when the obstruction is above the driver's eyeline.
Few driveways are like that because people coming out of driveways need to be able to see.

Yes it IS like that, as are my neighbours'. Quite a number of exits are near-blind. We have to cross a few feet of dropped pavement before reaching the road itself. There's nothing that can be physically done about it, either. I still advocate reverse parking. I don't think it is right to encourage people that it's safe to do otherwise, either. Come and try it on my road in the rush hour.
I'm not replying any more to this. I've made my point and suggest many of you think carefully before ramming your boots out through the gate. If you hit someone, you're going to definitely be IN THE WRONG.

Caterham, Tvr350/400 etc.

On the way to work I actually saw a car reverse off a drive and stay on their side of the road today (right hand from my perspective) in order to travel in the same direction as myself. What was amazing was that it was a 4x4, a Mercedes and had children in it; sticking to the stereotyping though it was driven by a man so maybe that explains it.

- and no I did not block them from moving onto my side of the road when they had finished reversing. It just proves that it is perfectly possible to do the job properly on this particular road and the other drivers are just being lazy, still, reversing into the drive in the first place would be better.

It depends on the sitation and what you're used to. For instance, I find it MUCH easier to reverse on my mirrors than by looking behind me - I get a far superior view of the sides of the car and how close I am to obstructions for a start. To judge rearward distance I will tend to look back over my shoulder.

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Science won over religion when they started installing lightning rods on churches.

In a panel van with no rear windows you won't see much looking over your shoulder.

Try it in a bigger one with no windows(because it means that little scrot can't see whats inside) and every tom/dick and mary assuming that because they can see you - that you automaitally can see them - one reason why if i see someone reversing i stop short and have been known to block the road - and as for those gents in HGV - SHEER GENII .
Now i reverse my car out of my drive ( PC term for front gareden )simply because if i go out frontways it grinds on the kerb - and i won't pay for a dropped one , not because i'm mean - but because i'd still get cars parking in /around me with no assistance from police / council