Posted By Kevin Costello After a few near misses of reversing vehicles nearly striking pedestrians some have suggested that a parking policy should be introduced. Does anyone know of any official guidance that favours reverse parrell parking over driving into the parking bay and then reversing out or vice versa. There is plenty of guidance for workplace transport I am referring to private cars in company car parks. Any help would be appreciated. Kevin

Posted By Mark Talbot I have a lot of experience with car parks and the one thing I have noticed is that pedestrians believe they have right of way and that any moving car CAN see them and WILL stop. It might be against the general principals of the highway code (ACOP) to say that cars have right of way, but reminding pedestrians that cars are dangerous and to avoid passing close to those with exhaust fumes showing, might be helpful. Giving a car a wide berth helps - remember most drivers are watching paintwork at this point, not looking around for sneaking pedestrians.

Posted By Cr8r Robert Watching two television programmes is multi-tasking. This is easy for any woman, as is the ability to hold a conversation whilst doing something else completely unrelated. Parking apparently involves some sort of spatial awareness capacity. I am sure there are many women who are excellent parkers but I do not number amongst them. Where I currently work though, the car park has been divided up to maximise the number of cars it will take and the spaces are so small that even my little corsa only just fits. Some of the spaces are done diagonally so that as you drive in, you have no option but to continue in the direction you are pointing, ie forwards, and then reverse out. One place I worked at one though did have a car park that pedestrians used to teem through as it was a short cut to the bus stop and they were an absolute nuisance. A strategically placed bit of chain link caused them to change their route though! PS Would any men please enlighten me as to how it can possibly be easier to reverse into a space than out of it? The bit I don't get is that if you drive in head first, you are going into a small space forward, ie in the direction you can see easiest. Then when you come to leave, you have the whole gangway bit to reverse into. This must be the easiest option. I was at a supermarket once and I admit the car was a bit wonky. When I got out and started walking off, an amazed male shopper called over to me "you're not seriously going to leave it like that are you?" I replied "why not - I know from experience that I won't be able to improve on it - so why bother trying?". I don't know why he looked so shocked. Like I said earlier - it's not an art form. Parking - when it stops rolling, get out, end of story!

Posted By Ron Hunter Suggest you look at segregation of pedestrians and vehicles, redesigning and marking-out the car park to avoid this conflict, as well as a bit of education for the workforce? Whilst a 'no reversing' policy is admirable (highway code has one or two pointers), it may be difficult to 'enforce'.

Posted By Brett Day Merv Duly recognised, not sure how I would get the reward to you (do you accept brown paper bags a la Have I Got News For You?). As an aside by reversing in the car is effectively set up like a fork truck giveing greater control and manouverability at low speeds. Pet hates on roads and car parks: Landscaping that obsures views (not a car park but in Maidstone the approches to rondabouts were landscaped accident went up, drvers 'thought' that there was no traffic and carried on, the only safe way is to drive up and stop and look, have seen quite a few near misses in car park where pedestrians 'suddenly' appear from behind landscaping. Parking bays that are too small, worked at one site and they reduced the size of the bays, you could get a car in but you then couldn't get out of the car !! Coupled with cars getting bigger in it's class e.g. the new Ford Focus is longer and wider than it's previous version the problem is likely to get worse. I'm not aware of any official guidance though.

Posted By Barry Cooper It's interesting how we feel we must train people to park their cars on the car park. What about when we go shopping in town or at the supermarket. What's the difference. Is it because we are at work? and the duty is on the employer. Or is it just that the carpark is badly laid out Barry

Posted By Robert. Forget the car parking. What about the "pedestrians" that leave their empty trollies in parking bays and in the traffic route. They too are drivers and many of them cannot judge the length and width of their trolly. So, if they can't "parkatrolly", what hope is there for them to park and or reverse a car?

Posted By Mark Talbot It is easier to reverse in tight places because the steering is now effective at the trailing end of the car (front becomes back). This means that more steering can occur - the part of the car entering the space is now restricted by a car either side - whilst the trailing end can take wider arcs. This allows for correction and adjustment. Front-wise parking is easy if you aproach the space head on, but if you have to turn 90 degrees reversing is easier. So as the angle increases on a narrow space, the ease of front parking decreases. Anyone who wants to improve their skill should use toy cars that have working steering, because seeing things from above really helps understand what we have all been trying to explain.

Posted By Martin Mulholland I remember a Company I was doing some working for a few years ago. Their policy was to reverse park as the spaces were close to the building. This was because it was part of their fire arrangements to remove the cars in the event of a fire. There's actually some sense in it (them being full of petrol and all). I agree with some fo the sentiment posted here (though not the sexist stuff - it applies both ways) - if you cannot suitably manoevre a vehicle then you shouldn't be driving one. My tuppence

Posted By J Knight I can't park for toffee, my (female) partner can drop any car accurately into a space barely larger than it is even on Sheffield's hills; remember, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, pop-psychology is from Uranus, John PS I can multi-task better than she can though

Posted By robertprice Kevin, I have been trying to find an answer to exactly the same question as you. To date, all I can find is clause 177 of the highway code: "Do not reverse from a side road into a main road. When using a driveway, reverse in and drive out if you can." Not quite the same thing, I realise, but prompting the driver to always reverse from the major to the minor and drive from the minor to the major. Did you find anything better? regards Rob.

Posted By Mike Craven Just to add to the car parking anecdotes I remember about 5 years ago going with my then boss to carry out an audit at a post office in the North West. At the time, the Post Office had a number of "pool cars", which we booked for visits. Most of the cars were little efforts but, on this occasion, all that was available was something widely referred to as the "Big Peugeot". We arrived at a local car park with spaces suitable for Corsas, Micras, Minis and such like and I spent about 10 minutes going backwards and forwards to eventually squeeze the "Big Peugeot" (quite brilliantly) into the tiniest of gaps. We parked up with about 2 millimetres between us and the car on either side of us. My boss - all 6ft 2 and 17 stone of him, looks at me and says, "Ok mate, so how do we now get out of this car!!!" Regards Mike

Posted By Sean Fraser And while we are on the subject - if you DON'T reverse park outside of offices of certain large multi-national oil-related organisations in Aberdeen, you will become the proud owner of a STOP card which will require you to do pennance on your sin and take immediate corrective action for future parking! I'm all for the safety of it, but forcing people through safety observation systems is a means of putting people off, not encouraging them.

Posted By Cathy Ricketts I expect to see employees reversing into car parking spaces - particularly the females it is drummed home as part of the personal safety training that it is a sensible precaution to take particularly if you need to make a swift getaway - apart from the fact that it means that you dont have to crane your neck to see if there is oncoming traffic that you are about to reverse into when leaving. Come on ladies we know who are the better drivers why else would we get cheaper insurance We introduce a 5mph speed limit in the car park and myself and several of the managers are not slow in coming forward to challenge those driving to fast. We have clearly defined parking bays and non parking areas - the most difficult challenge is to deal with delivery drivers and drivers from adjoining units who fail to read the notices Risk assessment and regular review helps as improvements can be made bit by bit

Posted By Ken Taylor - and with many car parks you can't get things in and out of the boot of the car if you reverse in.

Posted By Raymond Rapp I must confess I have not read every posting but nonetheless I would like to add something to this interesting topic. My local supermarket is an extremely dangerous place for pedestrians. Largely due to the narrow parking bays and close proximity of them in relation to the opposite bays and insufficient pedestrian walk ways. Of course, there are many contributing factors, but, assuming it is a design fault, would the designer (CDM) be liable if it could be proved? I would be interested in your views. Regards Ray