Reversing (vehicle maneuver)

Reversing (also known as backing up) is the process of driving a vehicle in the reverse direction in order to maneuver. Rear view mirrors are somewhat standard equipment for this endeavor. Extremely large or luxury vehicles may have in addition technical aids such as backup cameras. Many industrial vehicles such as fork lifts automatically activate a repetitive warning beep whilst reversing. In the UK lorries may be fitted with warning devices which repeatedly announce "This vehicle is reversing", or the equivalent phrase in Welsh.[1]

Reversing a vehicle can serve the purpose of changing lanes in traffic when a driver wishes to change to an adjacent lane but the destination lane is relatively full of vehicles. This is performed by driving in the reverse direction until the vehicle can move into the adjacent lane (or adjacent lanes) at the back of the queue in the next lane.

More commonly, reversing is used as an intermediate step, to complete a three point turn, J-turn, parallel park, or similar maneuver. These moves are used with the goal of positioning the vehicle in a specific way under certain space restrictions, that would not be possible to achieve whilst moving forward.

See also

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.