Along with learning the rules of the road and establishing some general driving skills, there are some additional things that you must learn during your lessons which you may be asked to demonstrate during your driving test – these additional driving skills are known as ‘driving manoeuvres’.
Driving manoeuvres are not something to be worried about and are aspects of driving that will very likely prove to be useful in the years to come. You will spend as much time as you need during your lessons to ensure that you have mastered these skills and when the time comes to demonstrate them during your test, you should have no problems whatsoever.
Below we will provide some further details regarding the 4 essential driving manoeuvres that you will need to learn.
No. 1 – Turn in the road
The turn in the road was formally known as the ‘3 point turn’, and involves driving down a road in one direction, stopping, and making the required number of turns needed to drive the car back in the opposite direction. The only thing that has changed (other than the name!) is the fact that you are not limited to 3 movements any longer.
The two keys to mastering this manoeuvre are as follows:
- Keep the car slow
- Keep looking around and observing
No. 2 – Parallel parking
This is the manoeuvre which often causes the most problems for inexperienced drivers and involves reverse parking the car between two parked cars.
You will be taught all of the appropriate reference points before you start and then moving to each before stopping at looking around to ensure that you can master this skill in no time.
No. 3 – Bay Parking
This manoeuvre is probably the one that you will use the most when out driving once you have passed your test and requires you to park in a bay in a car park, i.e. between the two white lines.
You will not be allowed to touch the white lines during this manoeuvre, but you will be allowed to make any necessary adjustments to the cat if it is not completely parallel.
No. 4 – Reversing around a corner
Practice makes perfect with driving manoeuvres and ‘reversing around the corner’ is certainly no different.
As with parallel parking, visual reference points will help during this manoeuvre and you should, employ the start/stop method, keeping the car very slow along the way.
Further information regarding all of these manoeuvres can be found on our YouTube channel.