Reverse Parking – Practice Makes Perfect

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Reverse ParkingMy car is fitted with a parking assist button that I can use to parallel park my car. It will detect the right size space. Apparently, all I have to do is press the Park Assist button and when it finds a suitable space, take my hands off the steering wheel and the car does the rest! I say apparently, because I haven’t had the confidence to try it yet; I also fear that if I were to use it, I would lose the ability to park my car – just like becoming reliant on Sat Navs, we seem to lose the ability to navigate!

There was quite a heated debate about parking recently on one of the health and safety LinkedIn Groups; in particular reverse parking policies in company car parks. I generally reverse park in large public car parks from a security point of view. It was recommended to me by Mark Dowding of Intelligent Driving http://www.intelligent-driving.com.  Once the car door is open it provides a natural barrier between me and a potential mugger, facing forward so I can see what’s going on and I can drive away from the space quickly and safely. But it’s good practice in company car parks too, particularly if there are a large number of employees.

It’s quite common for people to arrive at work at staggered times, but to leave at about the same time. On arrival there should be fewer people trying to park so staff can reverse into the space safely. At the end of the day, if everyone is facing in the same direction vehicles will flow out of the spaces and the car park, and tempers should be reduced. It also helps if a quick and safe evacuation of the car park is needed in an emergency. Where companies have introduced a reverse parking policy, they have found that after a few weeks of practice, people learn to park quite easily and appreciate being able to get away more quickly at the end of the day.

Stepping Stones for Business provides quality and safety consultancy. If you need advice on emergency and evacuation procedures then get in touch. Email  info@ssfb.co.uk or call 0333 321 0131.

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