How do you teach learner drivers to reverse parallel park??? 

Believe it or not this is always a tricky one for some of the supervisor drivers, for most of us that have been driving for a long time we don't often think much of how we reverse park. Most of us just park on auto pilot, it is muscle memory. 

So when it comes to teaching someone else how to do this it really does make you stop and think. Most commonly it can be a frustrating part of teaching and learning, you want to get it done quick and the learner is struggling to keep up so they just let you guide them "turn left .... come back this way.. turn right.. stop... now come back this way .. stop ... turn quick... hurry .... " does that sound familiar? 

I have found the easiest way to teach this park is to simply break it down into steps, slow it down and fully break it apart at the beginning. This allows the learner driver to understand the technique, which way to turn the wheel while reversing and it also helps with accuracy. Remember these steps will eventually join together over time as they become more confident. 

Another great tip is to practice in a quiet  and wide street, so there is no additional pressure of lots of cars. Start along side one parked car for now so they have plenty of space behind. Again this helps with technique. Get them to turn the steering to the correct position before moving, therefore initially stop between steps. Some learner drivers struggle with reversing at the beginning and can get confused easily in which way to turn wheel. So stopping between the direction changes really helps get it right. This is only temporary while they are learning.

Remember patience and repetition!