How many people cannot reverse their caravan ?

One tip I learned many years ago is to place your hand at the bottom of your steering wheel and move the wheel in the direction you want the caravan to go.

So if the trailer needs to go to the left push the wheel that way. And vice versa. With a bit of practice it becomes quite intuitive.

I'm surprised that some in this forum manage to plan their routes avoiding all possible risk of having to reverse with the caravan in tow.

I'll never forget returning home with the caravan when I had a phone call from my wife to pick up something from a shop on the way. I happened to see two adjacent parking bays a bit further down in a side street where I could pull in so I stopped there and walked to the shop. Only when I returned did I discover that it was a dead end due to road works ahead so I had to reverse out on my own on to the main road right in the middle of the evening rush hour.

I wish you luck then CS the thought of being being confronted by a large impassable vehicle or other obstacle that requires me to move backwards with traffic building up behind me then having to get out of the car unhitch the caravan then use the motor mover to reverse however far backwards then go back for the car hitch up again while other drivers gaze on in disbelief and impatience fills me with dred.

I’m sure, even those amongst us who can reverse perfectly well, have driven on many sections of roads where not being able to reverse has absolutely nothing to do with one’s ability to do so. Has this stopped the vast majority of caravaners hitting the road? No! I can understand this fear but I’ve personally never experienced, or seen, an issue in all my years and never observed one that has not been resolved. I’m sure it’s happened and It might happen to me yet, but if it does I do have a solution, not ideal but it will solve the problem. We can’t live our lives with such a remote chance dominating our pastime. We can’t assume everyone we meet on the road will be unhelpful, quite the opposite in my experience. We can’t let the numpty and unreasonable amongst us dictate how we live our lives.

I encountered road works/ closures three times last year, all required me to u-turn/ reverse. Fortunately I was solo but it still can be difficult in confined or busy places. Only a few days ago, I travelled along a road supposedly due to close that day, a Sunday. I just didn't believe they would be working on a Sunday, fortunately I was right and no u-turns were necessary. Before the advent of sat nav it was easy to find yourself taking a wrong turn and encountering a dead end or travelling in the wrong direction requiring a u-turn.

peedee

+1 there. 

Does it? Why? In my view it's not a situation requiring dread.

But apart from that your situation as described is very unlikely to happen for a number of reasons in my view.

Firstly if there is a large impassable vehicle what is it doing there barring movement on your side of the road, unless one is daft enough to use single track road that should not happen? And even it it did then it's the other vehicle causing the problem.

Secondly there's traffic backed up behind you? So a line of vehicles? And they are going to start backing up? Starting with the one right at the back? I've never seen this happen. As Micky says it's a very remote possibility.

But also as Micky says drivers are far more civilized and helpful than you give them credit for. Keep a cool head and do your best. It's probably safer all round to unhitch and use the mover than push an unsafe situation by reversing and causing damage or accident? 

Thanks for the luck but it's not needed, never is really if you plan carefully. That has always worked for me. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.

I plan very carefully but have had two occasions when an unexpected reverse has been needed with no alternative.

 The second was the most dramatic. Following an HGV out of an aire in France the HGV suddenly stopped. The driver exited and started arm waving furiously. Turned out the tight radius at the end of the drive through combined with very high kerbs meant he could not negotiate the bend and would need to reverse out to use the other exit 120m plus back. With cars backed up everyone had to reverse back to let the truck out. I managed it fine just taking my time with OH walking behind and staying in my mirror view. No amount of forward planning could have prevented this and apportioning blame wasn't going to change a thing.

Just because you haven't seen it does not mean it cannot happen. A bit of skill at reversing is no bad thing

Moderator comment: Post edited slightly