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You may not believe it, but I taught and trained my father, who passed away 2001 at the age of 78, how to drive a car. One fact about my father's driving : he will never drive the car in reverse no matter what. He always make sure that he parks his car in a way that he will not need the reverse gear. If and when he is forced to, such as if another car parked very close to his car, he will just wait or he may leave the car.I have thought about it lately and tried to learn something from it. Talking about myself, 90 percent of the car accidents I caused where when I was driving in reverse. Experience and the hard lessons over time taught me what I can call the golden rules for driving the car in reverse ( backward ).
The first golden rule is to look back with your eyes directly and not through the mirror. Not only that but one has to keep looking back until he stops. Some people fall in the mistake of having one look back then turn their necks forward and keep going in reverse assuming the seen behind them will remain the same.
The second golden rule is drive ( very ) slowly. This has a great advantage. if the first golden rule fail, then you hit something ( or somebody!) then the lower the speed the lower the damage.
The third golden rule is to shut the radio or music player off. Their sound may be louder than an external sound trying to tell you to stop before you get in trouble. When you are driving backward you need your ears just as you need your eyes.
The forth golden rule is open the window before you start driving backward. Isolating your self in the car might prevent you from herring an approaching car or a screaming child or animal.
My father was wrong and was right. He was wrong not using a facility that made driving easier. He was right in his appreciation of the risk associated with reverse ( backward ) driving.
Hamad S Alomar
Riyadh
