3 point turn/Turnaround

bridestuff.com

Test in 3 days.Quick question.Is it allowed to cross arms during this manoever?I know you have to use push/pull metod of steering when driving but my car doesn't have power steering so am wondering do they allow exceptiions to this in the 3 point turn?

Davy

Yes for the turnaround it would be ok because it has to be done fairly quick. And technically its not a 3 point turn because your allowed over and back as much as you need too. Dont forget to look over your shoulder, observation is key for the turnabout.
Good luck with the test

brian076

Davy wrote: »

Yes for the turnaround it would be ok because it has to be done fairly quick. And technically its not a 3 point turn because your allowed over and back as much as you need too. Dont forget to look over your shoulder, observation is key for the turnabout.
Good luck with the test

It's ok to cross your hands, but it may not be ok to go over & back as much as you need to. The tester will say to you: "I'd like you to turn your car around on the road to face the opposite way, you may go over and back more than once if necessary."

The last 2 words are important. If the tester deems that you could have completed the manoeuvre competently in 3 moves but didn't make full use of the road you could incur a fault, however generally they'll allow you 5 moves, but anything more and you're definitely heading for a grade 2 mark.

SteQ

Yes it is ok to cross your arms.:)

bridestuff.com wrote: »

Test in 3 days.Quick question.Is it allowed to cross arms during this manoever?I know you have to use push/pull metod of steering when driving but my car doesn't have power steering so am wondering do they allow exceptiions to this in the 3 point turn?

Wishbone Ash

brian076 wrote: »

If the tester deems that you could have completed the manoeuvre competently in 3 moves but didn't make full use of the road you could incur a fault, however generally they'll allow you 5 moves, but anything more and you're definitely heading for a grade 2 mark.

I'm just wondering if the tester takes into account whether the vehicle is FWD or RWD?

brian076

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

I'm just wondering if the tester takes into account whether the vehicle is FWD or RWD?

No I'm not sure that they'd be even aware of the type of drive the car has. It would be more a case of someone doing a 5 point turn where they don't go forward or back enough, but could have easily done it in 3 had they used the full width of the road.

Even at that, most testers would probably only give them a Grade 1, but like everything else it's at the discretion of the tester.

When I was testing I had an RSA supervisor in the back of the car one day, and the girl doing the Turnabout had no power steering. She did the manoeuvre in 5 goes which I thought was fine, but on the de-brief the supervisor said he'd have given her a Grade 2.

The same supervisor was in the back of a car with a colleague another day, and the applicant was having difficulty doing the reverse. He'd already hit the kerb 3 times, and he just said f**k it and drove off.

Obviously my colleague gave him a Grade 3 for not completing the manoeuvre, but the RSA guy said it should have only been a Grade 2 as he made a good attempt.

So it's difficult to know what goes thru their heads sometime, and what's a Grade 1 to one tester might be a Grade 2 to another.

Wishbone Ash

brian076 wrote: »

No I'm not sure that they'd be even aware of the type of drive the car has. It would be more a case of someone doing a 5 point turn where they don't go forward or back enough, but could have easily done it in 3 had they used the full width of the road

My car is quite large and has RWD and therefore has an very deep turning circle. I've often made a complete 360 degree turn without stopping on an ordinary road. But I've driven small front wheel drive cars with terrible turning circles.

The Citroen Berlingo van has a horrendous turning circle. I was in one recently and had to make a 9 point turn on a Dublin Street even though I had it at full lock each time. The early 1990's Nissan Primera also had an awful lock IIRC.

Basically my point is that it not always the driver's fault that the manoeuvre can't be completed in 5 moves. I accept though, that in test situations, a road is selected which should suit the vast majority of vehicles.

brian076

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The Citroen Berlingo van has a horrendous turning circle. I was in one recently and had to make a 9 point turn on a Dublin Street even though I had it at full lock each time. The early 1990's Nissan Primera also had an awful lock IIRC.

Basically my point is that it not always the driver's fault that the manoeuvre can't be completed in 5 moves. I accept though, that in test situations, a road is selected which should suit the vast majority of vehicles.

I think some of the old Fiestas and Corrollas are the same, but you'd be very unlucky to be brought to a road for the turnabout which wasn't wide enough to complete the manoeuvre in 5 goes.

In general most faults on the turnabout relate to observation, or lack of it, rather than taking too many goes or hitting the kerb.

Alanstrainor

I would think that the tester would be able to notice when the driver was turning the wheel to full lock and making full use of the road. I fully agree every car is different and the tester should obviously not penalise one for their car's inability to complete the manoeuvre within X amount of turns. As Brian noted i would think most faults would be incurred due to observation rather than the number of turns made.
Slightly off topic but having been up to the Carrickmines retail park earlier today, which i would rate as having quite a well designed car park with plenty of room between bays. I got stuck waiting behind someone making a 9 point turn when three would have been more than enough to turn the car. It was ridiculous! There was about 5 foot to the rear of the car which was not being used, instead the driver was moving back and forth by inches. The point being that i would think that that scenario would be an example of what is completely unacceptable as far as making too many unnecessary turns.