Now that I've been cleared to drive, I will need to start driving myself to outpatient physical therapy regularly, along with any other necessary tasks. Whenever I need to back up my car, I always place my right arm on the top of the seat next to me, and turn my head to look over my right shoulder. This usually involves turning the upper part of my torso as well. Since I haven't really tried it yet, I don't know if this is going to be an issue in terms of twisting. I have been cleared to twist "a little bit", but I don't know whether the amount that I twist when backing up falls within the confines of "a little bit" or not. I did specifically ask the surgeon about this, and he said that turning my head was fine. I went out for a practice drive on Friday, but never needed to back up. I was able to turn just my head to see to the left and right of me for lane changing and turning, but I haven't yet tried to back up.
I will definitely need to back up this coming Saturday when I next go to visit my hair stylist, as their parking lot does not facilitate parking facing out, which is what I usually try to do, and have for years.
I'm wondering if adding an after-market back-up camera to my car will help with this. My husband says I should just learn to use the mirrors to back up while looking forward, but the thought of even trying to do that makes me very uncomfortable, particularly since the depth/distance perception offered by the mirrors can be very misleading at times. I do use the mirrors to time lane changes when driving on the highway (which I used to do every morning and evening for an hour each way between the remote work site and my home), but I've never found much use for them when backing up -- unless I'm in a parking lot where cars are packed closely together side-by-side in narrow aisles with other cars parked fairly closely behind, and I have to approach the cars on the other side of the aisle very closely to be able to turn around successfully. In that case I will both look behind me and double check the mirrors to be sure I'm not going to crash into the bumper of the car directly behind me. But those occasions are fortunately very rare.
Any ideas for backing up safely without twisting too far, other then my husband's "just use the mirrors" suggestion?
-- Thanks,
Mary
I will definitely need to back up this coming Saturday when I next go to visit my hair stylist, as their parking lot does not facilitate parking facing out, which is what I usually try to do, and have for years.
I'm wondering if adding an after-market back-up camera to my car will help with this. My husband says I should just learn to use the mirrors to back up while looking forward, but the thought of even trying to do that makes me very uncomfortable, particularly since the depth/distance perception offered by the mirrors can be very misleading at times. I do use the mirrors to time lane changes when driving on the highway (which I used to do every morning and evening for an hour each way between the remote work site and my home), but I've never found much use for them when backing up -- unless I'm in a parking lot where cars are packed closely together side-by-side in narrow aisles with other cars parked fairly closely behind, and I have to approach the cars on the other side of the aisle very closely to be able to turn around successfully. In that case I will both look behind me and double check the mirrors to be sure I'm not going to crash into the bumper of the car directly behind me. But those occasions are fortunately very rare.
Any ideas for backing up safely without twisting too far, other then my husband's "just use the mirrors" suggestion?
-- Thanks,
Mary
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