SG Singapore Driver
Knowledge base Road rules 6 min read

Reversing safely under the Highway Code

Highway Code guidance on reversing safely, the construction-and-use requirement for vehicles over 400 kg unladen to move both forward and backward, Singapore’s legal limit on reversing distance or time, and reversing-light requirements.

reversing manoeuvring Highway-Code

Primary source: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/SL/RTA1961-R11?ProvIds=P1IV-P4_84-

Before reversing, make sure there are no children, other pedestrians, or obstructions in the blind area behind the vehicle. If the view to the rear is restricted, get help. Do not reverse from a side road onto a main road (SSO, Highway Code rr 84–86).

A separate vehicle-use rule prohibits causing or permitting a motor vehicle to travel backwards for a greater distance or time than is needed for the safety or reasonable convenience of the vehicle’s occupants or other road traffic. The exception is for a road roller or other road plant engaged in road construction, maintenance, or repair (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) Rules, r. 114).

Construction and Use Rule 16 requires every motor vehicle with an unladen weight exceeding 400 kg to be capable of travelling both forwards and backwards (Singapore Statutes Online, current Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) Rules, r. 16).

The Construction and Use Rules also prohibit causing or permitting a motor vehicle to travel backwards for longer or farther than is required for the safety or reasonable convenience of its occupants or other road traffic. This restriction does not apply to a road roller or other road plant while it is engaged in road construction, maintenance or repair (Singapore Statutes Online, Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) Rules, r. 114).

Reversing lights

If a motor vehicle is fitted with a reversing light, it must operate automatically when reverse gear is engaged, or be operated by a switch that simultaneously activates a warning visible or audible to the seated driver for as long as the light is on. Each reversing light is limited to 24 watts rated wattage and must be designed and fitted so it does not dazzle a person on the same horizontal plane more than 7.5 metres away whose eye level is more than 1 metre above that plane (Singapore Statutes Online, current Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) Rules, r. 32).

The Rules require a pair of reversing lights on every public service vehicle other than a trishaw, and every goods vehicle, registered from 1 July 1980 to before 1 February 2018. For these vehicle classes registered on or after 1 February 2018, a vehicle with overall length not exceeding 6 metres must have one or a pair; a longer vehicle must have a pair (Singapore Statutes Online, current Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) Rules, r. 32).

Trailer reversing warnings

Every trailer must have an instrument or apparatus that gives an audible and sufficient warning when the trailer moves backwards. When a prime mover is attached to a trailer fitted with that warning device, it must activate the device automatically while in reverse gear. The device must not give a multi-tone warning or produce an unduly harsh, shrill, loud or alarming noise (Singapore Statutes Online, current Road Traffic (Motor Vehicles, Construction and Use) Rules, r. 24(3)–(7)).

SPF handbook guidance

The Traffic Police's Final Theory of Driving handbook describes reversing as more difficult than forward driving. It recommends practising first in a straight line, then on courses with markers to learn how steering relates to the vehicle's path. It also says to reverse very slowly. For a manual-transmission vehicle, it describes controlling the clutch by releasing and depressing it repeatedly, with the accelerator slightly depressed, so engine power is not transmitted continuously to the driving wheels (SPF, Final Theory of Driving handbook, paras. 144 and 147).

The handbook advises against relying on the rear-view mirror from a forward-facing posture: it says to turn the body left and look through the rear windscreen. For a limited opening, it recommends judging and visualising the positions of all four wheels from the driver's seat (SPF, Final Theory of Driving handbook, paras. 148–149).

Guidance for LTA construction sites

For site transport, LTA's construction safety specification requires the contractor to appoint a banksman to control reversing vehicles and congested machinery movement. The banksman must wear a high-visibility vest marked “Traffic Controller” or similar, be trained in standard hand signals, and stand beside the driver's cab rather than behind the vehicle (LTA, General Specification for Safety, Health and Environment, Annex A-b, Site Transport, para. 1.5). This is LTA's requirement for its construction-site works; it does not establish a general procedure for every public-road or parking manoeuvre.

Coverage debt

  • The Highway Code contains accompanying illustrations and additional driving guidance; this article does not reproduce every illustration or vehicle-specific manoeuvring example.

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