Figure 6.4  Figure 6.3  Figure 6.2  Backing with a Trailer. When backing a car,  straight truck, or bus, you turn the top of the  steering wheel in the direction you want to go.  When backing a trailer, you turn the steering wheel  in the opposite direction. Once the trailer starts to  turn, you must turn the wheel the other way to  follow the trailer.  Whenever you back up with a trailer, try to position  your vehicle so you can back in a straight line. If  you must back on a curved path, back to the  driver's side so you can see. See Figure 6.5.  When a vehicle goes around a corner, the rear  wheels follow a different path than the front  wheels. This is called offtracking or "cheating."  Figure 6.3 shows how offtracking causes the path  followed by a tractor to be wider than the rig itself.  Longer vehicles will offtrack more. The rear wheels  of the powered unit (truck or tractor) will offtrack  some, and the rear wheels of the trailer will offtrack  even more. If there is more than one trailer, the  rear wheels of the last trailer will offtrack the most.  Steer the front end wide enough around a corner  so the rear end does not run over the curb,  pedestrians, etc. However, keep the rear of your  vehicle close to the curb. This will stop other  drivers from passing you on the right. If you cannot  Stop Using the Brake.  Release the brakes to get  traction back. Do not use the trailer hand brake (if  you have one) to "straighten out the rig." This is the  wrong thing to do since the brakes on the trailer  wheels caused the skid in the first place. Once the  trailer wheels grip the road again, the trailer will  start to follow the tractor and straighten out.  6.1.6 – Turn Wide  6.1.7 – Backing with a Trailer.  complete your turn without entering another traffic  lane, turn wide as you complete the turn. This is  better than swinging wide to the left before starting  the turn because it will keep other drivers from  passing you on the right. See Figure 6.4.  2005 Commercial Driver’s License Manual  Page 6-3  Section 6 - Combination Vehicles 