To me, it seems objectively easier to pull into a parking space forward and then back out of the space when you are ready to leave. You don’t have to line up with the lines while driving backwards, and it’s easier to keep from hitting other cars as well. So why back in? To me, the only advantage I can think of is that you can get out quicker, technically.
Edit: I do not need driving instruction, just wondered why. The reasoning.
Because you know what the situation is when you park, but you don’t know what the situation will be when you leave.
Yep I’m all about setting myself up for success. And backing into parking spaces does that. Also it’s drilled into my head from the oilfield that you will always back in because it’s safer.
Also cause its cool as fuck
It’s actually kind of inconvenient to be behind someone doing this. It takes longer than pulling in and sometimes it’s unexpected. Like I thought this one guy was turning but he was just lining up to back into a spot. He got mad when I pulled up behind him lol
sounds like your jealous of how cool they were
Takes about the same amount of time as someone backing out when leaving, so it’s balanced out eventually. It’s a little unexpected but I don’t put my car anywhere I’m not 100% sure is safe, and backwards parking isn’t particularly rare, so I’m never really taken aback that much
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Its more of a visibility thing. Backing out, your vehicle has to be three quarters of the way into traffic before you can really see.
Apart from the visibility argument. With this kind of parking spot you have to leave the spot in the other direction than you came in. So you’ll only get the enhanced agility for one of the moves.
Would you rather have more agility when getting into the tight parking spot or when leaving onto a larger street?
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You can just pull out of the spot and go, no need to change direction etc.
In a tight car park I have almost got stuck once because there wasn’t enough room for me to back out and get my nose out from between the cars on either side to move forward
I like this answer, and had not considered it. Good insight. I knew people would have specific situations like certain parking areas or certain street parking, but I really wanted “general” answers, and this is a good one. Thanks.
My grandfather had two habits drilled into him in the Army: never put your hands in your pockets so they’re always ready for action, and always park your vehicle so it’s ready to go.
This means he always backed in, and always parked as close to the exit as possible. And he did post-drive checks to ensure fluids, lights, brakes etc. were as they should be and the vehicle was ready for immediate use.
And he wasn’t even a getaway driver after the war.
And he wasn’t even a getaway driver after the war.
That you knew about
This sentiment is why I fully believe at least 50% of you shouldn’t be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.
Which is more dangerous, backing into a parking spot, or backing into traffic?
For the love of God, if you drive a vehicle, figure it out.
What if it is a parking lot that has zero traffic. Is it better to back into a confined space or back out into an open area?
Zero traffic would mean it’s an empty lot. If there’s a curb or cement blocks preventing pull through, I’d still back into a spot.
But to answer the spirit of your question, it’s easier to back in to a confined spot due to the steering being on the “back” side and ability to use the side mirrors to line it up. Other than pull through spots, I can’t think of a single good reason to pull in to a parking spot forwards rather than back in.
I agree it can be easier. I prefer it if the spot I am backing into is tight. When I say zero traffic I should clarify to mean it is very unlikely to have another vehicle in motion within your yard when you are parking/leaving.
what if a frog had wings?
Generally not a lot of traffic in parking lots.
Agreed. I’m the era before every car had a camera, I’d back into my driveway because foggy windows plus backing up sucks. I still back into my driveway even with all of the current day features on my vehicle - it’s just less stress in the morning to pull forward.
I genuinely think the bar for a driver’s licence should be raised to take 50% or more off the road.
Can’t reverse park? Don’t know where oil water and air goes on your car? Lack confidence in certain conditions? Here’s a free bus pass.
Where are you from where those things are not part of a driving test?
They make you check for water or air on a test or expect you to know? That would be novel in Canada.
Yep, in the UK it’s part of the theory test, you have to know how and when to check air and fluid levels in order to get a licence.
Here in the states you need to know how to press the pedals and you’re all set
A lot of people don’t even want to drive, but in a lot of places there’s just no viable alternative.
I’m a big advocate for changing that.
Driving should be a privilege, not a right.
If you look at the state driver’s manuals from the dmv it actually says exactly that. It’s already considered a privilege. Otherwise you wouldn’t have to test into it and pay annually to keep your car on the road.
Before being either a provledge or a right, driving should not be a necessity.
raises hand
I actually like cars. (They’re… “cool”. I play Forza sometimes, lol.) But the reality is they’re fucking expensive to maintain, along with insurance and taxes and fuel. And very much not fun to drive under normal circumstances, next to removeds and idiots. And terrible for the environment, at absurd US numbers at least.
I’d rather save thousands of dollars and have public transit or easily maintained bike. But bikes are not viable when planet is trying to kill us (Texas is 100-110 °F for 2 months straight now).
Those are all things you need to pass to get your driver’s license here in The Netherlands. We still have idiots on the road. Granted, they don’t (or at least, very rarely) slam their vehicles through the fronts of stores and houses, but we still got idiots doing idiot things.
Once you know the proper method, it’s easy and efficient. Knowing the proper method is requested to get a licence so many people don’t forget.
A big bonus is that you see where you go when leaving. So if a car comes on the street you see it.
Finally many companies have a back parking mandatory as it’s safer in case of emergency evacuation. Not an issue in a supermarket but definitely a thing on a chemical factory
Beacuse sometimes you have to go somewhere where going out of the parking is going to be near immposible so its Just better to back out when there is not a lot of pepole and have better vivisbilty when going out of the parking.
It’s easier. You need enough room for the nose to swing around because the front wheels follow a wider trajectory than the rear wheels. The access road is usually much wider than the parking spots, so backing into the spot gives you much more room to maneuver.
You also have much better visibility overall. If you go in nose first, you can’t see the front corners of your car, and you also have terrible visibility when backing out of the spot. If you back in, the mirrors show you exactly how close you are to the cars around you, and you have an unobstructed view when you leave.
The steering axle is in the front. So if you back into a parking space, you turn around your back axle. This makes the alignment considerably easier, especially for tight parking spaces or crowded parking lots. If you wanted to park front first in that situation, you would have to correct several times because the turning radius is too big to get the car straight in front of the spot in one swoop.
This is the primary reason for me too. Way easier and faster to get into tight parking lots back first!
This is exacerbated the longer your vehicle is. It is impossible to turn wide enough with my pickup truck to park forward because the front end swings too much. The more efficient car I take on normal commuting doesn’t have this issue.
Because my HOA doesn’t allow it so I do it anyway as a fuck you to them.
What? Please explain this madness!
It’s so they can repossess your car if you’re behind on payments or don’t update your registration after it expires. They literally hire a towing company to drive around the parking lot and look for vehicles to take. I don’t understand why the HOA cares.
Do you guys not have license plates on the front of cars too?
Not required in my state. And I’m glad because front license plates look stupid. They ruin the car’s appearance.
… american HOAs are fucked
i have legitimately never heard a single positive thing about HOAs. i don’t think they exist in australia?… like we have owners corporations and stratas but i think they don’t have nearly the same power
We have Covenants at least in Victoria - https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/guides/all-guides/restrictive-covenants
Honestly, they’re kinda stupid and should have a mandatory end or review date, mine has stupid clauses like you can’t park a commerical vehicle within visibility of the street and restricts the material used for fencing etc
I have never hit anything when backing in or driving out forward. I have hit 4 vehicles while backing out. It may be an attention thing, no idea. It is better for my wallet to back in
For a certain area, I back in to a parking space so that the sun in the afternoon is coming through the back window. This means that my drivers seat and steering wheel are not the temperature of the sun when I have to drive away. Other people may park in different ways to avoid the sun in the morning should they prefer to drive out to get lunch.
Excellent logic! Sometimes I do the same at work. When I was a smoker, I used to decide orientation so the sun is not shining on the front of the car or into the driver side directly so i could sit in my car and smoke without my arm sunburning on breaks. (Thankfully, I quit smoking and making my car stinky, tho I let passengers smoke if they want to, just occasionally.)
coin flip pretty much
I prefer parking for a quicker exit, but if the particular parking spot is too narrow or there’s a lot of traffic in the lot I’ll just park normal no big deal
Lots of people with sound, logical explanations of why it’s better and easier but nobody talking about, with the common angled parking lots these days, how you then end up pulling out the opposite direction of everyone else and going the wrong way down a one way lane or doing a u-turn and basically fucking everything up for anyone else.
Where I live, people give zero fucks about which direction the spaces are aligned. Even with giant arrows painted on the lanes, they will drive down the wrong way every damn time. I will stop my car and wait for their dumb asses to back up the way they came before I move. I could honestly care less which way you go into a parking spot, but driving the wrong way on one way lanes drives me insane.
I mean, those are lots in which I wouldn’t back in. Aside from the points you made, angled parking lots eliminate the drawbacks of pulling in. There’s better rear visibility towards one-way traffic, and the angle makes the alignment issue disappear.
I’m assuming all the arguments in favor of backing into parking spots are geared towards parking spots perpendicular to traffic.
Yeah I’m sure there are plenty of people who have the sense to think it through like you did, it’s just that I encounter the other type a couple times a week and felt like bitching about it.
Back-in-only spaces with the arrows pointed accordingly is sounding more and more like a superior solution.
Safety, driving out of a parking space is safe than reversing out. Also every company I’ve worked for has had a reverse parking only policy, also for safety reasons, so it’s habit too.
In addition to the ease with front wheel drives that other people have mentioned, it is also safer. When you back in to a space you have full awareness of what’s around you in the car park, and are blocking the main driving route while backing into a place where no one is driving so are unlikely to have some speeding idiot hit your car. But when backing out of a space you lose vision on the driving route and are backing into it so you have a bigger chance of being hit by someone you can’t see not stopping
While you can feel pressured by other drivers waiting while you backing into a space, it’s far less pressure than when you back out of a space and don’t know what’s around you.
Similarly if you have a drive way at home, it’s safer to back in to it as you have better awareness of pedestrians and other drivers versus if you are backing out of the space into a road.
Practical reasons aside (visibility and ease of pulling out) I simply prefer it.
Practical reasons aside (visibility and ease of pulling out) I simply prefer it.
