People are bored and need something low key to bitch about.
The real issue is the assholes who don’t like to park backing in. 
They don’t mind backing up into traffic and possibly running over children, puppies, kittens and old folks push grocery carts! Its all about them and their precious time.
As mentioned, the safety aspect is 99% of why I back in. (And as others have mentioned, when I’m lucky enough to find a “pull-through” pair of parking spaces, I avail myself of that option - more convenient and even safer.) But there’s another factor.
For those of us whose cars are lethal on batteries, engendering cold-weather starting problems (and who live in a frosty climate) back-in parking makes it easier to accomplish a jump start.
I back into my parking spot but, in the six years I have been here, I have never once caused even one person to wait while I parked. It’s just not a very busy garage.
I think it might be faster if I pulled in nose first. Backing in requires one adjustment (back in, pull forward a bit then complete backing in). Not too bad. I like being able to just hop in and drive off when I want to go somewhere. I am trading a little time when parking for a little time saved when leaving. Honestly though…I’d be fine either way.
I don’t back in to park because that is dangerous.
I’ve been driving for decades and I’ve never even come close to an accident in a parking lot. Because I’m careful and not some reckless maniac who thinks he’s hot shit parking backward.
I’ve definitely been in a parking spot nose-in where 2 land yachts have parked on either side of me and I have to creep back out blindly. Not as bad nowadays with a backup camera, but I’d still much rather pull out forward than backward. It’s the other reckless maniac drivers who think they’re hot shit I worry about.
In most of Japan, people back into parking, but for some reason a lot of people pull in here.
If you get used to it, it’s not really that much slower. I guess the problem is that some people aren’t that good.
I drive a “truck” as you call them in the USA, a large Toyota D4D.
My visibly is pretty limited in a parking situation. I absolutely always unpack my cart into the car, and then return the cart.
Because if I don’t I am either going to crush the cart or push it into someone else’s car.
I am absolutely on your side here.
Cart abandonment people, there are other people in this crowded world.
But none who matter to those entitled jerkwads.
I was going to ignore this thread, not having a fully formed opinion either way.
But yesterday I was driving on a two lane road and had to stop for someone back parking into their driveway! Not a parking lot, but from a road! That’s not OK.
That’s the thing. It’s the “entitled” folks that do these things. They know full well they’re bothering some few and don’t care. Because of the “it’s the way I do it and your needs be damned” attitude.
The bigger the vehicle the nastier these people are on the road.
But that makes sense if he has a blind driveway, and it’s hard for him to safely back onto the road.
I do it every day. I’m at the end of a cul-de-sak. But it just makes more sense.
The other day I was driving E down a busy 4-lane road in suburban Chicago. There were houses all along it. At one point, another road from the N T-ed into it with a stoplight. As we stopped at the red, someone with a driveway directly across from the road to the N backed quickly out and headed W. My wife and I commented how much we would hate to have to make that maneuver regularly. Would definitely install some sort of turnaround, even if it took up my entire front yard.
I am in the UK and for me it is the other way round. I have never seen a “head in parking only” sign and my (former) employer is far from unique in insisting everyone reverse parks. So here a sign for you.
Over here it seems to be generally acknowledge that reverse parking is safer, some people drive is forwards, usually because they find reverse parking difficult but I have not heard one person in the UK say that others should not reverse park.
With litigation culture, especially in the US I would not be surprised if there is an collision when someone is reversing out of a space where the car park owner has a sign demanding Head in Parking Only that the car park owner gets sued because by insisting cars are not parked in the most safe manner they are at least prtially responsible for the collision.
Yeah, situational judgement should be applied. For work recently I get to use a parking lot where heads-out seems to work more efficiently, but that doesn’t necessarily apply at other locations.
Currently my daily ride is a pre-cameras vehicle again so I get to use my Old School training when backing up. Not that hard if you kept practicing through. But I like the backup camera, it can be useful.
Another 3 month old infant without object permanence posting on the board!
How do you think that person is supposed to get OUT of the driveway if they go in head-first? Is that process going to cause people behind them to stop? Is there a safety issue there? Do you understand that if they go into a parking space or a driveway, they eventually have to leave it?
Wait for a gap then reverse in an easy motion as leaving the funnel at the wide end is much easier
No
No
Yes
I wonder why every corporate installation I’ve ever visited that is keeping a safety record or is penalized for accidents (by their insurer) has implemented a “back in“ policy on their parking lots.
Who actually thinks that backing into the street is somehow magically safer than driving forward? You can’t visualize how the back of your car goes into a empty parking spot, but you can visualize how the back of your car can safely back into a busy street? You are so worried waiting for someone backing into a spot because you need all that time waiting for people filling out insurance forms after they backed into traffic?
Nevermind that you can make the lanes between rows roughly 30% narrower if everybody backs