Depends on your vehicle. I’m now driving a full-sized Ram quad-cab pickup truck. This is the smallest truck I’ve ever owned. I can usually park it like normal people in the lot. But take a look at a larger 1-ton crew-cab longbed full-sized pickup and you’ll see there’s a whole lot more truck hanging behind the rear wheels, than the amount sticking out in front of the front wheels (if this makes any sense). When using one of these monsters as a daily driver, you learn to take the edge of the parking lot. Then backing in allows the excess truck to hang out over the grass, etc. and the front is more inline with normal vehicles in the lane. Otherwise you end up being the asshole who’s pickup sticks out into the lane and impedes traffic. (I assume most have encountered this).
Backing in makes it more convenient for your fellow drivers, in some cases.
You’re ignoring situational awareness. When arriving, you have a good idea of what’s around your car (pedestrians, traffic). When leaving, your awareness is less good because surrounding cars are blocking your view and you’ve been sitting down in the car for several seconds (fasten the kids, start the engine, put on Bluetooth earpiece, etc.).
Moreover, the situation may have changed, unrelated to just your awareness. If a car has newly parked opposite your slot, it may be impossible to back out now, while you could forward out readily if you’d backed in. I always back in, unless there’s some situation (e.g. waiting traffic) which makes it inconvenient. (Are Dopers ignoring that the steering-axle end of the car will move more laterally, so you don’t want that end deep in the slot?)
Living in Thailand I’ve become more aware and cautious of parking situations. Many parking lots are packed over-full, and attendants are on duty to push cars out of the way, almost reminding one of Rush Hour puzzles. :smack: The attendants have dolly-jacks to cope with drivers who set parking brakes and lock their cars.
My employer has such a rule. If you are parking in any of my employer’s premises or if you are parking a work vehicle anywhere, you are required to reverse in and drive out, for safety reasons.
By the way, it is not unusual at all, in my experience, for pedestrians to walk behind a car which is reversing. This is so typical that if I am manoeuvring in a car park, I pretty much expect it.
Always back into a parking spot. Safer to pull out, greater view as I back in. I’ve never hit anyone. When I drove an ambulance frequently, I always backed in the rig as well ( a requirement, not a personal choice ). Never backed into anything there either.
This is also the case in Singapore, although some people do park head first. I actually find it a LOT harder to get into a lot head first, rather than backing in. And if you get the angle wrong, it’s a lot harder to correct - the front of the car swings through a much greater angle than the back, so you can correct less on a single “pass”.
Backing into a parking lot was also part of our driving test, whereas parking head in was not. Maybe it’s true - our lanes are probably narrower.
I always back in unless the spaces are angled and prevent it.
My wife however, is reverse-challenged and has trouble backing up without bumping things.
Telephone poles, fences, etc…
When the kids started walking,and she got driving around kids and daycares more often, I installed a back up beeper. You just replace your back-up light bulb with this one, and Viola!
Even those stubborn idiots walking behind you at the Piggly Wiggly can’t pretend they don’t know you’re coming out!
This is what was drilled into our heads in Driver’s Ed. I was taught to ALWAYS back in when it can be done so that when you leave you’re facing traffic. The exception, of course, is angled parking. The rationale is that it’s safer because you can see where you’re going a hell of a lot better than when backing up.
With regard to reverse angle street parking, yeah the angle does make it a little easier, but people who are scared of driving in reverse are not going to notice this, they’ll be just as afraid to do it like this.
Wow! I never knew this! I wonder if this is true for Laos, cause there was an episode of King of the Hill were Khan backed out of his driveway (and turned to the left) and backed into Hank. Hank even made a joke about, “Here in America we back out to the right” which although not always the case, is usually true simply because we drive on the right side.
I don’t find it too risky to always pull in and back out because most people who are driving in a parking lot, whether looking for a spot or the exit, they tend to drive a little more carefully being that it’s close quarters.
I like all the responses about backing is a basic skill that must be mastered. I agree. Here, most parking lots at any kind of store are angled, so backing in or pulling through is not a good idea.
That said, I almost never back in, and don’t see big deal. If you can back in, you can back out. Rarely, if ever, have I seen a lot so designed as to make pulling in and backing out hard. Maybe y’all need to learn where the corners of your vehicle are? That’s my wifes problem. She thinks she’s SO close to the other car, but is actually about three feet away! Lol!
I don’t know about that - when I back into a space, as long as my mirrors are adjusted properly I see the entire space and it takes me about two seconds to back in cleanly. Backing out in a busy parking lot - not as easy. I have no problem knowing where the corners of my vehicle are (I used to drive a semi so I can back a 60’ semi into a very tight spot or parallel park it; et tu? Weren’t you the guy who reads magazines at red lights and stop signs? I don’t know that I’d be slamming your little wifey here if I were you…)
Backing out of a spot - you cannot always see past the vehicles on either side of you, especially if you are in a smaller vehicle flanked by big, opaque ones. It’s a matter of time economy. If there’s nobody behind me when I’m in the lot, I’ll back in quickly and can pull out just as quickly. Two seconds in, two seconds out. Otherwise I’m slowly inching back out because people are idiots and it can take 20-30 seconds to back safely out of a space in a busy lot.
I value my time, so I do what’s most time-efficient.
Based upon this thread, I started backing into parking spaces a couple days ago. It is a bit awkward at first, especially for narrow spaces. It does get easier having done it a few times, so I can see getting fairly proficient at it after a few more attempts.
It was more difficult than pulling forward into a space in one incident because I had to angle the side mirror down to see the lines, whereas I would not have to do that pulling in forward. This cost is somewhat offest by the ease of pulling forward out of the space instead of backing out.
However, today, it was better to back into a space than to pull forward because had I pulled forward, I would have been at a bad angle in a fairly tight space with pakred cars on both sides. I would have had to go back and forth in a somewhat crowded lot to get straightened out. Since I was backing in, the fact that I took a bad angle at the beginning was easily corrected during the reverse and I ended up parking straight in despite the initial miscalculation.
Further, the car paked next to me was a big SUV, the lot was small and trafficy, and there were pedestrians about. Upon leaving, given the limited visibility, I was much more comfortable pulling forward out of the space than I would have been trying to back out… just nudge forward slowly until I can see, then zip right out. I would have had to reverse out farther trying to nudge backward until I could see past the SUV while trying to crank my head around backward.
As others mentioned, it was safer to back in because I knew nobody was walking around my car when I was starting my reverse into the space. Had I been backing out of the space, low pedestrian visibility would have been a much greater consideration.
I’m going to keep backing in. I think once my reverse skills sharpen a bit, the cost-benefit will ultimately favor backing into parking spaces (provided nobody is driving right behind me in the lot when I’m trying to park).
Many parking lots here in Colombia require reverse parking. At home, I always park in reverse because it is easier and getting out is easier too. Just works better in my opinion.
a few places around here in FL don’t allow backing in, since it hides the license plate, and makes it harder for security to check whose is allowed to park or not, and i assume the police would have issues reading entire lots at a time with their scanners.
Depends on your vehicle. I’m now driving a full-sized Ram quad-cab pickup truck. This is the smallest truck I’ve ever owned. I can usually park it like normal people in the lot. But take a look at a larger 1-ton crew-cab longbed full-sized pickup and you’ll see there’s a whole lot more truck hanging behind the rear wheels, than the amount sticking out in front of the front wheels (if this makes any sense). When using one of these monsters as a daily driver, you learn to take the edge of the parking lot. Then backing in allows the excess truck to hang out over the grass, etc. and the front is more inline with normal vehicles in the lane. Otherwise you end up being the asshole who’s pickup sticks out into the lane and impedes traffic. (I assume most have encountered this).
