Exactly, I can’t even believe there’s a debate about this. Especially when the aisles are narrow - if you have a long car, it’s often not possible to go in forward in one movement, you have to go partway, then back up and straighten up, then go in fully.
Plus, when reversing in, you can use your wing mirrors to line yourself up, making it doubly easy. Not so when going in forwards if you can’t see the corners of your car.
I should probably add that angled parking spaces are fairly rare in the UK, at least in my area. They all seem to be at 90 degrees, about 7ft wide (if that) and with stupidly narrow aisles between them.
Well, I can see a lot of arguments for why it’s easier for the car to back in to the parking space, but there are also plenty of arguments for why it’s more difficult for the driver to do the same. Mainly the fact that most vehicles seem to have poor visibility out the back, and if you’re not experienced in that maneuver, it can sap a lot of your confidence in trying it.
I’ve been trying this out off and on over the last week. Every time, I misjudge and end up partway over the next parking spot. Even with the tiny Japanese cars out here, that’d still result in a collision.
Of course, it’s presumably much easier to see a parked car than it is to see the lines on an empty parking space.
If there is a car parked in the adjacent spot, it’s pretty easy to back in. Just note how far that parked car is from its own parking line, and judge your reverse based upon relative distance between you and that parked car (instead of looking backward the whole way or using side mirrors to see lines on the ground). When the front end of your car ios about even with the back end of the adjacent car, stop & park it.
I backed into a space today and made one look back. The rest of the time, I was just looking at the car next to me as a guide to get me in the space. It was no problem.
In continuing my experiments further, I went to Target and realized if I have a lot of bags and things coming out of the store, maintaining sufficient trunk access is definitely an issue. I may decide to pull in forward when doing big household shoppng trips.
I think I will still usually park where the pulling through is good. Less door dings out there too. No dolts to pull up right behind you before you can back in, and a chance of nobody parking behind you. May do that tomorrow when I buy my months worth of softener salt.
There are a few people who can back it in with skill and speed. The rest who choose to back in are a PITA for the rest of us who sit there and wait while they carefully line up their approach and then take two or three tries to park. The two seconds they plan to save when pulling out, are usually at someone else’s expense. Backing out of a parking space wastes less time for everyone.
I think the difference between pulling in forward or backing in is based on your view of driving: are you focused on your own personal space or are you aware of the bigger picture of traffic flow outside your car?
In a town I used to live in, backing in was forbidden in municipal parking lots because you had to have a town sticker on your rear bumper in order to legally park. Backing in made the enforcement people very unhappy. They gave cars so parked “extra” attention.
Maybe I’m not imagining this right. Let’s say I take my car to a field and put red paint on its driver side wheels, and turn in the tightest circle I can. I finish my 360 degrees so there is a red circle on the ground. Without moving the steering wheel I put it into reverse. Won’t my car just go right back over the same circle in reverse? It’s not going to make a smaller circle will it?
A person backing out of a parking space is much less likely to have a clear view of the lane of traffic into which he’s moving. I’ve found myself far more often surprised by kamikaze ‘backers’ leaping out without sufficient situational awareness than I have been inconvenienced by someone spending an inordinate amount of time backing into a spot. There’s a very low chance of an unobserved hazard inside a parking spot than there is in the driving lane.
In that light, the difference between backing is based on your view of driving: are you more concerned about speeding up the flow of traffic or general safety?
Those who complain about waiting for others to back in, ought to trying actually quantifying the wait - just count it off. You will likely find that you have waited 30 seconds or less. relax.
I am a motorcyclist and I am always surprised when motorcycles do NOT back in, especially to a curb space. Often there is a little uphill to the crown of the road which makes ‘duck walking’ out of such a space far harder than walking the machine back in.
I am not a driver, I am however a passenger with lots of different drivers, and have seen all of the scenarios mentioned here play out. I think it’s been a very interesting thread to read, actually.
In reality everyone’s comfort level is a direct reflection of their driving experience. One of my friend’s who has never owned a vehicle is a fierce parker/reverser, best I’ve ever seen, she can put any car she’s in anywhere she pleases quite handily. Many years experience driving varied rented catering vans, tight spots, snuggled up to buildings etc.
And ultimately it comes down to everyone doing what they are most comfortable with, and I’m glad of it, seems to all work out. Yes, you encounter plenty of boneheads, but think of all the zillions of people successfully parking every day, without incident. Day after day. Zillions!
That said, I think being proficient at backing could easily prove a valuable skill in an emergency, and drivers are well served to maintain the skill. Being able to drive straight out and away could also be valuable in an emergency. Both would seem to favour backing in to parking spaces to me.
Agree with all the good reasons to back in, but one has been missed. If the parking spaces are tight, and most cars pull in forward, then by reversing in I can allow more width on the driver’s side of both my car and the neighbor, while crowding the passenger side of both my car and the other neighbor.
When people pull in, they often tend to offset toward the passenger side, so this tends to leave a lot more room on the driver side, and avoid door dings. Should it be the case that one neighbor has a passenger, and it ends up too tight for the passenger to get in, they can ingress after the driver pulls out of the spot.
And I’ll mention again one reason not to back uphill into a driveway: It makes your car easier to steal. The thieves can just coast it out of your driveway and work on starting it where they are out of earshot of your dog. I had one car stolen in that situation and know of a couple of others.
Okay, since this thread is alive again… I want to ask, once more, whyfor the common prohibition against backing in?
Several posters above have noted, they occasionally see parking lots with backing-in prohibited.
I’ve lived in numerous apartments in my adult life, and without exception they all have signs posted, prohibiting backing-in. It seems to be a universal rule in my quadrant of the galaxy. At other places (supermarkets, malls, etc.) I occasionally see signs prohibiting backing-in.
It can’t be due to the danger of bumping into the building, because all of these apartment lots have lots of space separating cars from buildings (walkways, landscaping, lawns), and besides, they mostly all have curb stones at the fronts of the spaces. It isn’t likely due to concern for exhaust blowing into windows, because I’ve never seen an apartment whose management gave that much of a shit about the comfort of their tenants.
I don’t have any really strong preference for forward-in vs. backing-in, although given a choice, I’d usually prefer to back in – my primary argument being, the easy and increased safety of driving forward to get out. I don’t try backing in, because so many apartments threaten to have your car towed away if you so much as sneeze while parking, and they hire predatory towing companies that won’t hesitate to do so. (California passed laws a while ago to limit predatory towing, but I doubt that the tow operators follow those laws very closely.) :mad:
ETA: Surely, there must already be a Pit thread, or many, about predatory towing. Can anyone provide a link?
The reason I’ve seen is that parking permits or license plates are on the back of the car. If all cars pull in forward, security can easily scan for permits or pull license plate numbers from security footage.
It might not if the thief can steer backward well enough without power steering. Reverse is a little low for optimal bump starting if it has a clutch . Trying to turn around in the street kills all the momentum and requires cramping the wheels both ways at low to zero speed which is difficult w/o power steering.
Yes, but in either direction, the front wheels are tracing a larger circle than the rear wheels. So during tight maneuvering, you need more room around the front of the car than around the back. Which is why backing into a parking space takes less clearance (on around the parking space) than driving forward into the space.
