# Reverse angle parking is safer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 2, 2013, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410 "2013-07-02T02:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/21 "2013-07-02T22:21:06Z")
I always drive into a space when shopping. This is simply because I want access to the back of the car on my return. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/22 "2013-07-02T23:09:30Z")
I virtually always back in when I’m driving my pickup truck because it’s a large vehicle. If I’m backed in, I can always get out. If I’m parked nose-in, I can get trapped in a situation where people have parked too close and I can’t maneuver. Additionally, when backing in to a parking space it’s easy to find a spot, swing out, and back right into it. When pulling out, visibility is great and it’s easier to get out in a crowd because cars can stop even with the spot next to you. When trying to back out of a spot when you’ve parked nose-in, visibility sucks and it’s more difficult to enter traffic flow because cars have to stop a space or two away to give you room two swing your back end into traffic. > [@Senegoid](#): > > On my planet, nearly all parking lots (and often, every individual space) has a sign saying “Do Not Back In”. Since the odds are pretty good we live on the same planet, I presume you mean “in my _city_.” I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a sign in Montana. I’ve seen them in big cities, and I assume the reason is that there are many poor drivers who are going to back into meters and other obstructions. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/23 "2013-07-02T23:16:40Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > As a local custom for Austin, do as the locals do. Righty-o. Off to drink beer at the movies. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/24 "2013-07-02T23:26:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That’s interesting. Like **Senegold** , I’ve seen prohibitions against backing into parking lots at a lot of places, and I’ve generally been told _not_ to pull through. (Reason being, I assume, that somebody may be coming from the other side trying to get to the space you’re trying to pull through into.) Indeed, I was reprimanded on my driver’s license test here in the states for doing so. That’s a complaint against the instructor, not you, of course. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/25 "2013-07-02T23:29:56Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > Indeed, I was reprimanded on my driver’s license test here in the states for doing so. That’s a complaint against the instructor, not you, of course. I admit, I pull through when I can, but I always feel slightly naughty for doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/26 "2013-07-02T23:30:50Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > What? No it isn’t. When you’re backing in there’s a much less likely chance of something “suddenly appearing” in the space, whereas in backing out, there’s a greater chance that something (car, person, bike) will come around a corner, or be driving too fast down the lane and be in your way. > > Couple that with it being harder to “see around” the cars parked alongside you (especially if you’re in a small car and the ones around you are SUVs and trucks (why yes, I do speak from experience,)) and backing out becomes much less safe. > > It’s the same reason that the classic “3-point turn” is discouraged in some areas…it’s much safer backing _out_ of traffic than it is backing _in_ to traffic. When you back in to a space you have to squeeze backwards between two other vehicles, and since the steering wheels are at the back with respect to the direction of travel there’s a bigger risk of oversteering and sideswiping one of your neighbors. When you back out, you’re backing into a much wider space. If something “suddenly appears” either you weren’t paying attention or someone is going way too fast. Apart from that, in most parking lots pulling out forwards ends up with you going the wrong way down a one way aisle, and if you backed in rather than pulling through that means you had to start out by driving the wrong way down the aisle. ---
**Author:** ![Leoj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/58956e/32.png) [@Leoj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leoj)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/27 "2013-07-02T23:50:06Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I always drive into a space when shopping. This is simply because I want access to the back of the car on my return. Yeah, this is the main problem I see with backing in to a space at some place like the grocery store. Backing in might be safer, but loading is much easier if you pull in forward. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/28 "2013-07-02T23:57:15Z")
This topic has come up before. I’m usually the only one to point out an obvious fact. [quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:22, topic:662410”] I virtually always back in when I’m driving my pickup truck because it’s a large vehicle. If I’m backed in, I can always get out. If I’m parked nose-in, I can get trapped in a situation where people have parked too close and I can’t maneuver. [/QUOTE] Mr. Robson hints at the fact here. _You want the steering axle at the end of the car that will move laterally the most._ Backing in, you can get easily into or out of spaces _that would be geometrically impossible_ the other way. ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/29 "2013-07-03T00:40:50Z")
In Singapore, almost everyone reverse parks, and it’s tested as standard. It’s way harder for me to park head first, and I’ve never dinged my car in 10 years of reverse parking. Maybe in America, you have crazy big parking lots that let you line up just so. I know when I drove in California, it seemed like most parking lots were “herringbone” pattern parking, which pretty much means you had to park headfirst. I must admit that backing out into a street kind of gave me the heebie jeebies. [![](https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/v1628265327/CNA-default-image.jpg) ](https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/v1628265327/CNA-default-image.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/30 "2013-07-03T00:42:40Z")
Probably some places insist on parked cars pulling in nose first so that a LEO driving [one of these](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_y7NgL5zbq3U/TER5EIjZ20I/AAAAAAAAAtk/8tbGe_LcJU4/s1600/0710_platereader2.jpg) can scan plates. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/31 "2013-07-03T01:45:07Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Apart from that, in most parking lots pulling out forwards ends up with you going the wrong way down a one way aisle, and if you backed in rather than pulling through that means you had to start out by driving the wrong way down the aisle. This had me completely puzzled until I realized you’re talking about a parking lot with angled spaces instead of perpendicular spaces. No, of _course_ I wouldn’t twist around and try to back into one of those. Lots like that are designed for cars to move and park one way only. > [@leftfield6](#): > > Probably some places insist on parked cars pulling in nose first so that a LEO driving [one of these](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_y7NgL5zbq3U/TER5EIjZ20I/AAAAAAAAAtk/8tbGe_LcJU4/s1600/0710_platereader2.jpg) can scan plates. Excellent point. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/32 "2013-07-03T02:04:28Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > I always drive into a space when shopping. This is simply because I want access to the back of the car on my return. In the “reverse” angle street situation we (well, the OP and some of us, anyway) are discussing here, of course you have just as much access the back of your car - and it’s safer since you’re standing on the sidewalk rather than out in the street. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/33 "2013-07-03T04:43:38Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Probably some places insist on parked cars pulling in nose first so that a LEO driving [one of these](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_y7NgL5zbq3U/TER5EIjZ20I/AAAAAAAAAtk/8tbGe_LcJU4/s1600/0710_platereader2.jpg) can scan plates. I came in to post something similar. I live in a state that requires front and rear license plates, but many states only require the rear plate. Perphaps a requirement for tail-out parking is so that the cops can check plates (and the stickers on them that show if the registration is expired or not)? That said, I find that backing into a parking space (angled or not) is, at least for me, the easiest and safest way to go. Of course, outside of parking lots, almost all parking here in NYC is parallel parking, which is a whole different thing. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/34 "2013-07-03T05:04:13Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > This only applies to angle parking as opposed to parallel parking in which you must back in most of the time. [George Costanza](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egsdc7tZ_xc) strongly agrees. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/35 "2013-07-03T05:11:00Z")
Personally, I know that if I try to back into a narrow space between two other cars there is a small but real risk that I will hit one or other of them, denting their car and mine, or scraping paintwork. I do not have anything like as accurate a control over my direction, or as good a sense of my position when I am gong backwards as I do when going forwards (and I very much doubt that I am alone in this). Backing out of such a space presents no such problems. It does not require anything like the same level of accurate positioning, it just requires being on the lookout for cars coming by, and waiting for a suitable gap in traffic (if need be). That I have no difficulty with. I am very glad that I have never had to use a parking lot that required one to back into the spaces. I suspect most people feel the same, as I very rarely see cars that have been backed into spaces in lots (and many of those few that are parked “backwards” have probably been driven through from th adjacent space). ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/36 "2013-07-03T12:12:01Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Personally, I know that if I try to back into a narrow space between two other cars there is a small but real risk that I will hit one or other of them, denting their car and mine, or scraping paintwork. I do not have anything like as accurate a control over my direction, or as good a sense of my position when I am gong backwards as I do when going forwards (and I very much doubt that I am alone in this). Backing out of such a space presents no such problems. It does not require anything like the same level of accurate positioning, it just requires being on the lookout for cars coming by, and waiting for a suitable gap in traffic (if need be). That I have no difficulty with. I am very glad that I have never had to use a parking lot that required one to back into the spaces. I suspect most people feel the same, as I very rarely see cars that have been backed into spaces in lots (and many of those few that are parked “backwards” have probably been driven through from th adjacent space). Use your side mirrors. There is literally no way you can accidentally hit something while reversing unless you fail to check them… ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/37 "2013-07-03T15:13:48Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > Use your side mirrors. There is literally no way you can accidentally hit something while reversing unless you fail to check them… Of course you can. Going in reverse a small overcorrection can cause the back end to make a sudden lurch to either side. Backing out it’s not a big deal, but backing in with maybe a couple of feet clearance on either side means you’ve got a clear view of your rear corner making contact with your neighbor’s door panel. The only reason it doesn’t happen much is that most people don’t back in to parking spots. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/38 "2013-07-03T17:24:16Z")
In the oil field it is standard safety protocol to insure that the first move from park is forward. When I started out it was explained to me that when you arrive somewhere you have time and know you’re going to be there for a while but you can’t always be sure that you’ll have the same luxury when you’re leaving. After doing it for work for the better part of a decade I’ve started doing it as standard practice. Mainly because there are lots of situations I can’t see while I’m backing out so you just have to go slowly and hope to been seen or honked at before you get hit while going forwards I can see what’s coming sooner and merge with traffic easier. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/39 "2013-07-03T18:39:53Z")
Those of you who feel that you can’t reverse park (and I’m one) - you do realize that it’s a matter of practice, right? If you’d been required to learn to reverse park in driving school and been doing it ever since, you’d be saying that you couldn’t park head-first because it was too scary and dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2013, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410/40 "2013-07-03T18:45:10Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Of course you can. Going in reverse a small overcorrection can cause the back end to make a sudden lurch to either side… 😕 I’ve been driving a standard shift for so many decades I’m not really conscious of how I push the pedals. But the car moves slowly when I want it to move slowly, and quickly only when I want it to move quickly. Accidentally “lurching” into a neighboring car isn’t one of the available options. I do realize YMMV. OTOH, I was chastised in a recent thread for having difficulty pocketing change with coins on top! Turnabout is fair play. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reverse-angle-parking-is-safer/662410.md?page=3)