But the benefit is you don’t have to wait for them to maneuver to get out of the space, clipping your fender in the process.
In our office lot, and in the supermarket I shop at, if the giant trucks back into the parking space, they take up ~~3 feet of sidewalk walking space, as the back of the truck/truck bed has about that much space before the rear wheels hit the curb. In addition, if the truck has a “trailer hitch”, that will add another 6-12 inches. Those trailer hitches are not always obvious (painted black instead of silver), and I’ve smacked my shins/tripped myself a few times on them if I don’t give them a wide enough berth.
Front-parking puts the front wheels at the curb, so maybe 6 inches of space into the walkway. Plus, no trailer hitch.
We’ve done this before.
The trade off is:
You’re backing into a tight space. This can take a while.
You’re driving out with better visibility on cross traffic.
In our office garage head in parking is required. You can lose your parking privileges if you back in. People do it anyway and then fight with the building management.
It’s because one person trying to back into a tight space at 8:25am, and it always seems to be a giant pickup or SUV, can create a backup that goes all the way into the street. And this really pisses off the city.
In the afternoon and evening the departures are much more spaced out.
Yes, if you leave at exactly 5:30 you may have a hard time backing out. But someone will wait and let you out. People are driving at 5mph. Because speeding in the garage will also cost you your parking permit.
I guess the bigger the car, the more clear space you need behind you to back out safely.
I won’t back in if it’s crowded, because I know it would infuriate me. But…if the lot is the kind without barriers between spaces, and the option is available, I’ll invariably drive through so that I’m facing out the other side. I agree that rear cameras have speeded it up a lot; my curent car is my first with one of those. But this city’s got a lot of maiacs who’ll floor it for no readily apparent reason in a grocery store parking lot so I don’t take many chances.
Because with a really big truck, you dont have much clearance.
Obviously?
My Wife and I both have SUV’s. We have to as we live at 11,200 feet in elevation. I also have a plow truck that never sees pavement.
Drove one in a 4 day trip all over Colorado. About 1000 miles, 7 days ago. Half the time we had 2 65lb dogs and our luggage for a Wedding reception, dinner with a good friend, and exploring other places where we might want to live.
Do consider that other people have different lives than your own.
You need to get out more.
You’re obviously hauling stuff.
My wife and I both have SUVs and we’re constantly hauling either home improvement stuff, plants, scouting gear, or pets. Maybe if we had a 3rd car it could be something petite.
OK. Pissed off about something else.
I’m in a team of 4. GIS. We are about to do a BIG update. I and one other person has rights to write to that server.
I wrote up steps of what we are all going to have to do. And put it on that server (word doc, no pwds or anything). Nobody but me and the fraidy cat IS person is allowing access to see the Word document. I need my team to be able to update that document. Putting it on another server with our overloaded in-house wiki, is stupid, You will never find it. It’s a one page document of the steps we will take.
Put it in our Wiki? It will be totally irrelevant in 1 month.
I think you read my question incorrectly; it was intended as “Others might ask me this question” since I rarely use my pickup to haul things.
As to me needing to get out more, you are correct. I have such a repetitive lifestyle that I tell everyone that if I were being chased by the mob I’d be dead in a week. (Oh him? go to the Y at 4:05 and he’ll be there…backing in his pickup in that spot right over there).
At the majority of parking lots i use, parked cars are next to another car from the other side, not a curb. It’s a really bad idea to extend into the other parking space, and I’ve basically never seen it done. In the few parking lots i use where it’s just a car against the edge of the lot (my computer rail station, for instance) there’s nothing to speak of at the edge of the lot, a fence or some mulched area. Not a sidewalk. So again, this is a problem i have never encountered. But that’s interesting.
Huh, that explains why some places have rules against it. I can’t say I’ve even been in a situation where people parking back up a street, but maybe i didn’t arrive at peak time and just wouldn’t have noticed.
I’m now going to return to not caring how other people park, and to backing into spaces when that’s more convenient. (Which it usually isn’t, where i park. But occasionally is.)
Yeah, me too. We live in the great outdoors. No neighbors. But we are at the point of retiring. We are worried that EMS can’t get here in the winter.
So my Wife and I are looking at communities that will be easier for us. 30 feet of snow every winter has become a bit much. I’ve killed one truck/snowplow (bought another), and am on my second 4x4 tractor . Ummm… It’s absolutelys beautiful living at elevation… but it will kill you.
In Japan people back into parking spaces by default. With practice then it’s quick.
My neighbor has a pickup truck and it’s too long for our spaces. It’s hard to maneuver past it if she doesn’t back up over the sidewalk and it blocks about half the sidewalk if she does.
The places I’ve seen that have rules against it are in parking garages where pipes against the walls might get mashed by someone backing in.
Are oversized pickup truck common in Japan?
The abundance of different animated production company logos in contemporary movies (often listed again during the credits).
Yep.
I’m always slightly annoyed when people drive into a half-full parking garage and seem to think it’s mandatory to park in the first open space they find, especially when there’s no other route through the garage to get around them. The pickup trucks backing into spaces wouldn’t be a problem if they drove to the top floor to park. They could take their sweet time because all the cars that came in behind them will have taken other spots.
When I park at a large airport, seems like everybody is cruising around on the lowest floor that has spaces available. I drive up a couple more floors to where it’s mostly empty. I can usually get a spot near the elevators and don’t have to carry my luggage as far.
On the subject of parking garages, what is the point of those green or red lights on the ceiling to show where the available spaces are. I guess at large garages with multiple aisles it can be a help. There’s one garage near me that has just two aisles per floor, one in each direction. By the time you see the ceiling lights, you’re committed to driving down that aisle. Any open space is one you’re going to see when you drive by it.
Why do so many city folk* drive massive SUVs or even what looks like an armoured jeep? The “Chelsea (or Toorak) Tractor” was an object of derision even before there was much concern about the climate, but if anything they’re getting bulkier and more intimidating (I suppose that’s the point [sigh])
*Yes, even in cities with good public transport.
That reminds me of the Blackish episode where Dre and Rainbow are going to a restaurant for Valentine’s Day and it gets off to a rocky start because Dre pronounces it “Valentimes.”
The makers of SUVs promoted how safe they were in crashes, so soccer moms bought them. While yes, in a head to head crash Smartcar vs Suburban, the passengers in the SUV would be safer, the auto makers did not disclose that some SUV tended to roll etc, meaning that in reality, big SUV werent really that much safer.
There arent many in America.