Just for fun: everyone that backs in has just got off working the night shift and doesn’t have the sun in their eyes while parking. The folks that pull in have no sun in their face as they’re leaving in the morning for work.
Yeah, it’s baloney.
All of them, unless they’re driving across the greenspace between the buildings, or something similarly transgressive.
I only know a few of my neighbors, and certainly couldn’t tell you which car belongs to whom. And given that I couldn’t even answer the question for myself, I’m not confident I could get an answer from most other individuals.
It’s sounding like it really is a case of left vs. right. Now I just need to find some similar lots elsewhere with the entrances at different compass points, to see if it holds in general.
I agree, but not for the reasons mentioned. If you treat the lot from a psychological perspective as a two-way street, when you enter (driving west) and park on the south side you are pulling across the oncoming lane of traffic. When you enter and park on the north side you are not. Conversely, when you pull out from the north side and turn east into the “two-way street” to exit the lot, you are crossing both lanes of traffic.
It seems safer to be facing forward and not making reversing maneuvers when crossing both lanes of traffic - i.e. when entering a parking spot on the south side, and when leaving a parking spot on the north side.
Certainly, if I were in a real two-way street and it were legal to pull directly into spaces on either side of the street, I think this is the safer way to do it.
Huh, I didn’t know that. Apparently changed just two years ago, and it’s been a lot longer than that since I needed to get new plates. Explains why I thought I noticed that a lack of front plate seemed to be becoming more common. TIL, ty.
The pattern of cars leaving and returning during the day might support the ‘platoon’ idea. So there may be enough backers and forers on the opposite sides frequently enough that it’s become a self supporting habit or practice of the parkers.
I find it easier to back up to the left into a parking spot because the lines of the space are more visible on the left. If I can’t see the left line in the mirror I can look out the window or even open the door to get lined up. It sounds like traffic must run both ways down the middle of the lot though, so the preferred backup direction, right or left, doesn’t matter since a car could just turn around.
I was going to say that the parking lot isn’t busy enough for “driving in the right lane as though it were a street”* to be relevant… but then it occurred to me that, as a teacher, I’m an hour or more earlier both coming and going than the standard “rush hour”, and so I’m not sure what the lot is like in genuinely busy times.
And leaving a parking spot in the “wrong” direction and then turning around would be difficult-- There’s no loop at the end of the lot or anything like that. When someone does need to turn around in the lot, they usually do a three-point turn using an open parking space.
*As an aside, the parking lot is actually designated as a street, with a street sign, and my address is listed as being on that “street”. But it’s still a parking lot.
So you live on a parking lot. Explains a lot. 
Luxury.
If you park the opposite of the car next to you, their driver door is on the same side as yours, potentially making it harder to get into and out of the car, especially if the person next to you hugs the line.
There’s not always a passenger, but there’s always a driver! 
upside_down_face:
Edit: If your car is right side drive, then park in the opposite direction of the car next to you!
We also tend to conform with local norms, especially regarding behaviors we don’t really have strong feelings about. If the car or two near you are backer uppers you’re more likely to back up too. No other close neighbors backing up make it less likely unless you already have a strong opinion. If my neighbors only shovels the snow so half the sidewalk width is clear I am less likely to go fully edge to edge. Most didn’t want to be the first of their block to stop with the American flag display after 911 and didn’t want to be the last either.
This is a matter of social psychology not analytical decision making based on differing physical conditions.
Setting aside your caveat (your “but”) this is why I think it has more to do with visibility while backing out from a parking spot. If you are the sort who backs out of spaces (as I am), then you will not want to be facing north because if you back out towards the west so you can exit the parking lot by driving east, then you would risk backing up blind the entire time (your view would be continuously obstructed by the vehicle on your left–to the west–if there is one). If, however, you park to the south, facing south, you have the benefit of parallax, looking over your shoulder and to the right through your own vehicle, with a rapidly expanding field of view as you begin to back out.
So there is a very good reason for people who pull in front-first to want to park facing south, so they can back out with a less obstructed view and see any cars that might also be heading east sooner.
As far as people who prefer to back into their parking spots, I can’t think of any reason why they should prefer the north or south side, but then this might be where the predominance of people facing one way or the other might come in. Although… now that I think of it, while it wouldn’t matter so much with sedans or pickups, if there are a lot of SUVs, backing into a parking spot with an SUV that didn’t back in next to you could cause some obstruction of the field of view on that side when pulling out into traffic, especially if it’s to your left.
So that’s my complete hypothesis.
Well, see, they paved paradise.
We lived in a median.
On the other hand, if cars alternate, then they can be closer to the line on the passenger side and further from the line on the driver side, so, as long as everyone isn’t coming and going at the same time, everyone ends up with more room to get in and out.
As for “doing what everyone around you does”, while I suppose that the cars on the same side are marginally closer to you than the cars on the opposite side, everyone can still easily see both sides. Unless you’re saying that “what everyone around you does” is parking facing south?
I used to dream of living in a median. There were over 150 of us living in a small shoe box in the middle of the road.
To confirm this, we’d have to find a similar parking lot south of the equator and see if everyone parks the opposite way.
At the equator, everyone would park in a circle.
Way to go Ohio…
How would such a law be enforceable on private property not open to the general public?
I’ve been seeing a boatload of YouTube clips where the photog and the cops argue back and forth about what is private property and what is public property. Seems to be a deliberate gray area. Did you have an example? Keep in mind, this is going off topic and may require starting a different thread.
[quote=“Chronos, post:34, topic:970433, full:true”]Unless you’re saying that “what everyone around you does” is parking facing south?
[/quote]
That’s it!!! They’re all trying to face the sun and keep their cars warm during the day.
Mystery solved.
Just close the thread.
A lesser factor is that I (the driver) personally am on the left side of the car. I’m closer to the left edge of the car and can see more of the things on that side when turning left, and I can more easily judge distance. That actually is the reason I do it. No need to invoke sheep. 
The real test would be to find a similar parking lot in the UK and see how they park. I bet it would be the reverse of the OP’s lot.
I’m 71, and I do find it harder to back into a spot. When I was younger I could do it more easily. If it’s easy for you, great.