People who back into parking spots: Why?

littlecolt@lemm.ee to No Stupid Questions@lemmy.world – 179 points –

To me, it seems objectively easier to pull into a parking space forward and then back out of the space when you are ready to leave. You don't have to line up with the lines while driving backwards, and it's easier to keep from hitting other cars as well. So why back in? To me, the only advantage I can think of is that you can get out quicker, technically.

Edit: I do not need driving instruction, just wondered why. The reasoning.

239

Because you know what the situation is when you park, but you don't know what the situation will be when you leave.

I like this answer, and had not considered it. Good insight. I knew people would have specific situations like certain parking areas or certain street parking, but I really wanted "general" answers, and this is a good one. Thanks.

My grandfather had two habits drilled into him in the Army: never put your hands in your pockets so they’re always ready for action, and always park your vehicle so it’s ready to go.

This means he always backed in, and always parked as close to the exit as possible. And he did post-drive checks to ensure fluids, lights, brakes etc. were as they should be and the vehicle was ready for immediate use.

And he wasn’t even a getaway driver after the war.

And he wasn’t even a getaway driver after the war.

That you knew about

Yep I’m all about setting myself up for success. And backing into parking spaces does that. Also it’s drilled into my head from the oilfield that you will always back in because it’s safer.

Also cause its cool as fuck

It's actually kind of inconvenient to be behind someone doing this. It takes longer than pulling in and sometimes it's unexpected. Like I thought this one guy was turning but he was just lining up to back into a spot. He got mad when I pulled up behind him lol

sounds like your jealous of how cool they were

Takes about the same amount of time as someone backing out when leaving, so it’s balanced out eventually. It’s a little unexpected but I don’t put my car anywhere I’m not 100% sure is safe, and backwards parking isn’t particularly rare, so I’m never really taken aback that much

6 more...

This sentiment is why I fully believe at least 50% of you shouldn't be allowed to operate a motor vehicle.

Which is more dangerous, backing into a parking spot, or backing into traffic?

For the love of God, if you drive a vehicle, figure it out.

I genuinely think the bar for a driver's licence should be raised to take 50% or more off the road.

Can't reverse park? Don't know where oil water and air goes on your car? Lack confidence in certain conditions? Here's a free bus pass.

A lot of people don't even want to drive, but in a lot of places there's just no viable alternative.

raises hand

I actually like cars. (They're... "cool". I play Forza sometimes, lol.) But the reality is they're fucking expensive to maintain, along with insurance and taxes and fuel. And very much not fun to drive under normal circumstances, next to removeds and idiots. And terrible for the environment, at absurd US numbers at least.

I'd rather save thousands of dollars and have public transit or easily maintained bike. But bikes are not viable when planet is trying to kill us (Texas is 100-110 °F for 2 months straight now).

I'm a big advocate for changing that.

Driving should be a privilege, not a right.

Before being either a provledge or a right, driving should not be a necessity.

If you look at the state driver's manuals from the dmv it actually says exactly that. It's already considered a privilege. Otherwise you wouldn't have to test into it and pay annually to keep your car on the road.

Where are you from where those things are not part of a driving test?

They make you check for water or air on a test or expect you to know? That would be novel in Canada.

Yep, in the UK it's part of the theory test, you have to know how and when to check air and fluid levels in order to get a licence.

Here in the states you need to know how to press the pedals and you're all set

Those are all things you need to pass to get your driver’s license here in The Netherlands. We still have idiots on the road. Granted, they don’t (or at least, very rarely) slam their vehicles through the fronts of stores and houses, but we still got idiots doing idiot things.

What if it is a parking lot that has zero traffic. Is it better to back into a confined space or back out into an open area?

Zero traffic would mean it's an empty lot. If there's a curb or cement blocks preventing pull through, I'd still back into a spot.

But to answer the spirit of your question, it's easier to back in to a confined spot due to the steering being on the "back" side and ability to use the side mirrors to line it up. Other than pull through spots, I can't think of a single good reason to pull in to a parking spot forwards rather than back in.

I agree it can be easier. I prefer it if the spot I am backing into is tight. When I say zero traffic I should clarify to mean it is very unlikely to have another vehicle in motion within your yard when you are parking/leaving.

The steering axle is in the front. So if you back into a parking space, you turn around your back axle. This makes the alignment considerably easier, especially for tight parking spaces or crowded parking lots. If you wanted to park front first in that situation, you would have to correct several times because the turning radius is too big to get the car straight in front of the spot in one swoop.

This is the primary reason for me too. Way easier and faster to get into tight parking lots back first!

This is exacerbated the longer your vehicle is. It is impossible to turn wide enough with my pickup truck to park forward because the front end swings too much. The more efficient car I take on normal commuting doesn't have this issue.

Here's an intuitive reason, have you ever used a wheelbarrow? You'll notice that picking up a wheel barrow to push it is extremely nimble to spin it up around the wheel and dumping the contents precisely. Turn around and try instead to pull on it, and suddenly you can't make as sharp turns and maneuvers unless you uncomfortably shimmy your feet around. One fixed point of swivel with a long lever behaves differently being pushed than when being pulled. A car has a similar effect in place, driving backwards a car is more precise and maneuverable than going forward. Because the rear wheels act as pivot points and the front wheels have a long arm of leverage to more accurately direct the car, with tighter turn radius than when going forward. This is why experienced drivers agree that reversing into a parking spot is easier than pulling into it.

Visibility is way better and traffic rules play to your favor.

When you back in, you already have right of way. Traffic has to wait for you to park and you aren't reversing into cross traffic.

If you park forward, when you go to leave you have to worry about cross traffic and your head/eyes are far removed from where you need to be looking. You don't have right of way which means a lot of awkward mashing the brakes when a car or pedestrian pops out of your blind spot.

In short, you can park faster and more accurately and you can leave faster and safer.

The only reason to park forward is there's a line of cars behind you that won't let you reverse into a spot. Otherwise, it's always the right choice.

Listen. Some of us are looking forward. To the Future. The future of pulling out of that parking spot. Not my fault if you stuck in the rear-view, my guy.

It's called Fancy Parking, sweetie. Look it up 💅

With that write-up, I’m disappointed that there isn’t even one Delorean.

Mind you, parking at 88 mph might explain why the 1st car is waaayy off-centre.

Now there is something I do in fancy way.

I always tell my wife that anyone backing in is an idiot lol I find it funny these people think they are fancy. It's just silly. Takes more time and doesn't really make it easier to pull out especially not in a one way parking lot where I see people still do this 🤦

if you think it takes more time, or that it doesn’t make it easier to pull out then you sir don’t know how to reverse park and are so wrong that i’m not sure you have ever reverse parked

Same reason forklift steering wheels are in the back. I drive a fairly long vehicle and a lot of times it's just easier to maneuver backwards.

Also I have a much wider field of view to look around for people or children not paying attention when pulling out of a parking spot.

If you pull in forwards, you can only see directly behind you until basically your entire car is out of the spot, especially if you don't have a backup cam. If you pull in backwards, you only have to drive forward a foot or two before you have full 180 degree field of view of everything coming from both directions.

All the sass is just coming from people who aren't confident in their backup skills.

They actually teach reverse parking as part of driving instruction here in the UK because, as many people have pointed out, it's safer, easier and more convenient.

Visibility. When you back in you have full awareness of your surroundings.

When you back out there's a gap of time between getting in your car and backing out (opening the door, starting the car, seatbelt, adjusting radio, etc...). If you have cars parked on either side of you, you won't be able to see the cars driving past you.

Then there's efficiency. If you get a call while you're in wherever and have to go somewhere quickly, it's faster to have your car pointed in the right direction.

When you back into a spot, you have way more visibility leaving than you would backing out

All sorts of crazy stuff happens in parking areas. When someone pulls kamikaze-style parking maneuvers, you a really don’t want that to happen behind you where it’s difficult to see what’s going on.

My current car is my first car that has a backup camera, and I actually find it much easier to see backing out of a space with the camera’s wide field of view.

Driving forward, especially in a sensible normal-sized sedan, your view can easily be blocked by someone’s giant Suburban on your left and Billybob’s overcompensating pickup truck on your right, both of which always come with shit parking jobs. Your best chance is to very slowly inch forward and hope any oncoming drivers notice the front of your car moving into the lane before your windows clear the taller vehicles.

But the backup camera sees 180 degrees from the bumper, so you can always see traffic in both directions well before any part of your car might get in anyone’s way.

I can't imagine a reverse camera being a better alternative to looking out the front windscreen - sure it being a bit further forward then your seating position and wide angle might give it a bit extra visibility around close objects, but it definitely does not offset the advantage of a natural ~200 degree field of view - and that is before you move your eyes or swivel your head. This is much much more valuable particularly for faster moving objects (which are a greater problems).

That said I may be biased because my current vehicle has rear front and side cameras so I get the best of both worlds!

I didn't know they made cars with a 180 degree back camera. Usually like 120 so you can't see pretty much anything that isn't directly behind you.

Hondas have 3 views, at least on my 2020 Civic and wife’s 2023 HRV.

“Wide” is for checking for vehicles, pedestrians, etc. when your view is obstructed on the sides (it’s probably more like 178, but I can see at least 200 ft down the sidewalk in both directions when backing out of my driveway, including beyond my neighbor’s overgrown bushes.) The picture is skewed on the sides though.

“Regular” is undistorted for maneuvering and seeing directly behind you. This is like the default mode you’d expect to see.

“Top-down” shows about 3-4 ft of the pavement below/behind the car for backing up close to walls, parking barriers, other parked cars, etc.

You change them with touchscreen buttons. All of them have guidelines and distance markers that move with the steering wheel.

My jetta has 120 degree view camera, but 180 degree object sensor, and the sensor literally screams at you before the camera can even process the visuals

You certainly have more visibility when leaving but you have less visibility when backing into a confined space.

I am on the fence on this. Our office had zero accidents in fifteen years diving in but three backing in dings in the three years since encouraged. Hit a Bobcat, hit a trailer and hit one of the employee trucks.

On the fence because possibly it is more of our office. There is no thru traffic as a private location and there is a fair amount of room to back out where as the parking is relatively tight.

When backing into a spot, you can predict that there shouldn't be anything behind you. But you should always check your blind spots. I kind of cheat though because I have a backup camera

Possibly it is statically better when dealing with busy and tight parking locations. Ie. Malls or tight office complexes etc. Might be no benefits in low traffic locations where the yard is large enough that strait in driving is easy and backing out is into a fairly open space. Such as my location.

My guys choose to do back in parking after the oil industry started to suggest it in safety meetings. I didn't really care what option they chose but with the three accidents in a short period, no longer sure backing in is safer in all situations.

Because you can easily park like this "|||" and not like this "|/|". Also, it's much easier to leave safely.

Okay, but does your car have doors that open like this \o/ /o\ \o/ ? Are you fucking poor?

I don't think you should have your license if you don't know that steering with the back wheels gives you much finer control in you maneuver...

Why is why forklifts have rear wheel steering.

Safety - pure and simple. Visibility is much poorer in reverse an you are more likely to hit someone or something you can't see - and there a lots less potential hazards like cars zooming past or an errant pedestrian (especially children) in an empty parking spot than there will be in the pathway / roadway when it comes time to leave.

Its easier to to reverse because you can see better with the camera and mirrors. Its also safer to leave the spot driving forward instead of backing into oncoming traffic.

The second reason is why all Amazon employees must park in reverse.

When I am entering a space I have 360° visibility. I see all, I know all. I can therefore make a calm and practiced motion while being fully aware of my surroundings as I park.

When I am leaving the space my view is inherently restricted. If I am pointing out I can see to both sides, see oncoming and same side traffic, see pedestrians, and see even more as I pull out of the spot.

If I am pulling out in reverse I can see far less. I have a very twisty neck so I can see behind me (180°) plus another maybe 40°, leaving me with an 80° view, but it is from the opposite end of the car space so it is narrowed. As I pull out I see more, but the whole time it is more narrow. I can't see the rear of vehicle and I certainly can't see far to either side of the vehicle at the road level.

So I think the key is thinking about your worst visibility. I think the overall visibility is better when I reverse in to the space and drive straight out when compared with driving directly in and reversing out. I think I can see small people and kids better over the bonnet of the car rather than out the rear window and I think I can react better to the situation when I am reversing in than when I am reversing out.

The difficulty is exactly the same and the visibility is much better when leaving the space. Reversing isn't any harder than driving forwards, especially if you have a backup camera, many people are just unskilled or have low confidence

Reversing isn’t any harder than driving forwards

...

many people are just unskilled

Why would skill matter if it's not any harder?

Driving forwards and driving backwards are separate skills that both require practice, but one is not harder than the other (only applicable at slow speeds).

For one thing, people are practicing driving forward 99.9% of the time they're driving a car, so even if it were true that they were equally easy, most people would be much better at driving forwards.

But, it's obviously not true. Cars are designed around going forward. There's a huge windshield to look out of, the seat faces forwards, etc. Driving backwards is simply a more difficult activity. It requires using mirrors and/or a backup cam. The seat stays oriented forward, and as animals with front-facing eyes, we're not as comfortable moving backwards as forwards. In addition, the steering wheels are on the wrong side, so instead of aiming the steerable part and letting the unsteerable part follow, you have to orient the steerable part to push the non-steerable part around.

Reversing isn't any harder if you are familiar with the skill of reversing. That's what I am saying.

If you're familiar with the skill of reversing, reversing isn't any harder. Hmm. Ok. If you're familiar with landing a plane, then landing a plane isn't any harder either.

Actually landing a plane is a lot harder than reversing a car even if you're skilled at it. Not sure what you're trying to prove, this is a dumb argument

Obviously reversing is harder, and adding the tag "if you're familiar with the skill" doesn't change anything. I added "if you're familiar with landing a plane" to make that point.

Reversing literally isn't harder than driving forward.

Landing a plane is way harder than taking off. Your analogy is irrelevant and incorrect

Reversing literally isn’t harder than driving forward.

Of course it is. Don't be dense. Going forward there's a huge windshield for you to look through with both eyes so your binocular vision gives you full depth perception. You're moving in the direction you're facing. The wheels that can't be steered follow the wheels that can so you don't need to think about them because they'll always just follow.

Compare that with reversing where you're facing forward but moving backward. You can only get a small, incomplete picture of where you're heading using either small mirrors or a low-resolution camera. You can try to rotate in your seat if you have a useful back window, but even if you do it's far away and so most of your view to the rear is going to be blocked by the car's interior. In addition, you're pushing the non-steered wheels with wheels that are steered, so that small movements of the steered wheels are amplified, so you have to be much more careful about where you're pushing them.

There's no question that driving backwards is harder than driving forwards.

I find it easier. It's also safer, backing out of a space you're more likely to hit someone walking or driving past. If you find reversing in to a space hard then maybe you shouldn't be driving a giant metal death machine.

If you find reversing in to a space hard then maybe you shouldn't be driving a giant metal death machine.

Or, if you find backing out of a parking space without hitting pedestrians to be hard, etc.

It's far safer to take off forwards, you have much better visibility. And when backing in, you have good visibility and are also visible to other drivers.

A long vehicle (truck, SUV, some crossovers) is MUCH easier to park with precision by backing up in my opinion.

lol at the idea of a truck parking forwards... "How the hell are we going to load this, Lemmy? You've pointed the cab at the loading dock!"

Especially in tight carparks, it's much easier to get both in and out with a large vehicle. Plus you can see much better which on a car with no reverse camera is a big plus.

Tbh cause its objectively not, backing up your point of rotation is the part that gets parked first. Gibes a lot more time to manuvure the front into place once the back is done

This. Absolutely. If the parking lot is small it might be impossible to park in forward - well, not really impossible but it is if you want to avoid Austin Powers like three point maneuvers.

It's safer to back into a spot than back out of it and personally I find it easier especially if it's a narrow spot. Also means that my car is then straight in the middle of the it.

In all honesty it's something I do mostly because it's what I've always done. I also like to paraller park into tight spots because I like the challenge.

It was a habit I picked up from a previous job, and it was something we did for safety at that job. Your visibility is better when backing in before parking, and much better when you go to leave.

I learned to drive in the US and always pulled into spaces. Since moving to the UK I almost always back in. The difference is I find it much easier to back into a tight spot (as basically all spots outside of the US are) and then drive out rather than the other way around. For whatever reason backing out of a tight spot is much much harder than backing into it.

You can fit in way smaller spaces when backing in. Once you get the knack for it it's not really harder than going in forwards either.

protip: look in your side mirrors and pretend it's a video screen. if you want to go left steer left, if you want to go right steer right. Don't even start thinking about "It's on the left in the mirror so on the right in real life, but it's backwards so..." or you'll have a bad time.

I always back into my home space. It's a gift to Future Me who's always in a hurry, and who may find herself blocked in by someone's contractor's extra-big pickup truck sticking out of their space. Anyway, my Odyssey drives like a boat but has a very good rear camera, with guide lines, much more precise than judging that front bumper.

Backing in with a backup camera is easier, and pulling out forward is much safer. Once in a parking lot I nearly started backing out when a child dashed in front of my camera/rear bumper and I was disturbed by the possibility of what could have happened in another timeline.

I really hope that parent used that as a learning experience for the child. I remember my mom screaming at me for running in a parking lot, and for a good reason. It's dangerous AF. I learned my lesson pretty fast.

This is why I started. There is a conspiracy of children living in my condo complex, and they ride their bikes in the parking lot. (What's the collective adjective for children?) I figure I'm more likely to flatten one backing than driving forward, and I'm less likely to have a child behind me when backing in than when backing out. I know it's a mistake for children to ride in parking lots, but it's not my choice. They are not my children. My children made their mistakes thirty years ago, and I'm no longer responsible for them.

Its not hard if you practice. It's easier actually, and pulling out forward is both faster and safer.

Getting out quicker is always good.

But the main reason, there isn't much traffic where you are backing in. But backing out sure as hell will have both passing cars and people assume you see them perfectly well. I also have no depth perception so the ass of my car is like a big unknown. So backing into a spot is easy because I can just use the side mirror to line up my position relative to there cars. Only issue is how far back I can go. Now I got a camera back there, and everything is much easier.

Have you ever seen a forklift? Ever noticed that it steers with the back wheels? That's because it's easier to maneuver at low speeds, in tight spots, with rear wheel steering. Since you're driving backwards, you're giving yourself rear wheel steering.

You need less space when you can park backwards. Considering parking in a lane parallel to the traffic.

Much easier to back into a spot compared to pulling in, safer to pull out. And it doesn’t take much longer. Once you know how to do it it’s very very quick

People who park forwards into a parking spot: why are you making your life more complicated?

I only occasionally drive into a space if I'm out shopping for groceries. So many times have I come back to find that I can't load my bags into the car because someone has parked so close to the rear of my car.

I just hate that I have to do this because no doubt the biggest SUV with tinted windows will park along side me and reduce my visibility to that of a mole-rat.

I have a tiny car and no backup camera; it’s much easier for me to pull forward with the front-facing visibility of navigating a tight parking space and then just go straight back for a bit and have some clearance when getting out.

Personal preference and all but it just works. The time I would spend trying to get backing in just right isn’t worth my inconvenience and the inconvenience to others behind me as they wait.

And yes, I can parallel park when the time calls for it, it’s not my favorite thing to do though.

You don’t need a camera for backing in, though. If you look in your mirrors and you see that your own car doesn’t cover the side of the car next to you, you’re good to go.

You're going to reverse when you leave, in the end you have to reverse anyway!

You're just out of practice, I was a valet for 10 years, reverse parking was an obligation, majority of cars didn't have a camera, zero scratch to my record.

Practice more and parking in reverse will become faster (and safer).

Backing in is a whole lot more work, takes longer and means I have to repark 3-4 times because I can’t tell where the lines are.

Without a backup camera it’s a whole lot harder and it doesn’t make sense to change a habit.

I just started learning to drive a year ago and I'm 40 years old. I can reverse park and get it in there in the first try.

The way I was taught was to align my left/right mirror to the line two spaces away from where I was planning on reversing into. I use the mirror/windows as a guide and I'm done.

I think you can do it, just gotta get the practice in. I mean, that's only if you care enough. If you're happy with where you're at that fine.

If you have the time and space to back in when you're parking it can make leaving easier. Invest a little time now to make things easier later.

I wouldn't make people wait on me to back in though unless there was some important reason to back in.

I get incredible satisfaction when I back into a parking spot at my local Sam's Club where cars are constantly coming in and going. Watching my neighbor in the parking lot struggle to back out is hilarious.

  • Easier to line up the car when backing than writing forward.
  • Better overview when you back into a small parking space than backing out into the area where other cars are driving.
  • Quicker to get out.
  • Quicker in total.

My car isn't the best and has refused more than once to start while in a parking lot. Parking so that I can always pull forward to leave means the tow truck also has much easier access to my car when I need it. :(

The longer the vehicle, the less sense this question makes.

Everyone is saying it's so backing out is safer, which is true... but for me that's not the primary reason.

I drive an Isuzu D-Max. It's a "ute" (truck?) - not one of the obscenely big ones, but it's bigger than a hatch back or sedan.

In a narrow bay, or narrow approach, you can get lined up in the bay first go if you reverse in because you start with your ass in more or less the right place, and front of the car which is moving left and right to get lined up is not in the narrow bay until you're more than half way in.

If you drive in front first you often don't have enough lateral space to get your rear wheels lined up, so you end up parked akimbo first go, so you reverse out to straighten up and come in again.

Additionally, with a rear camera you can see exactly how much room you have so you can use every centimeter. Looking over the nose you can get to within 15cm or so, but you can always use all the space with the camera without any effort.

Reversing might not be easier than front first the first few times, but with a little bit of practice reversing in does take less effort than going front first.

This is the technically correct answer. My good person, you have, very clearly, been thinking a lot about this! Well explained!!

Edit to add: reversing in gives you a much better angle than pulling in because it's your front wheels which are doing all the steering work.

I have a private parking spot off street in a city. I don’t like backing up towards the main road; since it has pedestrians and stuff. It’s a little harder to see.

So I back into the spot. It’s way easier than backing out - and pulling out is even easier. 

My work parking garage is already really tight. It’s another situation where backing in is easier than backing out - and driving forward our is even easier. So just some planning.

I had trouble pulling into a parking spot when I first started driving, because I couldn't judge how close the front of my car was to the car's bumper next to me (as I turned in)

So I started backing-in because I could see everything with my mirrors and could maneuver more easily. I still prefer backing-in, depending on the situation

Getting out quicker, matching other cars that did it for no reason, or I plan on sitting in my car and I like the view better that direction.

To assert dominance.

( •_•)>⌐■-■

ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪

but seriously, its much easier to reverse into space your car is driving perpendicular to, op just hasn't quite figured out how steering or mirrors work

I find it easier to backwards park, especially in tighter spaces. Mostly because it's easier if you look properly and watch your mirrors and don't rush. It's also easier to leave because you've got better line of sight for oncoming traffic

You can see people walking in the path if the car much easier If a small child ran behind the car while reversing I don't think I'd see them even anywhere near as well as I would if they ran out in front of the car as i was pulling out of the space.

Like most everyone here, I feel that I can see the parking space better when I arrive than the roadway when I'm leaving. Seems safer. But the best is pulling through. Win/win!

I live for the pull-through. Wanna see me lose my shit? Be there as someone pulls into a space (which offers a clean pull-through) AND DOESN'T PULL-THROUGH. It takes every kilo of self control for me not to walk up to the window, rap on the glass and yell "DA FUCKSAMATTA WIT U?" I have passions.

As an agent of chaos, sometimes I'll back in to a pull through spot (though really it's because I'm already beside it intending to back in by the time I see the other spot is also empty and I might as well just keep pulling forward to back in to the spot instead of backing up to be able to turn my nose into the spot).

It's easier. You need enough room for the nose to swing around because the front wheels follow a wider trajectory than the rear wheels. The access road is usually much wider than the parking spots, so backing into the spot gives you much more room to maneuver.

You also have much better visibility overall. If you go in nose first, you can't see the front corners of your car, and you also have terrible visibility when backing out of the spot. If you back in, the mirrors show you exactly how close you are to the cars around you, and you have an unobstructed view when you leave.

  1. I can do it as fast after years of valet as a teenager, and its easier to make sure I'm centered since I can see the lines in my mirrors.

  2. It's easier and quicker to get out, you never know if reversing out of a spot is going to be feasible and the visibility might not be as good when trying to exit.

True, but if you see the lines in your mirror, you have them adjusted wrong! Try adjusting them to see your blind spot. It takes a while to get used to it but it's a game changer.

My mirrors automatically adjust downward when I reverse, I don't have them set that way normally.

Oh, that's cool! But one should still cover the blind spots with side mirrors instead of seeing what's behind you, as you already have one that does this!

Because you're wrong.

Considering the process of parking in full, including leaving the space, reversing in is far safer.

And yes, you do need driving instruction.

So many people are so angry about this question lol

Safety had not even entered my mind. I mostly notice it at the big lot at my office, and also at a shopping center I go to that is notorious as "the worst parking lot ever" here in St. Louis. Backers are quite annoying in that cramped lot.

My current vehicle has 132000 miles on it, and I am 43 so this is not the first. I have not been in an accident that was my fault since I was 20. I have NEVER bumped into another vehicle when parking, forward or backward or parallel. You can't possibly know a thing about my driving skill from this question,and I don't need your very worthless contrarion "yes you do" statement.

You have contributed nothing to this thread and I decided I would let you know.

My backup cam makes it easy to know how far to go in. Much easier for me than figuring out the front distance.

I didn’t see anyone else mention this, but to add to other comments, I don’t want to risk hitting the curb with my front splitter in my low-clearance sports car. Obviously SUVs don’t have this issue…

Beacuse sometimes you have to go somewhere where going out of the parking is going to be near immposible so its Just better to back out when there is not a lot of pepole and have better vivisbilty when going out of the parking.

Safety, driving out of a parking space is safe than reversing out. Also every company I've worked for has had a reverse parking only policy, also for safety reasons, so it's habit too.

Once you know the proper method, it's easy and efficient. Knowing the proper method is requested to get a licence so many people don't forget.

A big bonus is that you see where you go when leaving. So if a car comes on the street you see it.

Finally many companies have a back parking mandatory as it's safer in case of emergency evacuation. Not an issue in a supermarket but definitely a thing on a chemical factory

My van is much easier to reverse into a bay (although most of the time I go near back and find a drive through).

Backing out in the van is nightmare safety wise.

In addition to the ease with front wheel drives that other people have mentioned, it is also safer. When you back in to a space you have full awareness of what's around you in the car park, and are blocking the main driving route while backing into a place where no one is driving so are unlikely to have some speeding idiot hit your car. But when backing out of a space you lose vision on the driving route and are backing into it so you have a bigger chance of being hit by someone you can't see not stopping

While you can feel pressured by other drivers waiting while you backing into a space, it's far less pressure than when you back out of a space and don't know what's around you.

Similarly if you have a drive way at home, it's safer to back in to it as you have better awareness of pedestrians and other drivers versus if you are backing out of the space into a road.

Most cars have their battery on the front. Reverse parking ensures that you can reach the battery with jumper cables if it is empty

Tow truck can get at you better, too.

I have never hit anything when backing in or driving out forward. I have hit 4 vehicles while backing out. It may be an attention thing, no idea. It is better for my wallet to back in

For a certain area, I back in to a parking space so that the sun in the afternoon is coming through the back window. This means that my drivers seat and steering wheel are not the temperature of the sun when I have to drive away. Other people may park in different ways to avoid the sun in the morning should they prefer to drive out to get lunch.

Excellent logic! Sometimes I do the same at work. When I was a smoker, I used to decide orientation so the sun is not shining on the front of the car or into the driver side directly so i could sit in my car and smoke without my arm sunburning on breaks. (Thankfully, I quit smoking and making my car stinky, tho I let passengers smoke if they want to, just occasionally.)

I don't like starting my drive on a low-note of backing up out from a parking spot, anxious I will accidentally scrape a vehicle or bonk the curb or whatever may it be. Ending the drive by backing into the parking space means next time I leave I'll start by driving forward to pull out.

In some country (in France in some place for exemple), regulation law force to be park back i, in case of emergency (fire, or disaster) you can make out quicker

Yes, it is often the case for factories' parking lots.

There are cities that still have laws on the books that state you cannot back out of your driveway. Obviously not enforced but the reasoning is there. At the grocery store, I don't back in because it becomes a pain in the ass to get to your trunk, everywhere else, yeah I back in. It's safer.

Grocery parking annoys me because it's also one of the more congested parking lots I have to deal with. Not being able to back in makes leaving a pain.

I have time backing in slowly. But when it's time for me to rush out, I just gooo. Can't rush out when I'm backed in

I started when I had a Smart Car, which made backing in really easy. The front wheels are almost in the same place as the back wheels, so the car almost rotates. It's a shame they weren't more popular.

When pulling out, we are often more distracted because we have just been doing something else. Conversely, when parking, we are already in driving mode so it is easy to concentrate. Pulling put forward seems safer to me, as I can see everything so less likely to have an accident.

Also, it is normal where I live to reverse park.

Because who doesn't like loading their boot/trunk with shopping in hard mode?

So much easier if you pulled in forwards.

That was my point. With how tight European car parks are it's damn near impossible to get to the storage area if you park the wrong way around. Potential damage trying is why I won't park anywhere near someone who's parked nose out.

Much easier still if you pay someone else to do your shopping for you.

Sometimes something being easier isn't a good enough reason, with safety in mind this is doubly important.

It's easier to back into the space and it's easier to drive out of it. The question should be why do people drive forwards into parking bays and then struggle to back out?

Have never really struggled. The street/lanes are generally wider than the space. Getting into the driving lane is very easy, even backwards.

the easy part of driving is manoeuvring the vehicle… the hard part is dealing with shit drivers… reversing out is reversing into an unknown situation on a high(er) speed road full of shit drivers

So you are imagining parking spaces along a road, or perhaps a driveway connected to a road? I'm imagining a parking lot or parking garage. I should have been more specific. I'm thinking of parking lots only. This is not a road.

parking spaces like that too: they’re not high speed, but people are often distracted, there are pedestrians wandering around… lots of unknowns you’re reversing into

I tend to turn my head and look first...

and you’re looking from the front of your car out toward the back of your car, where you vision is often blocked on either side… worst case scenario you have a truck either side of you in which case you literally can’t see more than a few degrees angle past the back corner of your car in either direction

To be fair, I drive a very smol hatchback. Visibility very good.

Same here. I have no idea what everyone is talking about. Backing in is so much more stressful and not doing it has literally never caused me a problem.

I can do both just as easily. It really depends on if I’m going to be using the trunk or not. Believe it or not it’s actually illegal to back in some states. Cops are supposed to be able to see your license plate at a glance.

Do... Do cars not have license plates on both the front and back of the car in the US?

Depends on the state. For example, Texas does, but its neighbor Arkansas does not (only required a back plate, last I checked).

They do but not every state requires them.

Neither of my cars have front plates even though the state requires them

Sounds like basically a way to harass people. If they really cared that much, they’d have plates on both ends.

In my state, you have to have plates on front and back, but that's a good point for some areas I bet.

I park either way, whichever leads to less maneuvering for that particular spot, but it's easy since I have a backup camera.

If I’m out at retail I’ll just pull through, but at home I prefer to back into my driveway. My wife’s stupid SUV blocks all sight of the street when I’m getting out of my driveway, so I don’t like backing out of it since I’m blind until it’s almost too late. Backing in to park is the only option and I do it so much I barely think about it. That and we sometimes have kids playing out in the streets in our neighborhood, so I don’t want to take a chance on that.

Lots of people with sound, logical explanations of why it's better and easier but nobody talking about, with the common angled parking lots these days, how you then end up pulling out the opposite direction of everyone else and going the wrong way down a one way lane or doing a u-turn and basically fucking everything up for anyone else.

I mean, those are lots in which I wouldn't back in. Aside from the points you made, angled parking lots eliminate the drawbacks of pulling in. There's better rear visibility towards one-way traffic, and the angle makes the alignment issue disappear.

I'm assuming all the arguments in favor of backing into parking spots are geared towards parking spots perpendicular to traffic.

Yeah I'm sure there are plenty of people who have the sense to think it through like you did, it's just that I encounter the other type a couple times a week and felt like bitching about it.

Back-in-only spaces with the arrows pointed accordingly is sounding more and more like a superior solution.

Where I live, people give zero fucks about which direction the spaces are aligned. Even with giant arrows painted on the lanes, they will drive down the wrong way every damn time. I will stop my car and wait for their dumb asses to back up the way they came before I move. I could honestly care less which way you go into a parking spot, but driving the wrong way on one way lanes drives me insane.

I remember hearing about a study that claimed that backing into parking spaces could have you hundreds of dollars per year, since doing the reversing while the engine is hot uses less gas.

I got in the habit of backing into parking spaces after I had a car that needed a jump start, but I had pulled in and no spaces next to me were available to pull the jumper car into. If you back in, in the rare chance you need a jump start, you will be able to drive the jumper car close to your battery

I think you just need more experience driving. Either one is pretty much equally easy, it just depends on how much space you have to work with and what angle you're approaching from. For example there's one parking spot at my workplace that's basically impossible to get into without backing into it.

Haha I'm 43 and have driven across the US 7+ times, so maybe there's no hope! 🤣

Is this purely "backing in" or does nose out qualify? I have gotten in the habit of parking away from the doors wherever I go. As a result the back of the lot is usually empty, allowing me to pull through a spot to be nose out in the next. I do this because it's so much easier to be perfectly set in the parking space. You can usually see in your rear view the lines of the space behind and perfect depth with the back up camera.

One has to back up, either when leaving or arriving - some choose to get it out of the way when they park, others when they leave -

To each their own - I like to back in parking & easy quick exit

Maybe it's because i drive a pickup, I don't know, but for me backing into a space is just a lot easier than pulling in forward.

Practical reasons aside (visibility and ease of pulling out) I simply prefer it.

coin flip pretty much

I prefer parking for a quicker exit, but if the particular parking spot is too narrow or there's a lot of traffic in the lot I'll just park normal no big deal

Because self center assholes walk behind me when I am in the middle of backing out, then get mad because I almost hit them. All this from a handicap parking spot.

Living in Japan for a couple of years made me this way.

I work for a bank and we need a clear view of each other when we open the building, so we all back into our parking spaces. At first it was tricky and took some practice, but after a few tries you get so used to it becomes more intuitive to park that way. And it’s so much easier to leave without having to yield to cars and pedestrians passing by as you’re trying to back out.

Why not? I’ve never understood why this bothers people. I back into a space because sometimes it just seems easier from the direction I’m coming, and it’s not difficult for me. It’s somewhat like exercising a skill, like “why do a wheelie on your bike when you can ride it with two wheels on the ground?”. For fun, if nothing else.

Practical reasons aside (visibility and ease of pulling out) I simply prefer it.

I mostly pulling forward. Sometimes there is a smaller and packed parking lot, where the turn radius of my vehicle will not make it into a spot going forward. It could be done but I’d have to spend an extra 10 min to Austin powers my way into a spot going forward and then do it again backing out. In cases like that I find it much easier to have the turning point of my vehicle in the drive lane so I can have a better swing to line myself up and back in. It’s just better for everyone in that scenario.

I can line up with my side mirror and back in almost just as quick as I can pull in, and then I don't have to potentially back into traffic and risk some asshole flying up on me without me expecting it or hitting a pedestrian.

Also, I drove ambulances for a long time. You always always always back emergency vehicles in. 1. To always be prepared to respond 2. Scene safety. It's absolutely drilled into our heads from day 1 of EMT school that you are able to leave a scene faster than you got there if something goes very wrong very quick.

So many years of backing an ambulance in to park everywhere I went and I don't even think about backing my tiny ass Honda into a spot now. It feels incredibly wrong not to.

The sun is directly towards my window shield, if I back in. I can put a Sun visor in the windshield and the car is much more tolerable temperature-wise in the summer. But only if I back into my parking spot.

Because my HOA doesn't allow it so I do it anyway as a fuck you to them.

What? Please explain this madness!

It's so they can repossess your car if you're behind on payments or don't update your registration after it expires. They literally hire a towing company to drive around the parking lot and look for vehicles to take. I don't understand why the HOA cares.

Do you guys not have license plates on the front of cars too?

Not required in my state. And I'm glad because front license plates look stupid. They ruin the car's appearance.

… american HOAs are fucked

i have legitimately never heard a single positive thing about HOAs. i don’t think they exist in australia?… like we have owners corporations and stratas but i think they don’t have nearly the same power

Passenger door to passenger door doubles the available space for your door to open on the driver's side. Especially important with kids you need to get in and out where you can't just slip through.

I already knew what the answer would be, and we have 20 people saying the same thing. But in my experience, the people who back into parking spots are among the worst parkers.

They save time pulling out, but they take ages to back in, generally speaking. Especially in a busy area where cars are lined up to find spots, you're waiting for every car in front of you to park before you can drive past them to the next spot.

You've got all these answers that include "it's easier" and "it's safer". Yet in the same posts they insult people who don't have the same opinion as them. I hate people that back in because it wastes my time waiting for them to maneuver when it's quicker to just pull forward.

When you're leaving a parking spot and backing out all the same logic applies that these bozos use to justify backing in, but it's more socially acceptable and doesn't require accuracy, which speeds up the process. People that HAVE to back into parking spots are control freaks.

When you’re leaving a parking spot and backing out all the same logic applies that these bozos use to justify backing in

I agree that attacking someone for their opinion is just silly but I honestly do not agree with this statement. People, and more importantly pedestrians, know what you are doing when you are backing into a spot and are therefore less likely to walk behind you. This is not the case when backing out of a spot. They might not even know someone is in the vehicle. Add in little kids running out of nowhere. You have a lot better situational awareness while backing in versus backing out since your field of view is not obstructed by up to three sides by cars. I do not think the difference is catastrophic by any means but, to me at least, there is a difference.

The safety of pedestrians is the best explanation I've heard here so far, and it really does make me think, unlike all the people telling me I'm a bad driver and obviously they're all so skilled and awesome which is why they back into spots. It's seriously unreal how personally people can take a simple question, to the point they make huge assumptions about the person asking it. Definitely feels reddity in here lol

Yet in the same posts they insult people who don’t have the same opinion as them.

I'm betting it's the use of the phrase "objectively easier" when that is incorrect by argument of geometry. The "objectively" riles people up.

There is a reason why forklifts have rear-wheel steering (and therefore behave much like an automobile driving in reverse): having the point of rotation towards the direction of motion allows for much more precise maneuvering, much like you would need to do in a larger vehicle trying to fit into a tight parking space.

Ignore the reasons they give you. It's literally 100% ego. They think it's harder so doing it makes them better than everyone else.

Edit: They hated him because he spoke the truth.

I mean they asked a question to get an answer. Telling them to ignore and listen to your reason and that it's to do with ego is a terrible way to deal with things you disagree with in life.

I just learned how to drive this year and reverse parking is not difficult, I do it quickly and get it right first try. If others find it difficult and need to go in head first, then go head first. I try to make it easier to leave. If it's not for you, live your life. Not everyone struggles with reverse parking ... I honestly didn't even know people did. I figured everyone with a license could do it easily.

The thing is, I don't actually disagree with it. I don't care what other people do if it doesn't affect me, I just understand why and I'm willing to say it out loud.

Oh, makes sense, totally respect that.

Actually, it's easy af.

"It's so easy for me everyone, look how much better I am than you." Proving my point but go on.

Or maybe it's not that they are good drivers with egos about their abilities, but rather, you are a bad driver with an ego about judging others incorrectly.