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.
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
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Its more of a visibility thing. Backing out, your vehicle has to be three quarters of the way into traffic before you can really see.
You can just pull out of the spot and go, no need to change direction etc.
In a tight car park I have almost got stuck once because there wasn’t enough room for me to back out and get my nose out from between the cars on either side to move forward
Apart from the visibility argument. With this kind of parking spot you have to leave the spot in the other direction than you came in. So you’ll only get the enhanced agility for one of the moves.
Would you rather have more agility when getting into the tight parking spot or when leaving onto a larger street?
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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.
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.
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
Agreed. I’m the era before every car had a camera, I’d back into my driveway because foggy windows plus backing up sucks. I still back into my driveway even with all of the current day features on my vehicle - it’s just less stress in the morning to pull forward.
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.
what if a frog had wings?
Generally not a lot of traffic in parking lots.
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.
It’s easier to park backwards compared to forward, specially if the space is narrow.
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Oh my god, exactly this. The US is the only place I know with lots big enough to pull into. Everywhere else, this is a terrible idea.
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I’m always in heavy traffic but also almost always parking at a meter, so there’s a measured amount of space. So I’ve started doing “forward parallel parking.” As soon as my front wheel clears the first car, I turn hard towards the curb at the center of the space. Keeping an eye so I don’t scrape their bumper, I roll forward 2-3 feet, then turn enough left that I’m aiming at the center of the bumper of the front car. I roll forward as far as is safe. Now, I’m probably not in quite far enough to just roll straight back, but I’m parallel to the curb and out of traffic enough that people can get around me while I back up more towards the curb, straighten out and roll forward into the center of the spot. And if I weren’t driving a minivan I could probably be all the way in already.
Exactly, especially if you have a long car.
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.
This is the correct answer
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 💅
This website! It’s amazing! 🎩
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.
Drive through method makes me happy
I know I’m weird
Now there is something I do in fancy way.
It’s…perfect. So beautiful.
I anyways park the crazy straw style.
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.
Situational awareness is what I use to sum it up. You have it coming in, but not going out.
Because you can easily park like this “|||” and not like this “|/|”. Also, it’s much easier to leave safely.
I love the ASCII art lol
Okay, but does your car have doors that open like this \o/ /o\ \o/ ? Are you fucking poor?
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.
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.
