I once heard “to keep your tailgate from being stolen” but that seems like it’d be a rare case.
Sometimes backing in seems easier than backing out
The real answer, sometimes the geometry makes more sense to back in 🤷♂️
Geometry is a lot of it. It also makes seeing much easier when pulling out. When backing in, I can easily see the traffic lane around me, and they can see me pretty easy as well (I’m the asshole blocking up the whole place). When driving out, only a smaller portion of my vehicle needs to enter the traffic lane before I have a clear view of any opposing traffic. For the case of nosing it, I have a clear view while pulling in; but, when pulling out I need to get most of my vehicle out into the traffic lane, before I can see anything.
Especially if your car has a rear camera.
I’ve driving long enough that I can “feel” my way through parking normally, but sometimes I just want to play the minigame.
It’s also easier to see oncoming traffic because some assholes will not stop.
Safer when pulling out of parking stall. Less blind spots.
Although I don’t back in. I drive through from one spot to the next in front of me. So I can drive out.
The old pull-through. Some places insist on putting those damn concrete Toblerone blocks in front of you to prevent that sort of thing.
Keep a watchful eye when doing so, because I have seen many an argument break out in a parking lot when someone was trying to pull through at the same time someone else who couldn’t see them was trying to pull in to the same space from the outer side. Bonus points if they boop noses in the process. Somehow nobody ever seems to arrive at the simple conclusion, in such cases, of party A just reversing a couple of feet back into the first space to let party B take the second one.
The only issue with pulling-through in a parking lot is one-way lanes with angled spots (the majority of parking lots in my area) because then you’re pulling forward against the flow of traffic or have to make an extremely sharp turn upon exiting. It’d be fine with straight spots or two-way lanes, but people still do it in the former circumstance and end up driving the wrong way.
Oooh la-la, fancy parking.
Me too, whenever possible, otherwise I back in to show off my superior driving (and parking) skills.
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There’s a reason a number of large companies that self-insure mandate backing in for all their vehicles (Schlumberger, Cargill); it’s demonstrably safer practice that results in less accidents when leaving the parking space. You can see everything when you back in that was there when you pulled up, and when you pull out, you’re right up front looking forward into the lane as you pull out. You quickly learn how to back in, even without a backup camera, if you learn how to use your mirrors.
It is by far the statistically less accident prone method.
This is why I do it.
You know how the surroundings are now and you don’t know how they are going to be when you have to drive out again. Makes sense to prepare for the unknown
Because you have more control and visibility both when you get in and get out.
In and out of the parking spot right?
Actually having to sit and watch these morons attempt to back in in the first place says otherwise.
Now imagine having to sit and wait and watch them back out instead. Ugh.
People back out into wide open thoroughfare far more easily and quickly than their shitty backing in between two vehicles.
I wait longer for back-in’s every time than I do for back-out’s.
I have way more maneuverability backing into a space.
Think of it in terms of circles (well, arcs, really) . If you front park in a space perpendicular to the road, your front wheels make a large circle and your back wheels a smaller one. The parking space needs to be big enough to accommodate the larger circle. If you back into the same space, the larger circle happens on the road.
Was looking for this one.
Not only makes it easier to leave when you need to, as you can see everything that you might hit or might hit you.
But going backwards means you can more easily line up in the space as you have more control over your angle.
Like parallel parking is essier when reversing as you dont need to correct once in the space. Just 45 degree to the kerb and straighten up and you are in. Going forward parallel parking takes loads of correction or needs a really big gap to fit in to.
Unless I am going to be putting stuff into the trunk, backing in is better, it’s more dangerous to back the car out of the space than into it.
Backing in is the correct way to parallel park too.
Backing in is the correct way to parallel park too.
That’s because the rear axle is immovable.
Much easier to pull out after, and I can leave quicker despite taking slightly longer to pull in.
Exactly. I’m in no rush to park, but you never know when you might need to fuck the hell off in a hurry lol.
Is backing into parking spots not the norm in the US? Here in Germany we back into parking spots most of the time, mostly because the spots are too narrow or short to enter forward. We also learn this in driving school and it’s pretty much an essential skill that’s expected from drivers in Germany.
Americans avoid it like the plague for some reason. I always back in because I can look at the spot for objects or problems before I start backing in to ensure I dont hit anything. Backing out blind can be risky otherwise.
If I’m shopping, I want my tailgate free for loading or unloading. Similar for road trips or any time I’m carrying anything
See this is absolutely the key point here I think. Because here in Australia where it’s similarly rare, the only time I generally see people reverse in, is when there is a walkway of some sort to reverse up too, not another car.
- People/oncoming cars/kids are more likely to be in the road than in the spot I’m parking
- I have better visibility when I’m facing forward than when I’m in reverse
Therefore I would rather reverse into the spot where people/cars/kids are least likely to be and drive forward into the place people/cars/kids are most likely to be. I personally almost always back in to be safer towards pedestrians and avoid getting hit by other cars.
When parking i can get a good view of the immediate area, it’s easy to spot pedestrians and oncoming cars. Pulling out is easy. If I have to back out I don’t have such a good view. Yeah I get a look as I approach my car but by the time I sit down, click my seat belt, start the car, someone i didn’t see could be coming along.
Rear visibility in my car is kind of trash so it’s safer if I back into the spot so that I can better see what’s going on when I’m leaving
I first learned how to drive on these old pickup trucks at a summer camp I worked for as a teenager.
The nice old fella who maintained the trucks (and who, not incidentally, taught me how to drive) said to do it that way and would get disappointed if you didn’t.
So, I guess it’s because I first learned it that way, but also because I don’t want to disappoint Alan (who may or may not be dead by now, I’m not sure.)
I don’t drive, but the way I’ve always heard it is because people care more about leaving quickly than arriving quickly.
Which always ignores how so often the total time spent is increased by their shitty driving cause they always take forever to back in cause they are no good at it despite their insistence on this idiocy.
All while inconveniencing everyone waiting for their sorry asses to figure it out.
As I drive away finally I ALWAYS see in my mirror how they had to pull and back in again to straighten out.
Fucking selfish morons.
And if it takes just as much time to back in as it does to back out, I get why some people would rather spend that time before going in than after coming out. There is backing up involved in parking in a parking lot one way or the other, and if you’ve somehow only ever gotten stuck behind people who are backing in and not people who are backing out then I’d call that extraordinarily lucky, not evidence of the efficiency of backing out instead.
But yeah there are shit drivers everywhere, even ones who don’t back in.
