This is why I set my car on fire whenever Ieave it.
Ahhh, the Omaha Protocol. Nice choice.
Back in everywhere, all the time, is a phrase I’ve said to many people. There is never a reason to not back in, and the end result is always a better parking job and an easier exit.
I picked it up driving ambulances and I’ll never go back. Being able to drive really well in reverse is an added bonus, I had to back an F430 with a box on the back up some steep, thin, windy driveways.
It’s also safer.
Absolutely. When I get most places, I’m sober and able to drive in reverse. It’s hard to back out with one eye closed.
There is never a reason to not back in
Trunk access. I usually back in everywhere, but I figured out not to do it at the grocery store because there’s not enough room between cars to easily get back there if the lot is busy.
You know, you are absolutely right and I definitely didn’t think about that. In fact, I pull in in the Costco parking lot, because that’s the one place I really need that trunk access. So great point, absolutely right.
My grocery trips are generally smaller and more frequent, just open the front door, toss things on front seat, and get in the other side.
There is never a reason to not back in, and the end result is always a better parking job and an easier exit.
With the exception of diagonally placed parking spots next to a one-way lane, like the 30-60 degree ones here: https://www.dimensions.com/collection/parking-lot-layouts.
If the lane is wide enough you might be able to back up into a 60 degree one, but I’d hardly qualify it as a better parking job or easier exit.
With regular parking lots I fully agree that backing up is usually far superior.
Back in everywhere, all the time
Counterargument: the rear of your car is far more resilient to impact than the front. You can cope with backing out, but maybe your wallet/schedule won’t cope with a fender-bender to your headlights or front bumper.
I’m trying not to hit things, first and foremost, and I think backing in provides as better opportunity for that.
Nah.
It is easier to drive out than it is to park. And it is easier to drive forward than it is to drive backwards.
So it doesn’t make sense to combine 2 easy things and the 2 hard things together when you can make your life easier and just do easy + hard both times.
Unless like you said, when you respond to emergencies like fire department and ambulances.
Go practice it. Use your mirrors.
Most of the danger is on the pulling out side, so it makes more sense to do the harder ones for the safer part. Plus, when you’re parking, it’s easier for others to predict what you’re doing, whereas pulling out gives more opportunity for someone walking by the line of cars to be surprised. If you’re pulling out forwards, it’s trivial to see someone about to walk in your path. If you’re backing out, you might not even be able to see someone who is 1s away from stepping in your path, especially if they are coming from your blind side.
Yeah, when you back into a parking spot, is there traffic moving around in it? How about when you back out, are you backing into a lane of travel? To me, that’s the logic.
When you back in, you are already occupying a lane of travel, and therefore you have some modicum of control over it. Ideally, what I would love to see are angled parking spots intended for backing in, it is the true superior parking configuration, but falls to an opposition that is afraid to back into parking spots, but has no problem backing into a lane of travel.
Too bad OP feels that way. Eventually you have to leave. You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.
Any opinions expressed are solely those of COWK, and do not necessarily reflect the views of me, the OP.
Its actually written in to the TOS for the fediverse that posting something is an endorsement of the thing in the post.
Unfortunately this covenant is a deep bond. To sever ties with one is to sever with all.
Backing into a spot is safer. Not just because you are less likely to hit something on your way out, but because in case of emergency, you are able to get out quickly.
My gramp used to say; kid you wanna go foward in life, not backward.
Cracked-out wall kitten ain’t so wise if it hasn’t considered that I never wanted to be there in the first place, so why the hell would I want to be truly present, huh?!
Backing in allows me to be present by freeing up the part of my brain which creates anxiety for backing out.
I only back into my parking space at home. I’ll gladly spend the extra time when I’m awake in the evening if it means that I don’t have to think about backing out in the morning.
People who do not back into parking spots cannot be truly present. You have not prepared for the future, so you cannot remain in the present without anxiety.
Joke’s on you, I have the opposite problem where I don’t have enough anxiety which leads to me never properly preparing for anything because “I’ll deal with it when I get to it”. So I’m always present and in the moment without preparing for the future 😎
“You’re living the past, man!”
Usually I just find somewhere that I can pull through so I don’t have to reverse in either scenario ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Pull-through spots are the best
I used to work with a guy who was the worst driver I’d encountered up to that time, and he would circle parking lots until giving up and leaving if he couldn’t find a pull through spot. I would have complained, but he really was that bad of a driver and I didn’t want to be in the vehicle when he backed into someone!
Yeah, that’s exactly why I do it. Now you get it.
Years ago I read some bullshit “study” that employees who backed in to their parking spots were less committed to their employer or something. That’s when I started backing in to park at work and, you know what, I did feel slightly happier knowing that my departure would be just that much quicker at the end of the day!
Assuming parking spot is perpendicular to the roadway, backing in is just the correct way for a vehicle with front wheel steering. The centre of rotation is in line with the rear axle. The front needs to move through a bigger arc to line up with the spot, than the back does.
Sure you can make it work by driving in forwards, but then you need to swing way wide out first, to get the turning done (or even, god forbid, reverse back out for a second bite at the apple).
As someone who always backs in (unless it’s a diagonal or pull-through spot) and a math person, I’m ashamed to say I never thought of the geometry of it, so thanks for the additional reason to add to my arsenal.
I can add it to “ready to leave quickly in an emergency,” “practicing delayed gratification,” “backup camera guidelines make centering easier,” “constant trunk access,” and the biggest real reason, “I have a bad habit of leaving for obligations at the last possible minute and need to plan ahead.”
Exactly. If you are in a parking and going in front first into a parking space on your right side, you are driving dangerously against traffic.
Envisualized
Envisualized??
I agree with the meme because damn I can’t wait to leave wherever I’m at and go home
But on a more serious level, why should you be leaving so quickly? It’s bad for the car to start it and then immediately take off.
If your gas engine car has been parked for a long time and has cooled from operating temps, you need to give it time to warm up first. Start the car and let it run for a minute. This allows time for fluids to cycle through your engine and radiator. Then you can drive, but don’t drive hard until your oil temp and coolant temp gauges rise to normal operating levels. Treat it like a workout for your body; you don’t go outside and then immediately begin sprinting. You want to start slow to warm up your muscles first.
Note: some modern cars indicate in the owner’s manual you can drive after 10 seconds from starting your car. You can listen to the manual since the engineers built your car and know it best. However, giving it sufficient time for fluids to flow through is always best. I always wait about a minute to play it safest.
I back into my spot when I get home as a gift to Future Me. She’s always in a hurry.
Also, as a short person driving a raised/lowered minivan (floor is lowered so the whole is raised until it kneels as the ramp comes down) with a rear camera, it’s easier to back in exactly all the way than to see down over the hood.
This is the way.
You are likely more aware of your surroundings at the end of your journey rather than the beginning. That extra 30 seconds to back in could save you from an accident of someone in your blindspot not checking for lights
Backing out of a parking space, you must yield to traffic within the lane of traffic However, you are on the wrong end of the vehicle to properly observe traffic within the lane. With restricted vision and attention focused on the maneuver, you are also burdened with deconflicting traffic that has the right-of-way over you.
Backing in, you begin the maneuver from a lane in which you are already established. You have the right-of-way over that lane until you have completely departed that lane. While you are distracted and focused on the backing maneuver, conflicting traffic is legally obligated to avoid you.
“Backing in” exploits “right-of-way” to improve safety for both you and your fellow travelers.
