I once heard “to keep your tailgate from being stolen” but that seems like it’d be a rare case.
Much easier to park AND drive away. I see very few disadvantages really
Sometimes backing in seems easier than backing out
When I have to park in a particularly narrow spot, I find backing in easier due to the better vantage point of the camera.
It’s not just the camera, it’s the geometry. A car can fit into a narrower space from a narrower lane backing in.
Yeah, has to do with where the turning wheels are positioned. It’s like with forklifts having the wheels turn in the back instead of the front.
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.
My boss apparently backs his truck into his parking space every morning out of a combination of overabundance of a caution and the reduced turning radius while in reverse. Well, he did he did up until I pointed out to him that mostly what this accomplishes for him is making it irritating to load anything into his truck… Which is, not to put too fine a point on it, what we do all day around here.
Our parking lot is very quiet, private only us and the other tenants in our building, has no random pedestrians, and cross-traffic isn’t an issue.
Some people think, but for the wrong reasons.
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.
- 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.
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 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.
I knew a girl in high school who was pulling through a spot too fast and got into a head on collision. Now I’m so paranoid about pulling through
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.
Besides that it is safer, I don’t hit my front splitter on the curb.
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.
My charging port is in back.
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.
You can fit in more easily. Having the steering axle in the back relative to the direction of movement allows you to drive tighter curves (like a forklift).
Oh yes! This is my reason too. With a back up camera makes it easier
I have a cargo van. It’s impossible to see any traffic coming from the passenger’s side when backing up, and there’s a big blind spot even on the driver’s side. It’s a larger vehicle, and it’s much easier to maneuver into tight spaces in reverse. (It’s why we learn to parallel park in reverse. Try it in forward once, and see.) Also, backing into a parking spot can be accomplished with just a steady gaze at one of the wing mirrors. (Driver’s or passenger’s side depends on which way you’re turning.)
That last point will also be important someday when I’m older and don’t have as much flexibility to turn and look backwards. (I was appalled once at a city transportation committee discussion about back-in parking stalls when a city alderperson said that he doesn’t look behind his car when backing out, because he can’t twist his body. If you can’t drive safely, you shouldn’t be driving!)
Because I drive a truck so backing in and pulling out is just easier
I worked at a job site prone to flooding so it was mandated to speed evacuations. I liked it and kept the habit.
Then some misogynist asshat told me it’s a masculine thing to do and I should be careful to come across more ladylike. So added on a layer of spite and anti-bigot defenses to why I keep doing it.
“Your driving is threatening my fragile ego, could you please be worse than me at it?”
What a douche
What the actual fuck
That’s the softest. Just the weakest. Disreputably fragile. The secondhand shame is radioactive, I need iodine. I can’t even cringe because my face went numb.
I worked for a company that provided a car (incidentally a ‘benefit’ I will refuse in any future scenario).
They explicitly told us we had to back in to our parking spots whenever possible. They implied that some data they had showed it reduced accidents.
