I once heard “to keep your tailgate from being stolen” but that seems like it’d be a rare case.
fwiw, I’ve parked trailers for a living for 10+years–I do it out of habit and a work ethic of ‘put the work in on the front end so I can backslide on the tail end’ Tho I can see a practicality/safer attempt to having a better view upon departing the parked position. Obviously if you’d like to get into the geometry of it, backing in gives you a much wider range of flexibility to work with in the positioning phases of the maneuver.
Not sure if it’s true. but I was also told that changing gears on a transmission that’s been running for a bit is easier on the mechanical parts/bits involved (as opposed to swapping gears on a cold startup)
tldr because there’s tons of good reasons to do so, and very nearly 0 good reasons not to do so. Leave the rest to the mathematicians and statisticians
Because you have more control and visibility both when you get in and get out.
In and out of the parking spot right?
One of our vehicles is a full-size pickup truck and in certain parking lots I have to find a spot on the outer edge and back in so it doesn’t stick out too much. It keeps inattentive drivers from gouging their cars on the trailer hitch. And if there’s anything interesting loaded in the back, it keeps it out of sight of curious persons with hand-wavy concepts of personal property.
Our other car is a little hatchback, and its reverse camera gets a good 180 degree view, far better than any driver pulling forward out of the space. I never park it backwards because I’m not silly.
It’s just easier to get out, you even have to park like that when taking the exam.
Obviously so everyone knows I’m better than them
I thought it was pretty obvious to everyone that it’s because it’s easier to get out that way. You don’t have any blind spots. Easier for you to back into the spot than to back out of it.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
Oooh la-la, fancy parking.
Me too, whenever possible, otherwise I back in to show off my superior driving (and parking) skills.
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.
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
Because I have worse visibility backing than going forward. There’s a smaller chance that there’s a kid suddenly walking into my parking spot than moving behind my car when exiting my parking space
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When I’m coming home, I’m usually in less of a rush than when I’m departing. I can reverse into my spot as quickly as backing out when leaving, so it’s a tiny trade for time.
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My truck bed faces away from the street.
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Makes loading/unloading easier and more private from prying eyes.
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In Australia, you’re considered at fault for reversing accidents. Backing out is riskier.
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.
When you are approaching a parking spot you’re already looking everywhere and can find obstacles as you back in. If you drive into a parking spot backing out may have issues because you may not have seen obstacles that would be in the way. We are not always as observant approaching our vehicle as we are when we have already been driving it. Plus, it’s a whole lot easier to get back out of the parking spot if you can just drive away.
- 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.
