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.
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.
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.
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.
It's easier to park backwards compared to forward, specially if the space is narrow.
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.
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 💅
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.
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
When you back into a spot, you have way more visibility leaving than you would backing out
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...
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.
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.
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.
I find it easier. It's also safer, backing out of a space you're more likely to hit someone walking or driving past. If you find reversing in to a space hard then maybe you shouldn't be driving a giant metal death machine.
The difficulty is exactly the same and the visibility is much better when leaving the space. Reversing isn't any harder than driving forwards, especially if you have a backup camera, many people are just unskilled or have low confidence
A long vehicle (truck, SUV, some crossovers) is MUCH easier to park with precision by backing up in my opinion.
It's far safer to take off forwards, you have much better visibility. And when backing in, you have good visibility and are also visible to other drivers.
It's safer to back into a spot than back out of it and personally I find it easier especially if it's a narrow spot. Also means that my car is then straight in the middle of the it.
In all honesty it's something I do mostly because it's what I've always done. I also like to paraller park into tight spots because I like the challenge.
Tbh cause its objectively not, backing up your point of rotation is the part that gets parked first. Gibes a lot more time to manuvure the front into place once the back is done
You can fit in way smaller spaces when backing in. Once you get the knack for it it's not really harder than going in forwards either.
protip: look in your side mirrors and pretend it's a video screen. if you want to go left steer left, if you want to go right steer right. Don't even start thinking about "It's on the left in the mirror so on the right in real life, but it's backwards so..." or you'll have a bad time.
It was a habit I picked up from a previous job, and it was something we did for safety at that job. Your visibility is better when backing in before parking, and much better when you go to leave.
Its not hard if you practice. It's easier actually, and pulling out forward is both faster and safer.
I always back into my home space. It's a gift to Future Me who's always in a hurry, and who may find herself blocked in by someone's contractor's extra-big pickup truck sticking out of their space. Anyway, my Odyssey drives like a boat but has a very good rear camera, with guide lines, much more precise than judging that front bumper.
I learned to drive in the US and always pulled into spaces. Since moving to the UK I almost always back in. The difference is I find it much easier to back into a tight spot (as basically all spots outside of the US are) and then drive out rather than the other way around. For whatever reason backing out of a tight spot is much much harder than backing into it.
Backing in with a backup camera is easier, and pulling out forward is much safer. Once in a parking lot I nearly started backing out when a child dashed in front of my camera/rear bumper and I was disturbed by the possibility of what could have happened in another timeline.
Have you ever seen a forklift? Ever noticed that it steers with the back wheels? That's because it's easier to maneuver at low speeds, in tight spots, with rear wheel steering. Since you're driving backwards, you're giving yourself rear wheel steering.
Getting out quicker is always good.
But the main reason, there isn't much traffic where you are backing in. But backing out sure as hell will have both passing cars and people assume you see them perfectly well. I also have no depth perception so the ass of my car is like a big unknown. So backing into a spot is easy because I can just use the side mirror to line up my position relative to there cars. Only issue is how far back I can go. Now I got a camera back there, and everything is much easier.
If you have the time and space to back in when you're parking it can make leaving easier. Invest a little time now to make things easier later.
I wouldn't make people wait on me to back in though unless there was some important reason to back in.
You need less space when you can park backwards. Considering parking in a lane parallel to the traffic.
Much easier to back into a spot compared to pulling in, safer to pull out. And it doesn’t take much longer. Once you know how to do it it’s very very quick
People who park forwards into a parking spot: why are you making your life more complicated?
The longer the vehicle, the less sense this question makes.
My car isn't the best and has refused more than once to start while in a parking lot. Parking so that I can always pull forward to leave means the tow truck also has much easier access to my car when I need it. :(
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