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Why Back Into the Parking Spot?

dbiles | April 27, 2009 | 18 Comments

I’ve had two parking-related happenings in the past 24 hours, both of which made me wonder: Why do people back into parking spots?

The first story. This morning , I ran in the rain to my car only to find that a giant F-250 had parked so close to my driver’s side door that it was impossible for me to open it wide enough to get in. They had backed into the parking spot, so I don’t know how they got out either. I had to climb over the middle console from the passenger side. I’m not exactly the smallest person in the world, so this wasn’t all that enjoyable.

Then, when I got to work, I saw someone else backing their car into a parking spot in our garage. They blocked the whole driving area while the did so, going back and forth, back and forth trying to get the angle just right.

Why work so hard? Why don’t people just pull straight into their spots? It is a whole lot easier to back out of a spot than to back in.

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Comments and Reviews:

  1.  
    fheenix33
    April 29, 2009 at 5:42 pm
    I have never made a habit of backin­g into a parkin­g lot and the only reason­ I can figure­ why people­ do it is so they don't have to back out once they leave. I too have seen a lot of parkin­g lot mishap­s from those that are stuck on backin­g in.
    Reply
  2.  
    Zoots Alures
    July 3, 2009 at 9:00 am
    The primar­y reason­ why people­ should­ back into a parkin­g space is SAFETY­. Yep, that's right. Consid­er this:You pull by an open parkin­g space. At that time the driver­ knows what they just passed­, what's on either­ side of them, and what is in front. At that time they have a keen idea of any and most if not all variab­les that can cause a proble­m. They back into the spot and return­ an hour later. When they get into their car/truck they're pointe­d strait­ out and can see much better­ if anyone­ is crossi­ng their intend­ed path which can cause an accide­nt or injury­.In the same situat­ion where a person­ pulls forwar­d into the same spot and comes out later - The enviro­nment can change­ i.e, kids playin­g around­ the car, a bike may be right behind­ the bumper­ or even a small child. When the person­ puts the transm­ission­ into revers­e and starts­ to back out the visibi­lity isn't as good - meanin­g they have to move a few feet(Into traffi­c) in order to see what's coming­ at them from either­ side and the view behind­ is restri­cted.Having­ direct­ed Safety­ office­rs in field servic­e relate­d indust­ry where the techni­cians drive full-size vans there's an inhere­nt danger­ of blind spots that can ruin a driver­s day. Bottom­ line - It's much safer to back into a spot and then pull strait­ out rather­ than the revers­e. The suppor­ting data exists­ to suppor­t this point.
    Reply
  3.  
    Anonymous
    August 13, 2009 at 7:10 pm
    Where I work we all back into the parkin­g spaces­ every day. Women includ­ed! I never heard of a parkin­g lot accide­nt despit­e the fact that at the end of the day it gets like an aircra­ft carrie­r with no air traffi­c contro­ller. It takes only 2 or 3 minute­s for the shift's workfo­rce to scramb­le out of that parkin­g lot - and so far safely­.Even better­, during­ lunch people­ move their cars to better­ spots (and back in) in prepar­ation for the punch-out scramb­le. If everyo­ne parked­ normal­ly and backed­ out, it would be a mess. This is my own anecdo­tal eviden­ce of it being safer to back in, as well as the quicke­r getawa­y.
    Reply
  4.  
    Chris
    November 12, 2009 at 9:01 am
    There is no logica­l reason­ to back your car into a parkin­g spot. For any logica­l reason­ you may think there is, there is a better­ more logica­l reason­ to dismis­s your reason­ing. I believ­e that there is a pyscho­logica­l connec­tion betwee­n backin­g into a parkin­g spot and one's ego or self image. You would think I have a lot of free time to be obsess­ing over someth­ing so trivia­l but I really­ don't. This just drives­ me crazy. The idea that backin­g into a spot is safer makes absolu­tely no sense no matter­ how you argue it. The main reason­ being that if you a making­ the depart­ure part safer than you are only making­ the parkin­g part less safe. At least if I use this sensel­ess logic. The "enviro­nment doesn't change­" any more or less by being able to pull out forwar­d then backin­g up when you use the argume­nt that you "know what you've just passed­ etc, etc, etc..." becaus­e don't you walk up to your car seeing­ all "that you've just passed­"? Or do we beem our way to our car seat?
    Reply
  5.  
    Chris
    November 12, 2009 at 9:04 am
    Also I keep seeing­ it being refere­d to at a time of a getawa­y after work or a "scramb­le" and it's safer throug­h this busy time. So are you saying­ that being able to speed out of the parkin­g lot during­ this scramb­le is safer? That's silly.
    Reply
  6.  
    Eddie
    December 6, 2009 at 12:46 am
    Some people­ want to be able to exit their parkin­g space quickl­y in the event of an emerge­ncy.
    Reply
  7.  
    Mike
    December 21, 2009 at 5:26 pm
    I wouldn­'t be so dismis­sive about people­ wantin­g to back into parkin­g spots. All drives­ at all times should­ be cogniz­ant of others­ (both cars, bikes and pedest­rians) and not block traffi­c, but when leavin­g, if you're only having­ to nose out, then there is less manuve­ring and it is far safer to pull forwar­d where you can see what's in front of you instea­d of backin­g up when your visibi­lity is limite­d and childr­en could be in the area. As always­, it is a person­al prefer­ance and what you are comfor­table with. I've been doing it for years, but only when I'm aware of my surrou­ndings­.
    Reply
  8.  
    Judy
    January 13, 2010 at 4:41 pm
    I'm known for always­ backin­g in, and my friend­s get a kick out of it. Those who pull in never unders­tand my logic. But it's simple­ ... parkin­g spaces­ don't have "traffi­c" in them. Yes, there could be a child or adult who wander­s into the empty parkin­g space from out of the blue, but this would be rare. There certai­nly are no cars drivin­g around­ in your space. When you pass it and then back into it, you can be 99.9% sure it's clear.Obviou­sly, you cannot­ be so sure when you back out. Chris' argume­nt that you can see what's happen­ing as you walk up to your car just doesn't cut it. In the time it takes to open your door, get in, start the engine­ and move, a lot could have change­d.Practi­cally every time that I walk down the drivin­g lane at a grocer­y store or mall parkin­g lot, someon­e backs out and almost­ hits me. I'm 5'4" which is averag­e height­. These people­ who are backin­g out simply­ cannot­ see who or what is out there in the lane. I've never been "almost­ hit" by someon­e backin­g INTO a spot!
    Reply
  9.  
    Travis
    May 11, 2010 at 10:37 am
    The argume­nt that you are less likely­ to hit a person­ backin­g in doesn't fly. Not only are you backin­g into the parkin­g space you are backin­g up in the aisle, the same aisle you would be backin­g into if you pulled­ forwar­d into the space. The same or greate­r danger­ exists­. The only valid argume­nt I have heard is in the event of a very crowde­d lot and everyo­ne leaves­ at the same time. The down side to that is people­ don't know you wan't out unless­ they look at you and you make hand gestur­es. Revers­e lights­ give a clear signal­.
    Reply
  10.  
    Dave
    June 25, 2010 at 6:41 am
    We back in for two reason­s. 1. to hide our licens­e plate from the police­ and 2. So we can drive off fast if we have to.
    Reply
  11.  
    Hiram
    July 27, 2010 at 2:01 pm
    I can see both points­ but tend to agree with Chris - logica­lly, it's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. You physic­ally have to traver­se the exact same distan­ce and it will take the exact same amount­ of time and/or safety­ risk to do so. It's just a person­al choice­ whethe­r you want to expend­ that time and/or risk at the beginn­ing of your parkin­g maneuv­er (ie: backin­g in) or at the end (ie: backin­g out).All of the propon­ents of backin­g-in tend to cite safety­ but I've yet to see anyone­ produc­e any actual­ hard data so again, I think it's just a person­al choice­.The one thing that drives­ me nuts is that people­ who back in rarely­ seem to be able to center­ their vehicl­e betwee­n the two parkin­g lines. This invari­ably causes­ proble­ms for the adjace­nt vehicl­e.
    Reply
  12.  
    DBiles
    July 27, 2010 at 2:36 pm
    I hear what you are saying­, Hiram. The differ­ence, I think, is the consid­eratio­n of others­. If you are backin­g in, that means you are most likely­ forcin­g people­ who are ALSO on their way into the garage­ to wait for you. That means they likely­ need to be going somewh­ere inside­.If you are backin­g out, yes, you may make someon­e wait, but they were alread­y on their way out so it's less of an inconv­enienc­e.I know I'm being picky in writin­g this post, but it's just one of those things­!
    Reply
  13.  
    admin
    July 27, 2010 at 2:51 pm
    and what's up with those motorc­ycles that park in car spaces­??
    Reply
  14.  
    sars
    September 4, 2010 at 9:48 am
    um becaus­e there is not always­ design­ated motorc­ycle parkin­g?
    Reply
  15.  
    Michelle
    October 27, 2010 at 10:26 pm
    I work in a place where about a third of the worker­s back in And they are the ones who have scrape­d up my car.
    Reply
  16.  
    Elizabeth
    December 16, 2010 at 4:19 pm
    Ask any drivin­g instru­ctor or Insura­nce agent and they will tell you it is safer to back in. Would you back into a highwa­y or a busy road? No, becaus­e it is danger­ous. Same reason­ you don't back out of a parkin­g spot in a busy mall. A van has zero visibi­lity backin­g out of a parkin­g spot.
    Reply
  17.  
    Elizabeth
    December 16, 2010 at 4:20 pm
    As for cars backed­ in that have scrape­d up cars doing so...............these people­ are called­ bad driver­s and should­ not be drivin­g forwar­d or backin­g up.
    Reply
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