A Man Tries the 'Back-up-to-Park' Fad

Back when I lived in Maryland, I noticed that large numbers of people backed into parking spaces, rather than simply driving into them. I tried to learn why then, and the answers I could find basically consisted of vague assertions that it was "safer," sometimes festooned with statistics that may or may not have been inaccurate, incorrectly applied to the question, or irrelevant.

Such drivers stand out to me, and have had me scratching my head since. Sometimes, they waste my time in parking lots with their antics, and have even -- because of unintuitively switching to reverse as I was getting ready to park -- nearly caused me to have an accident. (!)

(To be fair, it can sometimes make sense to park this way. For example, my next-door neighbor in Florida owned a very large pickup truck that he'd back into his driveway. It's relatively easy to do, and the prospect of a toddler wandering into his driveway when he needs to drive is much greater than that of a parent allowing a toddler to wander in a parking lot.)

Enter one Matthew Dicks, who is not content to stew in mild bewilderment or frustration. He decided to try to understand this odd practice, and decided to try it for a week.

His conclusions after doing so pretty well confirm what I concluded after some time observing this phenomenon and occasionally having to interact with the drivers. I especially like his sixth item, which comes after his consideration of other aspects of this practice and its alleged benefits:

The biggest drawback to backing into a parking spot, and the reason I will not be backing into parking spots in the future, is time. Not only do I sacrifice my own time by backing into a spot (which always takes longer), but I discovered that if there is a vehicle following you in a parking lot, backing into a parking spot delays that vehicle considerably from moving forward and finding their own parking spot. Rather than pulling forward into a spot, I must instead drive past the desired parking spot, stop the car, turn my body so it's in position to drive in reverse, shift into reverse, and then begin the slow process of backing into the spot.

If I'm backing out of a parking spot, I can do all these things without delaying anyone. I can take my time because I am safely tucked away into my own spot. When I'm in the middle of the lane with other vehicles waiting to find a spot, this process becomes a serious delay for others.

In two instances, the driver behind me pulled close enough to me that part of their vehicle was blocking the spot that I planned on backing into, and in both cases, I didn't blame them. They had no idea that I was preparing to engage in this ridiculous maneuver and simply continued moving forward until I could no longer access the desired spot. In both cases, I instead drove forward to a new spot, feeling foolish while doing so. [I have been that driver more than a few times. --ed]

If everyone backed into their parking spots, I am convinced that parking lots would become nightmares to drive through. Vehicles would constantly be delayed as drivers executed the required steps to back into a parking spot. [bold added]

Let me say I fully agree with the following alternate recommendation:

In fact, if you want to be safer in a parking lot, experts advise that you park farther away from the entrance, where pedestrian and vehicular traffic is less congested. This is the single best way to avoid an accident in a parking lot.

This is true and, on really busy days, it is a great way to save time. In fact, I sometimes do this specifically to save time, and have walked past cars that I saw hunting or waiting for spaces close to the store as I drove up.

A big bonus to this is that for the one undeniable benefit of parking front-out, one can often drive forward through an empty space to be in position to do this near the fringes of the lot.

Then you get to park quickly and have fast egress.

-- CAV