True, never backing up is better, but hard to accomplish. I can show you a UPS delivery truck backing up every day of the week. There is a UPS store next to my wife’s shop and they back into the alleyway every afternoon to drop off/pick up packages. It’s way safer that they back in and be able to pull out forward.
In fact, my son-in-law is a paramedic. His ambulance driver training says you always back in if you can’t do a pull through. The theory is you can look into the space before backing up and know there is nobody there, but backing out of a parking space is more dangerous because it’s more likely that people or other cars can get behind you without you seeing them. He always parks his personal car that way, too.
I can’t speak on whether or not backing in or pulling in are safer. However, I hate it when drivers pull in through both parking spaces. There is no way a driver attempting to park can see a driver that is pulling in through another parking space.
This backing into a parking space is a madness which will cause a lot more accidents. We have to remember several types of drivers who have trouble with this maneuver:
Learning drivers: It often takes several years to attain that kind of precision control.
Older drivers: With arthritis or a fused spine, this becomes an impossible task.
Drivers of vehicles without rear windows, or with high rear windows, can’t see directly behind them.
It should be illegal to require drivers to back into a parking space for these reasons.
Insurance studies have consistently shown that backing into parking slots lowers accident rates significantly. Some companies have instituted mandatory “back it in” policies in their lots and parking lot accidents have almost faded from memory. The only danger is you have to be vigilant for pedestrians that never seem to realize what you are doing and walk behind you as you reverse.
The person who argued that you have no reverse lights when pulling forward uses a specious argument. The reason for reverse lights is because the driver has limited rearward visibility when backing up and the lights help warn other drivers. When pulling forward you don’t need lights you just have to use your eyes to look for traffic, not a difficult task when looking out of the front windshield.
Almost three decades of driving big rigs taught me to back up safely and properly, sometimes in very tight areas.
Some times required the use of a spotter.
Backing a vehicle into a parking space comes second nature to me.
All my vehicles, including my trailer, are backed in the driveway.
This is where the experience pays off.
Plus it gives me a chance to show off at campgrounds when I spot my travel trailer in a site.
There is an added benefit to backing into a spot which no one here addressed.
If required, it gives you a chance to get a battery boost from another vehicle when the front of the vehicle faces out.
That cannot be done if facing the opposite direction.
There are a few cars that have the battery in the trunk, my mom’s '05 Cobalt for example. It was a pain in the rear when I had to get my Chevelle jumped using her car because one of us had to keep the floor divider propped up the whole time.
I work inside an Oil and Chemical refining plant where if you are driving a vehicle inside the plant you are REQUIRED to back into parking spaces. It’s a huge safety concern, and backing into spaces helps to eliminate some safety risk.
I live in Whitefish, Montana (far NW corner … almost to Canada). Backing in is a seasonal thing around here. In winter it’s always prudent to back in. Nothing worse than to try and back out of a space/driveway/garage when you go out and find 18" of fresh snow and a plow berm between your car and the road.
Then there’s the battery jump thing already mentioned. OTOH, motel plug-ins for engine block heaters require front-in, unless you’re smart enough to carry a l-o-n-g extension cord.
One problem you haven’t covered is that the driver who backs into parking spaces (and he who drives through to the second space of a double row) usually stops with his tail in the other space, preventing another car from using it.
One stupid question: Are you talking about parallel parking (where backing is almost required), or right-angle parking (where your mirrors don’t show the space until you have already hit one of the cars).
Maybe I’m biased becuase I always pull forward into a parking space (in a parking lot, that is - I don’t have a driveway and have to parallel park in front of my house - now there’s another subject!) butI have the noticed that the drivers backing in take longer to park and are more likely to be less skillful at parking. I have frequently noticed someone backing in who: backs in, comes forward again, backs in again, comes forward again, backs in again, comes forward again, backs in again, and finally shuts his/her car down, only to still be taking up two spaces. (Yes, there are plenty of drivers who take two spaces pulling into them, but these are rude drivers deliberately taking two spaces, not bad drivers unintentionally taking two spaces.) Meanwhile I can pull forward into a space, shut off my engine, and be assured of being between the lines.
I have the noticed that the drivers backing in take longer to park and are more likely to be less skillful at parking. I have frequently noticed someone backing in who: backs in, comes forward again, backs in again, comes forward again, backs in again, comes forward again, backs in again, and finally shuts his/her car down, only to still be taking up two spaces.
I will have to watch for that. I have never noticed it.
It does take more skill to safely and properly back into a spot, but that is offset by requiring more skill to back out of a spot safely.
I learned how to back in when I was 16 years old, over 30 years ago, and worked for a parking garage where we had to back in. I became more comfortable and skillful just a few years ago when I started rowing where I had to watch where I was going which, of course is behing me.
The problem is that 99% of the vehicles are not made to be backed into a tight space easily.
If they made the parking spaces bigger, then there would be no problem with backing in. But businesses saddled by zoning laws make the parking spaces as small as they can get away with, so they can allow more customers in the business at the same time.
What kind of vehicles are you talking about? I know people driving some pretty big trucks that are able to back them into pretty tight places for deliveries, so again, I think this has more to do with the driver.
All cars and smaller SUVs should be really easy to park. If you have problems parking your suburban, you need some more driving lessons or a smaller car.
