For The Love Of All That Is Holy, Stop Backing Into Parking Spaces Mark Hemingway

[mystery-ak]

For The Love Of All That Is Holy, Stop Backing Into Parking Spaces
By: Mark Hemingway
January 06, 2023

If you’re still backing into parking spaces, just cut it out and pull straight into them the way basic geometry demands.

About a mile from where I sit typing this ensconced in my comfortable suburban existence is a strip mall. This place serves a number of my family’s basic needs, and I find myself going there quite a bit — there’s a grocery store, a couple of coffee shops, a dry cleaner, an immediate care, a UPS store, an ABC, a sports bar, and a number of fast-casual restaurants. And, of course, this is all connected by a large, sprawling parking lot.

Having traveled to this same establishment hundreds of times over a period of years, I’ve noticed a dramatic change in driver behavior, and one that has made running errands rather trying. I don’t want to overstate the problem, but after years of close study, I have arrived at the conclusion that people who back into parking spaces are history’s greatest monsters.

It would not be unreasonable to assume a couple of thousand cars are coming and going from my neighborhood strip mall on a given day. Given that much traffic, there’s a basic formula for efficiency here: The time it takes to get your car into a space added to the time it takes to pull out of the space.

Now a great many drivers seem to be under the impression that, because being able to pull out of parking space when you’re already facing forward is a little quicker than backing straight out of a space, this somehow makes up for any extra time it took to back into the space. Please go to your local busy parking lot with a stopwatch. I assure you, it does not.

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https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/06/for-the-love-of-all-that-is-holy-stop-backing-into-parking-spaces/

[corbe]

For The Love Of All That Is Holy, Stop Backing Into Parking Spaces

BY: MARK HEMINGWAY
JANUARY 06, 2023

If you’re still backing into parking spaces, just cut it out and pull straight into them the way basic geometry demands.


About a mile from where I sit typing this ensconced in my comfortable suburban existence is a strip mall. This place serves a number of my family’s basic needs, and I find myself going there quite a bit — there’s a grocery store, a couple of coffee shops, a dry cleaner, an immediate care, a UPS store, an ABC, a sports bar, and a number of fast-casual restaurants. And, of course, this is all connected by a large, sprawling parking lot.

Having traveled to this same establishment hundreds of times over a period of years, I’ve noticed a dramatic change in driver behavior, and one that has made running errands rather trying. I don’t want to overstate the problem, but after years of close study, I have arrived at the conclusion that people who back into parking spaces are history’s greatest monsters.

It would not be unreasonable to assume a couple of thousand cars are coming and going from my neighborhood strip mall on a given day. Given that much traffic, there’s a basic formula for efficiency here: The time it takes to get your car into a space added to the time it takes to pull out of the space.

Now a great many drivers seem to be under the impression that, because being able to pull out of parking space when you’re already facing forward is a little quicker than backing straight out of a space, this somehow makes up for any extra time it took to back into the space. Please go to your local busy parking lot with a stopwatch. I assure you, it does not.

Turning while backing into a space is a perilous process, exacerbated by the relative narrowness of the channels between rows in a given parking lot. That’s because there’s no room for error; one misjudged angle while you’re looking over your shoulder results in a small crunch that could cost you a few thousand dollars, to say nothing of the insurance hassle. Even if you think you’re being relatively quick in backing up, there are powerful incentives to make sure you’re extra careful, i.e. slow, when backing into a parking space.

<..snip..>

https://thefederalist.com/2023/01/06/for-the-love-of-all-that-is-holy-stop-backing-into-parking-spaces/

[Kamaji]

No!

[corbe]

   Quit yer bitchin and get a smaller boat.

[Kamaji]

   Quit yer bitchin and get a smaller boat.

I can parallel park those bad boys with 6 inches to spare front and back.

[Polly Ticks]

I admit he has a point about people backing into angled parking spaces.  That's just weird.  And I always keep in mind whether or not I'm going to put any large purchases into my trunk. 

Otherwise .... nope.  Going to keep backing in, thanks.  When I come out of the store and there are two huge SUVs on each side of me, I can see much easier pulling out forward than trying to back out safely.

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

With backup cameras it's sorta trivial to backup into parking spaces nowadays.

[Polly Ticks]

With backup cameras it's sorta trivial to backup into parking spaces nowadays.

Meh. I can see what is immediately behind me.  I cannot see if some goober is flying up the row 3 cars down and will smash into me if I back out.

[MOD7]

Merged Topics

[Kamaji]

Merged Topics

Which one had the original right-of-way?

[corbe]

    It seems corbe was a little slow backing in as @mystery-ak just zipped in head first. 

[Free Vulcan]

Meh. I can see what is immediately behind me.  I cannot see if some goober is flying up the row 3 cars down and will smash into me if I back out.

That's why people do it. I've seen so many drivers just go crazy in a parking lot like it's a NASCAR speedway. I had one guy a couple of weeks back nearly take off my front end while pulling into his parking spot like it was an aircraft carrier landing.

[Wingnut]

I back-in everywhere.  You never know when you might need a fast get-a-way after stabbing a libtard in the Walmart parking lot.

[Ghost Bear]

There's a street in downtown Austin where the parking spaces are angled such that drivers have to back into them... the angle is away from the flow of traffic, so they are virtually impossible to pull into driving forward.

Kind of appropriate for the place called Goofytown.

[deb]

I back-in everywhere.  You never know when you might need a fast get-a-way after stabbing a libtard in the Walmart parking lot.

Don’t liberals mostly shop at Target? 

[Wingnut]

Don’t liberals mostly shop at Target? 

Our WallyWorld is in a big Snow Bird flocking area.  It is lousy with Canadians and North Easterners. 

[jmyrlefuller]

Going in reverse will always put you under threat of liability. If you're backing out of a parking spot and some jerk deliberately T-bones you, it doesn't matter —you get held liable and get charged with unsafe backing, a moving violation that blemishes your driving record, increases your insurance and disqualifies you from a lot of jobs.

It's much more difficult to pull off that kind of trap backing into a space surrounded by parked cars.

It's all about the liability.

[Free Vulcan]

Going in reverse will always put you under threat of liability. If you're backing out of a parking spot and some jerk deliberately T-bones you, it doesn't matter —you get held liable and get charged with unsafe backing, a moving violation that blemishes your driving record, increases your insurance and disqualifies you from a lot of jobs.

It's much more difficult to pull off that kind of trap backing into a space surrounded by parked cars.

It's all about the liability.

I have no doubt that that is the motivation behind it.

[GrouchoTex]

True confession time:

I am a bit short in stature, so sometimes it is easier for me to back in, staying in the lines, than it is to look over the hood.
I have try an adjust so as not to block other people's car doors, and get door dings, etc...
Quicker for me to back in than go back and forth trying to get in the space correctly, in those instances.
All because of the back-up camera, which I didn't have until I bought a new truck 2 years ago.
I tell ya, I see more trucks (like mine) and large SUV's doing this all the time.

I figure we could all get together and sing the "Short People" song, by Randy Newman.

[ironhorsedriver]

I always back in. The rail yard I reported to prior to retirement required it of employees. It's my preferred way to park, and I don't really care who approves or disapproves of it.

[EdinVA]

The time it takes to get your car into a space added to the time it takes to pull out of the space.

Poor thing... we must be interfering with someones mommy time.... Must be nice not to be worried about anything bigger than this..

[GrouchoTex]

Poor thing... we must be interfering with someones mommy time.... Must be nice not to be worried about anything bigger than this..

LOL, yep, it is a bit of a 1st world problem.
Bigger fish to fry out there....

[roamer_1]

What is this 'parking spaces'?

[deb]

What is this 'parking spaces'?

 

[mountaineer]

This is a heck of a thing to get upset about.