Backing into parking spaces
 

I work at a large facility with huge parking lots. The spaces are
larger than your typical mall spots and the travel lanes broad. I
arrive early most morning and get a decent spot near the door. Usually
I just drive straight into a parking space. I notices that a fairly
large percentage (>10%) of people back into spaces. I wonder why. I
can understand pulling through spaces when they are in line and doing
so is easy. I don't understand why people go to the time and trouble
of backing into a boxed in space (either another car or the curb at
the back of the space). It seems to me that you are backing into a
realitively tight space so that you can pull out into the realtively
large travel lane in the afternoon. I find it easier to back into the
open travel lane when leaving instead of backing into the tight
parking space in the morning. Am I missing something? Often the people
that back into the spaces do a lousy job and end up way off center, or
at an angle. People who drive in, usually seem to get it right. Is
there an actual advantage to backing in first? It is not like we have
a LeMans start at the end of the day....

Ed

Backing into parking spaces
 

On Apr 13, 10:10*am, "C. E. White" >
wrote:

> I find it easier to back into the
> open travel lane when leaving instead of backing into the tight
> parking space in the morning. Am I missing something?

Backing in is considered "safest practice". It is preferable to back
into a static parking space than into traffic, due to the limited
visibility.

Driving past the space before backing in also provides an opportunity
to more thoroughly inspect it before entering it.

It's a good habit to develop. Most people run over in parking lots
and driveways are probably backing incidents.

> Often the people
> that back into the spaces do a lousy job and end up way off center, or
> at an angle.

I think it is unrealistic to expect people to attend to parking any
more than they do driving.

> People who drive in, usually seem to get it right. Is
> there an actual advantage to backing in first? It is not like we have
> a LeMans start at the end of the day....

But it seems it might be most efficient if people were making 1
maneuver rather than 2. Maybe fewer vehicles would be backed into in
the haste that time of day seems to encourage.
-----

- gpsman

Backing into parking spaces
 

"C. E. White" > wrote in message
news:49e347ba$1@kcnews01...
> I work at a large facility with huge parking lots. The spaces are
> larger than your typical mall spots and the travel lanes broad. I
> arrive early most morning and get a decent spot near the door. Usually
> I just drive straight into a parking space. I notices that a fairly
> large percentage (>10%) of people back into spaces. I wonder why. I
> can understand pulling through spaces when they are in line and doing
> so is easy. I don't understand why people go to the time and trouble
> of backing into a boxed in space (either another car or the curb at
> the back of the space). It seems to me that you are backing into a
> realitively tight space so that you can pull out into the realtively
> large travel lane in the afternoon. I find it easier to back into the
> open travel lane when leaving instead of backing into the tight
> parking space in the morning. Am I missing something? Often the people
> that back into the spaces do a lousy job and end up way off center, or
> at an angle. People who drive in, usually seem to get it right. Is
> there an actual advantage to backing in first? It is not like we have
> a LeMans start at the end of the day....
>
> Ed

A company I used to work for (glad I'm NOT there anymore!) would insist that
all employees back into parking spots in the employee parking lot. The
theory was, it was safer to drive forward when leaving the parking space.
This totally ignores the fact that, if reverse direction driving is more
dangerous, well...ya either back in or back out. Either way, there is going
to be a slight increased risk entering OR leaving. But then, this company
would severely micro-manage employees on and off duty. I'm surprised I
never heard any stories of workers there "going postal". In the warehouse
(where I didn't work, but I hung out in the break room there sometimes) the
employees would have to listen to REALLY LOUD automated PA announcements in
a female computer voice several times per hour, along the lines of...

"BREAKTIME HAS STARTED"
"BREAKTIME IS ENDING IN FIVE MINUTES"
"BREAKTIME IS OVER"
"BREAKTIME ENDED FIVE MINUTES AGO, YOU SHOULD NOW BE WORKING!"

No, I didn't make that up. If I worked in the warehouse, I would have
lasted less than a week.

But if your company doesn't mandate it? Maybe the employees who do it USED
TO work at a place with a truly ****ed-up management structure, and just
never broke the habit? -Dave

Backing into parking spaces
 

On Apr 13, 10:10*am, "C. E. White" >
wrote:
> I work at a large facility with huge parking lots. The spaces are
> larger than your typical mall spots and the travel lanes broad. I
> arrive early most morning and get a decent spot near the door. Usually
> I just drive straight into a parking space. I notices that a fairly
> large percentage (>10%) of people back into spaces. I wonder why.

The reason, quite frankly, is that it makes them feel like "men".
You'll hardly ever see a woman backing into a spot -- it's a "man
thing", like motorcycling, ricing, using oversized wheels, manual
transmissions, etc. All of these things make men feel manly.

It's hilarious to watch how much effort some people will put into
backing into a spot. In most cases it takes 5-10x the amount of time
it would have taken to pull in forward.

The "safest practice" idea is nonsense. Any idiot can back out of a
spot slowly and methodologically to avoid an accident. Sure, a lot of
people back out too quickly, but that's another issue.

Backing into parking spaces
 

wrote:
> On Apr 13, 10:10 am, "C. E. White" >
> wrote:
>> I work at a large facility with huge parking lots. The spaces are
>> larger than your typical mall spots and the travel lanes broad. I
>> arrive early most morning and get a decent spot near the door. Usually
>> I just drive straight into a parking space. I notices that a fairly
>> large percentage (>10%) of people back into spaces. I wonder why.
>
> The reason, quite frankly, is that it makes them feel like "men".
> You'll hardly ever see a woman backing into a spot -- it's a "man
> thing", like motorcycling, ricing, using oversized wheels, manual
> transmissions, etc. All of these things make men feel manly.
>
> It's hilarious to watch how much effort some people will put into
> backing into a spot. In most cases it takes 5-10x the amount of time
> it would have taken to pull in forward.
>
> The "safest practice" idea is nonsense. Any idiot can back out of a
> spot slowly and methodologically to avoid an accident. Sure, a lot of
> people back out too quickly, but that's another issue.

Actually, if EVERYONE would back into parking spaces, leaving spaces
would be a lot easier. However, when the vehicle next to you is likely
to be a SUV, it doesn't matter whether you back in or back out, either
way, when you go to leave, you're going to have to edge out of the space
blind for a few feet before you can ever tell if someone's coming
towards you. If everyone backed in though, you could be assured that
you'd be looking over a hood rather than trying to peer through two
sheets of dark-tinted glass.

I've seen some city neighborhoods where the streets are set up for angle
parking but the parking spaces are such that you have to back into them.
It seems to work surprisingly well, but I haven't seen it outside of
DC (there may be other places where this is used, and probably are, I
just haven't seen 'em with my own eyes.)

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

Backing into parking spaces
 

Nate Nagel wrote:
> Actually, if EVERYONE would back into parking spaces, leaving spaces
> would be a lot easier. However, when the vehicle next to you is likely
> to be a SUV, it doesn't matter whether you back in or back out, either
> way, when you go to leave, you're going to have to edge out of the space
> blind for a few feet before you can ever tell if someone's coming
> towards you.

This has happened to me several times. On one occasion, I was worried
that my car had been stolen, but then I eventually saw it boxed-in
between several huge SUVs with darkened windows. These SUV drivers also
seemed to like to take more than one parking space, so I had to squeeze
to get into the car.

It's usually a risky attempt to try leaving a parking space without
being able to see around the stupid SUVs. The fix is to get a bigger
vehicle, like a bus!

Backing into parking spaces
 

On Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:10:01 -0400, "C. E. White"
> wrote:

>I work at a large facility with huge parking lots. The spaces are
>larger than your typical mall spots and the travel lanes broad. I
>arrive early most morning and get a decent spot near the door. Usually
>I just drive straight into a parking space. I notices that a fairly
>large percentage (>10%) of people back into spaces. I wonder why. I
>can understand pulling through spaces when they are in line and doing
>so is easy. I don't understand why people go to the time and trouble
>of backing into a boxed in space (either another car or the curb at
>the back of the space). It seems to me that you are backing into a
>realitively tight space so that you can pull out into the realtively
>large travel lane in the afternoon. I find it easier to back into the
>open travel lane when leaving instead of backing into the tight
>parking space in the morning. Am I missing something? Often the people
>that back into the spaces do a lousy job and end up way off center, or
>at an angle. People who drive in, usually seem to get it right. Is
>there an actual advantage to backing in first? It is not like we have
>a LeMans start at the end of the day....
>
>Ed
>


I asked this a year or two ago and got some pretty hostile responses
along with claims that backing in was much safer because you could see
better when you pulled out. Of course, that ignores the fact that you
are backing into a small box and can't see well while you are doing
it, etc, etc.

Backing into parking spaces
 

Alexander Rogge > wrote:
>Nate Nagel wrote:
>> Actually, if EVERYONE would back into parking spaces, leaving spaces
>> would be a lot easier. However, when the vehicle next to you is likely
>> to be a SUV, it doesn't matter whether you back in or back out, either
>> way, when you go to leave, you're going to have to edge out of the space
>> blind for a few feet before you can ever tell if someone's coming
>> towards you.

>This has happened to me several times. On one occasion, I was worried
>that my car had been stolen, but then I eventually saw it boxed-in
>between several huge SUVs with darkened windows. These SUV drivers also
>seemed to like to take more than one parking space, so I had to squeeze
>to get into the car.

>It's usually a risky attempt to try leaving a parking space without
>being able to see around the stupid SUVs. The fix is to get a bigger
>vehicle, like a bus!

A cheaper fix might be one of these:
<http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00169WHSM/ref=asc_df_B00169WHSM768897/?tag=mytriggerscom-20&creative=380333&creativeASIN=B00169WHSM&linkCod e=asn>
Trim to view.
--
/"\ Bernd Felsche - Innovative Reckoning, Perth, Western Australia
\ / ASCII ribbon campaign | When we remember that we are all mad,
X against HTML mail | the mysteries disappear and life stands
/ \ and postings | explained. -- Mark Twain

Backing into parking spaces
 

On Apr 13, 7:10*am, "C. E. White" >
wrote:
> I work at a large facility with huge parking lots. The spaces are
> larger than your typical mall spots and the travel lanes broad. I
> arrive early most morning and get a decent spot near the door. Usually
> I just drive straight into a parking space. I notices that a fairly
> large percentage (>10%) of people back into spaces. I wonder why. I
> can understand pulling through spaces when they are in line and doing
> so is easy. I don't understand why people go to the time and trouble
> of backing into a boxed in space (either another car or the curb at
> the back of the space). It seems to me that you are backing into a
> realitively tight space so that you can pull out into the realtively
> large travel lane in the afternoon. I find it easier to back into the
> open travel lane when leaving instead of backing into the tight
> parking space in the morning. Am I missing something? Often the people
> that back into the spaces do a lousy job and end up way off center, or
> at an angle. People who drive in, usually seem to get it right. Is
> there an actual advantage to backing in first? It is not like we have
> a LeMans start at the end of the day....
>
> Ed

Picture this;

Boston winter temp is pushing zero. 1951 Olds family hand-down is 6
volt.

Jump-start is needed and battery is under hood.

Picture this.
Backing into a space means that hazards are approaching from behind,
squeezing between the cars behind, looking directly at you backing
in.- very slowly.

Backing out of space into open space with cars coming from each
direction, looking here and there for a spot.

I'm typing this several hours after reading OP, so please excuse me if
I am repeating what has already beem said/

Backing into parking spaces
 

Alexander Rogge > wrote in
:

> Nate Nagel wrote:
>> Actually, if EVERYONE would back into parking spaces, leaving spaces
>> would be a lot easier. However, when the vehicle next to you is
>> likely to be a SUV, it doesn't matter whether you back in or back
>> out, either way, when you go to leave, you're going to have to edge
>> out of the space blind for a few feet before you can ever tell if
>> someone's coming towards you.
>
> This has happened to me several times. On one occasion, I was worried
> that my car had been stolen, but then I eventually saw it boxed-in
> between several huge SUVs with darkened windows. These SUV drivers
> also seemed to like to take more than one parking space,

That's because they handle like the trucks they really are.

> so I had to
> squeeze to get into the car.
>
> It's usually a risky attempt to try leaving a parking space without
> being able to see around the stupid SUVs. The fix is to get a bigger
> vehicle, like a bus!
>

No,leave a shopping cart blocking the lane until you can pull out
safely,then shove it back before you drive off. B-)

--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net