Are you one of those people who routinely backs into a space when you’re parking your car? I don’t mean when parallel parking, but just in a regular space in a lot?
I have to say, I have never understood this. Especially upon hearing the justification for it that I received one time when I asked a “butt first parker” acquaintance why he parked his car this way. “When you’re leaving, it’s faster. You just pull out and go.”
First of all, I challenge how difficult it really is to back out of a parking space. You just pull back, crank the wheel hard, back up more, then take it out of reverse and go. I’ve seen some people apparently challenged by this, people who seem to have to back up-pull forward-back up-pull forward-back up-etc an incredible number of times before gaining enough clearance to head out. You got IN there in one “pass,” didn’t you? Why does it take you twelve to get out?
But more importantly, even if you are a person who struggles to back out of a parking space in one attempt, is it really any easier for you to back in to that space? Unless you have supernatural awareness of where the back bumpers of your car fall, aren’t you worried about hitting the car in the space next to you as you back in? Or backing over the edge of the space? (Which in some cases, might be into a wall or barrier or something?) I feel pretty damn sure in this assertion: whatever time you think you’re saving when you leave is far outweighed by the amount of time you spend backing in. I say this from experience, waiting to drive past “butt first parkers” in a lot while they take a metric eternity to get into their space.
Except...
I may have found the one instance in which “butt first parking” might actually save me time. My parking space at my condo faces west. Pull into it like a normal person, and the back of the car is facing east. Well, winter has once again come to Colorado, and four times already, I’ve come out to my car in the morning to find an iced-over windshield. (Even though it only actually snowed on two of those mornings.)
But the rear window of my car? Squeaky clean. The heat of the morning sun had taken care of “scraping” that window for me.
So it seems like “butt first parking” the night before would save me from scraping off my windshield before I could go anywhere. (Before you comment that it’s probably a good idea to scrape all windows before driving, I’ll inform you that my rear-window defroster works beautifully, almost instantly.)
Nah... I’m probably just falling for the same delusion that makes all the other “butt first parkers” think they’re saving time.
4 comments:
Actually, I started doing this because the Japanese do it ALL the time! I didn't want to be OBVIOUSLY the foreigner... so I did it too... What I did discover was that it was markedly safer (And easier on my neck): See, when you come to a parking space, you already know the "Condition" of the cars around you (Because, presumably, you were paying attention while driving :) ), you know where everything is. When you leave a space; by the time you have gotten in, turned the car on, put on your seatbelt, and put the car in reverse, you have taken your eyes off the area around you and lost the condition of the area, (Even if you can do that at lightning speed, it's easily a few seconds-long enough for a car to appear behind you), so you end up wrenching around, looking all over the place to see if you are clear. If you had backed into a space, then you get in and look left and right and you can get going. There is also another important thing: you have twice as many blind spots BEHIND you as the driver than in front of you, so there is a greater chance of not seeing the car behind you than in front of you. Simply put, it puts the majority of your blind spots (Behind you) in an area that has no traffic (Also behind you). :)
---G
I park "butt-first" all the time too :-P
my parking lot has lots of "wall" cars. the giant trucks and tinted-windowed SUVs that basically form walls that you cannot see around. even if they are not there when I park, by the time I go to leave I might have one of these annoying monsters next to me.
all cars zip through the apartment complex pompously daring you to risk peeking out and getting hammered. so if one of these walls is next to me the backing-out can take quite a long, tense time as I creep, pause, and look the best I can. (nothing is more "AARGH!" then creeping and whooosh a car goes by! DAMMIT surely they saw I was backing out aargh!)
even pulling forward past one of the walls is annoying but it's way better than trying to back out by a bunch.
the mole
I'm also a butt-first parker (unless I'm going for groceries or other bulky items, in which case I know I'll need easy access to the trunk on my way back from the store).
My reasons are very much like those highlighted by G: I find it much easier to back into the space than to back out of it. Mainly because when I back into the space, the only obstacle will probably be you in your car, waiting for me to park so you can drive by.
But when I back OUT? Then there's all kinds of shit in the way. People walking by, cars driving both ways, toddlers wearing all black and concealed ninjas.
I'd rather be going forward to face all that.
FKL
Thanks to all the defenders of "butt first parking." In particularly, thanks for articulating ACTUAL reasons for it, as opposed to that BS I got from someone about being faster (when clearly it's not). You guys make much more sense.
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