ADUK Archive

Wessex wrote:Reversing out of a gap is always easier than reversing into one.

But not usually as safe because the vehicle is reversing out of a 'dead' area into a 'live' area

brianhaddon wrote:

lyndon wrote:There are a number of places where I prefer to drive forwards into a parking spot. One is at the supermarket, another is when I go walking with a crowd and I know there will be a lot of access to the boot.

I go along with this as well, can be a real pain if you need to get a trolley between two cars to get to your boot, also the damage risk as well




Brian wrote...Just a thought come to mind - what would be the difference of a reverse parallel park in the same situation?

I think no matter how or where you choose to park it will always be easier to manouvre the steerable end of the vehicle which means unless you drive a dumper truck you reverse wherever possible

Ivor

I used to always reverse park but have decided not to do so now where on balance driving in is preferable.

One difficulty of reversing into a parking space is if you stop beyond the gap the following vehicle often stops too close behind. If I am being followed I stop adjacent to the parking space and wait for the traffic behind to clear before moving forward and reversing in. If the vehicle behind cannot pass and has stopped I can drive forward and reverse.

chriskay wrote:Re. supermarkets. At my local Tesco the arrangement is a pedestrian footpath with parking on both sides. With this arrangement, the logical thing to do is to reverse in so that the boot is adjacent to the path. Despite this, 90%+ of drivers go nose in. This means that when loading the boot, they are in the traffic stream. They then have to reverse into the traffic. Can't they understand how much easier it would be if they reversed in.

I have also observed this. The only issue I have is those pillars they use to defend the pedestrian area, they can obstruct boot opening. I usually try to park away from the shop anyway where the surrounding spaces are often empty so I can easily move around the car as required.

Parking is actually one of the issues I have yet to master... it's quite annoying as I've been driving for 3 years now but I still haven't quite gotten the hang of parallel parking. Reverse parking and going nose-in I've pretty much perfected, but I haven't really practiced parallel parking all that much...

That said, I do agree about the supermarkets having slanted/angled parking slots so that it would all be accessible. Where I live the supermarket near me has angled parking slots--it makes it all so much easier to go nose in or reverse and still get access to the boot. The only problem is dealing with those people who have no idea how to park and follow lines...

I personally have no problem reversing from a "dead zone" (parking lot) to a "live zone" (road). Just takes practice and timing. Actually I quite enjoy the challenge

Tr1angle wrote:Parking is actually one of the issues I have yet to master... it's quite annoying as I've been driving for 3 years now but I still haven't quite gotten the hang of parallel parking. Reverse parking and going nose-in I've pretty much perfected, but I haven't really practiced parallel parking all that much...

I was fortunate in that I had a job delivering from a 3.5 tonne van around all areas of London, Essex, Herts & Bucks, often at peak traffic times. This did wonders to improve my parking skills in even the tightest of spaces - I had to take the first space available in most cases. The added pressure of traffic queuing and tight delivery schedules forced me to improve. Without such an opportunity I would advise to practice on every possible occasion, choosing, when appropriate, more challenging spaces.

Slink_Pink wrote:

Tr1angle wrote:Parking is actually one of the issues I have yet to master... it's quite annoying as I've been driving for 3 years now but I still haven't quite gotten the hang of parallel parking. Reverse parking and going nose-in I've pretty much perfected, but I haven't really practiced parallel parking all that much...

I was fortunate in that I had a job delivering from a 3.5 tonne van around all areas of London, Essex, Herts & Bucks, often at peak traffic times. This did wonders to improve my parking skills in even the tightest of spaces - I had to take the first space available in most cases. The added pressure of traffic queuing and tight delivery schedules forced me to improve. Without such an opportunity I would advise to practice on every possible occasion, choosing, when appropriate, more challenging spaces.

Great advice--I guess that truly it is practice that makes all the difference, in any situation... I'll choose the more challenging spots next time