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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I am baffled by reverse parking

121 replies

PookieDo · 07/09/2018 23:42

This might make me sound like a total nut job but today I went to 2 really big multi story car parks which just blew my mind, and I just have to ask people why they reverse into spaces? It is becoming a really irrational thing to me - being held up by 20 people on my way in or out very very slowly reversing back into spaces. I just swing my car in the space front first, then reverse out in one complete movement (unless pedestrians present obviously). No 28 point turns required

In my brain it doesn’t make any sense. It’s much harder and time consuming to reverse into a space than out of one. If you are shopping, your boot is now around the back of the car, close to the wall/another car and you can’t get a trolley down the side of the car so you have to carefully take all the bags down the narrow-ish gap, minding your car and the car next to load your boot.

Am I a loony for letting this annoy me so much?

OP posts:

ShatnersBassoon · 08/09/2018 08:02

All this 'much safer' has anyone actually had an accident reversing out of a space in a car park? I'm not convinced that reversing out is that high a risk tbh

A man reversed his car into mine, which was stationary behind his as I waited at a junction in a car park.

DappledThings · 08/09/2018 08:05

I hate parking forwards. Have to do it sometimes to get double buggy out and it's so much harder. Reversing I can do in one swing and it's mostly instinctive. Forward requires much more manoeuvring and if it goes wrong I find it much harder to work out how to correct it. Reversing just makes more sense in my brain, I can just "see" the angles better

HopeGarden · 08/09/2018 08:05

All this 'much safer' has anyone actually had an accident reversing out of a space in a car park? I'm not convinced that reversing out is that high a risk tbh.

I saw one of the school mums do this just last week. Reversed out of a space in the car park next to the school - right into a car driving past. Fortunately no one hurt.

My dad also got reversed into by a car coming out of a space in a car park last year.

It’s much easier to spot other cars (or pedestrians) if you’re driving out forwards.

Di11y · 08/09/2018 08:11

DH's car is so long his turning circle when reversing out is bigger than the space between rows sometimes, especially if a big car is sticking out nearby. We nearly got trapped in an Ikea car park once because he went in forwards so the boot was accessible.

taybert · 08/09/2018 08:11

Interestingly (well, a bit) we were in France recently and no one seems to reverse in to spaces and it causes just as much disruption as people reverse out, especially since the expectation seems to be that the person reversing out will do it at high speed and all the cars driving around will also do that at high speed and everyone will consider that they have the right of way.

NotMeNoNo · 08/09/2018 08:12

I also work in construction and reverse parking is instructed in all our car parks. It doesn't take long to reverse into a space, you need to be a bit more patient. We were also advised it for personal safety so you can just get in your car and go.

I go to an exercise class in a small school, usually I'm the only one reverse parked in the small parking area. I get a smug feeling to drive straight out at the end whilst 8 other cars are doing country dance manoeuvres trying to get out of their spaces.

HopeGarden · 08/09/2018 08:12

I almost always reverse into spaces now - there’s a few local car parks where the spaces are slanted so that you have to drive in forwards. But it’s something I didn’t really get the hang of until I worked for a place that had a mandatory reverse parking policy and was forced to practice it properly.

Original poster

PookieDo · 08/09/2018 08:16

@daisychain01

The car I have is a city small type and it has excellent turn on the front wheels. I can drive straight in to almost any space - I may need to swing in a bit but I can 9/10 drive straight in and straight out in one fluid movement. I think it’s the car.

OP posts:

Pamdoo · 08/09/2018 08:19

It's safer to reverse in. You can see when driving out. People who don't really irritate me, as they are generally the ones taking up 2 spaces or making another space unusable as they've parked at a stupid angle, or you sit behind them for 5 mins while they are trying to drive in using a 10 point turn, or they end up nearly reversing into people trying to get out.

Pamdoo · 08/09/2018 08:22

All this 'much safer' has anyone actually had an accident reversing out of a space in a car park? I'm not convinced that reversing out is that high a risk tbh

I've seen accidents a few times and near misses all the time!

Distancehelp · 08/09/2018 08:25

I think it’s the car

This is part of the point - I doubt every car you watch reverse parking is in the same size as you.

I had a small peurgot and could park it anywhere. Now have a larger Kia and the visibility makes a big different to how quickly I can park.

A good friend was hit was cycling as a car reversed off its driveway and hit her. Obviously drives are different but shows how people often believe that doing something for safety is just making it more complicated for everyone...

bungaloid · 08/09/2018 08:25

Don't forget the ultimate dream scenario, driving forwards through a space to be pointing out the other side. The best of both worlds.

picklemepopcorn · 08/09/2018 08:31

If someone drives into you while you are reversing out of a space, it is automatically your fault no matter the circumstances. Obviously you shouldn't be reversing when there is someone coming, but even if they roar up at of nowhere and you are mid reverse it will be your fault.

sophisticatedsarcasm · 08/09/2018 08:35

DP reverse park but can do it really quickly. If thier is a queue of people behind us he won’t purely so he doesn’t hold them up.

StripySocksAndDocs · 08/09/2018 08:36

I tend to reverse in. I'm a fairly new driver and not in UK - parking doesn't featured at all in the test (country is full of people never shown how to parallel park!).

I had to watch instructional videos on how to reverse park. Then practise a lot. Still find I mess up at times, so it's not unknown for me to loop around a car park is there is someone behind me (especially when it's one of those annoying people who drive too close behind you).

It's definitely easier in tight spaces. Two months after I passed i was in a very busy and tightly spaced underground car park. Had to queue to get in (hospital carpark) so you knew when you got in there was only one space!! When I found it it was very narrow, and between a pillar and a giant (new) 4x4. Almost peed myself reversing in!! Managed it in fewer than 28 manoeuvres though - did take me five I confess (first reverse, move forward as too close to giant car side, reverse again, move forward as wing mirror would hit pillar, final reverse).

Then breath in to get out, they were so narro! A few hours later i discovered the insane cost of hospital car parks.

Pinkprincess1978 · 08/09/2018 08:37

It's much safer to reverse into a space - there is very unlikely to be someone walking across a parking space and also less likely for another car to drive into a space you are parking in (although both do sometimes happen) compared to reversing out of a space where you are always likely to have pedestrians and other cars getting in your way every time you try to move. Doing this going forward you have much better visibility that when reversing.

So basically it's a safety reason 😀

StripySocksAndDocs · 08/09/2018 08:38

I'd still like a car with the reversing video and beeps!!

CaptainCallisto · 08/09/2018 08:39

Our local supermarket has those awful fishbone spaces which are all diagonal. It's impossible to reverse park, and the angle of them means it is also impossible to see if anything is coming as you back out. I hate it! Fortunately they've had the sense to put a footpath between the rows of spaces (where the bonnets point) so at least you're unlikely to meet a pedestrian, but it's very much a car park where you have to hope the drivers going around looking for a space are also watching for people manoeuvring out of them. Such a stupid design!

Dulra · 08/09/2018 08:41

All this 'much safer' has anyone actually had an accident reversing out of a space in a car park? I'm not convinced that reversing out is that high a risk tbh.
My friend was seriously injured when a car reversed into her as she was passing on a bike. I also have a major issue with people that reverse out of their driveways onto roads and footpaths pretty sure according to rules of the road you're not meant to.

Personally I find reversing in safer and easier. What you describe op is bad parking no matter what way they go in

LuckyDiamond · 08/09/2018 08:45

Reversing in is easier I find,

I’ve never understood the claim it’s safer though. You have to do a reverse manoeuvre either way.

No one reverse parks in the States. I remember watching something about security in a gated community in Texas becoming suspicious because there was a car reverse parked on someone’s drive.

Sirzy · 08/09/2018 08:46

I hate it when you have attended an event whereby everyone wants to get out the car park at once and people have driven into spaces. Slows down getting out for everyone!

I used to avoid reverse parking when I could, had myself convinced I was rubbish at it but actually now I do it all the time I have realised just how easy it is!

Sarahandduck18 · 08/09/2018 08:47

I find reversing in much harder than reversing out.

This thread has been an eye opener!

StormcloakNord · 08/09/2018 09:08

I'm more baffled by the people who do take forever and a fucking day to do the simplest of manoeuvre. If you can't reverse into a space without taking 5 minutes to do it do everyone a favour and give up your license.

StripySocksAndDocs · 08/09/2018 09:11

To clarify I find it easier in the sense of observation and the safety of others.

The overall parking is easier. Whilst reversing in isn't physically easier than reversing straight out. (You will need to check mirrors and around you continuously as you reverse in, you might need to make (the bitchily stated) 28 manoeuvres.) But when it's a busy car park, you have better sight of any hazards around you when reversing in than reversing out.

The cars either side of you are hazards reversing in. You need to avoid hitting them, but they obscure your field of vision to see hazards (people/other cars) when reversing out. Especially if they are a giant high car or van either side.

FanWithoutAGuard · 08/09/2018 09:12

It’s much harder and time consuming to reverse into a space than out of one.

I don't agree with this - even pre-reversing cameras, wing mirrors make reversing into a space easier than going in frontwards in my opinion - I can see exactly where the sides of the car are, whereas going in forwards, I can't.

If you are shopping, your boot is now around the back of the car

This however I am in 100% agreement with - position the car so that you can get to the boot if you're going shopping. To do otherwise is ridiculous.

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