NFR Why do people in the country back in to park, and in the city they pull in?

Non-fishing related

nwbobber

Steelhead
Forum Supporter
Cleveland does a lot of annoying shit. This is certainly one of them but they do plenty more in cars thats worse. Since most of them suck at backing in we all get to enjoy together. In any vehicle, if you can't pull in and back out you really should not be driving. Anywhere. Basic stuff.
Cleveland? When I was in Cleveland they wouldn't even let the locals push a grocery cart without supervision.
 

G_Smolt

Legend
It depends if there are lines / stacked parking or not. Most places with lines I just back in, but if there isn't a lot of traffic I like to do the Blues Brothers slide up to the curb. Turns out they don't really like that at my local bank...
 

Rob Allen

Life of the Party
Have you ever noticed that in the country, people usually back in to their parking spots? But in the city, most people pull in. Why is that, do you think?

Are you a puller-inner, or a backer-inner, and do you live in the city, country, or burbs?

View attachment 39212
^With that stuck-up city mouse driving, you can bet she'll be cutting people off to pull into a spot!

It can't be because country folks are a bunch of suspicious ne'er-do-wells always looking to make a quick getaway, right? I mean, salt-of-the-earth and all that. :) Maybe you're like me and do a mix of both. I live in the city. Sometimes you just gotta get in that spot now, and deal with everything else later. But I aspire to a more relaxed, country state of mind. I try to take my time, take care of my future self, and ease her back on in when I can. If you ever park at a place like the Lumen Field garage, I recommend backing in. Makes it a lot easier to get into that line of cars trying to get out, 90% of whom will ride 2 inches off the guy in front of them's bumper so you CANNOT pull out damn you, without running over pedestrians.

edit: in another thread we can discuss why people in North Snohomish County and Skagit County don't ever turn on their headlights on dark dark rainy days.
Country people only do that in the city, it shows they are anxious to leave.

Years ago the signs on the I-5 bridge between Portland and Vancouver read thus

Leaving Washington then entering Oregon
Going the other way.. leaving Oregon. Then Welcome back. :)
 

Matt B

RAMONES
Forum Supporter
Cleveland does a lot of annoying shit. This is certainly one of them but they do plenty more in cars thats worse. Since most of them suck at backing in we all get to enjoy together. In any vehicle, if you can't pull in and back out you really should not be driving. Anywhere. Basic stuff.
Wait, are you saying that Cleveland is a backing-in City?
btw I was born in Parma OH, haven’t been back in years tho
 

Matt B

RAMONES
Forum Supporter
I get that poor visibility might favor pulling out vs. backing out, but from the standpoint of ease, it's a lot more straightforward (pun intended) to pull in to a confined space. It's a lot quicker and easier to line yourself up parallel to the vehicles next to you (or at least be fairly centered in the space) when you pull in (vs. back in), and then when you need to back out to leave, you can just slowly go straight back until you know the front end will clear the vehicles next to you. There's almost always more room in the aisle than one car length, so it would seem to be a lot easier to take advantage of that extra room when moving backwards. The fact that many vehicles now have back-up cameras makes backing out less dicey than it used to be. Only my opinion......
I think when you have a really long vehicle, it is easier to maneuver it into a narrow space with the turning wheels at the rear of the direction of motion. To demonstrate this, I’d ask you to move around my old shop tool chest which has turning casters on one side only.
 

Matt B

RAMONES
Forum Supporter
. You can always tell the city hunting set by their gate and road blocking habits. This is what got the 7400 launch on the nooch shut down.
Okay, but after after 44 years on this planet I have observed that Jack wagons come in all stripes and from all over.
Country people only do that in the city, it shows they are anxious to leave.
Admittedly, since I live in King County, many of my observations are from what might be better described as something like ”recently country.”
 

VAGABOND

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Back the truck in every time.
Steering from the rear allows a more dynamic turn radius with the forward part (rear bumper) of the vehicle. Also, in your mirrors you can see both leading sides of your vehicle as opposed pulling in and not being able to see passenger side front corner. Never use the 8” dash video screen unless I’m leaving in the dark to go fishing and my brain sends a little “did I shut the the tailgate?” message. Also backing into potential traffic has its downside.
 

Dustin Chromers

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
Okay, but after after 44 years on this planet I have observed that Jack wagons come in all stripes and from all over.

Admittedly, since I live in King County, many of my observations are from what might be better described as something like ”recently country.”

True but every gate blocker I've had the pleasure of dealing with said things like ,"it was dark when we got here and it's a long drive from Seattle. We didn't think anybody would be working on Saturday."

My favourite remedy when they can't be found is to open the gate. Drag them in off to the side and simply lock up.
 

charles sullivan

Life of the Party
Forum Supporter
My wife backs in everywhere. She is from Queens. We live inside City limits.

I have never noticed this behavior being specific to where you live. Vehicle size and training seems to be the factors to me.
 

Matt B

RAMONES
Forum Supporter
We can get real data on this by analyzing satellite photos. Yeah, the pull-throughs will cause some data slop but I suspect that if there's a trend it will outweigh the uncertainty. Any volunteers to help with this task?
 

Salmo_g

Legend
Forum Supporter
I’ll also put my parallel parking skilz up against anyone.

My truck is about 19’. As long as I have 20’ I can put ‘er nut to butt.

I sometimes even look for the tightest spots just to show it can be done.
I took driver's ed in high school in 1965. The parallel parking test spot was 2' longer than the car.

The ability to parallel park in tight spots in affected by the vehicle's turning radius. I'm more than a little skeptical that a Tundra's turning radius can put it in a 20' parking spot. You're gonna' have to give a demo Swimmy.
 

Xoxo

I never understood this. You're literally at the gym to exercise, but have refused the 17 spots in the back row 9 times to avoid walking a bit further......
I used to say this when i was a member at the YMCA. But one of the reasons for circling the parking lot was the Y, with all its money, had terrible lighting in their parking lot and there was no security.

My car was only a few months old when i had to park in the back of the lot where it was so dark. Returning to my car that evening i saw the white truck next to me had “f(ck you” spray painted on his door. I thought to myself, oh the poor dude probably pissed off a woman. So I went back inside and reported it at the desk and then drove home.

Once home I got out of my car to check my mail and then pulled into the garage. My husband came home awhile later and said “now i don’t want you to be freaked out but your car got spray painted. And I’ve already been to the auto supply store and i think i can take care of it.”

Funny thing, the hood of my car had ALSO was spray painted ‘F you” . My car is red and on the hood was black spray paint. I don’t know how i didn’t see it too! I called the Y and was told that five cars in the back lot had been spray painted.

Whatever my husband bought from the store did take off the paint. Luckily because it had rained so much that evening it came out just fine. But i quit the Y shortly after that .

Haha! I had to learn to parallel park in a 1964 Buick Electra! I passed, but to this day i refuse to parallel park unless no one, and i mean not one other car, is even close to me To see me attempt this.
 
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Rob Allen

Life of the Party
My wife backs in everywhere. She is from Queens. We live inside City limits.

I have never noticed this behavior being specific to where you live. Vehicle size and training seems to be the factors to me.
Recessive gene re-emerging :)
 

Chris Bellows

Steelhead
My dad taught me to back-in because while you're out hunting, hiking and fishing if the weather changes it is easier to pull forward than do a 3 point turn in snow or mud.

He also told me to never drive over a loose rock, if it catches the under-side of your vehicle it ALWAYS gets larger!

Truth, happened to me last winter in BC. Got stuck in a remote trailhead in the snow forgetting to back straight out instead of a 3 point turn. Spent 30-40 minutes digging out before finally remembering a beach driving trick and deflated the stuck tire to 15-20 psi. Drove right out. Would have been truly fucked otherwise.
 

Otter

Steelhead
I think when you have a really long vehicle, it is easier to maneuver it into a narrow space with the turning wheels at the rear of the direction of motion.
Exactly. It's far easier (and faster) to back in with a long vehicle. With my extended cab pickup, to pull in front-first, I'd have to first swing way wide, before driving straight in. Not many places have a huge space to do this. Meanwhile, I'd be blocking other drivers in the parking lot. And, I'd also often end up parked crooked, so I'd have to back out into traffic and line it up for a better front-in parking job. I always have a look at my parking position before I walk away. I feel embarrassed leaving my truck even a bit crooked in the space, or even worse, too close to the doors of the vehicle beside mine.

A few other reasons I back in:

If you park facing in, you have to back out, unless you're in a pull-through. Backing out usually means you cannot see traffic coming from either side, until your vehicle is almost out of the space. Very dangerous, and also very annoying for oncoming traffic. My friend was a firefighter years ago, and told me it was mandatory to back in your own vehicle when you showed up for your shift. If you parked front-in, you would be fired. They are all about safety, right?

If you need a jump start or other engine help, and your hood isn't accessible, you'll be hooped, and also feel dumb.

But what really convinced me to always back in, was a tragedy in a nearby town some decades ago. A father backing out of his driveway ran over his toddler son and killed him.

As for backup cameras, depending on them is one more way that drivers may become lazy and poor drivers. I was taught 55 years ago to shoulder check and use all your mirrors. But if you cannot physically turn your head around to shoulder check, in that case, backup cameras are useful, unless they're obscured with dirt.
 

Kfish

Flyologist
Forum Supporter
Back in almost always, why just the other day my wife was not happy to have come out of costco with a cartful and having to help load the rear with the cart in the front :)
I back in b/c it's just so nice to drive away when you leave, just my personality.
 

longputt

Steelhead
Truth, happened to me last winter in BC. Got stuck in a remote trailhead in the snow forgetting to back straight out instead of a 3 point turn. Spent 30-40 minutes digging out before finally remembering a beach driving trick and deflated the stuck tire to 15-20 psi. Drove right out. Would have been truly fucked otherwise.
Two years ago I was hunting in NV and a really heavy freezing fog rolled in and I was stuck on pretty level but rocky ground. I dropped the tire pressure until I had traction. I was in a really bad spot and I'm glad it worked, I couldn't even break the ice crust to get dirt with a shovel. It took hours for my 12 volt compressor to refill my tires!
 

Matt B

RAMONES
Forum Supporter
Back in almost always, why just the other day my wife was not happy to have come out of costco with a cartful and having to help load the rear with the cart in the front :)
I back in b/c it's just so nice to drive away when you leave, just my personality.
Good point, I forgot about the grocery run in the SUV or minivan. I’ve disappointed my own self by backing in and then it being awkward to load the trunk.

I almost always back in my own driveway parking spot though. That actually makes loading and unloading easier.
 

Jake Watrous

Legend
Forum Supporter
I grew up five miles outside of a very small town (not so small anymore, but at the time we had to take drive tests two towns over and even then there was no parallel parking part of the test because there was nowhere to parallel park) and I always front in when I’m headed somewhere I want to be, or want access to the back of my car. Faster and easier to get out and get where I want to be. Fishing? Fuck yeah I'm fronting-in. I can park and be out my car in a second, and there will be no brush blocking access to my rods and gear.

If I’m wanting to make a quick and easy escape, though, I’ll back in. At work, for example, I back in (actually, I’ll pull through. Best of both worlds!) Dump stuff in the back of the car, climb in the seat, and I'm off.
 

Brian Miller

Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting Cutthwoat Twout
Forum Supporter
Mrs Brian and I back our SUV & CUV into the garage because our driveway turnaround is a sideways T on a curve. She pulls straight in to most parking stalls but I back in 90% of the time for visibility pulling out and the other reasons mentioned here. It's easy once I get the "feel" for the turning radius of the vehicle.
 
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