Its so obviously easier to drive into a restricted space and back into a large empty space that there is no logical reason to do the opposite
In many carparks, the large empty space does not exist. And if it's there when you park up, it may no longer be there when you return to the car, so you find yourself reversing blind into a crowded area with moving hazards ... and thanks to the wonders of modern car designs which omit rear windows, those moving hazards may be invisible. Much better to reverse into the parking space, which will remain empty as you drive into it.
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Hence the reason why movilogo's suggestion is a good one, if you can find a clear back-to-back space.
As an aside, I used to live out in the sticks, in a Hamlet on the A68 (a fast country road with many hills and blind turns).
My next door neighbour had a single lane to his house, with a small area to turn his car around.
Being a bit of a simpleton he used this space to make his garden bigger. Result -- he used to have to reverse out of this driveway, directly onto a derestricted A-road. There was a bit of rough ground he used to reverse onto, but it meant that his car was 1/4 on the main road.
Quite how the inevitable nasty accident never happened is a mystery to me!!!
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Options:
* If you have to buy a lot from a supermarket, order online and get them to deliver.
* If you don't but a lot, but have to go there anyway, park well away from everyone else, even if you do have to walk a few yards more. Ideally, find an isolated bay away from all the others -- they do exist (e.g. Waitrose Welwyn Garden City has several invulnerable single bays).
* Start buying from farmers' markets and the like. The food is better and you will be surprised how the supermarket shrinks into the background as a compulsory trip. And farmer's markets are incomparably better than supermarkets as a shopping experience, even if the prices may be a little higher.
If I had a large family, I'd buy online all the time and be glad not only to be liberated from the dreadful business of shopping in those fancy crowded warehouses but also that a delivery service takes cars off the road (a van full of stuff must be equivalent to a dozen and more cars).
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Unless you visit supermarkets physically, you'd miss some of the ludicrously cheap prices [available if you visit there half an hour before closure]
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* Start buying from farmers' markets and the like (..) even if the prices may be a little higher.
A *little*?? Pfd, pfd, pfd! By the time I've driven there, and paid the inflated prices (weren't these markets supposed to help farmers by cutting out the middle man, rather than being a means to completely rip off the general public??) I would have paid perhaps twice the supermarket price, and likely got nothing special.
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cars parked facing out of grouped parking (..) I think its a sort of statement. "I can back into small spaces and therefore am superior".
It can be far easier to reverse into a space than go in forwards. Think about it (this does not apply to vehicles with rear wheel steering).
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It's easy!
If the car has been reversed in then a man drove it there. If it has been parked forward, then a woman has parked it.
We always load the shopping in the boot hoping someone will go from in front so we can drive straight through:)
Pat
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It's easy! If the car has been reversed in then a man drove it there. If it has been parked forward then a woman has parked it.
Not always Pat. My missus (ex-Merc Sprinter driver) ALWAYS reverses into a supermarket parking space. She reckons it stops her buying too much 'cos it's more hassle to get the shopping in the boot.
Regarding protocol; it seems to be accepted practice in our local Tesco, that if you drive a small mimser-ish car, you should use as much as possible of the allocated parking space, and try to touch both white lines by parking diaginally across them!
Using mirrors also seems to be optional; and why, oh WHY, don't drivers know how long their vehicle is? The number of times you seem people doing a twenty-point shunt to get a small saloon out where most of us could do it in one!
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 11/09/2008 at 22:12
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(..) use as much as possible of the allocated parking space and try to touch both white lines by parking diaginally across them!
This is probably because they drive in forwards.
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Looking at some of them, F-T, I think they drive in sideways!
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(..) drive in sideways!
You have a point.
Some cars are harder to park than others, of course. My Honda Accord, for instance, has the turning circle of a narrow boat.
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If the car has been reversed in then a man drove it there. If it has been parked forward then a woman has parked it.
Wrong! This woman reverses in.
I can't reverse around corners in the road (and would have failed my driving test on that point except that the road was too crowded to do that part of the test), I'm useless at parallel parking, but reversing into a parking space is easy now that I have a car with bleepers.
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reversing into a parking space is easynow that I have a car with bleepers.
Reversing most vehicles into a space is easy because they ALL have wing mirrors. How do you think HGV's manage it? ;)
Modern cars have much better mirrors than older ones, if used properly you shouldn't need those bleepers. Personally I'm sceptical about their usefulness, it makes drivers lazy about their observation.
If it's any consolation, most truck drivers of my acquaintance can't parallel park either.
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Modern cars have much better mirrors than older ones
Is that cos they're now on the doors and not the wings ;o)
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<< Modern cars have much better mirrors than older ones, if used properly you shouldn't need those bleepers. Personally I'm sceptical about their usefulness, it makes drivers lazy about their observation. >>
The decent mirrors don't compensate for being unable to see out the back of modern cars. Hence the need for beepers.
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The decent mirrors don't compensate for being unable to see out the back of modern cars. Hence the need for beepers.
You don't NEED to see out of the BACK, for heaven's sake! If you've set your exterior mirrors properly, you'll have a perfectly good view of both rear corners of your car. Since they will be the first things to impact on anything as you pull out, they are what you should be watching. The INTERIOR mirror is only of use to check what's behind you when you're travelling FORWARDS.
Look, I'm not trying to be unkind, or belittle your driving ability; I spend my days delivering feed to farms with an 8-wheeler tipper truck, and every day I come up against people with the same problem as you have, i.e. they've not been TAUGHT how to reverse properly. Looking over your shoulder just directs your line of vision into a jumble of headrests, "Baby on Board" signs and unruly kids; so why not ignore them, use the exterior mirrors, and do a better job of your reversing?
The other reason car drivers mess their reversing up is they get their speed wrong (either too fast or too slow) and conversely either over or under correct their steering. It's an aspect of the driving test which is badly in need of review.
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I think that you may be slightly unkind Harleyman, at least in my small experience. I have never driven professionally, but hold an HGV licence "just-in-case". The last time that I drove anything of size was a rental pantechnicon to help a mate shift house. The receiving driveway was about 50 yards of car-size, up which I had to reverse. It was a doddle compared with reversing some of the modern cars, mainly, in my view, because the longer length gives a better appreciation of movement. Perhaps that is why you find your truck so easy to reverse.
For all that, I like to reverse into parking spaces because I have a short-nose car and can therefore see earlier what is howling along the carpark to rip my bumper off as I depart, but will take whatever is on offer. Notwithstanding your comment about use of interior mirrors, I line up on exterior and then use the interior to judge distance to the wall or whatever.
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Notwithstanding your comment about use of interior mirrors, I line up on exterior and then use the interior to judge distance to the wall or whatever.
I used to park that way, until modern cars developed such high rear ends. Nowadays a peek through the interior mirror is useful only is reversing towards a high wall; bollards, kerbs and knee-high walls etc are all hidden from view
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