Join the Backing-Into Brigade
Here on Giving Unsolicited Advice Wednesday, I make the case for leaving behind the standard, stressful practice of backing out of parking spaces.
Yesterday was Giving Tuesday, when we all got countless solicitations to donate to a bottomless array of causes. Today comes Giving Unsolicited Advice Wednesday, urging you to join me in the Backing-Into Brigade.
Most people are afraid to back into parking spaces; I’m more afraid to back out of them. 1
Over the past few years, I have become borderline-obsessed with facing outwards when I settle into a parking space. Of course, there are plenty of instances when I can simply drive forward into a space and my car is all set—piece of cake.
But that’s not always an option. In those lots, motorists typically pull into a space and are resigned to backing out of it later.
After 35 years of going with that flow—and growing increasingly annoyed by the anxiety-ridden, neck-straining drama that comes with backing out—a few years ago I crossed over to the Backing-Into Brigade. There was no watershed moment, just a gradual process of opting for the lesser stress before going into the store or restaurant or wherever I was headed.
Consider that about 20% of car accidents occur in parking lots. with about one quarter of those related to backing out of a space. Annually in the U.S., there are over 50,000 crashes in parking lots and garages, resulting in at least 60,000 injuries and 500 deaths, according to the National Safety Council.
When you think about how little our overall driving experience happens in those densely packed spots, those are hugely disproportionate totals.
The claustrophobic local Trader Joe’s is the epicenter of where my evolution has played out. Whenever possible in this accident-waiting-to-happen space, I put the difficult car-in-reverse work on the front end of my trip. This puts me in the minority, with the below photo a good representative sampling—you can see my Tucson is the only car out of six in this row that’s facing out.
This was no isolated incident. As a chronic counter of all things big and small, I have observed that, at most, 10% of motorists belong to the Backing-Into Brigade.
I should acknowledge that it helps to own a newfangled vehicle equipped with a camera displaying what’s behind me. There’s also the beeping sound my car makes, when in reverse, to alert those nearby.
However, I’ve benefited from those technological supports for only the last four months, after our Nickel & Dimed car purchase. The vast majority of my time in the Backing-Into Brigade came with a 2006 Dodge Grand Caravan roughly half the size of a battleship armed only with mirrors.
The results—less stress, zero accidents—lead me to this conclusion on Giving Unsolicited Advice Wednesday: Join the Backing-Into Brigade!
This opening line pays homage to the first line of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel, Less Than Zero: “People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles.”
I think doing so in an Oak Park Village lot or Village garage is illegal. So you better pick and choose your lot wisely before you wisely back in.
Pleased that this post has gotten so much reaction -- though almost all of it has been on my Facebook page where I posted a link to this column.
Here's a sampling:
1. "I work in construction. Over the years, my teams have put 10s of millions of miles on the road. Something like 30-50% of motor vehicle incidents involve backing. Consider how many miles (of the total) we put on vehicles that involve backing. Many incidents, few miles. The solution is to minimize or eliminate backing entirely. If we must back, it’s far safer to pull up, eyeball the stall, and back in. I appreciate you getting the word out."
2. "I'm sorry but I'm anti backing in. It blocks up the lot much more than backing out. And it's inconvenient to load up your groceries. I just don't get it."
3. "It's definitely a lot easier to back into a parking space than to back out into traffic coming from both directions with opposing parkers trying to back out from the other side."
4. "Not a fan of backing in. The people who do it don’t seem to know the courtesy of using a signal parking lot, so let the person behind them know what they’re doing."
The response has confirmed my suspicion that when I write about random, quirky topics, it'll strike a chord with folks, since so much of life involves random, quirky things like backing up our cars.
A future topic I am mulling over: my wife's strong view (bordering on militaristic insistence) that when I buy fruit, I do so in even increments only. Two or four applies: good. Three or five: very, very bad. I mean.....huh?