Even if you read nothing but this intro, you should still be convinced. Parking nose in does not happen in nature. Which animal ever reverses out of it’s home? You won’t see a rabbit exit a burrow butt first. Ever seen a hermit crab exit with its toosh out front? Does a horse walk backwards from its stall? Would a bird ‘coffin drop’ from the nest?
Your garage is to you like the rabbit hole is to the rabbit.
The garage is just the start though. Let’s take it to the shopping centre and ‘level up’.
So you’ve very likely experienced that shopping centre carpark moment. Point the keys and unlock the car with a ‘blip blip’ and a flash of the indicators. Jump in the driver’s seat. Hit the ignition. Jam it in reverse. Grab the passenger seat head rest. Neck check over the left shoulder for safety before reversing out of your spot? Except there’s always another car coming right? And you sit there patiently hoping (read ‘screaming in hopeless futility’) that someone will let you just back the heck out. All the while your neck is crooking up. Then your gap appears and the angels sing ‘hallelujah!’, but wait. No. The guy opposite is facing forwards and drives straight into your gap and then it starts again. Argh! The frustration of it all!
Not me people. I learned to reverse park a lifetime ago. The benefits are many and not widely spoken about. That’s right, you’ve never had that convo near the copier with a colleague whispering the secrets of everlasting driving satisfaction? No. It doesn’t happen. So here it is for you now. The 5 great reasons why reverse parking every time will change your life forever.
The psychology of it all. Go the way you’re facing. You’ll feel better for it and may not even be aware of it. There’s power in moving forward.
Time is happiness. Don’t be the muppet who has to wait for everyone else. Be ready to hit the ignition and go. No annoying neck checks!
Be less hassle. Nobody minds letting someone out who is facing forward, but everyone speeds up to make sure the reversing ‘tortoise’ doesn’t ‘trap’ them into a waiting zone they have no control over.
Reversing first is easier. Reversing on the way in to your spot is your right. Once you’ve chosen to take the spot, nobody can slow you down. You don’t have to check or wait. Just reverse and be done with it. Reversing out on the other hand means yielding. You have no right of way.
Lastly — and mostly important — the animals don’t do it. Reverse into your garage or carport so you can start the next day in the direction you want to go. Forwards is progress. Going backwards to go forwards is just backwards.