Reverse parking into a parking bay is better!

Here’s something I didn’t realise. The UK’s Institute of Advanced Motorists Limited is advocating reverse parking. The following are the benefits of reverse parking rather than entering your parking bay head-first:

  • Data shows it takes about 90 seconds for an average 5-year old car’s engine to warm up and reach its thermal efficiency. According to IAM, reversing out of a parking bay while the engine is cold takes up between 20-25 times more fuel than when it is warm. Apparently driving away forwards will help you save fuel. Could be related to the usually lower gear ratio of the reverse gear compared to the first gear.
  • The UK’s Highway Code actually encourages reverse parking. This is because reversing into a parking bay which remains static (just an empty piece of road/cement, nothing will suddenly fill it up) is safer than reversing out into a road/lane which may have constant traffic where you cannot see easily. Driving out forwards into the road makes it easier for you to look out for incoming traffic.
  • Reversing close to a wall may make it more difficult for thieves to break into your boot as there will not be enough space for them to work.
  • With the amount of crime these days, it is easier to get out of the parking bay as fast as possible driving forward as it is easier for you to see where you are going in case you have to leave as fast as you can for security reasons.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • albagmane (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 12:24 am

    greatness! i do prefer reverse parking everytime i park the car… the longer u park reversely, the better ur reverse skill can be… btw i oso find tat many singaporeans do tat too… omos all the cars are reverse parked everytime when u visit a parking area…

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  • maibatsu_thunder (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 1:04 am

    SO … belakang masuk dulu ke dalam tempat letak kereta lagi baik la ….

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  • Roti Naan (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 2:18 am

    albagmane,

    I too like doing rev. parking whenever it is possible. hone the rev. driving skill alright.

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  • freeze (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 2:58 am

    But shopping at Tesco can’t do that, especially on weekends. If you go forward and want to reverse, the back car already came up.

    Plus, I’ve seen mostly women reverse parking, not men.

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  • MyviKiller (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 3:53 am

    Weather plays a major role on fuel consumption, in the UK you’ll have your ass frozen during winter times, so the data shown is not as accurate here as in the UK.

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  • MyviKiller (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 3:56 am

    Strangely enough, my reverse parking skills are better than the front ones…

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  • MyviKiller (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 4:00 am

    And the data shown does not show the surrounding temperature, if they are using room temperature then the data deemed unreliable.

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  • s60t (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 7:26 am

    it is easier to reverse park if your car has a poor turning radius like mine.but often the car behind doesn’t wait for you and may even “steal” your parking space

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  • syamness (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 8:33 am

    i followed my mate to BP offices in the UK where he works. There its like a policy or sumthing to park reverse in. He said it would be easier for people to evacuate the car park this way if there was an emergency.

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  • 8918 (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 10:48 am

    Yes you are right syamness,there’re certain company which follow as what you mentioned even in m’sia,i still remember once that i park my car and after walking a distance,the security guard insist me to reverse park the car again even i told him that i’ll be going out quick.

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  • wookie00 (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 11:50 am

    You’re missing one point Paul.. I find that reverse parking allows more maneuverability for some rather tight spaces which allows half door opening spaces.. turning ratio increase as well. I find if I go head in first, especially at small lane parkings at malls, my car is always slanted… then i have to reverse out again to head in straight…. susah..

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  • torque (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 12:15 pm

    Yup! It’s true…both my cars are always reverse park at home and sometimes at the mall. Sometimes means simply b’coz there’s an inconsiderate driver out there just masuk people’s spot even after I’m already giving a signal!

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  • noAP4u (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 1:23 pm

    One of my client’s factory actually has a rule stipulating that all vehicles must be reverse-parked in its premise. This is to enable orderly evacuation of the vehicles in case of emergency. This is a very sound rule.

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  • capeplates (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 4:23 pm

    Reverse parking – have you visited your local supermarket lately. The standard of parking is horrendous no matter how it is attempted. Grey haired octogenarians, mini skirted Hamilton clones etc make a visit perilous. Confuse them with reverse parking and all hell will break out.

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  • Porkbutcher (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 6:06 pm

    I prefer reverse parking for 3 reasons:
    1) Can park closer and effortlessly to the rear limit using reverse sensor.
    2) Effortless parking again because of sharper turning radius especially in very tight spots.
    3) Faster runaway from parking bay when leaving.

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  • kiddy (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 7:03 pm

    it also does help to prevent thieves..coz if the car is reverse park..ppl that pass by can easily look on the drive seat…

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  • mystvearn (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 7:09 pm

    Reverse parking, not that practical la. Depends where you are for it to be practical.
    In supermarket, go weekdays, morning, then no need to reverse park, just go straight into the next bay. Then you get head first out. haha

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  • BW (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 7:14 pm

    Hmmmm… I just did some reverse parking yesterday

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  • razor_clawzz (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 9:37 pm

    In most business premises in Brunei (Shell especially), there’s a big visible sign that reads “Reverse Parking” at the parking lot. Really nice to look at, looking at the front of the parked cars.

    You’ll never see that in Penang xD

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  • mokkf82 (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 10:38 pm

    Guys! don’t talk about reverse parking when our driving institute doesn’t really teaching us how to park it correctly.
    Still remember that during training, our instructor would put as much as 20s “tiang” around the parking lot for us to so u can park your car reversely with formula! (calculating the “tiang”!). As long as we able to park into the parking lot, then we consider pass!~~
    But our parking bay did not have “tiang” at all! and most of us would learn how to do reverse parking by self training.

    Yesterday while waiting for a lady to park her car from front, she could not park it correctly and she try reversing.
    I ofcos would have to wait her, so i switch off my head lights so she would park it without “pressure”. But despite few tryings, she finally gave up and search for others parking.
    So i would want to say that if our driving institute would able to teach us reverse parking correctly. None of this would happen and the lady might as well park it without fuss and save alot (time & fuel) on that.

    Perhaps Paul can come out the real reverse parking method!

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  • Wisdom (Member) on Jul 26, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    Tell me Paul, i use to forward park my car everyday returning from work. Lazy to reverse.
    By the way, i’m driving manual. And i’m a ‘dont bother to heat-up the engine’ type pf person.
    The next morning, i started the engine, a few seconds later shift to reverse and released the clutch while the engine revolution still high (low temp, high rpm) i didnt even need to touch the throttle while reversing.
    I believe thats economical.

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  • 0204 (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:37 am

    I’ll leave the fuel consumption alone.

    Let’s talk about the Safety reason, from what i see in malaysian culture.. there’s two type of drivers. One the slow down when they see a reverse light pointing right at them, another that speed up for god sake. The one that slow down because they know the driver can’t see them coming and probably won’t stop. The one that speed up? well cause they know they’re going to be slow for the same reason. But what if coming up at front, everyone will expect you to see them and HONK your ass off, so the result is you’ll have to wait for the line to break. So to conclude you’ve got 50% chance of getting out safely on reverse, 0% getting out on the front. It’s the culture if you’re still with me. Oh and it’s only easier to see when you’re not driving long front vehicle which from what i see, most car has shorter boot.. well most, but you’ll say that the driver seat is up most front of the cabin, true so that makes you almost the center, better visibility? at inches yes. And i don’t remember any european car that uses inline 4. Z series driver will definitely prefer reversing out. And the report is from UK. Oh let’s not forget parking besides some 4×4 pickup truck, you can maybe get apeek right under thier suspension yes.

    Now, about the thieves harder to break into the boot, thats a 100% true point. But check this out, when is the last time a car thieve break your boot first, they simply whack the door mirror and pop it. Or whack you to get the key, and that’s only if they knew there’s a labtop in your boot, not that they want your yoga pad. And then it’s the supermarket, the last thing you need is a full load of stuff in your shopping cart and the front bumpur of your car pointing at you, well not unless you just went in for a candy bar. Oh i must have forget, most european car have thier engine mounted at the back and thier boot at the front, good for them.

    I’m not sure if there is any emergency in malaysia that you should drive away quickly, earthquake? no you can’t reach the carpark cause they’ll be no elevater for you to get down. And you’ll be running straight out of the biulding unless you can’t live without your car. It’s probably in the movie only that one still remember where they parks it. Not if they sounds like.. oh yeah there’s one.. the car thieve. It’s very convenient for them to drive straight out.. and they have more fuel for thier getaway too saving from the front start up.

    I do reverse, mostly, and prefer it. Because of the reason mentioned, the sensor helps parking closer to the wall or bumper, the turning radius ofcourse unless you owns a car the the rear wheels doing the turning. It’s all the small small reason. But the european would form an institute to research all the reasons just to make them look.. smarter.. and when the whole world starts parking reversely, it’s thier great achievement.

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  • gey2718 (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:43 am

    aiya i think it depends on situation la
    u know sometimes when u r tailing a car, suddenly the car jam brake and u realise he’s trying to reverse in to the lot just next to ur car, then u die die also need to reverse a bit to let him park in, if behind u still have another car tailing very close? problem occur liao.
    this is wat happen in singapore, all the driver likes reverse (with the hazard lights on) even though is driving a small kelisa or picanto, some of them so kayu and will spend long time to park, end up car park also jam.

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  • gey2718 (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:48 am

    in terms of PRODUCTIVITY, reverse park is bull shit, when u try to reverse park to a lot, u r spending longer time to park as u r trying to reverse exactly to a lot, and u r reversing inch by inch as u can’t see anything behind, just rely on the bloody sensor? the sensing area coverage not enough la, sometimes u still hit pole or low ceiling if u r driving van or hatch.
    while HEAD on parking , u can see what is in front.

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  • gey2718 (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 12:57 am

    ok, i have few more reason to beat this theory!
    while reverse out from a lot, u have reverse white light to alert others ( or maybe audible alarm), if u forward out? what is ur signal? u will just dash out from the lot.
    these thery is only applicable for:
    1. big car with long front and rear overhang (head and backside)
    2. luxury cars with promising standard reverse sensors or even reverse camera
    3. boy racers who add on front lips as head on park will likely damage the lips
    4. really narrow car park that really don’t have space to turn.

    finally, stop using this theory to avoid unnecessary fight for parking cases, unnecessary jam in carpark, unnecessary damage to ur car backside
    4.

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  • gogobotol (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 9:42 am

    It’s not a theory anymore. My company impose reverse-parking only rule for safety reasons. What a beautiful sight with all the vehicles in a row and facing forward! My colleagues even park reversely at their homes now! It has become second nature to us. I must admit it was awkward at first. Now, even the big lorries and pickups park reversely!

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  • Kevin LeePekWei (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 1:00 pm

    1) According to IAM, reversing out of a parking bay while the engine is cold takes up between 20-25 times more fuel than when it is warm. >>> only applicable to winter countries, we are in tropicana.

    2) Apparently driving away forwards will help you save fuel. Could be related to the usually lower gear ratio of the reverse gear compared to the first gear. >>> The savings in this aspect is contra by extra fuel resulted by the reverse lower gear when reverse-park the car.

    3) …is safer than reversing out into a road/lane which may have constant traffic where you cannot see easily. >>> The safety in this aspect is contra by the risk of spending more time on a road/lane while doing reverse-parking. (especially circular-multilevel car park design eg.Lot 10 car park)

    4) Reversing close to a wall may make it more difficult for thieves to break into your boot as there will not be enough space for them to work. (excluding Ferrari/Porsche) >>> This will not stop professional thieves if they targeted your car with expensive equipment such as In-car-entertainment system. Also FF car that reverse-parked easier to be towed away.

    5) …it is easier to get out of the parking bay as fast as possible driving forward as it is easier for you to see where you are going in case you have to leave as fast as you can for security reasons. >>> Also need to consider how fast you can get into the car in the first place, if by reverse-parked ur car, the shopping mall/office entrance resulted on the other side of your car door will result u to hav walked further to reach the entrance/enter into your car. In such case, if u suspect anyone, u should walk to security counter instead.

    6) Turning-ratio is a good point for reverse-parking. But, depends on what type of car, same parking space that considered as narrow for eg. a KIA RIA, can be easily forward-park by a Kancil/mini cooper ( and can off the engine earlier (:fuel saving) as opposed to reverse-park where extra actions needed.)

    >>>Lastly, I will say, it all depends on the situation (weather/mall entrance/carpark design/type of car/parking skill etc.)

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  • chin (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 4:30 pm

    reverse, front, parallel…..i will be happy if malaysian learn to drive and respect the rules of driving and parking. I remember reading a comment a longtime ago saying the English are too rigid with their driving techniques….who ever wrote that comment must have failed his test at the DMV and pretty sore that the Brits did not give him a permit. In Detroit they shoot you on the spot if you show the middle finger and in Netherlands they come after you during the public holidays and get you pay your fines or you will be thrown into the van and off to jail….

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  • n8cky (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 6:14 pm

    I can point out two testimony about reserve parking.

    *This is discussing about over night parked vehicle.
    1) Reverse parking enable driver to immediate engage 1st gear/ D gear after they initiate their engine in the morning. For car like mine more than 12 years, she can’t barely afford a reserve gear right after the engine was started(give some stupid sounds). Reverse gear in the morning (cold engine) will did a great impact on the gear box. So, do reserve park when the gear box/engine is still hot(means when you reach home after some distance driving). And you only need to engage 1st gear/ D gear early in the morning, instead of “reserve and go”.

    2) I used to hang out for clubbing in somewhere out there ( the BMW crashed area)..However, i saw a drunk fella reserve his car from parking lot and intend to ran away after scratched the car beside his(caught by security, not me). Reversing car from a parking lot create more possibilities on scratching other car, because the turning point is at the front of the car. 2 lessons to be learn here, a) You can drive right away and create less problems by reserve parking. b. I learned not to park beside non-reserve-parking car, especially in clubbing area(where drunken shifu gathered).

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  • n8cky (Member) on Jul 27, 2008 at 6:20 pm

    gey2718 said,

    July 27, 2008 @ 12:57 am

    ok, i have few more reason to beat this theory!
    while reverse out from a lot, u have reverse white light to alert others ( or maybe audible alarm), if u forward out? what is ur signal? u will just dash out from the lot.

    ———————————————————-
    Consider using your eyes.

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  • hamster (Member) on Jul 28, 2008 at 10:07 am

    Interestin findings..especially da fuel consumption part..

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  • narrowband (Member) on Jul 28, 2008 at 10:13 am

    In Tokyo and Singapore everybody reverse-parks. In Singapore especially, if you see any car with the head-in first, it’s likely to be driven by a Malaysian. I know of some companies in KL that impose a rule in their carparks saying all cars must be reverse-parked.

    Actually reverse parking is easier in tight spots, because the front wheels are the turning wheels. Going head-in first would need a bigger clearance (ie wider road). If it’s a narrow place and you insist on going in head-first, you’ll likely need to engage your reverse gear at least once during the attempt.

    It takes very little effort to develop a simple skill to reverse park. I notice many people who want to reverse park stop too far away from the parking bay, so if a car behind is following closely, it may need to jam-brake and even reverse to give way.

    The best way to reverse park is:
    1. While coming up to the empty bay, point your car’s head towards the bay opening first (like letting your grille ‘sniff’ the bay – much like how a lucky dog is sniffing at some prized find).
    Argument: It is much better than stopping at some distance away (effectively angled at almost 90-degrees w.r.t the parking bay), and having difficulty finding the parking bay’s opening (using mirrors or by straining your neck).

    2. Then, while you’re still moving, turn the steering in the opposite direction to prepare for a reverse-park. This will result in the tail of your car nicely angled in the direction of the bay (for easier entry).

    3. Engage Reverse gear and look into your side mirrors, you’ll find the bay’s opening (ie. your neighbouring cars, or the pillar, etc) in your mirrors. You’ll only need to rely on your sensors to know how deep you’ve parked.
    (Tip: For right-hand-drive Malaysian cars, focus on only the right-side mirror because the width of your car is definitely not wider than the parking bay’s opening, unless you’re driving a hum-vee).

    And of course, always turn on your bloody blink blinks to signal your intention. Singaporean drivers turn on their hazard lights to signal an intention to take a parking place, in Malaysia, anything goes – but at least the signal indicator is used, to tell the car behind to stop.

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  • aliBaPa (Member) on Jul 28, 2008 at 8:09 pm

    I always park directly into my house, bcos i don’t want my family smell ezoxt?

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  • gey2718 (Member) on Jul 29, 2008 at 9:56 am

    gey2718 said,

    July 27, 2008 @ 12:57 am

    ok, i have few more reason to beat this theory!
    while reverse out from a lot, u have reverse white light to alert others ( or maybe audible alarm), if u forward out? what is ur signal? u will just dash out from the lot.

    ———————————————————-
    Consider using your eyes.

    ———————————-

    meaningless reply? ?

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  • wacko (Member) on Jul 29, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    not only reverse parking rule for cars. back at my house i also implemented reverse parking for shoes & sandals left on the floor. anyone fails to follow the rule will find their shoes/sandals outside the house gate.

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  • ansach (Member) on Aug 01, 2008 at 3:06 am

    Hi everyone, just want to share, I am Malaysian and have been driving in Singapore for the past 2 years. I use to complain about how Malaysian is seemingly in a hurry to secure parking spaces so they tend to dive head first into their parking. I thought that Singapore drivers are much more civilised and it shows in their parking “manners” and was a true advocate of reverse parking. That was until a Singaporean related how his car was stolen in Johor Bahru. When he returned from dinner, he found out his car has disapeared and started asking around. One bystander told him a TOW TRUCK came and towed his car away! He didn’t raise an alarm as he thought the car probably has a problem since it was being towed. I have since noticed tow trucks with no company details running around on JB roads and frankly, reverse parking in Malaysia is not recommended unless you are in a secure area where they don’t allow two trucks.

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    • Yes. I’ve a friend whose relative work with town truck company and she always remind me not to park reverse at open car park. She said one of the syndicate is towing the car parked reverse.

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  • microbstudent on Apr 24, 2009 at 9:27 pm

    whether u r civilised driver or not it is NOT depends on whether u park foward or reverse.

    its how you drive yr car in the road.

    We all have our reasons WHY we park foward or reversed…ITS YR CAR..U R THE ONE WHO PAY FOR IT…as long as u dont knock or scratch other carS WHO CARES?!!!

    .If u drive aroud JB it is very common to see How rude singaporean when they are in Msia like speeding and littering….

    And that is civilised.?

    I would rather be malaysian n not civilised then….

    AND THEY r many ""civilised ""msian drivers too

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