To improve rear visibility, Volvos (S-60) have a dashboard button that drops rear seat headrests. Vehicle still has near zero backup viewing. Backup visibility being that bad on most vehicles. So many are so used to backing up without seeing as to 'feel' it is safe. Therefore numerous kids are run over by their parents SUVs. The parent never noticed how dangerous backup is? Of course not. Too many always 'assume' - then backup. It is that dangerous.

that thing about backing over your toddler--my worst nightmare. every year that happens to a couple of kids in my town. I actually know (of) someone who did that. She was never the same since.

Don't think I would be, either.

I disagree. In the mutant-car I drive (Pontiac Aztek,) I find it much easier to see the other car coming if I park backed-in. It's not that it's a little car, it's just a b!tch to see out of when backing up.

We agree. Nose first, coming out. i.e., backed in.

Yeah, what he said. Although parking sideways, although incredibly rude and inefficient, affords the best view of all. (insert pic here please)

If you're in a lowset sedan and you're parked between two suv's, it doesn't matter if you're nose in or tail in. You still can't see shit.

Some Australian country towns have reverse-in angle parking. It's great for pulling out, but the first time you try to back in to a narrow space around a 45 degree angle ... tricky ... I think they just do it so they can laugh at the city slicker day trippers.

And Coober Pedy, a "frontier style" opal mining town, has given up on parking regulations altogether and put a sign at the edge of town: "ANGLE PARKING. ANY ANGLE."

It makes a difference in how much you have to inch out before you can see.

That's true HM. In my car, virtually the whole front end of the car is in the path of traffic before I get any vision at all. While this is normally ok in shopping centres etc, there are always idiots who don't drive slowly or who simply seem to drive along wth their eyes shut. I've had many near misses in the last 10yrs since every tom, dickhead and arsehole decided they needed an suv.

I reverse in because it causes no damage to my car/s.

In my VE, if I nose in and there is a concrete stop or footpath etc...when the tyres settle, I near have a coronary when I hear that grating sound.

I have to pull my car in that far (nose in) or some dickwad will reverse into my arse.

Nose in at hotels and apartments is common here because of the fumes from idling cars.

I though idling was bad for the engine? I never do it, but I don't live in a realy ice-and-snow zone, either.

I think, if you're not careful backing OUT, you won't be careful backing IN. Aforementioned kid could be playing on an abandoned grocery cart.

Face it, backing in is groovy.

Seriously, all I'm saying is I don't agree with it as a safety measure. The backy people I see tearing out of their space aren't necessarily more safe, in the long run...than backy-outties.

;)

Those who back into a space first completely view what is in that space. Those who back out rarely if ever know what is behind adjacent to the vehicle. Do you walk around the car every time (checking tire pressure) before entering and driving that vehicle? Of course not. Therefore you don't know what is adjacent or the car when backing out. But it is quite obvious (except in SUV with unnecessary and extremely high hoods / bonnets) what is in front of and adjacent to the vehicle when driving out forwards.

How bad is rear view visibility? Recently, it was raining during the day. Obvious in front were cars without headlights on. But cars without headlights behind could not be seen in either rear or side mounted mirros. I never knew one unlit car was back there until another car farther back with headlights on made the unlit car apparent. Rear visibility is that poor as well as restricted; why backing out into traffic is not recommended. First and foremost - backing into an fully inspected parking space IS for numerous safety reasons.

tw is insane.


that is all.

nothing more?