How do you park your car?

[crazy canuck]

I see BB has adequately dealt with [The person who obviously does not drive] who thinks one can parallel park without going into reverse.  Isnt that the very definition of parallel parking.....

[Admiral Yi]

I see BB has adequately dealt with [The person who obviously does not drive] who thinks one can parallel park without going into reverse.  Isnt that the very definition of parallel parking.....

You *can* go the other way if your car is dinky and the space is huge.

[HisMajestyBOB]

Anyone who backs into a non-parallel parking spot is a jerk.

[Maximus]

Anyone who backs into a non-parallel parking spot is a jerk.

That is the correct way according to the driver's manual I had when I started driving. It's also usually easier to back into a space than out of it.

[jimmy olsen]

I pull forward into the spot.

[FunkMonk]

Always pull forward when I park in a normal spot. If there are two open spots opposite each other sometimes I'll park in the opposite spot so it's easier to leave.

[CountDeMoney]

Anyone who backs into a non-parallel parking spot is a jerk.

That is the correct way according to the driver's manual I had when I started driving. It's also usually easier to back into a space than out of it.

Yup.  We were taught that way in the poo-lice academy as well.
And yes, you can navigate out of a space better than hitting someone you can't see.  Nothing like watching two HisMajestyBoB morons back into each other coming out of parking spaces at the mall.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

Anyone who backs into a non-parallel parking spot is a jerk.

That is the correct way according to the driver's manual I had when I started driving. It's also usually easier to back into a space than out of it.

Yup.  We were taught that way in the poo-lice academy as well.
And yes, you can navigate out of a space better than hitting someone you can't see.  Nothing like watching two HisMajestyBoB morons back into each other coming out of parking spaces at the mall.

In southern Florida, backing in is illegal in most municipal lots.

[Ed Anger]

I park in the expectant mothers spot.

[PDH]

In southern Florida, backing in is illegal in most municipal lots.

Lots of places have that law if the herringbone parking is one-direction.  It has to do with exiting into the flow of cars...

[crazy canuck]

You *can* go the other way if your car is dinky and the space is huge.

True, but then you are not parallel parking.  You are just driving directly into the spot.

On a driver's test the applicant has to demostrate they can parallel park.  If the applicant simply drove forward into a spot because there was enough space to do that, do you think the tester would pass them?

[Caliga]

On a driver's test the applicant has to demostrate they can parallel park.

I didn't have to do this when I took my test.  Princesca did, and she failed the first time because of it.

[DGuller]

On a driver's test the applicant has to demostrate they can parallel park.

I didn't have to do this when I took my test.  Princesca did, and she failed the first time because of it.

I had to do it.  On my first try I parked about a foot from the sidewalk.  The test instructor told me to pull closer, which I tried to do, only to impressively come back to the same exact spot.  He rolled his eyes and told me to drive away.

[Grey Fox]

I didn't have to parallel park either on my exam. Only had to back in a parking spot. Haven't done it since.

[Tamas]

I did have to paralel-park on my exam but the free space was big, yet the instructor did not care. Which was fine since my teacher told me earlier that I have l33t parallel parking skillz anyway. Too bad I almost never have to parallel-park anymore so I am completely out of practice and have some problems when I actually do have to. 

Edit: and I pull forward almost all the time, unless the fit hits me to reverse into the space.