The same reason parallel parking is done backing in.
Comment on Neighbour deliberately blocking OP
Forfaden@lemmy.world 10 months agoI thought trucks were backed in for the hitch to not stick out. Why would backing the truck in help? Just so the driver could see wtf they were doing?
Bluescluestoothpaste@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
intensely_human@lemm.ee 10 months ago
If you back up with your front wheels turned all the way to the side, the back corner of your car barely moves. Mostly of the movement is your front end swinging to the side.
This can be useful when you need to make a sharp turn. It allows the back corner of your vehicle to make a very tight turn around the opening of the parking space.
Basically going forward, to turn the vehicle 90 degrees might take say 30 feet of forward motion. Going backward, it might only take 3 feet of “forward” motion to turn the car 90 degrees.
Much tighter turning radius for the end of the car opposite the turning wheels.
This is why a forklift’s steering control works by turning the back wheels not the front wheels. Allows that forklift to rotate around the front, without the front moving at all.
Forklifts have a more extreme version of this design since you can turn those wheels full sideways (and even a little backwards if you want), but the same principle operates in any vehicle with one set of turning wheels.
SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 10 months ago
So I’ve driven fire trucks and similar. If I’m trying to get the truck in a driveway and have two lanes to work with I can go nose first. I go into the lane opposite of the target driveway to swing the front end into the driveway.
If it’s a tiny road or only one lane I have to back in. I approach by getting as close to the target drive as possible and then swing the nose away from that side of the road, lining up at a better angle when I start backing.
My point is you can get into a lot tighter of spaces backing in. There’s a reason why forklifts steer from the back.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 10 months ago
In tight fits you are much more able to park straight than if you parked nose in.more space for the front end to angle and get the back end where needs to be as well as space to move the front end back and forth to straighten out.
Nose forward you are pretty limited in sideways movement and need to do like 18 tiny 3-point turns to try and get it lined up good.