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Drivesmart: Go first, think second

I’ve started to take my own advice and back into parking stalls more often.
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Backing into parking stalls is a good idea that most ignore. (submitted)

By Tim Schewe

I’ve started to take my own advice and back into parking stalls more often. There have been some unique experiences, mostly pedestrians that blithely march past the back of my vehicle ignoring the signal and backup lights, but there are drivers who want to go first and think second. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to include myself in that category this time around.

I pulled up far enough to line up on a parking stall on the driver’s side while signalling my intent to move left. I put the car in reverse and watched as another driver pulled up behind me and stopped. He was so close that I did not think that I could safely reverse without running into his vehicle. Why couldn’t he have stopped just a bit further back?

Wait a minute, the lane was marked with a single solid yellow line. You must always stay to the right of these lines unless you are passing an overtaken vehicle or avoiding an obstruction.

If I wanted to use that parking spot I had selected on my left I needed to have my vehicle pointed in the opposite direction and be driving on the other side of that yellow line.

Tim Schewe is a retired constable with many years of traffic law enforcement. To comment or learn more, please visit DriveSmartBC.ca