Fronters and backers

Some of the most frustrating hours of our lives might be spent in a vehicle. After some hard times on the road, nothing can feel better than the perfect parking spot at the place you need to be. But how will you pull in? Texas Standard commentator WF Strong has some thoughts. The full transcript […]

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Are you a fronter or a backer?
Do you pull into a parking space
frontwards or do you back
in?
If I were to drive by your home and
look in your driveway, would I
be greeted by headlights
or tail lights?
I went down to my local H-e-b and
Wal-Mart stores to see what
percentage of people are front

(00:20):
doors and what percentage are
backers using
the new math, I learned by helping
my daughter with her homework.
I came up with some ridiculous
ratios and so I had to resort
to the old math where my
conclusions are reached by
eyeballing and guesstimating.
Seems to me that about 30%

(00:41):
of people back into parking
spaces and if you restrict
the survey pool to just pickup
trucks, it is closer
to 50-50.
Half for fronters have for
backers.
Ask a few backers why they preferred
that method of parking.
A small woman driving a large
extended cab pickup said

(01:03):
it's safer.
I get the lay of the land when I
come into the parking lot and pick
an area where there's nobody
walking and nobody driving.
I'm back right in.
When I want to leave.
I can also see the cross traffic
and pedestrians more clearly.
It's safer.
Safer for me, Safer for everybody.

(01:23):
She also said that with a longer
pickup truck, she can back in in one
try, whereas if she heads
in, she has to make several
adjustments to straighten up and
get between the lines.
I ask a big bearded man who is
driving an oilfield services pickup
why he backed in and he said,
Who wants to know?

(01:44):
He regarded me with suspicion as if
I had an offshore logo
on my shirt somewhere.
I said, I'm a backer myself.
I'm just curious as to why other
people choose to back into spaces.
He said, I don't have time for this.
I got to go.
But there's your answer.
I'm in the Gottago business.
It's faster.

(02:05):
He shut the door and put the already
running diesel engine in gear
and sped away.
It reminded me of my brother
Redneck Dave, who was a lifelong
backer.
Every night he'd not only back
his truck into his driveway, but
he'd make sure to top off the gas,
too. He'd say, I might have to
be 300 miles from here by morning.
I don't have to stop for anything.

(02:27):
I said, Sounds a bit paranoid.
He said, No.
If you wait till you're paranoid,
it's too late.
Talk to a guy driving a plumber's
truck and he said, I back in because
I carry tools and parts in the bed
of my truck.
Can't see where the dam passed all
that when I have to back into people
in traffic, He added.
But if you can find a space, you can
pull through.

(02:48):
That's the Holy Grail right there.
A lady in a BMW backed
in when she could have pulled in
front words in less time, it seemed
to me.
Said she liked using the driving
assist.
That practically does it for you.
That technology is coming to all
vehicles in the near future.
It saddens me.
The kids today will never know the

(03:09):
joy of mastering the
intuitive physics required
to parallel park on the first try.
I know some people are annoyed at us
backers thinking we are being
obnoxious contrarians, but
for most of us it comes down to
feeling that it is safer, more
efficient and faster.
The bigger the pickup, the greater
the truth in all of these.

(03:31):
I'm WF Strong.
These are stories from Texas.
Some of them are
true.