Echelon Bay Parking

ECHELON BAY PARKING

Possibly easier than 90 degree Forward or Reverse Bay Parking but it comes with its own hazards.

Echelon Bays, normally found outside Parades of shops and sometimes in business park car parks.
No matter where you find them, keep your speed slow and take your time to ensure all round safety for you and for others.

Depending on direction of travel and position of the bays it may be easier to drive in forwards or reverse in backwards.
This will be a decision made by you on a case by case basis, and largely depending on the surroundings.
If the Bay were for arguments sake say outside a Parade of shops, I would say if possible always try and reverse into one of them.
This without a doubt makes for a safer exit from them when leaving but also carries the added benefit that the vehicles engine will be warm when arriving and potentially cold when leaving.
When a car is cold it uses more fuel initially until the engine has warmed up, therefore, there will be less use of fuel having to reverse out first before moving off in the desired direction than there would be if you could just drive out straight away.

If you reverse into the bay, when you come to leave, you will only need to creep forward slightly until you have a clear line of sight up and down the road, whereas if reversing out you would have to reverse substantially further to gain the same line of sight.

If you were to reverse out of the bay, and depending on your surroundings (lets say shops again) it would be prudent to use all the available reflections around you. In the shop windows, vehicles parked opposite, house windows or wherever a reflection may allow you to spot something moving to see what is coming from either direction along the road, as you would see them in the reflections first before you would see them with your eyes looking up and down the road all the time your line of sight is reduced.