Bringing up parking in Texas is surefire way to start a heated debate. But backing into a parking spot? That’s a serious point of ire among locals and visitors alike, and it has some people wondering: What are the Texas laws around reversing into a parking spot? Turns out, there really aren’t many laws, and it boils down to private parking lot owners.
San Antonio can be split into two types of drivers – those who about always reverse into a parking spot and those who dare never. And the difference continues to spark a heated rivalry.
“Why do so many people in San Antonio insist on backing into a parking spot?” one Redditor asked, igniting dozens of opinions on why it’s so common.
The biggest guess as to why so many Alamo City drivers prefer a back in centers on the vast number of military veterans, active members and former telecommunications employees who are required to back their commercial trucks in.
Whether you can back into a parking spot or must bull into it headlights first is mostly left to the owners of private parking lots. There are lots around San Antonio with signs directing drivers they can either only reverse in or only pull in head-first into a spot.
Really, private lot owners have the ability to two vehicles in violation of their parking lot policies. But there are examples where a ticket could end up on your windshield.
The City of San Antonio owns and maintains Avenue B, which runs parallel to the west side of Broadway behind the shops. Here, you’ll find signs warning you can either pull in or back in, largely because it’s a narrow road with angled spots. Ignoring these parking signs could certainly land you a ticket.
Often, prohibiting backing into a spot is done to avoid unsafe maneuvers being done for the sake of convenience for that single driver. When going against the flow of traffic near blind corners in a parking garage or on narrow streets where reversing can become dangerous for other drivers or pedestrians on foot or pedal, private lot owners may avoid the risk by banning reversing into a spot.
Texas law says very little about backing into parking spaces, other than one bit of Texas Transportation Code which says a vehicle can’t be backed up in a way that is unsafe or interferes with other traffic. It also says something a bit more obvious. Don’t shift into reverse on a highway or in the shoulder of a highway.