Back Up Plan

My neighbor just got a new car that has a camera on the bumper or somewhere and she can see on the dashboard what is behind her before she backs up. This sounds like a swell idea because you never know what is behind you when you back out of your garage. 

I thought I had the newest thing because my mini-van has little lights at the back window that come on when you start to back up and it will beep if you get too close to something. It beeped last winter when all that was back there were big ruts of ice in the street left over from the blizzard, so I'm not sure how much I trust it's judgement, but it is a big improvement over what I've had for years: a mirror.

I'm always very careful when I back out of my driveway. I even use the mirror AND turn and look over my shoulder. Of course when you are looking over one shoulder things sometimes are lurking over the other shoulder, like the side of the garage. The basketball pole that used to be next to our driveway is the one that took the side mirror the rest of the way off, though. Twice. Dennis had me park on the other side of the garage after that.

You would think that I'm always backing into things the way they carry on around here. That dumpster at the furniture store in St. Louis where I worked was parked crooked or the corner of it would never have come through the back window like that, leaving all those glass pieces all over the back seat and the parking lot. (I never did tell them in the store where all that glass came from, so let's just keep it between ourselves.)

Here is some free advice: If you are visiting someone and have to park on the street, don't park across from the end of somebody's driveway! It is just common sense. Sometimes people might not see your car there even if it is red. And for heaven's sake, don't park there again a few months later. You'd think people would learn after the first time.

I have this great idea that I think Detroit should look into. Swivel seats! (I haven't figured out the steering wheel and pedal part yet, but they are pretty smart there; they can come up with something)  When you are going to back up, just swivel all the way around to the back and watch out the rear window. It would also come in handy when you have to keep saying "Don't make me come back there!" to the kids.

My dad had a unique way of backing up that he taught all us girls.  It worked best if you were on a country lane or had to back up a long way and there were no other cars coming. You open the driver's door, lean way out of the car with your right hand still on the steering wheel, then you kind of hang out the door as you go and you can see a long way and have a better view of everything you are backing toward. It was especially helpful when my sister lived on a farm because it was a pretty long drive and no way to turn around until you got to her house. There was one problem, though.  Her road was not paved and sometimes after a rain it was pretty muddy. Don't do that hanging out with the door open thing if it is really muddy. It takes a long time to clean out the car and you may not have brought along a change of clothes. Or shampoo.  

I try not to back up any more than I have to.  I learned my lesson on that when I was taking my mom to the airport in Los Angeles after she came out to help when Jake was born. Josh was two and a half at the time. They had this system straight from Satan in their parking lot to keep people from getting away without paying. There were huge spikes in the pavement right at the ticket machine. When you drove forward they would bend down and they were safe to drive over, but if you backed up, BAM! they got you, right in the tires. But the ticket machine didn't give me my ticket so I backed up just a tiny bit to try again. Well, Josh got a big kick out of seeing the tow truck.

When looking for a parking place at the store I try to get a space that has no other car in front of it, then I pull straight through to the place on the other side. Occasionally it is a big surprise to the person getting ready to pull into that spot, but it makes it possible to pull right out when you leave.  No backing up. You do want to be kind of careful doing that, though because sometimes one of those big concrete curb things is between the two spaces and you may not notice it until you get the front wheels over it and the rest of the car doesn't keep coming and then you are high-centered on it and your husband or somebody has to leave work and get you off of it. 

Someday when I win the Publisher's Clearing House Sweepstakes or something, I won't even need any of that high-tech equipment like a back up camera. I'm only going to go to places that have valet parking. Let them back the car up.