Head Out Angled Parking

There are many kinds of parking, and each provide unique benefits when applied. One of the lesser know types of parking is Head-Out or Reverse Angle Parking.

In 2011, I had the opportunity to work with my good friend and mentor Dan Burden and his team at Walkable and Livable Communities to produce an educational video on this type of parking. Thousands of views later, I still refer back to this video.

Over 5 years later, I have had the opportunity to implement Head Out Angled Parking into several projects. In every case, I received the initial response “No one will ever use that,” or “People can barely parallel park, so I do not know how you think someone will be able to do this.”

Project was completed outside my office window, so I saw this all first hand. For 6 months, the contractor did not post the parking signs or stripe the lines. Yes, this was a complete mess because cars parked perpendicular to the curb, parallel, and angles I never thought possible to achieve in a car.

After a month with no striping, head in angle parking prevailed. During a 5 month period, there were several accidents from cars backing out into traffic. I had a very patient team in the City that just held their breath until the day the striping was installed.

The contractor striped the head out stall angles late one afternoon. Within 24 hours, cars followed the lines and backed into the angled spaces. The first weekend, there was a large event at an adjacent church which was the first big test of guests from around the region. They too figured it out without any issues.

I do encourage sharing this video if you want to try this parking in your community. I would also be happy to provide any testaments to it’s benefits for the skeptics in your community.