When Cath Jump got a parking infringement notice the week she started her new job in the Tauranga CBD, she thought, 'B******d!”

Fined $40 for backing into an angled park on The Strand. Ouch! Think about what that $40 could have bought.

'Yes,” says culpable Cath. 'I parked that way so it would be easier and safer for me to drive out. It seemed logical.”

But logic and the law are sometimes strange bed fellows.

'It saved me making a three-point turn while exiting. It saved me scraping the lowered front bumper on the curb as I have a habit of doing. And I could see where I was going.”

She reasoned it, but Cath's logic and her wallet both took a hit that day.

'You can only park a vehicle in the direction of the traffic flow” is the prescription from Stuart Goodman, Tauranga City Council's team leader for bylaws and parking.

It's not what he says, it's what the statute says. Land Transport (Road User) Rule 6.13 (1): 'If the controlling authority (that's the council) has indicated vehicles may be parked only at an angle to the direction of the roadway, a driver must not stand or park a vehicle otherwise than in accordance with the direction indicated.”

And that, says Stuart, means driving forwards into the angle park with the car facing generally in the direction the traffic is flowing.

'It's safer to drive in forwards. It would be a difficult and dangerous manoeuvre to stop and back into oncoming traffic to angle park. That is a big no-no.”

So it's not the fact the car is parked backwards, it's how the car got there that is the problem and the danger. 'On the balance of things, I think more people are confident going forward into carparks,” says Stuart.

But it could simply be an issue of age.

The council's transportation manager, Martin Parkes, says historically, the decision to install angle parking in the current manner is a demographic one.

'The ageing population felt more comfortable driving straight into angle parks and less comfortable stopping traffic and reversing into parks.”

But they will still stop traffic when they reverse out. This is a minefield.

Regardless Cath's argument is not getting much sympathy and traction here, but she would be at the vanguard of change in the United States. From San Francisco to Salt Lake City, from Portland to Pottstown and New York to Washington, there are adherents of Cath's logic, embracing something called 'reverse angle parking”.

'It's as easy as one, two, three,” says the propaganda. Signal to warn other drivers, pull past the parking spot and stop, reverse straight into the angle park. Quick, easy, safe.

But is it? Because either way there is a tricky backing manoeuvre – into the angle park or out of it.

Of course, the American faithful have the answers.

'It is always better to reverse into the known,” they say. That is you are able to see the space you are backing into. With regular diagonal parking, such as here in Tauranga, you have to back out into the unknown due to the obstruction of vision.

But when you're reversing blindly out of an angle park on Devonport Road you can't see anything until the back of your car is right out in the carriageway.

'That's when courtesy kicks in,” says Stuart. He advocates restraint, patience and understanding until the manoeuvre is executed.

Disciples of reverse angle parking argue other benefits.

An increased field of vision when leaving a park – motorists can see on-coming traffic.

Fewer accidents – a recent study in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, found a 25 per cent reduction in the number of accidents.

Safety – when a car is backed into an angle park its doors open towards the safety zone of the curb rather than the danger zone of the road. With doors as a barrier children and pets will take the path of least resistance to the footpath.

And finally ease – any angle park is much easier than a parallel park.

But for every benefit there has to be a potential downside. The rear of vehicles over-hanging sidewalks, vehicles backing into street furniture and curb-side restaurant tables, exhaust fumes wafting over sidewalks and congestion – backing in may cause delays on busy thoroughfares.

It's an interesting discussion and one Stuart was happy to have. But at this point it's nothing more than a discussion. Because to embrace reverse angle parking our 45-degree parks would have to be reconfigured to face down traffic, the other way. There would also have to be a significant attitude shift and some serious driver re-education.

There is a further argument for reverse angle parking. Proponents say reverse angle parking doesn't require as much space to manoeuvre. As a result, more parking spaces. And we haven't figured why just yet.

Meanwhile Stuart and his wardens, such as Neil (pictured), say it's an opportunity to educate rather than prosecute.

'If a driver of an illegally parked car turns up while we are there we will chat to them and ask them to move on without an infringement notice.”

But Stuart doesn't make the rules, his speciality is enforcement.

'My advice – just don't it,” he says in his highly polished, consumer service support style.