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Superstitious??
- Thread starter BigFoot
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Unfortunately I'm old enough to have driven vehicles when handbrakes were of indifferent quality. I now drive a vehicle where I don't need to worry. If I was worried about my handbrake then I would either use the kerb or the gearbox. This would depend on the hill
You must have been taught by family or a friend. No one with an official training qualification would teach you that
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Nope safe gear is classed as first or reverse, so if the handbrake cable did snap or wasn't applied enough then van ain't going nowhere as the van been in gear will hold the van,
perfect example we went on an off road driving course years ago, before we went up a muddy steep hill the instructor told us what he was going to and went through what we would need to do once we were driving, he drove up the hill fast then switched the engine, quickly put the truck into reverse and lifted his feet off the pedals, it didn't budge at all and held perfectly
The first bloke from BSM taught me it and then, when I thought they were too expensive, a different driving school said exactly the same in the first lesson.
You must have been taught different 100 years back lol
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I was taught by BSM in 1980, not told to do that by them though. Googled it and the actual advice is to use kerb and 1st / reverse gears.
I won't put my trust in a cable. Especially when I carry around a ton of equipment and water. 43 years of driving all sorts of vehicles, from light to heavy. I use the same technique whatever I'm driving. I've seen so many incidents on the news of parking breaks failing or not being applied. My dad had a Ford Corsair roll back off a ramp while he was under it in the 70s. He was lucky that a neighbour spotted the situation just as he was about to pass out as he couldn't breath, and managed to somehow to push the car back onto the ramp just enough for him to squeeze his way out. He hadn't secured the car properly.
Came close to forgetting to apply myself on a few occasions over the years. So it's the belt and braces approach for me. I do also turn the wheels towards the kerb if there's any degree of slope.
Came close to forgetting to apply myself on a few occasions over the years. So it's the belt and braces approach for me. I do also turn the wheels towards the kerb if there's any degree of slope.
Nuetral is only safe if the brake is applied properly and the system is in good order. The vehicle won't lurch if you always press the clutch before starting. In fact thinking of it : I always press and hold both clutch and footbrake when starting.
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Agree, I got my explanation wrong before, we went up the hill in 1st gear, the instructor turned the engine off via the ignition as in a Landy defender the ignition is on the left-hand side, both feet off the pedals and the motor holds,
then do a controlled decent back down the hill in reverse, handbrake applied dip the clutch put into reverse, start then engine then take handbrake off, ease up off the clutch the vehicle for a few second's at most it will feel like you are going to go flying down the hill but within seconds the engine takes over and nice slow decent down the hill, that off-road course taught me more in one day that has stuck with me more than any other driving lesson ever did
BigFoot
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I have always parked in gear and turned into the curb as I live in a very hilly area.
a while ago there was a lot of emergency service action one Sunday afternoon at the top of my village we thought it may have been a motor cross bike accident as there are occasional races on the mountain.
The most horrific news then unfolded of the death of an infant girl see article https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/07/pearl-black-toddler-dies-car-rolls-down-hill-merthyr-tydfil
a car rolled off the drive and well, see the article.
ive been very aware of potential danger since i carry a heavy load and am in my mind more cautious I even now use wheel chocks like in the photo when on hills even if it’s only for a short stop. I have forgotten and left them on the road before but always buy another as it gives me confidence and peace of mind.
i couldn’t live with myself if I was responsible for a tragedy like that.
a while ago there was a lot of emergency service action one Sunday afternoon at the top of my village we thought it may have been a motor cross bike accident as there are occasional races on the mountain.
The most horrific news then unfolded of the death of an infant girl see article https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/aug/07/pearl-black-toddler-dies-car-rolls-down-hill-merthyr-tydfil
a car rolled off the drive and well, see the article.
ive been very aware of potential danger since i carry a heavy load and am in my mind more cautious I even now use wheel chocks like in the photo when on hills even if it’s only for a short stop. I have forgotten and left them on the road before but always buy another as it gives me confidence and peace of mind.
i couldn’t live with myself if I was responsible for a tragedy like that.
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@BigFoot. Those chocks are a good idea. Where do you get them from?
A lot of modern cars don’t let you start the engine unless the clutch is depressed, so it doesn’t matter if you have forgotten you left it in gear. At the end of the day, a ‘jump’ forward and hitting someone’s bumper is incomparably better than having a runaway vehicle, as Bigfoot’s post shows.
A lot of modern cars don’t let you start the engine unless the clutch is depressed, so it doesn’t matter if you have forgotten you left it in gear. At the end of the day, a ‘jump’ forward and hitting someone’s bumper is incomparably better than having a runaway vehicle, as Bigfoot’s post shows.
Yeh the roads can be strange sometimes. Theres this road in Epping forest, looks straight or even going up hill, so that you park up, go in neutral and the car seems to roll up hill! its famous, lot of locals all know about it.
Always start a vehicle with foot on the clutch.. never forget it's in gear then.
The reason for turning wheel into the kerb is in case someone shunts you your vehicle doesn't shoot out into the road.
That is the main point of it.
Have done this for years. After parking on a steep hill at my old job it's now instinctive to park in gear.
BigFoot
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I get mine from Trego Mills it’s on my doorstep £2.99 a throw very cheap.
on eBay I’ve seen them £5-10.
Well worth it in my mind.
My wife's car, which is automatic won't start unless the lever is in park position and the brake pedal is held down. No clutch pedal of course.
Come on guys this isn't a driving school instructors forum...?
Agreed Pjj (as I posted that observation is irrelvant
Take a look and let me know if this looks like it's up or downhill??? I parked where the red car is.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.7599745,-1.5387962,3a,75y,353.8h,78.53t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shM3zAUeZPUF90VRTkj1c6g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Agreed Pjj (as I posted that observation is irrelvant
Take a look and let me know if this looks like it's up or downhill??? I parked where the red car is.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.7599745,-1.5387962,3a,75y,353.8h,78.53t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shM3zAUeZPUF90VRTkj1c6g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
As per the highway code you refer to, this advice is only found in the parking on a hill scenarios (section 252) and doesn't appear in the general parking section (259) and as is obvious from above - this is not a hill!
Perhaps some of us are working with a higher level of motoring experience than the basic highway code guidelines.
In my case: Full car licence since early 1970s, full motorcycle licence since 1996, Institute of Advanced Motoring pass Certificate (the highway code is a basic level of guidance) and full HGV licence, also from about 1996.
It doesn’t need to be a steep slope for a vehicle to roll. Parked vehicles have been hit and shunted on flat ground. Master J A made a very good point earlier in this conversation.
I'd like to think most of us have an idea what we're doing.?
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spooky old place at night, all our family are eastenders but they get well nervy away from the bright orange street lights ? different for me, was adopted out and taken to southend first and then proper countryside in deepest suffolk. I got to know theres nothing out there in the sticks and the dark to harm you, the citys where the danger is, but dont half make me laugh when my cousins used to come over and be petrified of a rabbit running through a field ?
I was in the West of Ireland years ago, when some teenage female cousins visited from Buffalo, New York. They were afraid to walk off the road into a field. I kid you not!?
Lol, was it Ali G 'What the f*** is that man?' it was a cow ?. I cant talk though, when we first lived in the sticks i was the same.
