Quote:
Originally Posted by stugray
See what I mean?? They cannot make laws like that because of the wording.
"stationary for any length of time" literally means "ANY time you stop".
You dont honestly think you could ticket someone for that do you?
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I don't know the legal status and I'm not going trawling through the highway code, but I do know people have been found "partially at fault" in a multi-car shunt because they didn't have their handbrake on when stationary in a queue. It was deemed a contributing factor to them hitting the car in front when rear ended. That was the insurance companies take on it. Sounds dubious, but there you have it.
You would also fail a driving test if you sat for any length period without the handbrake on.
How long is lengthy? My instructor explained it to me as; if you are "pausing" and can see you will be moving off almost immediately, stay in gear, if the pause looks like it will become a wait, handbrake and neutral. Handbrake always when starting off on a hill.
You don't want to be pulling up to a stop, immediately handbrake/neutral only to almost as immediately put it into 1st and drop the handbrake again. It requires some sense and self determination. It's not a comedy sketch. Planning and anticipation is assessed even on a learner test.
I do want to point out that I am more than capable of doing several techniques of hill start not involving the handbrake, but as I have OCD about rolling back (or forward when reversing) and the handbrake method is the easiest, so I tend to use the handbrake method 99% of the time.
Anyway, it's another control that has many uses, to ignore it is limiting your driving skill and ability. It's there, use it when it's appropriate. Like entering a hairpin bend, brake hard, turn in, clutch down, WHACK the handbrake one sharp tug (better be ready!), while rotating: 1st, throttle, clutch... WOOOOOHOOOOO! (3 penalty points for dangerous driving but 20 points for style).