Why you should always park in gear

EricTheWeary

Slightly random story but I'm feeling the need to share...

Yesterday Eric Jr went to the local petrol station ( which is on a hill). Filled his car up then went to the cash point next to the shop door. Meanwhile, a Transit van ( I think a Transit but definitely a van) owner parks up for fuel and doesn't leave it in gear. The handbrake on the van fails and it rolls toward the shop ( remember that the petrol station is on a hill). My son is oblivious to someone screaming 'Van!!!' and the Transit rolls into him. He is pinned in the alcove that the cash point is in whilst the van takes out brickwork from around it. 
He can't get out until the van is moved, completely trapped in a tiny alcove - the van is touching him although not actually squashing anything. Probably wasn't there for a very long time although I guess it must have seemed to last a while at the time. Emergency services are called: the paramedics check him over and say he's fine but a lucky escape, police interview the van driver, fire services check the petrol station won't blow up. 

Very narrow miss and always park with your vehicle in gear. 

ToneControl

my mate took his transit for its MOT

the MOT people parked it (not in gear) on their sloping drive, which faces a long drop down to a flood plain

the transit bounced and rolled over all the way down to the river a hundred yards away, they had to pay my mate compensation

ThePrettyDamned

Wow. Food for though - not many hills here, and I rarely park in gear, but perhaps I should just in case...

Glad Eric Jr is okay! 

blobb

Always done this. Didn't stop my Dad's car rolling backwards down our drive which was quite steep. My mate happened to be walking past at the time and put his body behind it before it could roll into the house across the road. Looked out of the window to see what the shouting was about and there he was spread eagle across the back of the car shouting "your car is rolling off the drive...!!" in a sort of strained Alan Partridge way (think 'foot on a spiiike')

ok - bit of fun but, as above, you can see how it can soon turn into something more serious. Just be aware that a) most handbrakes are sh*t and b) if it's steep enough, even 2nd gear wont stop it turning over the engine. Couple of bricks as chocks from then on.

Glad you're all ok

munckee

A colleague had a honda civic with electronic parking brake, an annoyed neighbour banged on his door one morning to find out why he had parked on his driveway, the brake had failed it rolled across the road and came to a stop causing no damage like it had been neatly parked.

dazzajl

Wow!! Glad that worked out as it did. 

Ive always done this. Lots of people don’t and have got a great shock when going to drive my car. Possibly because I’ve always done this, I always start a car with the clutch down too. 

EricTheWeary

My son seems okay, really just inches away from having something hurt if not broken ( 3.5 tonnes even moving slowly would do some harm). I think he's slightly miffed that Shell didn't let him have his petrol for free after all that. 

My father taught me to leave the car in gear, I know it's not something my kids were taught in their lessons and I've had to tell them to do it. The old chap who lived opposite us had his car roll down the street once because the handbrake gave way, must have gone 50 yards ( we live in a fairly hilly area) and it just settled against the kerb. Very lucky there was nothing else parked in the way. 

57Deluxe

I always do this and it prevents the funny fuckers who think it funny to try and lift your front wheel drive car at the rear and shuffle it forward.

ALSO - when parking on a hill - remember to turn your front wheels into the kerb should you have catastrophic failure due to No Deal.

digitalscream

ToneControl said:

my mate took his transit for its MOT

the MOT people parked it (not in gear) on their sloping drive, which faces a long drop down to a flood plain

the transit bounced and rolled over all the way down to the river a hundred yards away, they had to pay my mate compensation

I presume it failed the MOT, then?

EricTheWeary

57Deluxe said:

I always do this and it prevents the funny fuckers who think it funny to try and lift your front wheel drive car at the rear and shuffle it forward.

ALSO - when parking on a hill - remember to turn your front wheels into the kerb should you have catastrophic failure due to No Deal.

I have this memory of  when we were in San Francisco that my father pointed out how the cars on the hills where all parked with their wheels at an angle into the kerb. Endless fun going on holiday with my father. 

RaymondLin

I park it in P....it's an auto.  Then pull the handbrake.

ICBM

blobb said:

Always done this. Didn't stop my Dad's car rolling backwards down our drive which was quite steep. My mate happened to be walking past at the time and put his body behind it before it could roll into the house across the road. Looked out of the window to see what the shouting was about and there he was spread eagle across the back of the car shouting "your car is rolling off the drive...!!" in a sort of strained Alan Partridge way (think 'foot on a spiiike')

ok - bit of fun but, as above, you can see how it can soon turn into something more serious. Just be aware that a) most handbrakes are sh*t and b) if it's steep enough, even 2nd gear wont stop it turning over the engine. Couple of bricks as chocks from then on.

Why would you leave it in 2nd? Always 1st, or reverse if the car is facing downhill. The point is to make it as difficult as possible for the wheels to turn the engine against the cylinder compression.

It can save someone's life, as well as the car from being damaged. I've been going on about this for years and it's usually met with derision, a shrug or "if you don't check it's out of gear the car will jump forward when you start it" - which is trying to make a right out of two wrongs.

I was lucky, my driving instructor was very old-school and drummed it into me that 1 - you never leave a car parked out of gear, and 2 - you never start the engine without checking it *is* out of gear. In my opinion it should be part of the standard teaching and both should be an immediate test fail if you don't.

not_the_dj

Glad Eric Jnr is OK. 

roundthebend

I bought a banger in October last year for commuting to a new job. Inspired by having an old van with a dodgy handbrake I've been leaving it parked in gear, and without the handbrake on, since then.

Anybody who gets in the car with me comments on it - "you forgot to put the handbrake on...."

My wife hates it, thinks it's dangerous. I've tried explaining the mechanics but it doesn't work.

ICBM

roundthebend said:

I bought a banger in October last year for commuting to a new job. Inspired by having an old van with a dodgy handbrake I've been leaving it parked in gear, and without the handbrake on, since then.

Anybody who gets in the car with me comments on it - "you forgot to put the handbrake on...."

My wife hates it, thinks it's dangerous. I've tried explaining the mechanics but it doesn't work.

Why would you deliberately leave the handbrake off?

The whole point of why it's safer to leave the car in gear is because you're not relying on a single mechanism to stop the car moving.

Danny1969

The trouble with older Transit handbrakes, with drums on the rear is the automatic adjusters corrode and no longer self adjust meaning the handbrake stops pulling the shoes against the drum.  Also on long wheel base models the cable can be in as much as 5 different sections (mine is) which is 5 points of failure. 

A van should always be left in first gear on a hill because gravity and a leaden 3.5 tons on a steep hill might be enough to spin the engine in a higher gear

BenSirAmos

Except if you leave a diesel in first gear facing down a hill, it could bump start the engine if the handbrake fails.

Jonathangus

ICBM said:

roundthebend said:

I bought a banger in October last year for commuting to a new job. Inspired by having an old van with a dodgy handbrake I've been leaving it parked in gear, and without the handbrake on, since then.

Anybody who gets in the car with me comments on it - "you forgot to put the handbrake on...."

My wife hates it, thinks it's dangerous. I've tried explaining the mechanics but it doesn't work.

Why would you deliberately leave the handbrake off?

The whole point of why it's safer to leave the car in gear is because you're not relying on a single mechanism to stop the car moving.

Highway Code rule 239: you MUST apply the handbrake before leaving the vehicle

It's the law.

ICBM

BenSirAmos said:

Except if you leave a diesel in first gear facing down a hill, it could bump start the engine if the handbrake fails.

You should leave it in reverse if it's facing downhill.

KKJale

I once forgot to leave my bike in gear...  

Moto-camping in France, bike laden with panniers, got to a campsite late and tired, and failed to notice I'd pulled in facing slightly downhill. The bike eased forward, levered itself up on the side-stand and crashed over on its right hand side... uurgh, the horrible sound. 

Danny1969

BenSirAmos said:

Except if you leave a diesel in first gear facing down a hill, it could bump start the engine if the handbrake fails.

The engine won't start with no ignition