Matthew S. Whiting said:
I don't think 89 Voyager's have a hand brake. Yes, a hand actuated
break is quite different from a typical American style parking break.
When I had cars with a hand brake, I used it on hills when I had a
standard transmission, but never felt the need with an automatic. Since
the OP mentioned an automatic in a vehicle with a foot actuated parking
brake, I answered in that context.
Re. the difference between a US parking and UK handbrake, while the
positioning and modus operandii may be different, the brake works in
essentially the same way.. the only reason that the parking brake was/is
foot operated is because of the bench seat configuration that did not allow
for the placement of a centre mounted 'easy to get at'
hand/parking/emergency brake.. the Brit answer for the bench seat
configuration was the 'Shooting Brake', a manually operated handle and
trigger system in roughly the same position as the north american foot
operated parking/emergency brake.. a piece of trivia for you.. Brit Station
Wagons, known as Estates there (but known as Touring in Euro) were often
referred to a Shooting Brakes partly because of the type of handbrake used,
and also because they were favored by the 'country set/shooting/hunting'
cliques..
In the manual for my Grand Cherokee, it states that when parking, the
transmission should be placed in the 'park' position AND the manual brake
applied.. the park position is not an alternative to the parking brake and
should not be treated in that way.. but most of us are lazy, and the foot
operated parking brakes are awkward at best.. in our old S10, I sometimes
left it with the parking brake applied, and when my wife gotten into it, she
would 'pop' the hood.. the parking brake release was just above the hood
release and looked similar.. placement like that does not encourage use of
the manual brake regardless of what it is called across the world..
I lived an drove in the UK for several months and this recommendation
doesn't surprise me!
Accepting the smiley, Brits emigrating to Canada do not have to be retested
if they hold a UK driving licence.. partly due to the colonial links maybe,
but also because the UK test is tougher than most.. I am not suggesting that
they are all necessarily better drivers, but they do not have the excuse
that they were not well informed prior to being allowed to drive.. lol..
However, the stated premise is bogus. Most hand brakes only operate on
the rear wheels. Most cars have most of their weight on the front
wheels. Holding the foot brake provides probably 3X as much resistance
to motion as does the hand brake. So, if preventing the car from being
pushed into an intersection is the goal, then holding the foot brake
firmly is much more effective, and can be released more quickly if the
driver needs to move quickly to avoid being rear-ended or some such.
Hand brakes operate on rear wheels because it was thought to be more
effective to have the driving axle braked, and also because it was easier to
route a linkage to the fixed axle at the back, regardless of weight
distribution.. some Italian cars have had front wheel parking brakes, Alfa
Romeo for example, but they are not the norm..
Holding the foot brake down is obviously more effective than the pressure
that can be applied by any manual braking system, but this assumes that
pressure is still being exerted.. in the event of being rear ended, the
shock could momentarily cause you to release pressure.. the idea of moving
forwards quickly to avoid a rear hit is ok as long as nobody is in front of
you.. a car, truck or rig would be bad enough, but a mother and two kids
crossing at the lights would be much worse.. that is not to say that a
handbraked car would not move forwards, but it would not move anything like
as far or fast as a car in 'drive' and no brakes being applied in the split
second after the impact..
Matt, I am not attempting to 'troll' here.. for the most part, I have the
same bad habits as everybody else.. unfortunately, that does not vindicate
us in a court when charged with involuntary manslaughter.. the argument that
we were saving the transmission or the manual brake was just too difficult
to get at, and in any case, eating a burger and holding a Coke while talking
on the cellphone was as much as could be coped with at the time of being
rear ended by someone doing the same plus looking at a map precariously
balanced on the steering wheel.. I have seen Brits doing just that.. lol..
My grandfather once said that sometimes pedestrians were not always easy to
see, and that it was their duty to get out of the way.. I asked him for an
instance and he came back with a dirty windshield scenario.. when I
suggested that maybe he owed it to other road users to keep his windshield
clean, he looked at me quizically.. lol..
Stay safe, Matt.. and I propose a toast.. let us hope that our laziness and
bad habits only become a problem when there is nobody around to hit..
Salut..
