Death by Land Rover

[cartm58]

On radio news coming to work this meaning, a story about a man parking his Land Rover in a shopping centre car park, did not put on hand brake or left it in park, the car rolled forward and knocked him down hit the gutter and rolled back over him and killed it.

[ATH]

A lot of drivers don't/won't/can't use the handbrake. I know a bloke with a great Merc and you should hear the bang as he drags it out of park when parked on a slope.
"It's (the handbrake) irrelevant" he says!!!!!
A woman at work drives in with her new LC100 with all the gear, bangs it into park and walks off leaving the turbo timer running. Again no handbrake applied.
Her previous vehicle ran off without the handbrake but she hasn't learned at all from that and luckily it didn't hit anyone elses pride and joy.
Ah the joys of motoring in Perth.
Alan.

[Reads90]

I have never relied on the Land Rover hand brake. Always put it on but always leave it in gear too.

[solmanic]

That's funny, I actually park in neutral with the handbrake on so I don't inadvertently launch the car into the back wall of my garage when I try to start it next time.

I call it diesel-start-up-torque-phobia.

Oh, but I DO leave it in gear when I park on a slope (with the handbrake).

[grumpybastard]

I never use the hand brake in an auto, but i always use it in manual with it neutral

[Nat130]

If I am parking on a slope against a gutter I always turn the wheels so that if it were to roll backwards the wheels wedge into the gutter, I also leave it in gear.

[Grizzly_Adams]

Personally I always use the handbrake and leave it in park.

Also if I'm in a manual I will leave it in whichever gear is opposite of the slope I'm on (1st for flat / incline, reverse if the car is facing down a decline).

Use to drive me nuts when I was in Switzerland and took company cars out as half the people never use to leave the handbrake on, just leave the car in gear on a slope. So here I would come and dive in the car - what's the first thing I do in a manual? Yup, put my foot on the clutch - the amount of times I started rolling forward then spent the next 5 minutes swearing and cursing at these guys for not using the flaming handbrake.... :eek:

[Outlaw]

well actually should be foot on brake, then clutch :p

[hiline]

my mother inlaw hates it when i put the handbrake on in her car :angel: :angel:

she can never get it off again :D :D

[George130]

I don't put mine on unless I'm out bush or winching. Don't trust it anyway so rely on Park.

[Graeme]

well actually should be foot on brake, then clutch :p

or even 1 foot on clutch and the other foot on the brake and let engine management take care of the throttle.

[CraigE]

It is illegal to actually park any vehicle and not put the handbrake on. You can be fined and I have seen the boys in blue do it a couple of times, does not happen often but you can get caught.
I generally always use the hand brake and in gear in a manual, park in an auto. We all do forget from time to time though. Mine site habbits have probablly made it second nature, like putting on a seat belt and not talking on mobile phones while driving (even with hands free kits we must stop to talk).
JamesH, you should move the LC100 to somewhere where she is going to have a real hard time getting it back out.:twisted:

[DiscoDan]

I learnt from my first car were I parked by putting the car in to park and then applying the hand brake. The parking pawl in the auto was sheared off and the car had to be flatbeded out. (this was on my first drive with my new licence and I was all of 17)

What a lesson:(

Now I tend to apply the handbrake then let the weight of the car settle on that and then put it into park (if I remember).

I have always tended to keep the handbrake in good order since then.;)

[shorty943]

It was only trying to tap him on the shoulder, to remind him to set the parking brake. Not the poor vehicles fault.
There was a rash of accidents in carparks in Adelaide a few years ago. Due to the bad habit of automatic drivers using both feet at once. Right foot planted on the accelerator, because the left foot is planted on the brake, just in case the car gets out of control, with all the throttle needed to force the poor transmission to move the vehicle.
As for not using the parking brake on an automatic. Shame.
Ditto for shutting down the engine if the transmission (auto) is still in drive.
A friend of mine used to do that, an F100 with a dicky parking brake, and a dicky ignition switch. Standing with the drivers door open he hot wire started the V8.
The look of horror as he realised it was in reverse. It bowled him over, nearly put him under the front right wheel, and almost ran over his 8 year old son behind the F100 on his mini bike.The worst part of the whole episode?
It taught the idiot nothing. He repeated the same fool mistake a couple of weeks later with a shoddy old HQ. This time it dragged him by the leg for 10 or so metres till his jeans ripped.
Just for safety sake, my visits have been curtailed somewhat over the years.

Shorty.

[camel_landy]

We actually teach people to park using both the handbrake AND leave in gear. In extreme situations, we'll get them to rope it to a tree too... :D

There's a good reason why we do both and that is for safety incase we've filled the drum with wet clay. As that dries, it'll shrink... therefore releasing the brake!

M

[Studio54]

Instinct is to not trust a Land Rover handbrake but having said that I always put it on. Also leave it in gear. Disco three is different again, try trusting the touch of a button instead of wire that you can really rip on hard. :) ....and then stretch the cable hence the problems next time.

[GuyG]

My previous 2 door decided to go for a drive by itself, left it parked handbrake on and in low range, unfortunately it popped out of low range went across the culdesac up the footpath and into a tree, minimal damage considering what it could have taken out. I found that even with the handbrake on and in high range the old 2 doors would slowly creep down the hill - this was in a manual.