# It’s experiences like this that make me hate driving **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 4, 2010, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-s-experiences-like-this-that-make-me-hate-driving/556040 "2010-10-04T19:50:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-s-experiences-like-this-that-make-me-hate-driving/556040/21 "2010-10-05T14:54:29Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > > [@otternell](#): > > > > Unless its a stick shift, (which would be a possible problem for a non-driver) why the hell was the parking brake engaged? (ok I suppose if you are parked on a steep hill, it might make sense.) > > > > Sounds like another case of “volunteer’s lament”! > > I know someone very close to me who ALWAYS engages the parking brake, even when parked on a flat surface. I don’t get it. Well, for one thing, the parking brake mechanism adjusts the rear brakes on most vehicles. If you don’t use the parking brake, the rear brakes wear and get out of adjustment, and then some slippery evening you find yourself going around in circles when you stomp on the brakes. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-s-experiences-like-this-that-make-me-hate-driving/556040/22 "2010-10-05T15:19:50Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > Tire pressures. Don’t forget to check tire pressures on all tires and the spare before you drive someone’s car three miles. > … and make sure that little pine tree is new. ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-s-experiences-like-this-that-make-me-hate-driving/556040/23 "2010-10-05T16:40:06Z")
> [@otternell](#): > > > [@Anaamika](#): > > > > I know someone very close to me who ALWAYS engages the parking brake, even when parked on a flat surface. I don’t get it. > > Makes no sense to me, but whatever floats your (their) boat! Habit. I drive an automatic transmission car here in the US, but learnt to drive in England on stick shift car. When driving a stick shift, the parking brake had to be engaged when you park. Since that’s how I learnt, that’s what I do, even now. It feels weird to me to not have my parking brake engaged when my car’s parked. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-s-experiences-like-this-that-make-me-hate-driving/556040/24 "2010-10-05T17:18:34Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > > [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > > > You have a fuel door, lift gate, and the engine compartment. They should all be marked in English. > > On what planet? Every car I know of has these these things marked in hieroglyphics, not English. Actually, my parents’ Lincoln Town Cars don’t have the fuel door button labeled. At all. Seriously. It’s just a gray button like every other gray button in the car. So I wouldn’t assume anything in a car is labeled unless I saw it myself. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-s-experiences-like-this-that-make-me-hate-driving/556040/25 "2010-10-06T13:54:47Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > > [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > > > On what planet? Every car I know of has these these things marked in hieroglyphics, not English. > > Actually, my parents’ Lincoln Town Cars don’t have the fuel door button labeled. At all. Seriously. It’s just a gray button like every other gray button in the car. So I wouldn’t assume anything in a car is labeled unless I saw it myself. There was another button there I didn’t recognize. It was red, had red and yellow stripes around it, and had a big red arrow pointing up on it. It was the next one I was going to try. (Small hijack: Do they make stick shift minivans?) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-s-experiences-like-this-that-make-me-hate-driving/556040/26 "2010-10-06T16:18:29Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > There was another button there I didn’t recognize. It was red, had red and yellow stripes around it, and had a big red arrow pointing up on it. It was the next one I was going to try. That’s the Eject button. You would have gone flying through the roof. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-s-experiences-like-this-that-make-me-hate-driving/556040.md?page=1)