Poll to follow.
I always set the parking brake. Taught to do so when I learned to drive. With a manual, also park in gear, turn wheel to the curb on hills.
Also, the delivery companies I drove for ,this was company policy. Lord help the driver who had a roll-away accident.
If I’m parking on a flat surface, I don’t set the park brake. If there’s any grade at all, I do. This isn’t one of the poll options, so I didn’t vote.
If I don’t set the parking brake, I know I must have really been in a hurry to get inside to pee. It’s as much second nature as buckling my seat belt is when I get in.
Depends. If I’m on a flat street or parking lot, no. If I’m parked on a hill, yes.
I always set it. It’s a habit.
I only use the parking brake if I’m on a steepish hill. In a manual, I use the brake all the time, but only leave it in gear if it’s on a steepish hill. My husband does the leaving-it-in-gear thing and when I drive his car I hate the jump it does when I forget to put it in neutral before starting it.
I always set the brake. For one thing, I don’t want the weight of the car resting on the transmission. For another, that’s what it’s for. The only time I don’t is if I drive somebody else’s car and I know they don’t, because I don’t want them driving around with the brake engaged if they don’t notice.
I use Park and the brake because my car has a manual trans, so the OP situation would arise when I’m driving a borrowed or rental car. With my car I always use the parking brake, so I use it in other cars without even thinking about it.
I never set the parking brake. I did on my drivers test and that was the last time. The car I learned to drive on did not have a functioning brake (my mom once drove to the store and back with the brake engaged the whole time and never noticed) so it was ignored and I never got into the habit. I never park on hills and most of the lots around here are extremely flat.
Well my driving/parking habits do not include setting the parking brake, unless the specific circumstances call for it (parking on an incline).
I set the parking brake. All the time. No matter what type of transmission the car has. No matter what the terrain is. No exceptions.
In my standard transmission, yes, always. In my automatic, only if I’m on a really steep hill. Otherwise, pretty much never.
I generally don’t set the parking brake.
But I used to live in a house that was on a hill and the street where I parked had a significant incline. I always set the brake when I lived there.
I always set the parking brake, because that is what it is used for, even though I almost always park on level ground; not setting it is a good way to have an accident when you do park on a hill but forget to set it (if on a street, you should also turn the wheels in the proper direction so the car rolls off the road if the brake for some reason fails).
After my mother’s car rolled off her drive and through the neighbor’s field I learned. Fortunately she was the one who forgot the brake. Now I always set the brake and put the vehicle in park.
I drive manuals, but I learned on (and have owned) automatics. My old neighborhood was hilly, the place I live in now is hilly, but I have lived and parked in many a flat place.
I have never, ever, EVER considered not using the parking brake. The idea of using my transmission as a brake – of using a thing designed to move the car to prevent the car from moving – is only conceivable to me as another example of the “contempt for safety” attitude that afflicts people who refuse to wear seatbelts or helmets, won’t tie off when climbing, or remove the shields from their power tools.
Not to mention that I was taught when very young that relying on the parking pawl was a good way to fuck up the transmission. Hell, I got a lecture for setting the gear before the brake. Ever since then, I have set the brake, released the foot brake, then set the gear, always passing through neutral to let the weight settle on the brake.
I never use the parking brake. I think I had to do it once in driver’s ed. It is really flat here though
I live at sea level in Florida and just about everywhere I park is pretty flat and level, so I rarely use a parking brake. However, when I am parked on an incline, I will make use of the parking brake.
I’ve never in 17 years of driving used the parking brake on my automatic cars. I’ve never lived on a hill, tho.
I nearly did some damage to a rental car one time in San Francisco after getting it back from a valet and tried to take off with the parking brake on.