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Old vehicles can and did run out of brakes on long descents. And the
gravel pits for out of control trucks, I've not seen one since the 80s.
Teaching people to rely entirely on the brakes, well I wouldn't.

Blue Bank on the A169 Pickering-Whitby road has one
https://goo.gl/maps/CBsehEUQDcv, and almost every time I go past I see fresh
ruts in the sand as if something has used it. And it's a pretty puny hill.
Sutton Bank on the A170 Thirsk-Helmsley road has an unofficial escape route
(not signposted) as a gap in the crash barrier and a flat section on the
outside of one of the tight bends.

Steeper 1:3 hills (Rosedale Chimney near Rosedale Abbey) and the two either
side of Littlebeck (just off Blue Bank) tend not to have them, but maybe
that's because lorries don't tend to use them.