"The Natural Philosopher" wrote in message
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On 24/01/2020 11:18, NY wrote:
Sadly, more and more drivers use their footbrake all the time that they
are stopped - do they even know where the handbrake is? I suspect the
worst culprits are those with automatic transmission who stay in Drive
with the footbrake on to prevent them creeping forwards, rather than
knocking it into neutral until they are about to set off again.

The use of the handbrake is mandatory in a clutched car.

Nope.

Your left foot has to be on the clutch and the right on the accelerator.

Only when you are actually driving off. Except on a decent slope
there is no need to use the handbrake between having your foot
on the brake and moving it to the accelerator when driving off.

In the case of an automatioc its almost the exact opposite. You have to
learn to left foot brake to control the car in the same way you can a
clutched car: that is, fixed accelerator and then control uptake on the
left foot by releasing the brake insietd of the clutch.

The alternative is to disengage drive when stopped at the lights.

My current car has an electric motorised handbrake. It's called a 'parking
brake' and thats ALL it is designed for, and its riddy awkward to iuse in
a traffic queue on a slope as it takes an appreciable time to disengage