Driverless car rolls from car park into wall

This was the headline of a ‘news in brief” account I read recently in my local paper.  It concerned a VW Golf, without a driver, which moved out of the car park and crashed into the wall of a convent nearby.  The report stated a faulty handbrake was suspected and went on to report that it was the third time in a year that a car had damaged walls at the convent in this way.

Recent discussions with drivers has revealed to me that many people believe you should not leave your car in gear when parked, citing the reason for this belief being that their driving instructor always told them to leave the gear lever in neutral.  This highlights a lack of understanding behind the reason for the driving test safety check before switching on the engine, ie check handbrake is on first, then check the gear is in neutral: because there is a very sound safety reason why the car may have been left parked in gear, which is that if the handbrake fails, the car will be held by the gear-box now acting as a second brake.  All drivers are aware of the use of gears as a way of slowing the car down, (although this is not the principal method taught today), of braking in fact, but it appears many have not related this fact to when the vehicle is left in a parked position.

The advice should be:

Leave your car with the handbrake on and in gear whenever you are parked in a position, such as a car park, even with a slight slope, where a faulty handbrake could cause the vehicle to roll off and cause damage, even injury!

Leave you car in gear, but with the handbrake off:

• when leaving the vehicle for an extended period of time, eg when going on holiday
• when parked outside overnight during icy conditions

The reason for the above is that the handbrake, which operates on the rear wheels only, can seize up, thereby preventing you from moving the vehicle.

Far from being bad practice, leaving your car parked in gear is a wise safety precaution.  Just remember the important safety checks you were taught before starting the engine: check first that the handbrake is on and then that the gear lever is in neutral.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 am and is filed under novice drivers, Learner drivers, Tips, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.