Parking brake or pedal brake at a traffic light?

[mentallyillbluesman]

?

[xFetusx]

are you on a hill / slope ? if yes use parking brake... if no hold down brake peddle .. unless you have a sore foot .

[Reese]

In Europe-based trucking vlogs, I often see them using the truck parking brake at traffic lights. I'd go with that.

[pieperjohanns]

I was told to use the parking brake in German driving school, because you wouldn't always notice it immediately if your 40-ton truck started to move unintentionally.

[Kobi Blade]

For safety reasons you should use the parking brake.

[margalus]

Parking brake has its purpose in its name. It's only used when parked, not when stopped at a light.

[Don]

Parking brake has its purpose in its name. It's only used when parked, not when stopped at a light.

In UK its called a handbrake cause you use your hand to operate it and should be used in all instances when the truck is stationary its so easy for foot to ease up on foot brake and not notice you are rolling back till you hit the thing behind you

[pieperjohanns]

Originally posted by margalus:

Parking brake has its purpose in its name

Only in USA.

[CZ_bpk]

Have been driving a truck for 8 years IRL.
The parking brake is a great "tool" for holding the truck at traffic lights etc.

1. If the traffic light is uphill, the parking brake is good for holding the truck in place, and prevent it from rolling backwards when taking off again.
2. When stopped in traffic, where the stop might take a little while, it's much easier to keep the truck stationary with the parking brake, than have to sit and press the brake pedal the entire time.

So you use it all the time, not just for parking.

[metpei]

Use parking brake only at uphill start or when you need to leave your driver seat

Originally posted by pieperjohanns:

I was told to use the parking brake in German driving school, because you wouldn't always notice it immediately if your 40-ton truck started to move unintentionally.

What?! Did driver fell sleep?

[Silverbiker]

Got rear ended by an a**hole when his foot slipped off footbrake while sitting in queue at roadworks. Knocked me off my bike and the wife fell into oncoming traffic. Thank f**k for speed restriction and the oncoming driver was alert and stopped in time otherwise bybye wifey. £1500+ damage to bike, had to fork out for new helmets etc and kiss goodbye to my no claims bonus.
When I am driving I ALWAYS use handbrake when stationary (or stopped on an incline) and gearbox is in neutral as taught by my instructors when I was learning to drive and also on advanced driving course. Footbrake is only for slowing a vehicle down and bringing it to a stop.
Parking brake is a misnomer really.

[Underscore_101_3]

What xFetusx said, those are the only reasons why to use the parking brake, and parking and leaving the truck of course.
To use it at every traffic light is just ridiculous, unless it takes a long time for the lights to go green.

[margalus]

Originally posted by Don:

In UK its called a handbrake cause you use your hand to operate it and should be used in all instances when the truck is stationary its so easy for foot to ease up on foot brake and not notice you are rolling back till you hit the thing behind you

It's only a handbrake in certain small sports cars that have a hand lever. It is still an emergency/parking brake.

And if you let your foot off the brake and don't notice that you are moving you should not be driving at all, ever.

[pieperjohanns]

Originally posted by Underscore_101_3:

To use it at every traffic light is just ridiculous

Well, 20 years ago it was not ridiculous. Maybe that has changed now with automatic transmissions, auto-hold features etc.

[Underscore_101_3]

@pieperjohanns, i was taught to drive a truck 20 years ago, never ever was i taught to use the parking brake at every traffic light

[pieperjohanns]

Okay. Just like some car driving teachers tell you to shift to neutral and release the clutch at every red traffic light and some don't.