Quote: "I almost never use the parking break except when using a jack. But 99%of the time I'm parked on level ground, id probably use it more of we had more inclines. I know i should use it anyways but i feel like it doesn't matter so i don't bother."
??! The first thing you do when you pull should be putting on the handbrake! That's what it's there for!
Quote: "We also got high occupancy vehicle lanes in some places which requires at least two people in the car to use. They are meant to encourage car pooling"
We have those. Their called Transit Lanes in Australia and can require different numbers of people in the car.
Quote: "We have transit lanes in Aus which require you to have a certain number of passengers (normally 2+ or 3+)."
This ^
Quote: "Really? Wow, I always use the handbrake, as well as put the car in gear."
Yeah me too! Absolutely never leave the car without the handbrake on
In fact you'll fail your P test if you don't put the handbrake on when you're asked to secure the vehicle!
Quote: "Haha yeah, we also have those buttons, coupled with walk/stop signals."
Any idea what the button is called? They seem to have no real name. I commented on all the interesting facts from this thread to him and he had no idea what we call it other than "the button"
Quote: "I absolutely hate driving through green lights and having them turn yellow; so hard to decide if I want to gun it or if I want to make a hard stop. If I am approaching a light that may soon turn yellow, I check in my rear mirror to see if anyone is close behind. If there is nobody close behind and the light turns yellow, I will generally stop. Otherwise, I will generally go."
Oh yes, me too! It forces a certain level of decisiveness... which I lack. While we live out in the sticks and don't see any traffic lights unless we drive for two hours to Armidale, the many trips there combined with a couple of trips to Brisbane has resulted in more than a few hesitations coming up lights that have just turned yellow. Like you, I'll keep an eye on the rear-vision mirror and if anyone's behind, will usually power through the lights. If there's no one close behind I'm happier to do a hard stop.
Quote: "I have a question: How fast do people drive over the speed limit in other countries?"
lol I like that question! Depends on the state in Australia. In NSW, we tend to stick fairly accurately to the limit... usually about 2-3 km/h over. In Queensland you'll frequently see drivers overtaking you because you're going less than 8 km/h over the limit
Quote: "That can put plenty of stress on the transmission if your handbrake is not on, and possibly even break the parking pawl, which is the small piece of metal inside of the transmission that locks the drive train when in park. Having broken bits hanging out inside of your transmission does bad things."
I consider myself pretty well-versed in the mechanics of cars, but for some reason I'd never heard of the parking pawl. When I mentioned it to Dad, however, he finished the sentence for me, so he clearly has more knowledge of automatic transmissions than I. And he agreed that pushing a car with it in Park and the handbrake off will destroy your parking pawl.
Gotta go now - about to watch a hopefully-good sci-fi movie! Don't know the name, Dad never reveals it until we watch it
