People who sit on their brake lights give me the rage

[Tusktusk]

When I’m stuck in a traffic jam and it’s dark, I inevitably end up behind a huge car with super bright brake lights and the driver just sits there for the whole wait time - a good 15 minutes tonight as I was caught up in traffic leaving a big football match - with their foot on the brake, half blinding me with their brake lights!

It seems most people do this now and most modern cars have these super bright in your face brake lights - especially big family 4x4 type of cars. I find it really inconsiderate. Why don’t people use the handbrake in these situations? It’s so much nicer to take all your feet off the pedals and relax while you wait. Plus you won’t be blinding the poor soul sitting behind you!

Is it just me?

I worked in a garage for a number of years and the proportion of auto cars that failed the mot due to park brake not operating was unreal as they never got used.

My park brake gets used plenty often - every time I park for example. But if you are in a trickling traffic jam on the way to temporary lights (a situation I'm often in on my commute) then I'd be going in and out of neutral & the park brake going on then off again about every 30 seconds. On my commute, that has been known to be up to 30 mins so about 120 gear changes & brake movements (into neutral/park brake, then reverse that every 30 secs or so).

Auto cars have P on the gear shift. There’s a separate “hand brake” button or lever. There’s no reason not to shift the gear lever into
P in traffic if you are stationary for any length of time. Hand brake button or lever isn’t needed. I never use N. In effect that coasting and no gear selected so car can only be controlled by brakes. Hence brake lights on. it’s just as easy to engage P and safer. At times the cars will hold themselves in D. On an incline. Otherwise I prefer the safety of P. No brakes needed and kinder to people behind.

But it wasn’t being ignored is my point. You obviously need to brush up on it.

It's bugger all to do with eyes and all to do with big arsed cars with LED lights. I'm sure people could change those lights if they wanted.

I'm fed up with it as well. Why they haven't been banned yet is beyond me.

I hate it too! Have to put my sun visor down for a bit of respite from the glare. My car has an old school handbrake...had no idea about these auto things.

I hate massive cars in general and those new strip lights are horrid.

Is the auto hold thing only on automatics?

I always use my hand brake, force of habit
Means other drivers aren't dazzled and it saved me ploughing into the car in front when I got hit from behind by a van who didn't see the queue on the motorway

Thankfully I had left a gap (tyres and tarmac stuck in my head!) and handbrake on

No, I have it on a 2014 manual but it's called hill assist on mine

The 'P' on the gearbox is for locking the gearbox, not actually using as a handbrake. Pretty much all cars will have a handbrake thats locks the rear wheels. Putting the gearbox into park before applying the handbrake puts pressure on to the gearbox. You also then have to go through reverse to neutral then drive in most auto set ups. That means briefly your reverse lights illuminate and can confuse following cars.

Use your box like you would a manual. Into neutral and use the handbrake. As yours is an old focus it will have the same handbrake set up between the seats as a manual focus.

Same for me.

I would go for a eye test as it's not normal to be overwhelmed by brake lights. I've literally never heard anyone say this and it could be a problem such as glaucoma blurring your vision for some lights.

No driver uses the “handbrake” in an automatic when in traffic. You just use P. P is not the handbrake in any car I’ve got. N is disengaging the gear box (as in a manual) and you need the brake on an incline.

Hill Assist? It’s just what they do automatically. No button to press as far as I’m aware. An automatic cannot use this unless D is engaged. It’s just a gap between the brake pedal being released and the accelerator activating. I’ve never ever worn a gear box out and we’ve had our Merc for 34 years.

I just googled our make of car and hill assist. It says it is available but it only works on an incline (the word hill being somewhat of a clue!). So in a normal flat road, at a red light or in otherwise stopped traffic it won't do anything and, in a manual, you still need to either be holding the footbrake and getting a sore leg or putting the handbrake on.

So I remain surprised by it being nearly every single car in any queue I'm in that have their brake lights showing. There must be a good chunk of them sitting for ages depressing the brake pedal. Which is weird to me.

My car is auto and I use the handbrake, i don't put it in p or n

@DappledThings "There must be a good chunk of them sitting for ages depressing the brake pedal. Which is weird to me."

Its more weird that you havent read the thread properly, where several posters have explained that in newer cars, even with the car using Auto Hold or the e-brake/handbrake, the rear brake lights still illuminate.

YABU to assume folks are pressing the brake pedal.

No, I've read that. I'm just surprised that that means 99% of cars on the road ahead of me in any queue are either automatic with this feature or a manual new enough to have it.

My car is only 3 years old. Has a proper handbrake. I don't think that is that unusual.

But I have no evidence of that. It seems highly unlikely every car other than mine has those features and nobody is sitting with their foot on the brake but sure, maybe I have a unicorn car.

@DappledThings They don’t. You are correct. They are either automatics left in D and driver has foot on brake or electrics left in D or manuals left in gear all with foot on brake. You are also correct about hill assist on a hill. It doesn’t work on a flat road. Drivers could sit in N but that’s not a safe option. All hill assist does is hold the car between releasing the foot brake and engaging D on a hill. It’s a feature of how automatics work and not a special feature. I find our Disco can hold for a long time in D on a hill with no brake but if I’m queuing I use P. N would allow it to roll back and must be used with a handbrake.

This is how you should be driving your automatic.
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/learning-to-drive/how-to-drive-an-automatic/

If you have a merc you will be aware of the pedal to the left of the brake on the older models that activates the hand brake with the release normally on the dash to the right of the steering wheel.

Also if you aren't using the handbrake mechanism it will likely seize up. It is a legal requirement that it operates come MOT time, whether you use it or not.

I do know a 34 year old Merc needs a MOT! I’ve had it since it was 6 months old. No issues with the handbrake but thanks for your concern. RAC notes N and handbrake. It’s clearly saying N is coasting as I said earlier. That’s unsafe. If I’m waiting in traffic, RAC seems to think P is ok. Certainly less faff than use of handbrake! I do actually know where it is on a car I’ve owned for 34 years! I have never ever been in an auto car where the driver repeatedly used the two stage handbrake in traffic.

I have an electric bmw and that has a P button. Not on the gear paddle. So I use the P. It’s actually tempting to stay in D and use the brake. However because I have decent manners, I don’t.

It is unusual, I haven't had a manual handbrake on any of our cars for over 10 years. Mazdas, VWs, Tesla, Nissan, all buttons.

But if you have a button handbrake that surely you still need to engage that brake and take your foot off the footbrake don't you? Otherwise your option is to be sitting with your foot pressing down.

I don't understand how the lack of a proper handbrake means there's another option that means your brake lights stay on other than having the footbrake on. Because the auto hold thing only works on an incline.

Or does engaging a button handbrake always also mean the brake lights stay on? That seems a bit daft.

Yep my automatic car has auto hold which enables me to take my foot off the pedals and have a rest when stopped, regardless of whether I’m on a hill, a slope or level. I’m presuming this puts the brake light on, I wouldn’t know.
My handbrake is electronic and requires putting the gearbox into Park which I try to avoid at traffic lights as it’s slow to shift and the electronic handbrake takes a couple of seconds. So the lights will have reached green before I’ve got back into Drive. Or, in the case of some of our local traffic lights, will have reached red again….!

@WiseLurkerTo be fair there are some out there. I had a new Ford Puma in 2020 and that had a manual handbrake (much to my delight!) I’m not sure if the current ones do, as I know they’ve changed a few things since they first brought them out but the 2020 one def did.

@DappledThingsNo my Auto Hold works anywhere. As long as I put my foot right down on the brake pedal before taking my foot off completely, it holds the car still. I use it at every traffic lights as I have arthritis in my foot. It’s a brand new Kia Sportage. My 2018 Audi was the same. Flat or incline, it held the car still.
our local automated car wash has a HUGE sign telling people to turn off their auto hold and that car wash is FLAT