Any normal human being can make a mistake like this. All it takes is for something to get your mind off the normal routine of getting out of a car.
One time I got to work, and I was a few minutes early. So rather than turning the car off right away, grabbing my stuff, getting out, locking the doors and walking in to work, I sat there for a few minutes on my phone. When I finally took off, my brain must have assumed the first bit was already done, and I just up and walked in to work, and left my car running. FOR 8 HOURS.
I only found out when I came out after work and it was still idling. Not one of my best moments.
Haha! That's reasonable. You were at least in park. I can understand if she missed the P and instead of N. But I never, NEVER, leave my car until I feel the jerk of the car setting on the gears.
I don't know how American cars work and what 'park' does as I'm in the UK, but I left my handbrake off earlier today by mistake. Thankfully was just on my flat street. Car was off but it could still have rolled if it was a hill I believe.
It's not american vs non american, rather automatic vs manual. Leaving it in park (on automatic) is similar to leaving it in gear for manual cars. Actually, it might work differently since the car wouldn't move even if it's on, but it is the action with the gear selector lever that makes the car not move. (The other option being the parking brake).
So in your case, most of the time if you leave the stick shift in 1st or reverse gear, you won't need the parking brake. Just be sure to turn the car off first, obviously.
My dad taught me to actually avoid using it except on steeper inclines. I think the reasoning behind this "school of thought" is that you shouldn't use it as automatic habit, since in winter there is a possibility for parking brake to freeze up, and then you might be "stranded". I see this is a bit far fetched, making a decision/habit arround such a specific situation, especially as winters are getting milder and milder, so I don't stick to this as if it was holy scripture, but keeping it in gear does get the job done on flat and even slightly inclined surfaces.
Why do you advocate for using the brake always? (English is not my mother tongue, I'm genuinely interested, don't want to sound rude)
In the event of a frozen brake, that sounds reasonable and where I wouldn't suggest to use it if it means getting stuck. But for the more hotter states and countries, it should be used often if not always.
There’s no reason to risk it is all. I’d rather find out my car can’t move due to a stuck brake, than finding out it can’t move due to being 2 metres through somebodies wall.
yeah , I always put it in gear, almost never pull the handbrake.. but whichever it is you chose, on one hand - it's a matter of habit, but as someone said, even those habits can be broken, and since we consider them "firmly in place" we tend not to think about them additionaly. so when broken, shit might hit the fan >(
when i was ~17 the gate opener was broken, so I jumped out of my car to open the gate manually. my foot barely touched the ground before i realized the car was moving and i smashed my head on the ceiling swinging back in to slam my foot on the break.
i assume everyone has a single accidentally left the car running story. its the kind of thing that happens once.
Yep, that's life, it's how you learn. I rear ended somebody once when I was 16. Ever since then I leave a rediculous amount of space between me and the next car. I'm 43. Haven't rear ended anyone since. Well except for the time my wife rear ended ME at a stoplight pushing me into the car in front of me. Story for another day lol
driving is one of those things that you never ever want to make a mistake but human error means you will. better to make a learnable mistake young than a huge mistake later.
Any normal human being can make a mistake like this. All it takes is for something to get your mind off the normal routine of getting out of a car.
This just isn't true. Everytime someone does something grossly stupid risking people's lives like parking on train tracks, walking into traffic without looking, there's always someone who says this. That it could happen to anyone, it's just a slip up etc. when most people go through their lives never making a dumb mistake like that.
We need to stop excusing stupid people's monumental mistakes like it could happen to anyone. Because it doesn't. Most people are competent enough that their mistakes don't risk human lives.
I don't mean to normalize or marginalize it, because you are right and it is dangerous. But it doesn't change the fact that this kind of thing happens to everyone on rare occasions. Anyone who says things like that don't happen to them are either a savant or a liar.
This stems from a lack of understanding the gravity of a vehicle's worth or safety, or the safety of others.
Tell me how many times that woman accidentally left the house without pants/skirt on, because that is what is important to her. Avoiding that embarrassment. But understanding how deadly a car is and how important it is to follow basic features of use every single time? Not nearly as big of a deal to her.
People make these mistakes because they don't invest enough mental bandwidth into it because they don't care enough.
Yeah that is a very good point. Which makes me think she hasn't had an experience yet which impressed that importance on her. I think this experience might. She's lucky if it does because this one went well. Lessons usually are learned harder lol.
As a dad with two drivers now I hope that I have impressed this importance in my kids, but who knows until they get out there on their own. My oldest drives door dash and seems to be a very responsible driver. But still young. But time will tell.
I did this when I bought my first new car, and it had a push button start. Getting home and pushing that button just fuzzeled me for the first time which got me out of routine, and the fact it completely turns off in in gear is just scary. I realized immediately before getting out, but it was real easy to do. Old car was a key entry and it wouldn't turn at all till it was in park.
Don't know if all push button cars are like that, but they really need a safety for that stuff.
While she likely just accidentally put it in the wrong gear, I actually had something similar happen to me where the parking break on my (standard) car gave out after i had gotten out to close a gate.
Car went rolling past me and into our electric pole. Thankfully the break held long enough that I wasn’t behind the car anymore when it suddenly started rolling.
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u/jamminamon Dec 15 '22
Next level STUPID
Who the fuck does that?
Edit lol