What is up with the UK obsession with the handbrake?!?!

It is annoying! 
I learned to drive (a manual) in the Colorado mountains and I have never used the handbrake to go up a hill! During my last lesson I stopped on a hill, then moved off, after which my instructor told me that I should have used my handbrake. I asked why, to which he replied that it would prevent me from rolling back. I said, oh, "did I roll back?". He said, no, you didn't, but you should still use it.  I was like, WTF???

Doesn't the fact that I can use clutch control to get up a hill show better driving than using tricks to prevent your car rolling back? Apparently not in Britain!

I had never even heard of this handbrake trick before. I asked my husband about it (he's also American and learned to drive in the mountains), he said that his US driving instructor had mentioned it, but said " you are learning to drive in the mountains, so instead of using tricks learn how to use your clutch".

Now I have to go out and practice doing yet another driving thing that is completely unnecessary!   Grrrrrr....

Mainly just venting here! This Uk driving test business sucks!

Oh your post made me laugh!!

Remember, you are learning how to pass the test, not drive.  You'll forget all about the handbrake as soon as you pass.   

Where in Colorado?  I moved here from Castle Rock. 

Yup, the handbrake thing was weird to me, too.

Remember, you are learning how to pass the test, not drive.  You'll forget all about the handbrake as soon as you pass.   

Good advice here.  I haven't used the handbrake for anything other than parking since I passed the test a few years ago.  I also haven't done that weird "pass the steering wheel through your hands while turning" thing.  I don't know it's official name, but it's the technique where you turn the wheel without ever crossing your hands.

I'm originally from Conifer 

That's good advice! I'll keep reminding myself that I'm only learning to pass the test.... Then I'll go back to my old no handbrake ways!

I use my handbrake on (steep) hill starts all the time. It's the one thing I thought was actually brilliant, having never learned about it before!  I feel much more in control of my car.   

However, I definitley don't do the "pass the steering wheel through your hands while turning" thing.

Just pass the test and move on!  You can drive and the examiner will figure that out quickly by how you read the road- it's just they have to make sure you're doing things 'properly'!

Well you know that using the clutch to hold position on an incline causes extra wear on the clutch pressure plate thing? What you are doing is pressing the plates together just enough so that they slide against each other enough to hold position but not enough to fully grip each other (thereby moving you forward). It is actually the most frictional scenario your clutch can encounter.

That being said, I always did it.

I went through this when I took my UK test in 1993.....I do use the handbrake more now, despite having a little Micra with an automatic transmission....WHY?   Because DH insists, and I'm tired of arguing.

I also learned to drive in the US in an area with some steep inclines...and we were taught to use the clutch, not the handbrake. This was back in the 60s when ALL driver education cars were dual control manual transmission. I do agree that this can be hard on the clutch. Why this concerns DH now....in a car without a manual transmission, I know not :-)

I use my handbrake on (steep) hill starts all the time. It's the one thing I thought was actually brilliant, having never learned about it before!  I feel much more in control of my car. 

Same here. I feel much safer doing a hill start with the handbrake on, because I can take my foot off the brake and take my time getting the biting point, rather than doing it fast, hoping for the best, and risking rolling back or stall. Also, my car judders on hill starts or if I try to move off quickly (for some reason - I can't figure out why), so I'm pretty careful about them.

I don't usually use the handbrake when I'm stopped on the flat, but for hills, I definitely use it.

It saves wear and tear on your clutch, as sonofasailor said. You should also always use your parking (hand) brake with an automatic transmission when you park on an incline to take pressure off of your transmission.

Well I learned to drive in a VW Beetle that wouldn't idle. So a hill required the left foot clutching and then a sideways twist of the right foot so that you could brake with the toes and keep it going on the gas with the heel. The handbrake was not connected to anything. It was easier just to use the clutch as brake. This was Florida, mind, so these weren't Pike's Peak by any means.

What I don't get is the obsession with the handbrake when you're at a stoplight! I was told to do it so you don't "dazzle the people behind you with your brake lights". Um, brake lights are there to tell someone behind you that you're stopped/stopping/slowing down. They're a good thing. I've never been dazzled by break lights!

The one that got me was that you have to put your handbrake on at a stop sign. Coming to a complete stop is not good enough, you have to put the handbrake on for a microsecond just to show that you know the rules even if the other road is completely clear

Where I grew up the "hand brake" was called the "emergency brake."  It's purpose was to save you if your main brakes failed (which was like never) or if parking on an extreme incline. 

In reality, it was only ever used by young men to spin their cars around in parking lots 

 

I'm puzzled. So if you are facing up hill at lights you will just hold it on the clutch? That's crazy, basically you fail the test because you aren't deemed to be in control of the car. Also it's a great way to burn out the clutch.
It winds me up when I see cars at lights with the brake lights on and clearly not using the handbrake, and thats on a level or downhill, never mind uphill. Although I realise there is the slight chance it could be an automatic.

I'm puzzled. So if you are facing up hill at lights you will just hold it on the clutch? That's crazy, basically you fail the test because you aren't deemed to be in control of the car. Also it's a great way to burn out the clutch.

No, you hold the car in place with your right foot on the regular brake.  When the light changes, put your left foot on the clutch, shift into first, take your right foot off the brake and quickly but smoothly give it some gas and release the clutch with your left foot.

It winds me up when I see cars at lights with the brake lights on and clearly not using the handbrake, and thats on a level or downhill, never mind uphill.

Just a different way of doing things that bothers you because you learned differently.  Personally, I think the UK method is more cumbersome, but that's probably because I learned to drive in America.