Take it to the polls???

but if you stop at a cross walk, and engage the hand brake, at least in US cars, the brake lights do not light. which means if you are driving up on someone and there no brake lights lit, it gives the impression that the car is not stopped, and is in fact moving. where as the bright red lights tell me that the car is either slowing down or stopped and as such I begin to slow down or stop.

And if I am stopped at a crosswalk, with my foot on the brake, and someone runs into the back of me pushing me into a pedestrian...i'm pretty sure the injured pedestrian is going to sue BOTH car owners and both insurance companies in search of the deepest pockets.

 

The brake lights work just the same here, they only operate with the foot brake.

The brake lights are not on in any car parked at the side of the road, and I don't think you would run in to them by accident, in fact some vehicles do not have brake lights at all, bicycles, horse drawn vehicles come to mind.

I no expert, but I'm sure in the UK the person running in to a car from behind is always to blame, it's called "driving without due care and attention", so he's the one being sued I suppose.

 

This is another item where US and UK have different driving practices. OP's choice 'A' is universal in the US, regardless of transmission type. We leave our brake lights on full time when stopped. Some people even leave them on while moving , though the dearth of automatic transmissions should minimize that practice in the UK.

Over here, many cars don't have true handbrakes, but instead a foot-operated parking brake that is simply too cumbersome and impractical for use at every traffic light.

 

Correct, but I don't expect to see a parked car sitting in the the middle of road and bikes are normorally running on the shoulders.

I agree that any car running in to the back of another is usually at fault.

I just find it strange that the drivers test is promoting doing something that potentially indicates to other drivers that your car is doing something that its not.. brake lights on- car slowing or stopped. brake lights off car not stopped

Different rules for different countries. Can't argue with the stats though... Europeans are involved in far fewer accidents than us 'mericans...

 

Don't overestimate the skills of the bottom rung of American drivers.

A good American golddigger won't aim for only one pocket. Try them all in hopes that at least one has enough gold to be worth mining.

 

My car is an automatic, and as I say I stop at lights with my foot on the brake, and from what I see, most other people do the same, automatic gearbox or not.
It's just in the UK it's an offence to distract other drivers with unnecessary lights, fog lights when it's not foggy, high beam with oncoming traffic, and brake lights after you have stopped braking, so you have to follow these rules if you want to get your driving licence.

I think the manual gearbox is going the same way here, more and more people are choosing automatics now.

 

The high beam at other traffic is also an offense here. It applies in both directions, though the distance limit is greater for oncoming traffic than when following same direction traffic. Fog lights vary by state, here they are always legal with low beams but can be an offense if they are misaimed.

I've never heard of brake lights having any time limit anywhere in North America.

 

I think this practice is spreading, we have people now who actually cause accidents to sue people, it's called crash for cash.

I read of a case a few days ago, were a group of twenty or so, had got together with a bus driver to cause an accident, all 20 were trying to sue an insurance company for whiplash, I think there all in jail now though!

 

That's why busses here have cameras in the interior. We've had the same thing happen where the busses loaded up with passengers AFTER a collision.

 

The UK test must have changed since I took it in 73, back then you only got marked down if you didn't use the handbrake at a stop sign and pedestrian crossing. No mention of dazzling the driver behind.

 

I also took my test around about then as well, and I think your right about the handbrake rule.

This is from the Highway Code:

114

You MUST NOT

• use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders
• use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced. YouMUST switch them off when visibility improves to avoid dazzling other road users (see Rule 226).

In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.
Law RVLR reg 27

 

I think the key phrase there is "In Stationary queues of traffic".
I personally will apply the parking brake in the above circumstances, but if it's stop-start crawling traffic I use the footbrake.