January 28, 2025 at 7:49 pm

Married Couple Disagree About The Use Of The Parking Brake, So Hubby Challenged Wife To Look It Up In The Manual

by Heide Lazaro

Source: Reddit/MaliciousCompliance/Canva

Different people have different driving—and parking—styles.

This woman and her husband agreed to disagree about the use of a parking brake; however, when it’s time for their daughter to learn to drive, the discussion came up again.

Now they finally have their answer on what’s correct.

Read the story below to find out what they discovered.

Parking Brake

One of the reasons my marriage works is that my husband and I have very similar opinions, and this happens most of the time.

One of the notable exceptions to this is the parking brake.

When I learned to drive, I was taught to use the parking brake every time I park.

This woman decided to continue using the parking brake.

Once I got my license, I learned that not everyone actually does that.

I made a conscious decision to continue to use the parking brake for every park.

It’s better to use it when it’s not needed, than to forget it when it is needed.

I built the habit of taking the brake on and off so I’m less likely to end up driving around with the parking brake on which eventually might need an expensive repair.

This is how her husband parks the car.

My husband only uses the parking brake when he parks on a very steep hill.

When he’s parked on any hill, he turns the steering wheel so that if the car rolls, it will roll into the curb.

He actually does what a lot of people do (including my driving instructor). He turns the wheel, then lets the car roll until its touching the curb.

He claims this is extra safe.

They’ve come to agree to disagree when it comes to the parking brake.

I don’t think it’s any safer than just turning the wheel.

Tires are expensive, and it’s unnecessary wear and tear on them to leave them smashed up against a curb.

We’ve come to an agree-to-disagree about the parking brake.

He sometimes grumbles a little when he drives a car that I drove earlier and has to remember to take the brake off, but it’s not really any kind of big deal.

Her stepdaughter started learning to drive.

Well, my stepdaughter learned to drive.

Her dad has been the main driving instructor, but I’ve done some driving instructions, too.

With his blessing, of course, because I’m not her actual parent.

They explained how she should deal with the parking brake.

So, the emergency brake came up.

We explained that her dad and I had different habits about how we use the parking brake.

We told her that for simplicity, while she was learning, she should do it dad’s way, but when she’s out driving on her own, she’ll eventually develop her own habits.

This was about a year ago.

Her stepdaughter was driving and she had to park on a hill.

Today, my stepdaughter drove.

It was the first time she parked on a hill by a curb.

It was a slight hill, but definitely a hill.

She parked by the curb and, asked if she should use the parking brake.

At the same time, I said yes and her dad said no.

The dad instructed her on what to do.

He instructed her to turn the wheel and let the car roll into the curb.

He said that was good enough.

I let him finish this instruction.

When we got out, though, I said that I prefer to use the emergency brake and not press the tires against the curb.

When she expressed her opinion, her husband made a snarky comment.

I didn’t say his way was wrong.

I just shared that do the same parking job a different way than her dad does it. This is a normal thing we’ve done throughout her learning to drive.

Well, I don’t know.

My husband must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed because he got a little salty, and said: “Maybe you should read the driver’s manual and see what it says about parking.”

She was annoyed, so she thought about reading the manual.

I was a little annoyed, but I was going to let it drop.

However, once we got where we were headed and I had a minute, I thought I should do just that.

We currently live in a different state than the one I learned to drive in, and I’ve never read the driver manual for this state.

I have no idea what the laws or suggestions about parking brakes are!

She found exactly what she was looking for.

So, I pulled up the state manual on my phone and looked at the section on parking.

Boom!

Right at the top, “You should use your parking brake every time you park.”

In the section on hill parking, it says to turn the wheel, but it doesn’t say to roll your car until the tire is up against the curb.

She showed it to both her husband and stepdaughter.

I showed this to my stepdaughter, and she found it hysterical.

Especially since her dad did learn to drive in this state from his dad who was a retired cop (although he also rarely uses his parking brake).

My husband just rolled his eyes at me.

She continued lecturing her about how to drive safely.

I went on to tell my stepdaughter that the most important thing is to secure her car. Secure it in some way when she parks on a hill.

Her dad and I are both good drivers, and as she gets more experience, she’ll figure out the things that make the most sense to her.

That’s funny! It’s great that this couple agrees to disagree though instead of getting really upset at each other for having different parking habits.

Let’s find out what others have to say about this on Reddit.

This user couldn’t believe it.

Source: Reddit/MaliciousCompliance

Here’s a good explanation from this person.

Source: Reddit/MaliciousCompliance

It’s ridiculous, says this person.

Source: Reddit/MaliciousCompliance

This person realizes something that started worrying her.

Source: Reddit/MaliciousCompliance

Finally, someone from the UK shares their customary parking habit.

Source: Reddit/MaliciousCompliance

At the end of the day, the parking brake is there for a reason—not for decoration.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.