If you’ve spent any time behind the wheel of a car, you’ve probably seen someone place their automatic vehicle into the “Park” position while waiting at a stoplight. While not typical, I’ve witnessed this phenomenon countless times over my years of driving.
Having pretty much always driven manual cars (save for press vehicle loaners and rentals), I never really understood why people did this. That is, until recently, when I bought my first automatic car, my 2008 Land Rover Range Rover.
Now I get it. I’m not ashamed to admit I place my car in Park at stoplights all the time. Logic suggests this is dumb for several reasons, yet I keep doing it. Let me explain myself.
Yeah, It’s Bad, I Know
While not illegal, putting your car in Park while stationary on an active roadway opens you up to a multitude of safety risks. If you need to quickly move out of the way because a car is barrelling towards you at high speed, you no longer have to simply lift the brake—you have to put your foot on the brake and shift the car into Drive to get moving, wasting precious moments.
Placing your car in park also signals to other drivers that your foot isn’t on the brake, which, to someone behind you not paying attention, could suggest your car is moving forward, causing them to roll forward and rear-end you. The act of shifting to Park and back to Drive might also briefly command your reverse lights to activate, further confusing other motorists. So, officially, I recommend that no one put their car in Park at a stoplight.
There’s also the possibility that doing this stoplight-parking could put unnecessary wear on some transmission components, like the linkage and shift forks. This wear is incredibly minor, of course—gearboxes are designed to shift, after all. But over the course of thousands of stoplights, it’ll make some difference. At the same time, the beauty of torque converters means you don’t have to worry about putting extra wear on the transmission by holding the brake to keep the car stationary, at least not for a minute at a time. So there’s no strong argument that shifting to Park avoids extra wear on the gearbox, save for very specific circumstances.
So … Why?
On paper, going through the effort of shifting into Park only to have to put your foot back on the brake and shift back to Drive after 45 seconds to maybe a minute of sitting doesn’t even seem worth the trouble. For me, though, those series of movements have become second nature.
Roll to a stop at a stoplight, flip the transmission into Park, and relax. I’ve got it down to a science, so it only takes me about half a second to get from stopped to fully in park. Then, I’m able to take my foot off the brake and give my legs (and the rest of my body) some time to stretch out and relax. It’s during these moments that I can truly appreciate the Range Rover’s comfy captain’s chairs.
To me, that combined full second of shifting work is worth the tradeoff. When I drive, it’s usually only for longer trips (at least an hour), so having those tiny breaks to briefly disconnect from the car is nice. Doing this in New York City, where I live, is especially easy because I can keep an eye on the countdown clocks for the pedestrian crosswalks to know exactly when the light will turn green. Having these countdowns is what really makes shifting into Park worth it. Without them, it’s more of a guessing game of when the light will turn green, which is more stressful than relaxing.
Of course, I’m always keeping my eyes on my mirrors for emergency vehicles—I usually only pull this move when I’m boxed in by other cars in heavy traffic. The only issue I’ve encountered with this method, so far, is when someone ahead of me decides to ease forward to fill a gap in the line of cars waiting for the red light. In this case, I usually just switch my car back into Drive prematurely, move forward so as not to make everyone behind me angry, and keep my foot on the brake for the remainder of the light cycle.
The Internet Has Mixed (But Mostly Negative) Opinions
When I pitched this story, most of The Autopian staff were pretty surprised, and not one staffer seemed to take my side. Harsh, but fair. I figured I might find someone on the great big internet who feels the same way I do about this topic, but most people seem to take the more rational route.
Friend of The Autopian Kristen Lee wrote in 2016 about how she was baffled by why people put their cars into Park at stoplights, mentioning that most of her colleagues were equally as confused by such a move. The only holdout, interestingly, was our very own David Tracy, who said, at the time, he keeps at least one of his cars in neutral:
“Because the car’s got too much torque and too little brakes,” he explained matter-of-factly. “Requires too much pressure at long stop lights. Very annoying.”
That sounds like a very specific problem, but it turns out going to neutral isn’t a niche solution for some people. This 2014 thread on the topic from the BobIsTheOilGuy.com forum had several people advocating for switching to Neutral and continuing to hold the brakes at stoplights. These folks argue that having the car in Neutral will allow it to roll forward in case of a rear-end impact, reducing overall strain on occupants, which is a fair assumption.
The great minds of Reddit seem to think shifting into Park is a bad idea. Back in 2019, someone on the /r/Driving Subreddit asked whether it would be fine to shift into Park at stoplights, and was met with a whole bunch of “No.”
This Phenomenon Might Soon Disappear Anyway
Thanks to the advent of modern braking tech, this is a solved issue. Lots of new cars have a function called Brake Hold, which is a system that, as you might be able to tell from the name, holds the brakes for you when you come to a stop. This way, you can lift your foot off the brake and relax as much as you want, without having to shift out of Drive. All you have to do to get moving is press the accelerator pedal. The system registers the accelerator input and releases the brakes, freeing you to drive normally.
As the average age of cars on the road increases, more cars will have this feature onboard, which means fewer weirdos like me will have to resort to moving their gear selector from Drive to Park and back just for that tiny hit of relief. I’ll be the first to admit I get a little sad when I see a new press car I’m testing doesn’t have a brake hold button. But more and more these days, the brake hold function is standard.
I’m not expecting many people to come to my defense here, as the cons obviously outweigh the pros. But to all who shift into Park at stoplights, I see you. And I understand you.
Top graphic images: Brian Silvestro
Mechanics in transit buses (allegedly) use the interlock to hold a bus at a light. Operators can’t do it cause it authorizes the door and anyone leaning on the exit door is in for a surprise.
But technicians? Interlock all the way! For other techs, allegedly. I’d never do such a thing. Especially not working night shift while barely staying awake on road tests.
I have literally never seen anyone do this in all my years of driving or being driven.
One pedal driving in an EV is great and provides all the benefits of “Park” but none of the disadvantages.
Staying in neutral so when someone hits you, the next ten cars in front of you can make the court case more entertaining seems brilliant.
One reason to put a car in park is that many transmissions stop lubricating when you stop moving.
Changing that is often top of the list for modifications.
Not just that-the whiplash is worse if you’re not on the brakes!
I’ll buy that.
Stopping for an ambulance, I got hit hard enough to propel us fifty feet or more.
My feet probably came off the pedals as our seats peeled off the tracks.
We had whiplash, and for that crash, the seats bending back lessened injuries considerably.
The ambulance wisely stopped short.
At absurdly short yellow lights, I check the mirrors before I brake. Every time.
The hold button is great for stoplights but terrible for slow speed maneuvering like pulling into my garage through a single wide door especially when combined with auto stop start. The door opening is only about 10 inches wider than my mirrors and I like to pause and creep slowly in case I’m not lined up the way I want.
For this reason I usually kept it off on our Mazda until I found myself in a situation where it was handy, like waiting at the lights. I’d often forget it existed though, and I don’t really miss it now neither of our current cars has it.
Transmission in Park when stopped at a red light in NYC: because totalling a rear-ended car for body-damage only is no longer enough. It has to be served with a secretly exploded driveline for the next junkyard client to find out.
Back when the brakes on my ’64 F100 crewcab were terrible on good day, I used to do this. However, since the shifting was also a little wonky, I had to hold the shifter in position so it wouldn’t slip in the reverse. Since I replaced the front drums with disks, all is good now. I still hesitate and check that when shifting into Park, it stays there.
The fun will be when something in the shifter fails and it *doesn’t* come back out of park when you want it to. BTDT on a nearly new rental, though not at a stop light. Lots of monkey motion in modern cars to get them to come out of park thanks to Audi/news media back in the day.
My Mercedes has brake hold. A bit of extra pressure on the pedal enables it, I don’t think there is an on-off switch otherwise unless it’s buried in the settings somewhere.
Do you also wear ski boots when driving?
You should be smarter than this.
I suspect click bait shenanigans with this bad take…
Expecting to see you on Judge Judy or People’s Court one day for this. Really.
Big disagree here, not a wise choice to make at all.
I have seen too many folks do this, then they wonder why everyone is straining to race and get around them to the next stoplight, which creates pissed off drivers and the potential for more accidents, and road rage while some dumb ass sits at the green light an extra couple seconds wondering why their car won’t accelerate…because they fucking forgot it was in PARK…
PARK means just that. For when you fucking park your car.
And not on the god damned motorways…yeah this bullshit pisses me off.
At least you can play with your phone when in PARK, right? JFC…
Sorry Brian. But this is the dumb ass take of the day here dude. Really.
“And not on the god damned motorways”. What about on the parkways?
Oh that does not bother me one bit. /s
I never realized that some people consider putting a foot on a brake pedal to be a chore.
Not too weird. I drive an automatic and put the car in neutral at many a stop light. My commute also crosses a couple train tracks where I can get stuck for minutes at a time… And I’ll put the car in park and relax much like you in those instances.
Yeah I occasionally get stuck at train crossings on my commute and will put it in park then.
If the wait is going to be long, like a train crossing or a drawbridge, I’ll put the car in park, and sometimes turn off the engine.
At a regular-ass light or stop sign, though? Madness.
As many others have commented, my pet peeve is those who dawdle at getting through green lights quickly so that more people behind may get through as well. So many drivers just mosey along because they cannot conceive of anyone or anything beyond their own nose. When at or near the front of the line I am in gear, watching the lights in both directions (easier at night), and ready to move out, be it a clutch and a gas pedal or just a gas pedal. Nothing pisses me off more than a dawdler at a green light. It is a capital offense in my book of driving as it is so damned inconsiderate. There should be a dawdle court of law. And the court would have jurisdiction over check out lines as well, with particularly dire consequences for express check out infractions.
People who do not bag as they scan, ESPECIALLY in Aldi/Lidl need meeting into the sun. Or at the very least a stern talking to, followed by some kind of mandatory ‘how to do shops’ class.
How about people that have no clue where the front of their vehicle is, and stop as much as fifty feet behind the next car, causing gridlock at intersections?
I have passed people stopped at intersections when it’s unclear if they have broken down or parked in the motorway.
Did someone tell them to leave ten car lengths between them and the next car at 0 mph?
This is…odd, but you do you, I guess. Only time I put mine in park is when I’m in a fast food drive-thru that has decided not to be “fast.”
For everyone wanting to get through the left turn lane this week: don’t 🙂
I still haven’t gotten use to the brake hold feature on my Mazda’s. I will turn it on when I am at an extended light and it’s great. Then the next light I come to, I keep my foot on the break out of habit and when I go to start moving, I don’t, because it’s still holding. Then I feel like an idiot and shake my head at myself.
Then the next light I do it all over again. Great times.
I don’t have it on my car now, but this was consistently my experience with it, though on a manual so it wouldn’t creep anyway – I’d just remember when starting off and it would nudge out of ‘hold.’
I had an old chevy that I would pop in N. it kept the transmission cooler and the engine idled better. It was common back in the day. That is why there was no notch between N and D. You could just slap it back to D and get going.
Oh, I’m really thankful for people like you when I’m at one of those stoplights that lets four people through (on a good day!) but even less when someone in front of me is fiddling with stuff, looking at their phone, or — in this case — trying to get their car back into Drive quickly ????
I had a proud moment recently. I noticed that a 5 way busy intersection that I have commuted through for 20 plus years was all of the sudden backed up for at least a mile. My commute time had changed and the intersection had been under construction for quite a while and I thought bad luck for me. The road that I approached the intersection on my commute home was by far the busiest leg of the intersection maybe 5:1. After several days of sitting though 20 or more light cycles I noticed the light was short. 14 seconds green, 1m43 seconds red. It was up a slight hill and two lanes. I kept noticing that about 6-8 cars would get through each lane on a light—a second or two to see the green, accelerate, then the cars behind. So 6-8 cars. I was probably about 200 cars back. It added 30 minutes to my 30 minute commute. I kicked and screamed to everyone who would listen and less than a week later things are running smoothly again.
There’s a light on my commute that sometimes gets stuck in a cycle of letting 1 car through at a time after a train passes. Incredibly annoying when it happens.
I was at an intersection today that gridlocked on the busy road for multiple light changes because everyone pulled into the intersection blocking it through light changes.
Apparently someone too shy to pull forward on our road and put a stop to this!
My mom would do this when I was a kid. But it also came with the statement, “I’m just going to close my eyes for a minute, let me know when the light turns green”.
Like my uncle who passed quietly in his sleep.
Not so restful for the passengers!
I just figured it being a Rover Product, there was likely some fuel or trans issue that needed to remove the load ont he engine at a stop light….to you avoid the motor stopping or something. That could have been your excuse, instead you went with lounging at the light?
I do stuff that is no less dumb, but its still dumb. I can’t really do that in my car as I have high powered reverse lights wired into my reverse lights so I would be blasting people behind me at high level over and over again. I do it in drive throughs if they are slow enough, in which case I disable the function.
I’ll do you one better.
I turn the car off in drive-thrus and in the automatic car wash.
I will drop my truck into neutral if its going to be a longer wait. No power brakes and a fair amount of torque make it take a bit of pedal force to hold it back which gets annoying after a while. It also has enough cam to lope a bit at idle which can get a little old, the little shift in rpm when unloaded changes the tone a bit which can help. About the only time I go to P is if I’m getting out of the car though
Is this similar as to what I’ve been doing with the cold weather; throwing my car into neutral at redlights and “high idling” it (to about 1,200rpm) while I wait for the lights to start changing? I do it because even with the car sitting for a few minutes, it still tends to be too cold to get the heat going.
I’m always looking at the lights so when I see the other lights go from green to yellow, I’m also going right back to drive, right before my green light. Even if I’m not, by the time traffic starts moving, I’ll still be in drive.
Sounds a little like you might have cooling system issues. perhaps partially plugged heater core? Or maybe thermostat suck open so the coolant has less time to soak in heat to dissipate at the two radiators?
I mean, I have a 1.7-mile drive to work, and I like 2 to 3 football fields to walk to my car (city living is so great!), so when I get close enough for the fob to send signals, I remote start it from there. I didn’t need to do it this morning because I actually got it to start from my house, but that’s never a guarantee. If I drive further than that, it’ll warm up just fine.
I block most of the grille below 40 degrees.
“I Put My Car In Park At Stoplights”
I like to put my car in neutral and tempt fate…