One Steep Hill, Two Drivers

By Sabrina Sabino | Published: November 14, 2011

The following blog article was written by: Sabrina Sabino on November 14, 2011.

This past weekend we rented a Daihatsu Sirion 2 (SR600 per day) so yesterday we decided to visit some family members at Beau Vallon. My mum’s cousin lives near Boat House Creole Restaurant, and I had to drive uphill. It was a very rainy day and this particular road was extremely slippery. I didn’t know where the lady lived, so my mum was giving me directions. I was told to park at the lady’s lower-level parking spot and then my mum changed her mind and told me to park at the top-level one, closer to the lady’s house. It was a tight space so I reversed back into the lane. I pulled back the handbrake and to my surprise, it wasn’t strong enough so I kept my foot on brake.

I then uttered the words “oh sh*t”. I continued, “okay, here’s the situation…my foot is on brake. The handbrake isn’t strong enough for me to let go to accelerate (i.e. I can’t press the clutch if that foot the brake pedal).” My mum was confused, but my younger brother understood immediately. So we came up with a solution: he had to put his foot on clutch, so I could keep one foot on the brake pedal and the other foot on accelerator. When I said “ready” I would accelerate, he would slowly let go of clutch and then when I see his foot at an angle where the car would move, I’d let go of the brakes, the car would raise slightly and then I’d release handbrake.

It was such a funny situation because I didn’t know the area well, and so I didn’t reverse exactly into the lane but close to it. So I wouldn’t have had enough time to hit the accelerator because there was a fence right behind the car.

That said, everything worked out well for us.

I hate having to practice driving with a rental, but it’s the cheapest solution for now.