Driving with the Hand Brake ON!

Tonight I drove a couple of kilometers (maybe 3 km or so) with my hand brake on! It's funny the passenger next to me said there was a strong burning smell but I insisted it was from other cars around us. Our windows were open. The signals in the car show that the hand brake was on while we moved but I was absorbed by to many other things around me which made me not notice the warning signal in the dashboard! Altough I felt so bad about that as I finally discovered I was driving with the hand brake on since I did not want to wear out my new car, yet I looked at it as a strong learning lesson. I guess I'd, probably, always remember to put the hand brake down before moving on.

All the way I was wondering why the car was not moving as fast as it should when I was at second and even third gear. Thank God the drive with the hand brake on was not too long.