Hyundai Repair: Emergency Brake on 2001 Accent, rear drum brakes, rear drums

Question
Hey, thanks for your answer to my previous question about my oxygen sensor.  I can really see the difference on the gas guage.  

The other day when I backed out of my driveway, I forgot to take my emergency brake off.  As I started up the street, I wondered why the brake light was on.  I realized I forgot to take off the emergency brake.  Then I wondered "why am I even able to drive with the emergency brake on"?  

Any thoughts?  Is it a big deal to fix?  

If it has anything to do with the rear drum brakes, when I had it in for an inspection, I was watching them, and they tried and tried but could NOT get it off to inspect inside the rear brake.  They passed it anyways.  I just thought it was odd the garage could not take the brake apart to inspect it.  

Thanks!

Answer
It sounds like you neither drove very far or very fast, so there should be no damage to the brakes.  The only way this would do anything more than add a little more wear would be if the brakes were actually overheated, and I cannot imagine that happened based on your description of the events.

The reason you're able to drive with the parking brake on is that the engine has enough power to overpower the rear brakes or drag the rear wheels if you applied the brake sufficiently to keep the rear wheels from turning.  

If you cannot engage enough to keep the rear wheels from turning, it's possible that you may need to adjust your parking brake.  

The shop could have removed your rear drums if they'd wanted to put in the time and effort.  It may have required a hammer and adjusting the parking brake to pull the shoes away from the drum, but they could have done it.  Not knowing the inspection requirements where you live, it's possible that it may not have been necessary to remove the drum.  There's an inspection hole in the backing plate through which the thickness of the shoe lining can be inspected.