Are they all taught to stand on the foot brake when they come to a stop in traffic, instead of using the hand brake and are they not taught to use the gear box for slowing down, so they are in the right gear at all times?
Dave
Guess this is a rhetorical question ;) Don't know about the former but the latter, yes according to driving instructor mate.
Lee
By which I meant engine braking is now considered deprecated, apparently.
Lee
I fear you may have stirred-up a hornets nest. They stand on the brake, specially at night, to annoy the bloke behind. Gears to go, brakes to slow. I also think they've shortened the mirror, signal, manoeuvre to manoeuvre.
Google tells me :-
"Gears are for going and the brakes are for slowing". Seems to be the thing these days.
Crazy :-( I've always used gears for slowing and always will - seems much safer to me.
Given that brakes are generally much much cheaper to replace than clutches these days then I'd rather use the brakes.
Eh? Why?
Brakes work on all 4 wheels. Back in the days of engine braking cable operated brakes were less effective. I lift off the brake pedal and turn indicators off while sitting in traffic at night but many appear not to be so courteous. Ideas have changed a bit since I passed my test 40 plus years ago.
I think we need to have an input from a member of the generation who learnt to drive when brakes were really something you used in emergency only as they were in general something that one day was reliable and the next day not.
My first vehicle (elderly in 1960) had brakes that were operated by cables - I did a major rebuild on it and had to tune up the brakes to pass the recently introduced MOT. The day following the successfully passed MOT, the brakes were in all reality pretty useless, so yes you had to use the engine as a brake and double declutching down a hill was a skilful task.
Brakes have improved - engines have become much more expensive to maintain whereas brakes haven't and have improved no end in capability so the logic is quite apparant, use the brakes - cheaper and considerably more efficient.
That is pretty much what my driving instructor told me many years ago. Using the brakes also has the advantage that the brake lights warn the driver behind that you are slowing down, which using the gears does not.
For most of the time yes but I think it's still recommended when going down long, steep hills.
If you are already in the right gear to move off, Then you don't waste timebut when you use the brakes you have select a gear and move off. This slows things down and is what the government wants. Presumably to make you fed up and cease driving Look at these ridiculous speed limits and how long the police take to open the road after an accident. If these safety people really believed in safety, they would take on the car manufacturers who design cars which make cars in which it is a workshop job to change a bulb. Robbie
Why do you think gears are safer? Brakes act on all four wheels and the brake lights warn the driver behind, who may be too close and/or not paying attention.
1920s? Not many cars like that still on the road.
I've never seen the point in going down through the gears, its easy enough to go into gear if accceleration is needed. The one exception is/was snowy/icy roads, where engine braking reduces the tendency to skid, plus a rear wheel skid has a lot less impact on control than a 4 wheel skid. However with ABS now that's the other way round too, leaving the only real use for engine braking being as a last resort for brake failure. Which rarely happens on modern cars anyway. And few people drive leaving enough space for brake failure any more.
NT
No, that hasn't been taught for several decades at least.
You can change gear whilst using the brake, I do if I want to be ready to move off quickly.
I always use the handbrake. Unless it's a cyclist behind.
With old fashioned drum brakes, there was a tendence for them to 'fade' if they got too hot. This happened if you were using them for an extended peroid. The other reason for slowing the car with the aid of the gears is that if you have to accelerate suddenly, you will be in the correct gear to do so.
Slowing with the gears, used to be known as "engine braking". I understand that if you change down a gear in a large Volvo when it is going somewhat over the speed limit, you do indeed cause "engine breaking".
The Triumph Herald had brake bits made of low grade discarded chewing gum. To get it through an MOT required precise timing. You parked it with two wheels on the pavement just outside the garage and when your car was summonsed you dived underneath it (that's why you parked with two wheels on the pavement) and tightened the handbrake cable as much as you could. With much squealing and scraping you drove the car in for its test and hoped the mechanic didn't get any phone calls. With no interruptions it might just stay tensioned for the 20 min's before it was reached on the test sequence.
on 05/10/2011, Bob Eager supposed :
Explain please?
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.