Using the brake pedal at traffic lights?

Nearly_Old

I'll plead guilty to using the footbrake whilst stopped at traffic lights except when I am on a level road but I only do it to save money.

Citroen C5 2.2 Automatic with the "wonderful" front caliper pistons on a screw thread that allows the handbrake to operate. Almost 5 years ago new pads were fitted and the n/s caliper started sticking. The Citroen Dealer freed it but when it started sticking again they wanted £300+ to fit a new caliper. I got it freed and stopped using the handbrake and use the Park setting. I do sometimes use the Park setting if I know I will sat at the lights for a long time otherwise I just put it into Neutral and use the footbrake. So the only time the handbrake has been used since then is at the MoT test. Had another set of pads (the previous set lasted for 75k so quite pleased with that) last November and again got the same caliper sticking. I'm now using a trusted indie and they freed it, fiddled with the handbrake cable and (touch wood) it's all fine again.

Strider590

StrangelyBrown wrote: »

That must be very old then because I learnt over a decade ago and it gave 2 options (offside-offside or nearside-nearside).

'going round the back' of the vehicle (nearside or right side) is considered safer because your view of the oncoming traffic isn't blocked but yet it rarely happens.

It's Rule 181 if you need a refresher :-)

I know the rule, I looked it up, but as it no longer refers to just traffic light controlled junctions, it was pointless posting it.
And when I learnt to drive, there was only the one option, the one that nobody ever uses.

StrangelyBrown wrote: »

It's using something reserved for a defined purpose and making it mean something completely different.

You could apply that "logic" to literally anything and not just in the driving sense....... If everyone thought so inflexibly, the human race would be extinct.

Your just being pedantic tbh, it's unimportant.... People driving around in the fog with no lights or only parking lights on, is a far greater problem/hazard than someone flashing the hazards to say "thanks".

I suspect you may be one of those who drives about trying to act the plastic policeman.

thenudeone

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Over and above any issue with high level brake lights, this way, if someone rear ends you, your foot can't slip off of the footbrake and you shouldn't be shunted forward enough to hit the car in front. Only the rear of your car is damaged. The car and driver in front isn't involved in the accident.

Exactly. If you are only using the foot brake then if someone rear-ends you and you're knocked unconscious for a couple of seconds, your car could roll right out into the junction where you could be hit side-on by another vehicle.

StrangelyBrown

Strider590 wrote: »

Your just being pedantic tbh

You say it like it's a bad thing?

I'm not a wannabe PCSO, just think that rules are there for a reason - if everyone was flexible enough to break them, the human race would fall apart if anything.

The Highway Code is exactly that flexibility that you're so fond of - it's just that, a code. To quote Hector Barbossa of Pirates fame, "the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules".

It's the laws that back it up that need to be applied fairly and universally - in the case of the hazard lights, it's Section 27 of the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989 that apply.

In the case of how to turn right with another car, the law's not got an opinion.

Strider590

thenudeone wrote: »

Exactly. If you are only using the foot brake then if someone rear-ends you and you're knocked unconscious for a couple of seconds, your car could roll right out into the junction where you could be hit side-on by another vehicle.

If your hit with the handbrake on, your car isn't going to stay where it is anyway.

Try it, try fully applying your handbrake, count the notches, then drive along at 10mph and apply the same.... I bet your car doesn't stop. Even those with insanely harsh handbrakes (like the 2004 Toyota Corolla), they just lock the wheels and carry on.

The fact is, you should drive according to the condtions and NOT simply stick to a set of simple instructions that DO NOT take into account all possible circumstances.

When you learn to drive, you are not taught "advanced techniques", vital tools that you need to learn in order to drive in all conditions and on all roads.

The world is not perfect, on the roads nothing ever happens exactly the same way twice, you can't write an instruction book for something that is more or less (due to the unpredictable behaviour of others) the very definition of chaos theory.

Lum

Strider590 wrote: »

Cold frosty mornings or at night, someone lets you out, they can't see you if you wave, so use the hazards...... It's called being courteous, something that's fast disappearing these days.

Don't forget that many cars are coming from the factory with tinted rear glass these days, for example my "Econetic" Mondeo has it because it means you don't have to use the aircon so much.

If I wave, the person behind can't see it, so hazards it is.

StrangelyBrown wrote: »

Like how White Van Man uses his to mean "I'm only parking illegally for a little while, honest".

Who says they are illegally parked? By default you're allowed to park on a double yellow for the purpose of loading and unloading and if you do so it's a good idea to put your hazards on.

Strider590

StrangelyBrown wrote: »

You say it like it's a bad thing?

I'm not a wannabe PCSO, just think that rules are there for a reason - if everyone was flexible enough to break them, the human race would fall apart if anything.

Rules are the biggest problem in this red tape society, too many pointless rules, not enough enforcement of the important ones.

I could drive along in fog/snow with no lights on and cause a 40 car pile up on the M5, it'd get blamed on speeding drivers or local bonfire's.

I could put a baked bean can in my household waste bin and get fined for using the wrong bin.



And finally, if people didn't bend the rules and push the boundaries, you and I would not have ANY of the technology we have today.

Human beings are not robot's, we don't live in a black and white world, the answer is not always yes or no, we are not always right or wrong, your actions will always have both positive and negative affects.... There is no such thing as innocence, only varying degree's of guilt.

Strider590

Lum wrote: »

Who says they are illegally parked? By default you're allowed to park on a double yellow for the purpose of loading and unloading and if you do so it's a good idea to put your hazards on.

I was thinking that........ Surely a van parked half up the kerb IS by definition a "hazard"?

Lum

fivetide wrote: »

never really understood this one. As the pads are in contact with the disc anyway, whats the point?

I put "warping" in quotes for a reason.

What actually happens when you bed in a set of brake discs is a fine layer of brake pad material becomes embedded in the disc surface, then when you brake the pad material sticks to this layer. Under normal circumstances this will be a nice even layer.

If your brake pads are nice and hot and then you sit there with your foot on the brake, additional pad material can become stuck to the disc, so you get a nice brake pad shaped lump on your brake disc. It's not something you can see with the naked eye, but it's there.

Once you get this, you're basically stuffed as next time you brake, the leading edge of the pad will hit that lump creating the thudding and vibration you feel when you have a "warped" disc. This impact will cause additional brake pad material to get torn off and stick to the existing lump.


I don't know how the MB hill holder system works, but a lot of cars with rear discs have little brake drums as well for the handbrake, so perhaps it's using that? Some makes have a second smaller brake pad that is not used in normal braking that does the same thing.

vaio

Strider590 wrote: »

......With modern cars, many so heavy that most won't sufficiently hold the car on a steep hill (especially with disk brakes). The best way is to use the handbrake AND the brakes imo.......

Modern cars where the handbrake won't hold the car on a hill?

That must make parking in Wales interesting