Using the brake pedal at traffic lights?

vikingaero

The gear lever on 99% of automatics can be pushed from D to N and from N to D without fear of going into R or P - so there is no need to look down.

Road_Hog

custardy wrote: »

lol,paranoid much?

Try to engage brain first.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/5125422/Motorists-set-for-green-wave.html

"The introduction of "green waves" will help to cut carbon emissions and traffic noise.

"Up until now the Department for Transport discouraged such schemes, increasing motorists' frustration at being met by a succession of red lights."

"The old system was perverse, it seemed to be an absolute nonsense and confirmed drivers worst fears that they were being treated as a cash cow."

bungle4by4

im guilty of footbrake at lights, in a auto car lazyness tends to set it

blinded by brake lights i cant see as a problem. but fog lights left on or put on the first sign of rain.... now thats a rant i can get behind.

busiscoming2

Have to say I am guilty of not using my handbrake at lights. Surely it would take longer for the traffic to move if eveyone did this as no one would be ready to go?

When I learnt to drive I was taught to apply the handbrake in case you were hit from behind and it would stop you hitting the car in front.

Other car's brake lights have never been a problem, never noticed their brightness. Headlights are my bugbear especially the bright white ones.

Lum

The amber phase of the lights provides a convenient 3 second warning that gives you time to find the bite point and release the handbrake and thus set off as soon as the light changes to green.


And I personally hate all LED lights. They leave horrible green or purple afterimages on my retina even after they've turned up. LED brake lights are the worst purely because they're the most common, though LED indicators are actually more annoying. Currently the kinds of cars with LED indicators tend not to be driven by people who are habitual indicator users, however.

Stephen_Leak

Strider590 wrote: »

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.

Fair enough. That's why it's a simple two-stage strategy: leave some space and engage the hand brake. OK, if you're then hit by a Smart car at 30, you probably won't be shunted forward into the car or road in front.

In the worst case senario, if you see a 38-tonner bearing down on you at, well any speed, you're toast. Or more likely pate. Or, as also mentioned above, the space you've left gives you the opportunity to take a calculated risk and pull out to get out of it's way.

custardy

Road_Hog wrote: »

Try to engage brain first.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/5125422/Motorists-set-for-green-wave.html

"The introduction of "green waves" will help to cut carbon emissions and traffic noise.

"Up until now the Department for Transport discouraged such schemes, increasing motorists' frustration at being met by a succession of red lights."

"The old system was perverse, it seemed to be an absolute nonsense and confirmed drivers worst fears that they were being treated as a cash cow."

designed to

The introduction of "green waves" will help to cut carbon emissions and traffic noise.

If you sit foaming at the wheel then thats your issue

Cash-Strapped.T32

I think what he was driving at (pardon the pun) is that the "paranoid much?" comment implied that he was imagining things, whereas the article shows otherwise - he wasn't making a point about his personal anger-management or lack of.

(ps: this is coming from a disinterested 3rdparty to try & avoid the kind of 2-way arguments we often get on the board)

(ps2; thinking about it a bit more, I'm not totally disinterested to be honest; I've often had conversations with people where they tell me of how they handle roads like RH describes, or the article describes; where motorists blast along a road at say 60 on a 30/40 stretch because that's the only way to sync-up with the series of lights which have been timed solely in order to stop everyone for no good reason.

A bike is so rapid to take off I'm usually lucky enough to not be effected, unless I'm behind a car, in which case I'm stuck with everyone else so I can't try & be a smart**se.. :rotfl:

Obukit

busiscoming2 wrote: »

Have to say I am guilty of not using my handbrake at lights. Surely it would take longer for the traffic to move if eveyone did this as no one would be ready to go?

Into first, clutch up and handbrake down. Takes about a second for me to do, so unless you are first in the queue there is time to do it before you can start to move.

R.e. differing opinions about whether it blinds you, I wonder if this varies depending on the vehicle? I notice it when in my car or small van, but in the big van (higher driving position) it's less bad. In the car it can be so bad I have to look away and wait until the lights change (car stops being bright red), otherwise I have spots on my vision when I drive off.

TrickyWicky

fivetide wrote: »

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

Also, some manufacturers, well one I know of, MB say there is no need to even take the car out of drive whilst waiting at lights. I think some models even have a 'hold' feature to stop that autobox creep when in D and idling.

On point though:

114

You MUST NOT

• use any lights in a way which would dazzle or cause discomfort to other road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders
• use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced. You MUST switch them off when visibility improves to avoid dazzling other road users (see Rule 226)

In stationary queues of traffic, drivers should apply the parking brake and, once the following traffic has stopped, take their foot off the footbrake to deactivate the vehicle brake lights. This will minimise glare to road users behind until the traffic moves again.

5t.

I learned in a manual and I always applied the handbrake at the red lights.

That said, I switched to an automatic a few years back and with those you don't have that option. You stop at the lights and hold it using the brake pedal. On some autos if you use the handbrake while you're still in drive it will still pull the car along (especially downhill) yet you can't realistically keep moving from D to N and back all the time either. Not only will it put wear on the autobox (which is massively expensive to fix compared to a manual) but it will also take longer to re-engage D - when all the other cars are already several feet away. Plus to go from N to D you need your foot on the brake thus lighting up the brake lights. Also as mentioned on page 3, I'd need to go through reverse to get to D - my autobox is P, R, N, D, 3, L. Sure I could go into N instead but then I'd need my foot on the break to go back into drive and that slows it all down again.

There are more and more autos slowly appearing on the roads so this will only get worse.