I have no doubt that you also have at least one friend who drives like this: he accelerates suddenly, even if sees the red traffic lights, then he suddenly brakes. And so he does that to every traffic light. Some say that this is the best practice for driving the car, to have speed when the traffic lights will go green, others say that this is a bad habit.
Engine braking does not cause any damage to your car, it is ideal to learn how to use the engine brake. Besides the fact that it helps us to have a lower fuel consumption, it reduces the speed gradually and safely, without forcing the engine or the mechanical braking system.
It does not always hurt to be with our eyes wide opened, to see what happens in the distance: if we have a jam or the light is red, we immediately stop accelerating.
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In fact, how do you brake properly and normally?
It should be the case now that we try to figure out how to break the car. In fact, when and how. Because some drivers, although they all attended the driver’s school, you would say that they completely forgot all the traffic rules and, including, the common sense ones, as soon as they get their driver’s license in their pocket. Now, besides the safety issues, such as respecting the color of the traffic light or priority rules, we will try to unravel another mystery:
Why drivers accelerate and brake suddenly?
I remember that I took a taxi once to go home from work. The taxi driver had only two speeds in his hands: suddenly and … unexpected. I mean sudden acceleration and sudden braking. He left the traffic light with maximum speed, after which, although he saw that the traffic light was red from 400 meters, he continued to accelerate up to several meters from the last car at the traffic light, then he pressed suddenly on the brake pedal, creating enough conditions for the seat belt to block you.
And so it was all the way: my head bounced back because of sudden acceleration and bounced in front because of the sudden brake. I had never done so much gymnastics on my head and neck that I did on that annoying day.
But I have also seen colleagues or friends who drive the same way as the case described above. I understand the fact that you are in a rush and leave the traffic lights in a hurry, the driver hopes that the next red one to catch it green.
Like a big boulevard that you have the chance to catch all the traffic lights on the green only if you drive faster, from one head to another. But what I do not understand is why, although it is a visible traffic jam in front, stopped or red traffic light, he continues to accelerate and then brakes in force, so that your eyes will come out of your eye holes like a snail. 🙂
I came to two conclusions: this traffic behavior denotes the frustration and nerves that some drivers are subjected to. All traffic is aggressive, if you do not have gut, you will not pass the intersection, if you are not brave enough, you do not get to work sooner and if you do not have a big mouth, you are confused with a sucker.
The traffic jam, the cost of fuel, but also the boor of other drivers, as described above, all these reasons lead to a huge frustration accumulated in the driver’s mind, so thus giving birth to such driving maneuvers.
The driver always has the impression that if he slows down in time, the other driver behind him wakes up to ring him, reproaches him for going slow … Or if he leaves too slowly from the traffic light, a driver from behind turns the high beam on and off several times.
The second conclusion is that a lot of drivers have no interest in road safety. I do not want to say that there is no efficient means of information to teach them, because they went to the driver’s school.
Indeed, there are also few defensive driving schools, schools that everyone would be good to visit and take a course, some of them are only concerned about making money, not doing free campaigns for the ordinary citizen, but there are a lot of serious schools for defensive driving who will teach the driver that it is dangerous if he brakes at the last moment and the importance of engine braking.
Yes, is it dangerous to brake suddenly daily, at each traffic light, instead, try reducing the speed gradually and easily, using the engine brake, how about that?
Because, in an overcrowded city with cars and full of traffic lights, this repetition of braking greatly stresses the braking system, the discs, brake pads, and brake pipes. They heat up and they have no time to cool down, especially since we abuse them in this area. Excessive heat leads to ovalization, and in some cases, these aggressive brakes with high hydraulic pressure, cause the brake hoses to fail, especially if the car is old.
Let’s take for example drivers whose cars are not very well maintained, cars that I am very sure you see on the streets frequently. Braking aggressively day by day, like 100 times a day, and then, suddenly, while accelerating suddenly and reaching traffic jams, they must immediately brake, also they re very close to the driver in front, thus the danger of an accident is higher.
But guess what: a hose also gives up to that pressure and goodbye brakes. There were cases, including on the freeway, at high speeds, serious accidents with human casualties occurred. For the speed to be reduced properly, the driver could use the engine brake, good choices are always winners and choose a safe route, even if he did not have a brake …
But obviously, some drivers are not interested in this aspect either, because this does not happen to them, they are craftsmen, experts, and cars are good …, like new. :). this bad behavior like braking aggressively repeatedly will wear the brake pads much faster.
The discs will overheat, and they will deform. At high temperatures, we risk boiling the brake fluid which causes the pedal to weaken and cracks in the rubber hoses. So, it is better to stop ahead of time and anticipate the traffic conditions ahead without sudden brakings.
We use the engine brake and finally, to stop the whole car, the foot brake. Nothing is forced and nothing will get hot. In fact, if we were able to adopt this calm style, with much anticipation and preparation, we will realize that the foot brake will be used extremely little. Suddenly, we will wake up and with better consumption.
This does not mean that there are situations, quite rare, in which we have to brake aggressively using the foot brake. These are emergency situations when someone or something jumps in front of the car and we have to stop within a few meters.
But we may never meet such situations. Therefore, it is better to keep aggressive braking for critical moments and to learn to slow down slowly, without hurting the car. First, because it is much safer for us and those around us.
