Braking etiquette?

[shud]

Originally posted by: TechnoPro
I nearly had serious road rage today. Not so hard for a Boston driver, but...

I was driving in back of a retard or someone on drugs. There was no other rational explanation for her driving. At a fork in the road (where the middle fork is a big ass wall of concrete), she was driving straight into the center, only swerving at the last minute to cut me off. Then, in the middle of a rotary, when she had right of way by virtue of being in the middle of the fvcking rotary, she brakes...and comes to a complete stop, waiting for merging traffic to merge. And of course, I was stuck behind her with no possible avenue of escape.

Bolded words. That should be plenty to understand this.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: isasir
A lot of times when I'm driving, I make sure to give myself enough room away from the car in front of me, that if traffic starts to slow down, I can just take my foot off the gas and slow down well enough w/o having to press on the brake pedal. I've noticed tho' that many people brake way too damn much, and others probably rely on other cars brakelights to brake themselves.

Is there some braking "code" that I'm breaking (no pun intended), or am I just a better driver (aren't we all?) than them? Or does no one really know nor care?

yeah i hate braking all the time. i do the same thing you to :thumbsup: way to be

 

[nakedfrog]

My dad drives like the opposite way. It scares me. He just keeps maintaining speed and brakes at the last possible second.

 

[GimpyOne]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
My dad drives like the opposite way. It scares me. He just keeps maintaining speed and brakes at the last possible second.

Yea, my dad used to do this and it would piss me off. We'd be doing 65 in a 55 on the highway with no one in sight. We'd come up behind a car, he'd slam on the brakes so we wouldn't hit them, stay there for a minute and then put his blinker on, go into the left lane, and floor it to get back to speed...what the hell????

 

[Amused]

A lot of times on the higway when you see someone tap their brakes it's to turn off their cruise control.

I do that a lot.

But it's also a good idea to lightly touch the brakes when engine braking because it's the only way the person behind you knows you're slowing down.

As for engine braking, brakes are cheaper than clutches. If you drive a stick, down shifting to slow down is hard on your clutch and engine.

 

[TwoBills]

My personal rule is I can't touch my brakes until the car in front of me touches their's. Keeps me at a relative safe distance, about a second and a half, and in the right gear.

If I've got a tailgater I'll click on the parking lites, 1st warning. Gear down, 2nd warning. If I need a third warning, well, let's just say it never fails to wake them up.

 

[JoeKing]

I've pulled the braking light fuse to remove all doubt.

 

[rh71]

I'm with you isasir.. that's definitely the best and most efficient way of driving. I try and hit the brakes as less often as possible... quite frankly because my car eats a lot of gas and is heavy so I keep a consistent speed as much as possible. Braking just kills momentum completely.

 

[theMan]

this reminds me of a funny story. ok, so my brother was driving me to school, and we get to this intersection where the road is at sort of a slant, so a right turn is sort of like a highway entrance ramp, so you dont need to slow down at all around the turn. BUT there is a stop sign there. so, as usual my brother was just going to roll right through and take a right turn. but right was he started turning, he saw that there was a cop right behind him. he slammed on the breaks because he thought the cop would give him a ticket for runing the stopsign but the cop just slammed into us!! it was soo funny. this just sort of reminded me of that.

usually, a lot of traffic jams are caused becuase people tailgate and have to use their breaks a lot, and when you slow down that much, it takes time to speed back up, which slows down the traffic behind you.

 

[CRXican]

In response to the OP I often do the same thing. I don't wanna be smashing the brakes all the time because if I slow down too much I'll have to downshift. I would rather coast in the same gear up to the red light hoping it will go green before I have to brake and shift.

What kills me is the people who brake waaaaay early for no reason when approaching a red light. I'm also annoyed by the people that almost slow to a stop just to make a right turn as if their car might flip if they go 20mph around the turn.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: CRXican
I'm also annoyed by the people that almost slow to a stop just to make a right turn as if their car might flip if they go 20mph around the turn.

Some people slow a bit more on turns to save tread on their tires. I've witnessed what doing that can do, given the weight and speed... I used to do it much faster... and it's evident on my 2 fronts' edges (which have since been moved to the rears) ... it's just not worth it. My Pirelli's don't last that long as it is.

 

[goodoptics]

Originally posted by: CRXican
What kills me is the people who brake waaaaay early for no reason when approaching a red light. I'm also annoyed by the people that almost slow to a stop just to make a right turn as if their car might flip if they go 20mph around the turn.

You'd better watch out for any pedestrian if you go 20mph around the turn.

 

[LS20]

Originally posted by: m2kewl
worse are the stupid slow ass left lane drivers, who brake check when you flash them. i shouldn't have to pass you on the right, dumbass

i wrecked last week beacuse of this... 63mph in the leftmost lane on a 3 lane freeway is bullshtt.

 

[Ime]

Originally posted by: theman
this reminds me of a funny story. ok, so my brother was driving me to school, and we get to this intersection where the road is at sort of a slant, so a right turn is sort of like a highway entrance ramp, so you dont need to slow down at all around the turn. BUT there is a stop sign there. so, as usual my brother was just going to roll right through and take a right turn. but right was he started turning, he saw that there was a cop right behind him. he slammed on the breaks because he thought the cop would give him a ticket for runing the stopsign but the cop just slammed into us!! .

I gotta ask, did the cop give him a ticket anyway?

LOL!

 

[jaedaliu]

Originally posted by: CRXican
What kills me is the people who brake waaaaay early for no reason when approaching a red light.

dude, you gotta use this strategy, brake early and cruise into the light, hoping it'll turn green and you can slam the gas pedal (assuming there are no cars in front of you)

 

[psiu]

I just *love* the fact that people in the city don't understand the concept of "timed" stoplights. They race from one red light to another, slamming on the brakes every half mile instead of just getting up to speed (maybe 5 over at the most) and cruising through light after light. I can go 10 miles at a time never coming to a stop in the Detroit area, barely tapping the brakes at all. Usually only having to stop where the lights are completely off sync (because of being a different city usually).

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: CRXican
In response to the OP I often do the same thing. I don't wanna be smashing the brakes all the time because if I slow down too much I'll have to downshift. I would rather coast in the same gear up to the red light hoping it will go green before I have to brake and shift.

What kills me is the people who brake waaaaay early for no reason when approaching a red light. I'm also annoyed by the people that almost slow to a stop just to make a right turn as if their car might flip if they go 20mph around the turn.

Oh GOD yes. Exactly. And its at least 50% of the people. Its usually an SUV or a minivan...I know those things probably don't corner as good as cars, but they aren't going to FLIP OVER if you don't go 5.

Other suff: Move over to the left when you're turning left asshole, just because you have to stop doesn't mean I need too.

If you're the first one waiting at a stoplight, how about you don't sit there with your thumb up your ass for 20seconds after the light turns?

Why do you speed up when I pass you? You obviously didn't want to go that fast, so its clear your only possible motivation is you're a dick.

If you're in such a hurry that you need to cut me off...maybe you could at least GO THE SPEED LIMIT.

 

[TechnoPro]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: CRXican
In response to the OP I often do the same thing. I don't wanna be smashing the brakes all the time because if I slow down too much I'll have to downshift. I would rather coast in the same gear up to the red light hoping it will go green before I have to brake and shift.

What kills me is the people who brake waaaaay early for no reason when approaching a red light. I'm also annoyed by the people that almost slow to a stop just to make a right turn as if their car might flip if they go 20mph around the turn.

Oh GOD yes. Exactly. And its at least 50% of the people. Its usually an SUV or a minivan...I know those things probably don't corner as good as cars, but they aren't going to FLIP OVER if you don't go 5.

Other suff: Move over to the left when you're turning left asshole, just because you have to stop doesn't mean I need too.

If you're the first one waiting at a stoplight, how about you don't sit there with your thumb up your ass for 20seconds after the light turns?

Why do you speed up when I pass you? You obviously didn't want to go that fast, so its clear your only possible motivation is you're a dick.

If you're in such a hurry that you need to cut me off...maybe you could at least GO THE SPEED LIMIT.

That last one kills me. I wll be on the highway with cruise control on, going at a good clip. People will ride my ass, then pass me, only to end up in front of me going at a speed less than mine. I just don't get it.

 

[Kelemvor]

The more you break, the more gas you waste. Not from the act of breaking but frmo the act of not stopping using the accelerator soon enough that it causes you to have to break.

In rush hour situations ai lways try to use just enough gas that I can coast most of the time since every time you accellerate you use far more gas then when you are ust coasting. I always try to time the stoplights so I don't have to stop either...

 

[theMan]

Originally posted by: Ime

Originally posted by: theman
this reminds me of a funny story. ok, so my brother was driving me to school, and we get to this intersection where the road is at sort of a slant, so a right turn is sort of like a highway entrance ramp, so you dont need to slow down at all around the turn. BUT there is a stop sign there. so, as usual my brother was just going to roll right through and take a right turn. but right was he started turning, he saw that there was a cop right behind him. he slammed on the breaks because he thought the cop would give him a ticket for runing the stopsign but the cop just slammed into us!! .

I gotta ask, did the cop give him a ticket anyway?

LOL!

well, he spent like 10 minutes trying to convince us not to report it. there were some big dents and deep scratches in the bumper. but we eventually did, and i could tell he was really pissed off for doing it. 2 other cops came and they were making fun of the guy. if felt sort of sorry for him.

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: LS20

Originally posted by: m2kewl
worse are the stupid slow ass left lane drivers, who brake check when you flash them. i shouldn't have to pass you on the right, dumbass

i wrecked last week beacuse of this... 63mph in the leftmost lane on a 3 lane freeway is bullshtt.

heh, imagine what they thought of you when they were just going on their merry way obeying the law. Sucks.