Brakes (no, not brake lights again)

"Just Jeepin'" (macintux) 01/01/2019 at 16:00 • Filed to: None

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Ever since I briefly had a dash cam (video quality was terrible, and I decided I’d rather wait to find a good one) and I tho ught about what my videos would reveal about my own driving, I’ve been contemplating what actually makes a good driver, and how someone can judge their own driving.

I’m sure that very few people think they’re a bad driver, but I think we can all agree that “average” is still pretty poor.

One idiot poor driver recently gave me an idea for a metric of quality driving that people could actually use to assess themselves.

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There’s a road near my house that is a nice bypass for a fairly busy street, and has some pleasant scenery, but has one significant downside that prevents it (mostly) from being abused: a 25mph speed limit.

While traversing this route (I drive a Wrangler : driving slowly is practically mandatory ) I watched the SUV in front of me accelerate until they found themselves trapped behind another car that, like me, was doing the speed limit.

For the next mile, the SUV was tailgating that poor car and hitting their brakes every 50-100 feet. Idiocy.

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So my proposed metric for quality driving involves (surprise!) the frequency of brake usage.

Brakes are important signals to traffic behind you (assuming your brake lights work, but again, not the point of this post no matter how much I want to rant again) , and c learly they’re required for making sharp turns and coming to a stop at intersections.

Things get tricky when you’re talking about start and stop traffic. I know people will insist until they’re blue in the face on two topics : that driving the speed limit when everyone else is ignoring it is life-threatening, and that leaving a safe distance between them and the car ahead of them in a traffic jam means that the entire world is going to jump ahead of them and they’ll never get anywhere .

I’ll choose not to tell y’all what I think of those two arguments, although my opinion is not hard to guess.

In any other context , however, using your brakes implies an unexpected emergency (someone cutting you off , e.g. ) or, I would suggest, that you are not driving with the appropriate level of caution.

So any time you unexpectedly hit your brakes, ask yourself whether you’re actually paying enough attention to what’s going on around you, and ask yourself whether you’re tailgating.

( Or maybe the car in front of you has no brake lights and you can do the world a favor by alerting them. Just sayin’.)

Alf Romio > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 16:16

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This is a good take. I may argue that it may be more so of the frequency of brake usage which may translate to appropriate throttle control that the vast majority of drivers lack.

My blood boils when the person in front of me induces seizure episodes.

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 16:17

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Before I was allowed to sit my drivers license, my dad made me prove I could  drive 10 miles across town without using the brakes or the clutch (except when stopping). He was a great believer in “if you need to brake you aren’t paying enough attention”. 

Just Jeepin' > Alf Romio 01/01/2019 at 16:19

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As someone who only drives an auto when I have a rental car, my bias towards manual transmissions may be biasing me a bit towards brake-free throttle control as well. I should have mentioned that in my article.

Just Jeepin' > Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen 01/01/2019 at 16:20

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That’s fantastic. Mad props to pops.

Alf Romio > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 16:22

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I have terrible reading comprehension today since I noticed I simply repeated your point on frequency. Great start to 2019!

Just Jeepin' > Alf Romio 01/01/2019 at 16:24

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It’s all good. Today’s a holiday, the grind (at least for me) doesn’t re start until tomorrow.

facw > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 16:28

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Certainly if you see someone using their brakes a lot on a  highway that’s not a very good sign of their competence.

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 16:31

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He also made me drive mom’s Fiat up a muddy  firebreak outside town to learn about managing traction, and do figure 8 donuts in his Jag to learn about skid control. I got my license about a year after my friends, but I came out a hellovalot better trained than any of them!

In his day, dad was one of the best drivers I’ve met. He’s in his 80s now, and still better than average - he’s one of the few people I’m comfortable being a passenger with. He was never into speed in a big way - smoothness was his thing. The biggest compliment you could pay him was falling asleep in his car.

Just Jeepin' > Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen 01/01/2019 at 16:34

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I had an unusual experience many years ago, taught a domestic violence victim to drive after she had left her husband and was staying at a local shelter. We were fortunate enough to have some leftover snow/ice in an empty parking lot, so I could get her a little more comfortable with losing and regaining control.

She soon moved to Florida, so I have no idea whether that lesson was useful.

Just Jeepin' > facw 01/01/2019 at 16:37

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Well, sure, that seems undeniable. I’m just arguing for each of us to use that as a way to review our own driving: if you have to hit the brakes, think ab out why.

Even if someone cuts you off, there’s a good chance that you could have noticed a turn signal, or maybe you could have seen the same backup in their lane that they’re reacting to, or you could have noticed some other motion that predicted the lane change.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 16:48

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Completely agree. Good replies in this thread also. Excessive braking is definitely a sign of following too closely and not paying attention. I can drive plenty fast  for hours on a crowded expressway never touching the brakes, just the odd soft cancel on the cruise. 

I like cars: Jim Spanfeller is one ugly motherfucker > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 16:56

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Also: if the brake lights never turn off, indicating that they’re two footing it. If you see someone two footing it, get as far away from them as possible as soon as you can.

Urambo Tauro > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 16:59

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Agreed. Braking technique can really make or break a driver. You should always be paying attention, so that you can brake ONLY when appropriate, and at a reasonable intensity. Otherwise, you get that ripple effect that causes phantom traffic jams.

It doesn’t take much to get acquainted with a vehicle’s braking ability. Well-maintained brakes are super-predictable. Between the weight of the vehicle, the brake pedal stroke, and braking power in general, a few stops is all you need to get a general sense of what it’s going to take to slow/stop the vehicle, and where that vehicle is going to end up.

And yeah following distance is important too. If you really think you need to follow closely enough to prevent  getting cut off, then you better have good brakes to deal with whatever the vehicle in front of you does next. Modern braking systems are quite good, but again- only if they’re maintained properly and used in a timely & responsible manner by an attentive driver.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 17:52

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If the metric is brake usage, I’m the greatest driver of all time.

Brakes that last you 30k last me at least 50k and don’t end up on JRITS. And that’s before I do anything to improve compression braking.

BaconSandwich is tasty. > Just Jeepin' 01/01/2019 at 23:11

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What baffles me is people that don't seem to understand that you can slow down by just getting off the accelerator. Ease off the gas, and unless you are headed down a hill, you will slow down.

Orange Exige > Just Jeepin' 01/02/2019 at 08:22

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100% agreed. Nice write-up. Brake as little as possible is the key to good and efficient driving.

I challenge myself to not stop at any traffic light - especially on familiar routes - unless really necessary. It baffles me when people actively accelerate up to a light that JUST turned red, knowing full well they're going to have to stop. Take it easy on the gas and you can approach the light slowly and possibly make it without stopping, therefore saving you gas AND time.

MattHurting > Just Jeepin' 01/02/2019 at 11:44

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Agree with this take. Also, I would love for more drivers to realize that you don’t have to be on the gas or the brake, coasting while “covering” the brake is reasonable too.

Jacca > Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen 05/07/2019 at 12:57

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Wait, no clutch? So you had to learn to rev  match, or are the speed limits just low in your town?

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Jacca 05/07/2019 at 20:16

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Rev match. Proper old school. 

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Jacca 05/08/2019 at 03:29

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Although “accelerate from rest only using top gear” was another lesson.

Now I think about it, I pity whoever bought my mother’ s Fiat.