Brake lights and stopping at junctions

Believe it Ferdman.

I usually don't do it if there is nobody behind me. But if I got a string of cars behind me, I got no problem taking my foot off the brake and putting it in park.

And turn your lights on in the rain! It's always Gen2 I see with no lights on and it's pouring rain.

 

I'll try to weigh in:

Option one: put your foot on the brake. When you need to go, transfer your foot to the gas.

Option two: put your foot on the brake, push the park button, release the brake, likely allowing the car to roll back or forward up to a foot, coming to a stop due to the transaxle's parking pawl. When you need to go, reapply the brake, shift to drive, transfer your foot to the gas.

I'll got with option one.

 

Sorry to rain on your parade, but that's utter tosh!

What if you were in drive with your foot of the brake and a pedestrian crossing in front of you and for any number of reasons your for slipped off the brake. And you would fail a UK driving test if you did as you advocate.

And I'd go for Mendel's option 1

 

Well, anybody with common sense I believe, would keep their foot on the brake if they had a pedestrian right in front of the car!

But if I am number four or five in line, and I got a string of cars behind me, I take my foot off the brale and put it in park, especially at these long five minute red lights.

What else can we argue about today?!

How about all the stupid people who are still using their damn cell phone while driving?!

And do you apply the foot parking brake when you park? Or do you just press the P button. That's also a popular argument.

Driving with no lights on in rain? No DRL's in daytime?

Never use blinkers?

Doing 85 in a 65 zone?

Rolling thru stop signs?

Texting while driving?!

Much more important than me putting my car in P for a couple minutes. I guess you guys will have to revoke my Priuschat membership card!

 

Oh get off your high horse. Have you ever even driven a manual transmission?

 

Why you young punk!
I was driving stick shift vehicles while you were still sucking on a bottle! I bet you don't even remember a "Three on the Tree." Then a four on the floor, and finally a five speed.

And what the hell does THAT got to do with me putting my Disneyland car in P at a red light??? And turn that damn CELL PHONE off!

Sumbitches....

 

My first manual was a three on the tree in a 1962 Ford Falcon 2 door station wagon, (Synchro only on first) my last was a 5 speed AWD 2001 Subaru Forester.

At no time during those 47 years did it seem to be a good idea to be stopped in the road, with no warning to other drivers that I was at a stop.

It still doesn't.

Driving a manual does not HAVE to mean you are a danger to public safety.

 

This thread seems to illustrate a major difference between UK and North American driving standards / practices / traditions that I've observed in past threads. UK drivers were expected to extinguish glare-producing brake lights as soon as it was safe to do so. North Americans are never taught to do so. Our urban areas have so much other artificial light glare already that the practice is pointless here.

Another difference is clutch use. UK drivers tests appear to require proficiency at practices that I was specifically forbidden to use. E.g. British drivers need to be proficient at using the clutch to hold the car stationary on hills, whereas I would be chewed out for causing premature wearout and replacement, and told to use the footbrake instead. So I'm accustomed to having the clutch last the life of the car.

 

I wish it was legal to have a bright "strobe" brake light, activated by a switch at will. Sometimes I think people don't even see my small brake lights, especiallly the distracted people. It would come in handy during heavy fog & rain.

I only put it in P when cars are already stopped behind me. I did it 6 times this morning. That P is going to wear out!

I grew up learning to drive stick shifts. So did all my sisters, and even my mom. My stubborn dad wouldn't have it any other way! You either drove a stick, or you didn't drive.

 

So when you were driving manual, you always kept the clutch held in for stop lights, just in case you had to take off? If so, I call BS.

Also, synchros are only really needed for gears OTHER than first; you might have it backwards. Otherwise, you'd be grinding the gears with every shift.

 

Ha, you discount my ability to live in small towns. Montesano, WA (20 years) had a traffic signal. Elko, NV (14 years) had 3. I lived in Seattle and Phoenix (3 each) but drove a motorcycle in both, so the clutch had nothing to do with my feet. Bellingham, WA (7 years) had a fair number of lights, as does Greenwood, MS; (12 years) I had no trouble keeping the clutch in. I lived for 4 years in Clarksdale, MS and worked there for another 12 years. Every time a traffic light burned out, they replaced it with a stop sign, very odd.

Could be, I got rid of the Falcon in 1978, so it has been a while.

 

I find it's the Twin-Cab trucks and some SUVs with high brake lights which are the most annoying.

 

I think the Falcon would have been synchro on all gears EXCEPT first. I had 3 cars like that, and a few work (Australian) Falcons from the '60s.

 

I taught my 3 children to drive, emphasising that the clutch throw-out bearing isn't going to get good life if you sit with your foot on the clutch. We went through the procedure. Stop, neutral, handbrake, clutch OFF, foot on footbrake if nobody is behind (to keep the stoplights shining). And I'd tell them to be ready for when I suddenly said "GO" - the procedure Clutch>1st>off FootBrake to Accelerator>Handbrake while clutch off, became so second nature, they'd be off within 2-3 seconds.

Just before they went for their test, I sent them for a couple of "so-called" professional lessons, mainly to finesse reverse parking. First thing he tried to tell them was that they should sit at traffic lights wearing their clutch throw-out bearing, keeping the car in gear. I told them not to argue because he wasn't the one who had to replace the bearing - and to play his game while in his car, but ignore him in MY car.

 

I have driven nothing but manual transmission cars since my first car in 1980 and until I gave my 1998 Volvo S70 (5 speed manual) to my son last year and switched to the Prius. I learned to drive on a manual, I ride a motorcycle that is a manual, I've driven large trucks that were a manual, I have driven manuals with three on the tree, three on the floor, you name it. I have probably driven it.

As for high horse, well, the higher the horse the harder they fall. I am not on a high horse at all. I just think this is kind of a silly discussion. Do what you want, I can't make you do otherwise, nor do I have any desire to do so. I just think it's safer to keep one's foot on the brake when at a stop light and be ready to take off at a moments' notice. I even keep my bike in gear with clutch pressed sometimes at stop lights. With a car I am usually in neutral with my foot on the brake. It's not rocket science and it's not really that difficult to do. I am not sure why do anything else... With an auto such as a Prius I do the same thing. If I am stuck in a situation where I know I won't be moving for a while (and by that I mean more than a light cycle, even a longish one) I'll put it in park and possibly even shut it down depending on the situation. But at a light when everything is proceeding as usual I am in a position to take off on a moment's notice. That to me is the safest and best practice. If that sounds like a high horse to you, well then you haven't seen too many horses.

 

There's probably not enough of a sample size to tell for sure, but it is interesting that there does seem to be a difference of opinion correlated with region. I will qualify my prior post and say that I have been known to shift into neutral when driving a manual transmission car if I find myself waiting for more than the average amount of time at a stoplight or for instance at a rail crossing waiting for a train. But other than that I think I probably fit in with most other US drivers and keep my foot on the brake when stopped for the average stoplight.

 

I think that horse was meant for ME.

But seriously guys, I've been doing this for so long (40 years?) it's just second nature. With the manual trans vehicles, I did as Alan explained, above. But sometimes letting my foot off the brake. Stretching the old legs.

And in the auto trans cars, like my Camrys and Hondas, I'd push the lever up into park at a long red light, and move foot off the brake. Again, stretching the legs. I can get it back into D lickity-split. Same with the Prius, I'm pretty fast. Hopefully the folks behind me appreciate not having the brake lights in their face at night. But I also do this in daytime, even more. It seems I'm always stuck at long lights, in heavy traffic. And old habits are hard to "brake"'.

To each his own. Just drive it.
Buford

 

in "normal" Autos, I'd shift to "N" and use the hand-brake. Moving to "P" and back to "D" takes it past "R", which flashes your reversing lights - and, depending on the transmission's response speed, could also partly engage the "R" clutch pack (or bands) - potential wear.

As for horses, I've been on one once, lasted about 4 minutes before he dispensed with his load.

 

My training matched for the clutch (yes, save that throwout bearing, especially on farm equipment), but not for the brake light (use Neutral and the footbrake).

Here, we were taught to leave it in gear and use the footbrake.

 

Ok, I relent. It seems that there are significant differences between national standards on this situation to make it a moot point.

In UK most of our cars had smaller engines (less than 1litre) which necessitated a four speed gearbox but it was unusual to have synchromesh on first gear.