irlandes, I like what you said!!!
whitey, I only mentioned your name because you already knew how I felt about left-foot braking and automatics, I was really writing to folks who did not know.
I had to learn to drive with both feet about 27 years ago because I always seemed to have a car that wouldnāt idle. I got used to it so now that is the way I drive my new car. For the record I have NEVER mistaken my left foot for my right or stomped on the gas during panic situations.
Just the other night I was driving my daughter home from work when a deer jumped out in front of me. I knew where there is one there are usually more so I swerved into the other lane. If I was driving a truck I would have just nailed him but I drive a compact car and my daughter was in the passenger seat.Sure enough another deer jumped out and because of my quick reaction we avoided hitting him or anything else. By the way, my foot never hit the gas or the brake. The roads were wet from rain and I was doing 55 so this would have caused me to wreck using both feet or not.
What I am trying to say is that maybe for some people it is not wise to drive with both feet but for people who use their heads, are coordinated and DONāT keep both feet on the pedals at the same time I donāt see anything wrong with it.
Well, obviously, driving manual transmissions require driving with two feet. BUT! for āhigh performanceā driving/ entering turns in cars equipped with an LSD, left foot braking is quite useful. Other than that, I really donāt think driving with two feet with an Auto is really all that necessary. If thatās how you drive, cool. Not how I learned in driving schoolā¦ all those years ago. But Iāve been driving stick since I actually received my license, so I suppose it doesnāt really apply.
To lighten things up a bit, the story here in OK is that the govenor is going to sign a bill into law mandating that all high beam switches be mounted back onto the floor of the vehicle.
Apparently too many University of OK football fans were getting their feet tangled up between the combination switch lever and the steering wheel after a victory.
Unfortunately, this puts both feet back onto the floor.
Iāve never had an automatic transmission car of any consequence, so perhaps my comments on this topic are irrelavent. I was once saddled with a front-wheel-drive car ('83 Audi 4000-E) that had to do inappropriate service as a snow driver in the wilds of Central Colorado. With fancy Scandanavian tires, studs on the front only, and disconnected front sway bar, it got around OK-ish, though I did have to mount driving lights to the rear bumpr to make it up local hills.
To get the pig to turn sharply at speed in snow, I had to learn the techique of left-foot-braking (actually heel-toe with the right foot, since the left still had clutch duty). The idea was to use the brake and trottle simultaneously, thus negating some torque on the front tires while increasing it on the rears. This tends to cause the front of the car to tuck into a turn, a thing otherwise hard to achieve with a front-driver.
It wasnāt at all elegant ā screeching hard against instinct of mechanical empathy. And my reptilian brain attuned to proper rear-drivers resisted at times, making little piggy ease off the throttle while big piggy locked the front brakes and understeer off the outside cliff just as Iād have done at similar speed without employing the tecnique. But when I managed to get it to work, boy howdy, it worked spectacularly!
Iām thinking that this may not be the left-foot-braking mode weāre discussing here.
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When driving a stick shift, you use your left foot to clutch because there are no alternatives when clutching, but a skilled stick driver also uses the left foot on the brake at times. In some cases, you can also use a hand brake-- it depends on the car and what youāre doing. It is a matter of experience and coordination.
To the point of what to do on an automatic-- have you ever noticed how nearly every car with an automatic transmission has a wide brake pedal? Ever wonder why they are wider than the brakes for a stick shift car? It is because it is assumed you may need to use either or both feet on the brake.
Panic stop? Get your left foot immediately on the brake as you should have already had that foot hovering over the pedal from the moment you were aware there was a reasonable chance youād need to stop, then in the fraction of a second that follows, you get your RIGHT foot off of the gas and onto the brake as well.
You need to prepare for a panic stop people-- be ready with both feet and if something goes wrong, know how to gear down as you also step (probably also with your LEFT foot) on the emergency brake or grab the hand brakeā¦
Have any of you one-foot drivers ever tried to back up vehicles with a trailer, like when putting boats into lakes? Two feet work MANY times better-- it is far too easy to roll too far if you wait to move between gas and brake with the right foot.
I am assuming that none of the right-foot-only drivers on here have ever had occasion to operate something like a lawn tractor where your legs are apart and on opposite sides of an engine? On that design of equipment, there is certainly no chance at all of braking with your right foot if the brake pedal is on the left.
When it comes to off-road equipment, all bets are off as to pedal assignments, so you learn and adapt to each different piece of gear. Sometimes the brake is on the right and the throttle in a hand control.
Ever drive a boat? Whereās the brake there? It is usually a hands-only affair for the throttle (much like on aircraft, but the controls are different between those too) and in case youāre wondering, there is of coarse no brake on a boat, or a plane in the conventional sense (at least once youāre off the ground).
Some of the fastest race cars in drag racing have no foot brake at all-- only hand controls which you PUSH to stop with your hand as opposed to traditional hand-PULL brakes. Learn to adapt-- all weāre taking about is using TWO FEET.
Just like you have to adapt your shift pattern when you change from one stick shift to the next-- (typical cars may have 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 speeds and reverse may be in any corner) you have to deal with the pedals you need to operate and all it really requires is concentration and a little practice.
Iāve been driving for over 29 years now. Iāve never caused an accident but I have sure been hit in the rear end a bunch of times, nearly always when stopped at or stopping for a traffic light or a stop sign. Iād give you some good odds that the people who keep hitting me are nearly always stopping with their RIGHT foot.
Anyone can learn to use two feet. Go to a big empty space like a deserted parking lot and try your skills and you too will see that this is not something too hard to learn.
Drive Safely.
There is nothing in any state driverās manual that states you cannot brake with your left foot, or for that matter that you have to use your right foot. I know this because I am a Driverās Education teacher and have taught driving for over 30 years and have used my left foot to brake since I took Driver Education courses in the late 70ās. I have only taught students to left foot brake if they wanted to. You have to be coordinated enough to use your left foot in automatics and be able to switch for standard transmission. Not all people can left foot brake and not all people should. The real technique is when one sees a hazard or problem situation the left foot is used to cover the brake which cuts reaction time almost in half. Again it takes practice and coordination so if some one tells you it is illegal they are totally wrong
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you shouldnt in an automatic unless your brakes are crappy. you have to drive with both feet if ur driving standard
My high school driving teacher in 1973 was very progressive, saying āautomatic transmission is the wave of the futureā and taught us Left Foot Braking. It has helped me over the years. I have never had an accident, and successfully avoided some close situations thanks to LFB. My left foot instinctively knows it is for stopping. It just takes practice. You can avoid the 1/2 second delay reqired to move your foot from right to left, so you can stop sooner. Stopping 10 feet sooner can save lives. Thatās enough reason.
I was trying to learn how to drive today with my family, and it didnāt feel right using just my right foot for TWO petals which perfectly align with their corresponding feet already, left for break, right for accelerate. I felt like i was using only the right side of my brain when i was attempting to drive with only my right foot. I felt like i could drive with two feet as it would balance out the difficulty in focus that was occuring in my head whilst driving with right foot only. I was observing how they drove with both hands turning the wheel, iām sure thereās probably even people who drive with left hand only, while turning on the wheel only as well. I feel uncomfortable with the one foot, and it worsens my anxiety (in the pov of me doing this, not when someone else is doing this, as i have nothing against it if you are fine with learning like that, i however donāt like to learn like this.) with the thought of even using one hand to turn because its wasting the limb youāre supposed to use which is perfectly good to use. in a summary, find it hard to actually drive one foot (even one hand wheel) when thereās two petals which align with your feet evenly. What even confused me more is that, when people say they slam with two feet. Im thinking they either learned one foot and then attempted to learn two feet, or they have some sort of break that goes in the middle somehow, which iāve never seen in any of the cars iāve been in. so that confuses me. Apparently its illegal here so i donāt know if im ever gonna drive considering i donāt feel comfortable with one foot driving, it confuses me bc we canāt just not use our right foot, tis like ignoring the existance of its purpose to be used, you dont walk with one leg, you walk with two, i know no one other than handicapped people walk around with one foot, and yet they still need that balance to the left side to even walk properly,whether it be a cane or a remade leg. Iāll try to research where i am to see if weāre allowed to use two feet to drive or if imma just train my brain to walk. (infact i got confused after this , thinking my left is my right, and my right is my left, stuff did not help me at all mentally.)
Scientific studies must have shown the 2-foot method isnāt quite as safe as the right-foot-only method, as a general rule. I use the right-foot method, but personally donāt see any reason why someone who prefers the two-foot not be allowed to do it that way. Just be diligent about not stepping on the brake pedal at all except when you intend to stop. The brake lights will often turn on even though you are only pressing on the brake pedal very lightly, not enough to slow you down. Confuses other drivers, and confused drivers all around you, thatās not what you want.
In some late model cars built for about the last 10 years or soā¦ pressing the brake and throttle at the same time will force the car to ignore the throttle. It is a safety feature. My BIL found this out on his Ram truck.
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What scientific studies? I right foot brake because I spent 40 years driving standard shift tractor trailers but I think left foot braking is more efficient for someone who drives automatic only.
By the way, the vast majority of race car drivers left foot brake in standard shift vehicles. Race car drivers are far more adept than he people you find on the street. I have often thought that the test to get a license should be to get down to an acceptable lap time on a track, rather than the parking test we now have.
Flower power?
I had a post removed from this revived thread . I really donāt understand why . I pointed out that Meanyeyedcatz had not been here for years . I said Brake not break ( I guess that just pushes some peoples buttons ) . I also said that this person might want to use an actual driving instrutor as they really sound unsure of theirself.
Thatās how I felt too. But I used my right foot for both pedals. But then in some Chicago traffic I realized that moving my foot between pedals all the time was adding a lot of delay to my brake response time so then I used my left foot for the brake.
Itās fine to use your left foot for the brake as long as you donāt push the brake pedal down while youāre applying throttle. I guess this important rule is harder for some people to follow than others. If there is any chance that youāll drive around with the brake pressed down then forget about the left foot brake idea.
Did the study include people who drove with the brakes on all the time and had failed brakes?
Donāt look for sympathy from me.
And here I thought Volvo was doing all the flagging. Youād think in 12 years all that needs to be said on this subject has been said.
To repeat, in drivers training in 1964 I hopped right in and used my left foot for the brake. My fighter pilot instructor just said to use my right foot for the course then I could do whatever I wanted, which I did. Million plus miles and still alive.
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Your right foot is controlled by the left side of the brain.
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The rest of your reasoning is equally suspect.
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This thread is ancient and should have been left dormant.
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Wish I could have liked this several times