To ease off the accelerator when I'm coming up to a stop rather than going straight from the accelerator to brake

[DyslexicScientist]

When I'm driving and need to slow down rather than going straight from accelerator to brake I often just ease of the accelerator. Especially when I'm going from a 40 to a 30.

This seems to annoy some drivers, seeing a small gap in front. Someone today must of sped massively to overtake me. And started to brake sharpy he moment they overtook me. It was quite dangerous. I was doing about 42mph and letting the car slow a bit naturally in a 50mph zone. All that happened is the Car in front got to the traffic lights that were red a few seconds earlier.

There's a reason for brake lights! To spell out the obvious, it's to alert drivers behind you that you are slowing down!
If you don't brake, you will be rear ended!

If you don't use the brakes, someone will be up your arse!

No, they won't. Unless they are too close, but then you can adjust your driving to that too.

When reducing speed, you'll have to go down gears, but only when you reach an appropriate speed, not use the gears to slow down.

Did ye not have to learn hand signals? In the event that your lights fail?

When you brake you reduce speed very fast. That's what the lights are for.
If you just stop accelerating the loss of speed is much slower and the driver behind can easily adjust. That happens in normal driving conditions. Nobody usually maintains the exact same speed all the time.

It is an offence to drive with broken brake lights. If you don't fucking use them, you will get a serious bollocking from police.

My husband was a driving instructor for 15 years and I have had lessons within the last 12 months. Was taught to always brake when reducing my speed in order to signal to other road users what I am doing (not just other cars either). That is the whole point of brake lights and why it's illegal to not have working brake lights.

It's courtesy to signal your intentions to other road users. The Highway Code says to drive with due care and attention yes, and it also says to be considerate of other road users. if you don't give any signal that you are slowing you are putting all your trust in the other driver not to go into you. If you went before a judge, although the driver behind you would be at fault, I can't see the judge being too sympathetic if you didn't bother to signal either.

Weird reasoning.
You can't choose not to turn the lights when you brake.
And if taking the foot off the accelerator was so dangerous, there would be a light signal for that by now. It's not dangerous because the reduction in speed is very slow. Hence not braking.

LikeADivil
If you don't brake, you will be rear ended!

No, if you don't brake, you will still be moving forward, albeit at a reducing speed.

If your brake lights don't illuminate, you may be rear-ended.

It is an offence to drive with broken brake lights. If you don't fucking use them, you will get a serious bollocking from police.

As long as they're in working order then you won't get any bollocking from the police regarding their illumination, given that their activation is automatic.

I drive an automatic car so I always take my foot off the accelerator before braking

WeeseKeysAreThese
My driving instructor told me this was safest in case your brakes fail.

I meant to address this in my previous post.

Brakes fail very rarely (if properly maintained). Most (if not all) modern type-approved cars have two separate brake systems (connecting diagonally-opposing wheels) so that if one system fails the other can still stop the car. You also have the handbrake/parking brake in an emergency (type approval and single/individual vehicle approval require at least two independent braking systems).

I'm not sure how common this is, but recent cars are often capable of independently braking each individual wheel (for intelligent ABS, traction control and a sort-of torque vectoring) - this possibly creates four separate brake systems, which would mean the chances of all four failing at any one time are extremely unlikely (I'm not too sure one this score - the weakest link would be the brake pedal/master cylinder and link to the rest of the system).

I drive an automatic car so I always take my foot off the accelerator before braking

You have to do that on all cars. Or the car would enter the twilight zone of breaking and accelerating at the same time.
Which some people use with the hand break to spin the car, apparently.

Actually, do you use different feet for the accelerator and the brakes?

Lweji

"I drive an automatic car so I always take my foot off the accelerator before braking"

You have to do that on all cars. Or the car would enter the twilight zone of breaking and accelerating at the same time.
Which some people use with the hand break to spin the car, apparently.

Not really (you don't have to do it on an auto, either. Left-foot braking can be used to balance (or unbalance) the car when entering a corner without letting the engine revs (and power) drop. It's probably not really necessary on the road, admittedly.

I use my engine and gearbox to slow down. On my last car the brakes were over 60000 miles old when I changed them, and they were only half worn. Decelerating gently is far easier on the engine too.

Actually, do you use different feet for the accelerator and the brakes?

Not recommended. But you can, and I think rally drivers do it. I once had a car which used to stall all the time unless the engine was being revved, and the only way you could slow down was to take it out of gear, keep one foot on the gas just enough to keep the revs up, and brake with the other.

YANBU

That is how learners are taught to drive now. It's all about eco friendly driving. Lots of drivers wouldn't past their tests of they had to take it again.

dodobookends

Was that what your mechanic recommended?

I tried it both once to see what would happen. Didn't damage the cat but I won't repeat it.

BTW, having recently (politely) let a couple of people know that they have faulty rear lights on their cars and received bovine stares in return, I would recommend expecting the unexpected.

the classic was the stupid sod who was reversing in a supermarket car park, out of the space. No reversing lights. I told him, his response was 'doesn't matter, I never reverse in the dark'.

I refrained from pointing out that using the mirrors before going backwards is also a good idea...

I often take my foot off the accelerator to gently slow down, changing gears as required depending on the speed I'm slowing to.

There's no need to tap the brakes to signal to other drivers. And in over 20 years, I've never been rear-ended for doing this, even with some of the seriously twatty tailgaters common on the M1/A46 around Leicester.

If people kept a decent distance between themselves and the car in front, there'd be less in the way of traffic hold-ups, as we'd all be able to go at a steady pace.

And sudden lane swervers.

I also get shedloads of speedy undertakers in this area, who cba to wait until the driver at the front of the queue "gets it" and pulls into the inner lanes. They speed up past us all stuck in the outer lane and then push their way in.

And yet, all they achieve is to get past just a couple of cars or so before they have to stop due to the way traffic flows round there . Twats.

I always try to keep a decent distance from the car but today I got one tailgater who was so close I could see him making hand signals in the mirror obviously trying to persuade me to close the gap. I ignored him, kept to my steady speed that was pacing the car in front, but when I pulled into the inner lane ready to turn off, he ostentatiously sped past me only to pull into the lane right in front of me. I just let him get on with it, no point getting all cross about it.

Im a late braker, you cant always tell when coming up to traffic lights if thbeyre going to change when you get there, so you carry on at normal pace, slow down a bit just in case and get the twunt behind accelerating up your arse cos you're too slow for them, or I find as im slowing down gear by gear, I get to 1st and the car stalls! every time, I tend to got from 2nd, brake, neutral.

I know it does the brakes in and not good for the fuel consumption, but its the only way it works for me.

I use my engine and gearbox to slow down. On my last car the brakes were over 60000 miles old when I changed them, and they were only half worn. Decelerating gently is far easier on the engine too.

What a silly false economy. Brake pads usually cost less than £50 to change (fronts), discs not much more; a replacement clutch can be over £1000.

Decelerating gently or decelerating harshly makes no difference to the engine whatsoever.

Maybe not. But I've never fried a clutch or gearbox ever. And I bet my fuel economy would be better than yours were we driving the same vehicle.

I drive for a living. I drive over 1000 miles per week. I have done for the past 15 years so I think I know what I'm doing, ta.

It would be an interesting contest, I've done my fair share of hypermiling.

How very Dunning-Kruger of you