[rant] Break lights at traffic lights [/rant]

degsie

I find it reeeeealy annoying that 'most' people insist on keeping their brake lights on when stopped in traffic or at traffic lights. It is especially noticable on these dark mornings/evenings. The ones that really get on my wick are the higher light strips which seem perfectly designed to dazzle you. Have these people never heard of a handbrake???? Arrrrrgh :eek:

Anan1

Don't look at them. As has been previously explained, the footbrake is safer than the handbrake in a rear impact.

Bluetonic

Topic is nearly as boring as the Motoring section of The Irish Times.

Cyrus

degsie wrote: »

I find it reeeeealy annoying that 'most' people insist on keeping their break lights on when stopped in traffic or at traffic lights. It is especially noticable on these dark mornings/evenings. The ones that really get on my wick are the higherer light strips which seem perfectly designed to dazzle you. Have these people never heard of a handbrake???? Arrrrrgh :eek:

some peope drive automatics aswell, would you rather a blast of their reversing light if they moved the lever to park!!

egan007

degsie wrote: »

I find it reeeeealy annoying that 'most' people insist on keeping their break lights on when stopped in traffic or at traffic lights. It is especially noticable on these dark mornings/evenings. The ones that really get on my wick are the higherer light strips which seem perfectly designed to dazzle you. Have these people never heard of a handbrake???? Arrrrrgh :eek:

Yahoo another psycho to deal with on the road, the reason I leave everyone else to it these days. Man do you have life worries.

You know you can buy an unmarked gun for about 200Euro....

Alun

[rant]People who can't spell BRAKE[/rant]

Owen

degsie wrote: »

I find it reeeeealy annoying that 'most' people insist on keeping their break lights on when stopped in traffic or at traffic lights. It is especially noticable on these dark mornings/evenings. The ones that really get on my wick are the higherer light strips which seem perfectly designed to dazzle you. Have these people never heard of a handbrake?

Are you a moth? No? Then good news! You don't have to stare at the lights, you can ... [dah de dah dah dah dah!] ... Look Away(tm)! It's a radical new concept turning the Motoring world by storm. Dazzled by oncoming headlights, just Look Away(tm)! It's so crazy, it just might work

craichoe

I recon you wouldn't be long making crap of your handbrake if you used it everytime you stopped in Cork/Dublin monday morning traffic.. or friday evening traffic.

Malice

Anan1 wrote: »

As has been previously explained, the footbrake is safer than the handbrake in a rear impact.

Is this true? I would have thought that the handbrake was safer.

Alun wrote: »

[rant]People who can't spell BRAKE[/rant]

I would agree with the OP, some brake lights can be irritatingly bright. As well as simply not looking at them, you could also stop your car a little further back, not just so that you can see the rear wheels of the car in front.
To be honest, you could write a book about the stupid things motorists do at traffic lights!

degsie

egan007 wrote: »

You know you can buy an unmarked gun for about 200Euro....

Tell me which route you take and I'll gladly put it into good use

Táck

degsie, regardless of the rest of the moron's that take this place way to serioulsy, i agree with you.

Anan1

malice_ wrote: »

Is this true? I would have thought that the handbrake was safer.

The footbrake brakes all four wheels, the handbrake only brakes two.

craichoe

Anan1 wrote: »

The footbrake brakes all four wheels, the handbrake only brakes two.

Depends on the car, but the majority do not brake on the back.

A. Its usually drums on the back anyway.

B. Braking is always at the front due as all the weight us pushed forward and down when your stopping.

Handbrake should only be used for Parking and Hillstarts IMO

L1011

Person at the front of the queue is meant to use footbrake only I thought? Or so the auld lad told me in the mists of time when I was learning...

If I'm near the back of the queue on the N7 or N4 lights theres no way I'm trusting the car solely to the handbrake.

hottstuff

craichoe wrote: »

Handbrake should only be used for Parking and Hillstarts IMO

This is true.
OP you have issues.

egan007

degsie wrote: »

Tell me which route you take and I'll gladly put it into good use

I ride a motorbike you would not catch me, you would be stuck in traffic Fuming....

The Novacastrian

Depends on the car, but the majority do not brake on the back.

What does this mean? All* handbrakes work on the rear wheels.



*I'm sure someone will point out one or two cars that dont.

luckat

Of course the handbrake's safer - but there's a lunatic rule now that the person at the front is supposed to use the footbrake.

Pray that you're not the pedestrian crossing in front of that car when someone rear-ends it and the foot comes off the brake and the car shoots forward to kill you.

cpoh1

luckat wrote: »

Of course the handbrake's safer - but there's a lunatic rule now that the person at the front is supposed to use the footbrake.

Rubbish as was mentioned already the footbrake holds all four wheels (the drums at the back engage when pressing the footpedal also) whereas the handbrake only covers the rear wheels.

Back on topic anyway, anybody who complains or gets angry about brake lights annoying them has some serious issues they need to resolve!

pburns

degsie, I'm not being funny or anything but maybe you need your eyes checked. I once had intermittent problems with glaring lights due to eye problems.

I have a friend who is big on 'rules', for years he'd be pulling up the handbrake at every single junction (sometimes twice if he was creeping out for a peek). Same thing in traffic - all because the driving instructor told him to do it at year dot. I began a compaign of taking the piss out of him for this, other friends joined in and eventually, despite initial protests, he quietly dropped the habit. He's a good driver and still likes to do the 'right thing', but not now to a ridiculous, impractical extent...

mike65

Blame automatics. When you come to a stop rather than put the car in neutral I tend to leave it in Drive with foot on brake (I don't have high-level light so its not so bad as most cars).

Mike.

plissken

ned78 wrote: »

Are you a moth? No? Then good news! You don't have to stare at the lights, you can ... [dah de dah dah dah dah!] ... Look Away(tm)! It's a radical new concept turning the Motoring world by storm. Dazzled by oncoming headlights, just Look Away(tm)! It's so crazy, it just might work

Wait ive never heard of this motoring term "looking away" can you explain in further detail please

Matt Simis

mike65 wrote: »

Blame automatics. When you come to a stop rather than put the car in neutral I tend to leave it in Drive with foot on brake (I don't have high-level light so its not so bad as most cars).

Mike.

Yeah, Im just getting use to this to in an Auto. Sometimes to spare the driver behind me (my rears are stupidly bright) I put it in Park (and dont brake), but that probably isnt terrible safe. I dont have an actual "handbrake" either, its also foot operated, so it isnt something that could be popped on and off if I wanted to regardless.

Usually I hold the foot brake on, bathing the angry face behind me in neon red.

seamus

General consensus seems to be now that the person at the front should use the footbrake (to aid a speedier depart from the lights), where everyone else should use the handbrake - to avoid hitting the vehicle in front when rear-ended.

I tend to use the footbrake most of the time, unless I know I'm going to be waiting for ages. I have occassionally been known to use no brakes when stopped on the flat and just take my feet off all of the pedals. I have no idea why.

Anan1

seamus wrote: »

General consensus seems to be now that the person at the front should use the footbrake (to aid a speedier depart from the lights), where everyone else should use the handbrake - to avoid hitting the vehicle in front when rear-ended.

Eh, no.:)

Gran Hermano

Alun wrote: »

[rant]People who can't spell BRAKE[/rant]

I thought this thread was about people breaking the lights, shows
what a misspelling can do.

mike65

Matt Simms, puting the car in Park is not wise esp if you are the last person to stop in traffic with someone approaching. If you get a whack in the rear, the pin(s) holding the
transmission could be damaged (bent or broken) and you'll have a a car jammed in P

Mike.

Matt Simis

mike65 wrote: »

Matt Simms, puting the car in Park is not wise esp if you are the last person to stop in traffic with someone approaching. If you get a whack in the rear, the pin(s) holding the
transmission could be damaged (bent or broken) and you'll have a a car jammed in P

Mike.

So the correct way is holding on the brakes I guess? Putting it Park plus E-Brake isnt practical realistically. Oh well, I tried being conscious of those around me!

crosstownk

Matt Simis wrote: »

So the correct way is holding on the brakes I guess? Putting it Park plus E-Brake isnt practical realistically. Oh well, I tried being conscious of those around me!

Emergency brake as it's known stateside but is of little use in an emergency. The correct term, afaik, is parking brake but for obvious reasons it is usually referred to as the handbrake.

Personally, I use the handbrake if I'm stopped in traffic on an incline or if I'm in for a relatively long wait at traffic lights, but other than that (roundabouts, stop start traffic, etc) I just use the foot brake.

seamus

Anan1 wrote: »

Eh, no.:)

Eh, no yourself.

Most test instructors tell students to do this.

milltown

My brake lights are nice and bright so I like to use them to have a good goo in my rear view mirror to see if there's any talent in the car behind.

Matt Simis

crosstownk wrote: »

Emergency brake as it's known stateside but is of little use in an emergency. The correct term, afaik, is parking brake but for obvious reasons it is usually referred to as the handbrake.

Personally, I use the handbrake if I'm stopped in traffic on an incline or if I'm in for a relatively long wait at traffic lights, but other than that (roundabouts, stop start traffic, etc) I just use the foot brake.

I only call it an EBrake as mine is not a hand brake at all, its mounted on the floor. But I guess Parking Brake is the correct term.

smemon

Yeah it's annoying and there's absolute no need to keep your foot on the brake if there's 2 or 3 cars stopped behind you.

If all is quiet and you're the only car in the queue, then fine - it shows the driver coming up behind you that your are fully stopped - if you just have handbrake on he might think you're moving.

but for most people, ditch the brake habit - it's annoying as hell at night time, plus it's not safe - it is the wrong thing to do despite what people are saying here.

astraboy

smemon wrote: »

Yeah it's annoying and there's absolute no need to keep your foot on the brake if there's 2 or 3 cars stopped behind you.

If all is quiet and you're the only car in the queue, then fine - it shows the driver coming up behind you that your are fully stopped - if you just have handbrake on he might think you're moving.

but for most people, ditch the brake habit - it's annoying as hell at night time, plus it's not safe - it is the wrong thing to do despite what people are saying here.

Its safer to do so, and far easier then using the handbrake in constant traffic. If you are stopped and rear ended, or the car 3 cars back is rear ended, and you have your brakes applied this will prevent or reduce your impact on the car in front, far better then a handbrake would, as its usually applied to only the rear wheels and these are less powerful then the front brakes.

As for those complaining, don't ye have anything else to worry about?:rolleyes:

bbam

Folks...
Brake lights or not... What annoys me is the dopes in the front of the que not being ready to move off when the lights go green.:mad:

I swear some of them seem shocked when the lights do go green, :eek:. Then they start the usual mental checklist;

" gears, mirror, gears again, oh my god a green light, gears again, should I go now ?, sher there's no rush, mirror again, try to move off, oh the handbrake, gears again to be sure, move off again"... lights go red.

If people would pay attention at the lights a few more cars would get through on each sequence...

I think we should have the amber before the green as they do in the UK

cheers
bam

zilog_jones

!!AWFUL ADVICE ALERT!!

How many of you have (i) been rear-ended, and (ii) managed to keep your foot on the brake pedal while being rear-ended? Because chances are, from the force/shock/unpredictability it's not gonna happen!

This is the worst advice I have ever seen in this forum.

Matt Simis

zilog_jones wrote: »

!!AWFUL ADVICE ALERT!!

How many of you have (i) been rear-ended, and (ii) managed to keep your foot on the brake pedal while being rear-ended? Because chances are, from the force/shock/unpredictability it's not gonna happen!

This is the worst advice I have ever seen in this forum.

We have one guy claiming that braking at the lights is a waste of time, one claiming that everyone should use hand/parking brakes irregardless of the impracticality, someone else pointing out that many people are just too slow to use the handbrake under "lights pressure... then you that condemn the "advise". What dont you actually try to be specific and propose something?

bbam

I did suggest that we should have the amber light before the green so the less prepared drivers would know that dreaded green light is on its way...

I do pity these folks... the pressure of the impending green light is such a well documented problem..:rolleyes:

Cheers
bam

L1011

bbam wrote: »

I think we should have the amber before the green as they do in the UK

I'd second that, although I'm sure some gombeen would corner somewhere, see an amber ahead and start to cane it with "ah sure its green" and not have enough stopping time to get through as it goes red...

colm_mcm

Amber light means:

Drop down a cog and floor it before it goes red.

zilog_jones

Matt Simis wrote: »

We have one guy claiming that braking at the lights is a waste of time, one claiming that everyone should use hand/parking brakes irregardless of the impracticality, someone else pointing out that many people are just too slow to use the handbrake under "lights pressure... then you that condemn the "advise". What dont you actually try to be specific and propose something?

Sorry I didn't see the bbam's reply while writing mine. I was refering to the "wow footbrake is 4 brakes, handbrake only 2 lol" brigade like the post before that.

Sorry i wasn't very clear - handbrake is the way to go, or should I say not go. Driving instructors aren't idiots - they know what they're on about. It is highly unlikely you're going to be able to keep your feet on the pedals in the sudden event of being rear-ended. Sorry I don't have factual evidence of this outside of one person I know who's been such a situation.

Tomas_V

MYOB wrote: »

I'd second that, although I'm sure some gombeen would corner somewhere, see an amber ahead and start to cane it with "ah sure its green" and not have enough stopping time to get through as it goes red...

If memory serves me correctly, the UK sequence is red, then red+amber, then green. No chance if mistaking that for the amber-only that most drivers fail to stop on.

If people are keen on a prompt getaway on green, maybe don't read the newspaper while waiting?

ninty9er

I generally use brakes, with handbrake and drop the brakes when I see the crossing lights go amber, let out the clutch, slightly, let the handbrake hold the car, increase revs and in the 2 second it takes to do this the light are green gone red the other way, then let the handbrake down and I'm moving as soon as the light go green.

Try it it works and you don't have to press 3 pedals at the same time!! as other people suggesting only footbrake at lights would need to do to be driving safely.

Try and find a driving test who doesn't grade 2 fault you if you don't use the handbrake when stopped in heavy traffic or at traffic lights

bbam

No...
The Red remains on with the amber when the sequence is ready to turn green...

Matt Simis

bbam wrote: »

No...
The Red remains on with the amber when the sequence is ready to turn green...

Yeah, this is how it works in the UK and its nice and simple... should be here too. But thats what the other guy said too!

nytraveller

Matt Simis wrote: »

Yeah, this is how it works in the UK and its nice and simple... should be here too. But thats what the other guy said too!

Have the Brits always had it that way or did they change? Seems odd we're not the same as them considering our laws/court system are all basically derived from the British system.

And while we're at it, the old "left turn on red" issue might need to be changed too.

astraboy

zilog_jones wrote: »

Sorry I didn't see the bbam's reply while writing mine. I was refering to the "wow footbrake is 4 brakes, handbrake only 2 lol" brigade like the post before that.

Sorry i wasn't very clear - handbrake is the way to go, or should I say not go. Driving instructors aren't idiots - they know what they're on about. It is highly unlikely you're going to be able to keep your feet on the pedals in the sudden event of being rear-ended. Sorry I don't have factual evidence of this outside of one person I know who's been such a situation.

Well if you don't have factual evidence what are you claiming is bad advice so?!:rolleyes: If I keep the brakes on at the lights, my brakes are applied at ALL FOUR WHEELS. If I use the handbrake its only the rears. Rear brakes only account for 30% of braking effort and thus are much weaker then the front brakes too. If I get a mild shunt to the rear having the brakes on might make the difference in reducing damage to my car or the car in front. I apply the handbrake for hill starts only really, keeping the brakes on also ensures I can move away from the lights quickly.

Again, this issue seems to be blown out of proportion, I'm more worried about people falling half asleep at the lights as someone said and not going when they turn green.

degsie

I just don't get it! Why would you, when stopped for an extended period of time, keep pressure on your right foot while squeezing on the brake pedal.

Why not apply the handbrake, let your right foot relax and observe the traffic in front/behind you.

The roads are like christmas lights here.

I think a LOT of bad advise has been given here.....:(

L1011

Tomas_V wrote: »

If memory serves me correctly, the UK sequence is red, then red+amber, then green. No chance if mistaking that for the amber-only that most drivers fail to stop on.

I've been driving through Belfast as recently as 6 days ago and couldn't remember this, although in my defence I did hit a (intentionally planned or not I'm not sure) green wave on the Westlink!

astraboy

degsie wrote: »

I just don't get it! Why would you, when stopped for an extended period of time, keep pressure on your right foot while squeezing on the brake pedal.

Why not apply the handbrake, let your right foot relax and observe the traffic in front/behind you.

The roads are like christmas lights here.

I think a LOT of bad advise has been given here.....:(

Have you read the thread at all? Its to reduce the damage if you are rear ended. Fair enough if you are number 3 in a line of 10 cars, use the handbrake. But I'll continue to use my brakes in most traffic as I believe its safer. A letter was in the Irish Times motoring section this week regarding the same issue and the writer said keeping his brakes on in traffic reduced the damage in a rear end accident he was involved in.

irishthump

astraboy wrote: »

Have you read the thread at all? Its to reduce the damage if you are rear ended. Fair enough if you are number 3 in a line of 10 cars, use the handbrake. But I'll continue to use my brakes in most traffic as I believe its safer. A letter was in the Irish Times motoring section this week regarding the same issue and the writer said keeping his brakes on in traffic reduced the damage in a rear end accident he was involved in.

No, sorry, total horsesh*t. There's no way you can guarantee your foot will stay on the brake if and when you are rear-ended.
At least when the hand brake is on, it will STAY ON when you are hit! You might move, but you won't move very far. Oh, and you won't have to worry about finding the break again while dealing with a case of whiplash!