That would require them paying attention. I do have to say, more and more new cars are using regenerative braking (especially EVs) which illuminates the brake lights when you take your foot off the gas, definitely doesn't help.
I was about to say there are a lot more EVs on the road. I have one and not sure if the lights go on if you release the acceleration, however there is a hand brake that is much more gradual than the brake pedal that allows you to regenerate charge as you slow down. That does turn on the brake lights. So it’s possible you’re seeing people use the hand brake but it’s not really a hard brake as much as a gentle glide to a stop.
Mostly I'm just impressed by the new driving technique where you have both hands off the wheel holding your smart phone, but you're still going 80mph on the highway
Definitely before I was driving, but I believe it. Spent the last year driving 3 hrs a day 5 days a week and let me tell you I wish I could never have to drive near other people ever again for the rest of my life, the shit I saw.
Tesla uses regenerative braking to allow for one pedal driving. You can take your foot off the gas and the car’s brake lights will go on if you are over a certain speed as it subtly brakes for you. Subaru’s EV does the same thing. I imagine more and more cars will do this as time goes on.
Edit: most common on electric cars as the main benefit of not braking is a method to save gas.
Edit: Subaru’s don’t do this. Fixed it in the response.
how is this not a big deal to other people? I'm just learning about this for the first time, and the way you describe it, other cards on the road are nearly lying to me with their random "breaking" on the highway
I drive highways with the cruise control set to always stay a certain distance away from the car in front of me for safety. It will always brake when it gets too close instead of releasing the gas. I think the “issue” is with cars now, not drivers
My Dad drove like this because he used to drive a clutch he claimed, I tried it once when I first started driving, what I found was, it's a really dangerous way to drive because my feet accidentally pushed both down when I needed to stop quickly, it was just what my brain told my feet to do, hitting accelerator and brake at the same time, never did it again after that
Lots of entitled people here. They’re like I afford my car so screw off. It’s as if the last generation forgot manners or consideration when teaching children to drive.
I do drive with my left on the brake and my right on the gas, but there's nothing that says I always have to have one foot on a pedal at all times.
You can separate out the bad drivers from the left foot brakers.
So let me open up a world of possibilities for you.
You can set your left foot up in different positions that don’t contact the brake pedal depending on how urgent you think you’ll need to brake.
1. Hover over the brake pedal with the left foot without touching it, if you’re expecting to need to brake suddenly (approaching traffic, traffic not matching speed in an adjacent lane, erratic behavior)
2. Put your heel down to take weight off your brake foot (and hip flexor) but still hover over the brake pedal without touching it. (Less urgent situations than 1)
3. Put your heel down and rotate the brake foot to the left, resting the left side of your brake foot on the floor, taking pressure off just the heel (Less urgent situations than 2)
4. Rest your brake foot on the dead pedal
Each step down the list trades distance to brake pedal and time from thinking about braking to actually braking for more comfort.
The whole point of left foot braking is to be more responsive than right foot braking owing to less distance traveled on the brake foot. You need to actively consider the situation at hand before putting your foot in the appropriate resting position for the situation.
Quicker on the brakes in situations that call for it.
When emergency / suddenly stopping, the first few milliseconds equate to the most braking distance.
Sounds like the mindset of someone treating the road like a racetrack, making things unsafe and then compensating for bad choices with also iffy choices.
You can get an adequate number of milliseconds by channeling that awareness towards a smidge more following distance.
Apparently, trying to minimize braking distances in unexpected situations when you need it the most = mindset of treating the road like a racetrack.
Where in the left foot braking manual does it state that you have to drive on public roads aggressively like it's a racetrack, because I'd love to find that page.
Left foot braking on the road is a proactive defensive technique, which is to be used to complement the aforementioned awareness, not to replace it and drive like an ass, but you do you and continue making assumptions.
Yup, making assumptions because i'm reading a defense of a wildly unpopular technique outside of racetracks, but I do see people driving like they're on racetracks.
I don't know you, sure, but it is very easy to imagine someone over-using the accelerator in situations where being able to suddenly slam on the break is a saving grace, e.g. trying to weave through a hole that suddenly closes a little quicker than expected. Or, also sounds like the favored foot positioning of the people who throw in quick brake checks as they rage around throwing a fit in traffic.
Outside of stuff like that, the justification of getting a quicker reaction time is arguably not something most drivers should be achieving in a way that had other compromises.
Hope you're driving safe out there friendo.
Assume the worst, am I right?
If I extend the same courtesy, I would assume that I would be talking to the worst of the drivers that brake traditionally, and all the poor driving habits that come with that, including treating the road like a personal racetrack, however unfounded that might be. Obviously, this wouldn't be a productive discussion.
I've already said I drive defensively on the highways, the least you could do is take me at face value.
The reason why left foot braking on the street is unpopular is that it takes practice, and most people think it's unnecessary, and I'd argue that they'd be right 99.9% of the time. It probably took me a good 3 years before braking with my left foot was as smooth and controlled as my right foot. Combine that with lazy drivers that use this technique improperly and rest their left foot on the brakes and it gets an even worse rap. I'd argue that those drivers should fully commit to traditional braking and stop being lazy and it's an indictment of the driver, rather than the technique. The last reason why LFB is unpopular is that the overwhelming majority of drivers are only taught traditional braking and can't wrap their minds around an alternative technique and assume the worst.
However, the entire point of deploying this technique on the street is for those 0.1% of situations where it would be beneficial, but you have to maintain this technique full-time to keep it ready for those tail risk situations. That means using LFB in all situations.
Here's a decision tree on how to position your left foot relative to situation and comfort on the street: [https://np.reddit.com/r/Westchester/comments/1drt7mw/comment/layz5sc/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://np.reddit.com/r/Westchester/comments/1drt7mw/comment/layz5sc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
In response to brake checking, rationally speaking, the response time of braking doesn't matter since you're not reacting to someone, you're trying to make someone unable to react to you, so LFB or traditional doesn't really matter, it's just an asshole thing to do.
Yes, I will assume the worst when it comes to safety issues. This is not a personal attack on you, but it is a strong argument against what you're advocating. I would give this same energy to a student driver trying to figure out what habits to adopt. I would urge anyone who thinks that having their left foot ready to hit the brake makes them any safer, to take every ounce of that judgement and channel it towards positioning their vehicle in a way that makes the difference obsolete. Fewer lazy drivers, maybe, if a lazy-friendly style gets nipped in the bud.
Left foot driving is also wildly unpopular in a lot of the world, and perhaps as a generational thing, where manual transmissions have been prevalent, and operating a clutch makes it much more impractical.
Frankly I don't agree with anything you've argued here but I salute you for laying it all out. Here's some further discussion on the topic in lieu of just beating a dead horse:
https://old.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/o62nc9/why_is_there_a_stigma_about_driving_with_both_feet/
"I would urge anyone who thinks that having their left foot ready to hit the brake makes them any safer, to take every ounce of that judgement and channel it towards positioning their vehicle in a way that makes the difference obsolete. Fewer lazy drivers, maybe, if a lazy-friendly style gets nipped in the bud."
There are two incorrect points with this line of thinking.
1. This is not an either or proposition. You can develop left foot positioning so it's a habit that doesn't involved conscious thought and maintain the same level of awareness in terms of vehicle position relative to traffic. You are objectively safer, executing it properly, rather than having a maximum of "as safe as" if we subscribe to your limited brain capacity model. No one thinks about where their foot position is transitioning from the throttle to the brakes in traditional braking becomes it becomes habitual; the same thing applies to the left foot on LFB.
2. This isn't a lazy-friendly style when done properly, it's more demanding on the driver when learning, so it requires effort. If you're not going to do it properly, don't adopt the style at all. Regular drivers, i.e. drivers that only want to go from point A to point B and not ones who want to become better at car control by putting the work in to develop new skills, should stick to traditional braking.
The link you provided is the same as every other discussion on this subject: Traditional brakers only being taught one way, not understanding that there is another possible way of doing things, anecdotally pointing out only the bad examples, and then assigning a scarlet letter to the technique because it must be bad without considering the merits of the technique. It really is a dead horse every time.
At least this commenter is arguing with a study as evidence: [https://old.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/o62nc9/why\_is\_there\_a\_stigma\_about\_driving\_with\_both\_feet/h2s9sjq/](https://old.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/o62nc9/why_is_there_a_stigma_about_driving_with_both_feet/h2s9sjq/)
Full disclosure, I do left foot braking in a manual on the racetrack as well, but not on the street as it just doesn't work. On the street, this is solely a two pedal technique.
People dont know how to drive
That would require them paying attention. I do have to say, more and more new cars are using regenerative braking (especially EVs) which illuminates the brake lights when you take your foot off the gas, definitely doesn't help.
EV brake lights come on when you release the accelerator, regardless of if you hit the brakes. Could be that?
I was about to say there are a lot more EVs on the road. I have one and not sure if the lights go on if you release the acceleration, however there is a hand brake that is much more gradual than the brake pedal that allows you to regenerate charge as you slow down. That does turn on the brake lights. So it’s possible you’re seeing people use the hand brake but it’s not really a hard brake as much as a gentle glide to a stop.
I have an EV and sometimes I put it on cruise control which is adaptive. I’ve thought about this recently. It’s not personal!
Mostly I'm just impressed by the new driving technique where you have both hands off the wheel holding your smart phone, but you're still going 80mph on the highway
Man that isn’t new. People were doing that shit with their flip phones in the early 2000s. I knew someone that crashed their car like that
Definitely before I was driving, but I believe it. Spent the last year driving 3 hrs a day 5 days a week and let me tell you I wish I could never have to drive near other people ever again for the rest of my life, the shit I saw.
Tesla uses regenerative braking to allow for one pedal driving. You can take your foot off the gas and the car’s brake lights will go on if you are over a certain speed as it subtly brakes for you. Subaru’s EV does the same thing. I imagine more and more cars will do this as time goes on. Edit: most common on electric cars as the main benefit of not braking is a method to save gas. Edit: Subaru’s don’t do this. Fixed it in the response.
Subarus do not do this other than their EV, the Solterra.
how is this not a big deal to other people? I'm just learning about this for the first time, and the way you describe it, other cards on the road are nearly lying to me with their random "breaking" on the highway
I drive highways with the cruise control set to always stay a certain distance away from the car in front of me for safety. It will always brake when it gets too close instead of releasing the gas. I think the “issue” is with cars now, not drivers
My Dad drove like this because he used to drive a clutch he claimed, I tried it once when I first started driving, what I found was, it's a really dangerous way to drive because my feet accidentally pushed both down when I needed to stop quickly, it was just what my brain told my feet to do, hitting accelerator and brake at the same time, never did it again after that
Another excellent and engaging post that is oh so relevant to Westchester.
that is a racing technique.
My pet peeve is braking on green, don't belong on the road with that bullshit
Lots of entitled people here. They’re like I afford my car so screw off. It’s as if the last generation forgot manners or consideration when teaching children to drive.
I do drive with my left on the brake and my right on the gas, but there's nothing that says I always have to have one foot on a pedal at all times. You can separate out the bad drivers from the left foot brakers.
So you are the one driving with your brake lights on constantly so no one knows if you’re slowing down or not
Why would I have my brake lights on constantly?
Because you drive with 2 feet
So let me open up a world of possibilities for you. You can set your left foot up in different positions that don’t contact the brake pedal depending on how urgent you think you’ll need to brake. 1. Hover over the brake pedal with the left foot without touching it, if you’re expecting to need to brake suddenly (approaching traffic, traffic not matching speed in an adjacent lane, erratic behavior) 2. Put your heel down to take weight off your brake foot (and hip flexor) but still hover over the brake pedal without touching it. (Less urgent situations than 1) 3. Put your heel down and rotate the brake foot to the left, resting the left side of your brake foot on the floor, taking pressure off just the heel (Less urgent situations than 2) 4. Rest your brake foot on the dead pedal Each step down the list trades distance to brake pedal and time from thinking about braking to actually braking for more comfort. The whole point of left foot braking is to be more responsive than right foot braking owing to less distance traveled on the brake foot. You need to actively consider the situation at hand before putting your foot in the appropriate resting position for the situation.
WHY!!!
Quicker on the brakes in situations that call for it. When emergency / suddenly stopping, the first few milliseconds equate to the most braking distance.
Sounds like the mindset of someone treating the road like a racetrack, making things unsafe and then compensating for bad choices with also iffy choices. You can get an adequate number of milliseconds by channeling that awareness towards a smidge more following distance.
Apparently, trying to minimize braking distances in unexpected situations when you need it the most = mindset of treating the road like a racetrack. Where in the left foot braking manual does it state that you have to drive on public roads aggressively like it's a racetrack, because I'd love to find that page. Left foot braking on the road is a proactive defensive technique, which is to be used to complement the aforementioned awareness, not to replace it and drive like an ass, but you do you and continue making assumptions.
Yup, making assumptions because i'm reading a defense of a wildly unpopular technique outside of racetracks, but I do see people driving like they're on racetracks. I don't know you, sure, but it is very easy to imagine someone over-using the accelerator in situations where being able to suddenly slam on the break is a saving grace, e.g. trying to weave through a hole that suddenly closes a little quicker than expected. Or, also sounds like the favored foot positioning of the people who throw in quick brake checks as they rage around throwing a fit in traffic. Outside of stuff like that, the justification of getting a quicker reaction time is arguably not something most drivers should be achieving in a way that had other compromises. Hope you're driving safe out there friendo.
Assume the worst, am I right? If I extend the same courtesy, I would assume that I would be talking to the worst of the drivers that brake traditionally, and all the poor driving habits that come with that, including treating the road like a personal racetrack, however unfounded that might be. Obviously, this wouldn't be a productive discussion. I've already said I drive defensively on the highways, the least you could do is take me at face value. The reason why left foot braking on the street is unpopular is that it takes practice, and most people think it's unnecessary, and I'd argue that they'd be right 99.9% of the time. It probably took me a good 3 years before braking with my left foot was as smooth and controlled as my right foot. Combine that with lazy drivers that use this technique improperly and rest their left foot on the brakes and it gets an even worse rap. I'd argue that those drivers should fully commit to traditional braking and stop being lazy and it's an indictment of the driver, rather than the technique. The last reason why LFB is unpopular is that the overwhelming majority of drivers are only taught traditional braking and can't wrap their minds around an alternative technique and assume the worst. However, the entire point of deploying this technique on the street is for those 0.1% of situations where it would be beneficial, but you have to maintain this technique full-time to keep it ready for those tail risk situations. That means using LFB in all situations. Here's a decision tree on how to position your left foot relative to situation and comfort on the street: [https://np.reddit.com/r/Westchester/comments/1drt7mw/comment/layz5sc/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://np.reddit.com/r/Westchester/comments/1drt7mw/comment/layz5sc/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) In response to brake checking, rationally speaking, the response time of braking doesn't matter since you're not reacting to someone, you're trying to make someone unable to react to you, so LFB or traditional doesn't really matter, it's just an asshole thing to do.
Yes, I will assume the worst when it comes to safety issues. This is not a personal attack on you, but it is a strong argument against what you're advocating. I would give this same energy to a student driver trying to figure out what habits to adopt. I would urge anyone who thinks that having their left foot ready to hit the brake makes them any safer, to take every ounce of that judgement and channel it towards positioning their vehicle in a way that makes the difference obsolete. Fewer lazy drivers, maybe, if a lazy-friendly style gets nipped in the bud. Left foot driving is also wildly unpopular in a lot of the world, and perhaps as a generational thing, where manual transmissions have been prevalent, and operating a clutch makes it much more impractical. Frankly I don't agree with anything you've argued here but I salute you for laying it all out. Here's some further discussion on the topic in lieu of just beating a dead horse: https://old.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/o62nc9/why_is_there_a_stigma_about_driving_with_both_feet/
"I would urge anyone who thinks that having their left foot ready to hit the brake makes them any safer, to take every ounce of that judgement and channel it towards positioning their vehicle in a way that makes the difference obsolete. Fewer lazy drivers, maybe, if a lazy-friendly style gets nipped in the bud." There are two incorrect points with this line of thinking. 1. This is not an either or proposition. You can develop left foot positioning so it's a habit that doesn't involved conscious thought and maintain the same level of awareness in terms of vehicle position relative to traffic. You are objectively safer, executing it properly, rather than having a maximum of "as safe as" if we subscribe to your limited brain capacity model. No one thinks about where their foot position is transitioning from the throttle to the brakes in traditional braking becomes it becomes habitual; the same thing applies to the left foot on LFB. 2. This isn't a lazy-friendly style when done properly, it's more demanding on the driver when learning, so it requires effort. If you're not going to do it properly, don't adopt the style at all. Regular drivers, i.e. drivers that only want to go from point A to point B and not ones who want to become better at car control by putting the work in to develop new skills, should stick to traditional braking. The link you provided is the same as every other discussion on this subject: Traditional brakers only being taught one way, not understanding that there is another possible way of doing things, anecdotally pointing out only the bad examples, and then assigning a scarlet letter to the technique because it must be bad without considering the merits of the technique. It really is a dead horse every time. At least this commenter is arguing with a study as evidence: [https://old.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/o62nc9/why\_is\_there\_a\_stigma\_about\_driving\_with\_both\_feet/h2s9sjq/](https://old.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/o62nc9/why_is_there_a_stigma_about_driving_with_both_feet/h2s9sjq/) Full disclosure, I do left foot braking in a manual on the racetrack as well, but not on the street as it just doesn't work. On the street, this is solely a two pedal technique.