I just find it more inexplicable on the motorway - on an ordinary road, the driver in front may have spotted a pedestrian between two parked cars, or a dog looking like it may run out, but when they’re cruising along at 70, with nothing coming towards them, and no brake lights in front, or maybe not even a vehicle in front, their brake lights come on.
Last night was pretty bad weather on the M1 and M62, my speed was reduced to about 50, and concentration levels were higher due to poor visibility, lots of rain and cross winds. It really doesn’t help when you’re also surrounded by people braking either unnecessarily or because they’ve too close to the car in front, forcing an additional distraction and decisions as to whether you need to react by braking.
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I just find it more inexplicable on the motorway - on an ordinary road, the driver in front may have spotted a pedestrian between two parked cars, or a dog looking like it may run out, but when they’re cruising along at 70, with nothing coming towards them, and no brake lights in front, or maybe not even a vehicle in front, their brake lights come on. Last night was pretty bad weather on the M1 and M62, my speed was reduced to about 50, and concentration levels were higher due to poor visibility, lots of rain and cross winds. It really doesn’t help when you’re also surrounded by people braking either unnecessarily or because they’ve too close to the car in front, forcing an additional distraction and decisions as to whether you need to react by braking.
You know yourself how some try to keep to speed limit or over most of the time, and its also possible with the heavy rain, drivers see things that are not there or even looking for flooding in your lane which is hard work on its own due to water in places being invisible, even light is deceiving in heavy rain so I think some drivers get spooked during bad weather even to the point they might steer in another lane without knowing what they are doing
so intermittent braking doesn`t surprise me in really bad storms as its hard to see whats in the way at any speed
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<< You know yourself how some try to keep to speed limit or over most of the time, and its also possible with the heavy rain, drivers see things that are not there or even looking for flooding in your lane which is hard work on its own due to water in places being invisible >>
Like others, I had some stressful driving yesterday. A morning hour on the western stretch of the M25 in rain (posted limit 40 for miles), then later a dark hour of rain trying to follow an unfamiliar diversion. I suspect some of the OP's braking may have been caused by drivers losing sight of lane markings. On a 4-lane M'way in rain they can be much less obvious than the tracks of the last two vehicles in front.
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Seems to happen a lot here in Taiwan. I put it down to less engine braking from the prevalent automatic transmissions, general tailgating, and Taiwanese being terrible drivers.
I probably do it more than expected too, but that's because I'm often coasting in neutral so have no engine braking, and its therefore not directly due to me being a terrible driver.
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that's because I'm often coasting in neutral so have no engine braking, and its therefore not directly due to me being a terrible driver.
Brave boy! I think you'll find a lot of people here will disagree with those two points. I'll get the popcorn and sit back.
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that's because I'm often coasting in neutral so have no engine braking, and its therefore not directly due to me being a terrible driver.
Brave boy! I think you'll find a lot of people here will disagree with those two points. I'll get the popcorn and sit back.
I know at least one forum member who'd agree.............
;-)
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that's because I'm often coasting in neutral so have no engine braking, and its therefore not directly due to me being a terrible driver.
Brave boy! I think you'll find a lot of people here will disagree with those two points. I'll get the popcorn and sit back.
As has been discussed before, there is no fuel advantage in 'coasting in neutral' with a modern car as its electronics will cut the fuel supply on the overrun. In neutral the engine will use fuel to idle.
I still like to coast in my 1994 Pug, provided the gradient is just right and there is little traffic.
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that's because I'm often coasting in neutral so have no engine braking, and its therefore not directly due to me being a terrible driver.
Brave boy! I think you'll find a lot of people here will disagree with those two points. I'll get the popcorn and sit back.
As has been discussed before, there is no fuel advantage in 'coasting in neutral' with a modern car as its electronics will cut the fuel supply on the overrun. In neutral the engine will use fuel to idle.
I still like to coast in my 1994 Pug, provided the gradient is just right and there is little traffic.
As has been discussed before\
(a) I don't have a modern car and don't much want one.
(b) There is still a potential, small advantage to coasting in neutral even in a modern car since it conserves the momentum that would be lost to engine braking.
1994? A mere stripling stylee whipper snapper.
Quite nice though.
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that's because I'm often coasting in neutral so have no engine braking, and its therefore not directly due to me being a terrible driver.
Brave boy! I think you'll find a lot of people here will disagree with those two points. I'll get the popcorn and sit back.
As has been discussed before, there is no fuel advantage in 'coasting in neutral' with a modern car as its electronics will cut the fuel supply on the overrun. In neutral the engine will use fuel to idle.
I still like to coast in my 1994 Pug, provided the gradient is just right and there is little traffic.
As has been discussed before\
(a) I don't have a modern car and don't much want one.
(b) There is still a potential, small advantage to coasting in neutral even in a modern car since it conserves the momentum that would be lost to engine braking.
1994? A mere stripling stylee whipper snapper.
Quite nice though.
Being a carb will cut down on fuel as its coasting thats why drivers years ago did it, I stopped coasting after driving injection as it made no difference to economy even less now lol
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that's because I'm often coasting in neutral so have no engine braking, and its therefore not directly due to me being a terrible driver.
Brave boy! I think you'll find a lot of people here will disagree with those two points. I'll get the popcorn and sit back.
As has been discussed before, there is no fuel advantage in 'coasting in neutral' with a modern car as its electronics will cut the fuel supply on the overrun. In neutral the engine will use fuel to idle.
I still like to coast in my 1994 Pug, provided the gradient is just right and there is little traffic.
As has been discussed before\
(a) I don't have a modern car and don't much want one.
(b) There is still a potential, small advantage to coasting in neutral even in a modern car since it conserves the momentum that would be lost to engine braking.
1994? A mere stripling stylee whipper snapper.
Quite nice though.
Being a carb will cut down on fuel as its coasting thats why drivers years ago did it, I stopped coasting after driving injection as it made no difference to economy even less now lol
I rather doubt you have measured this. I know I havn't, and couldn't, so that puts it in the your guess is as good as mine category, except I naturally think my guess is better.
I believe many modern cars give you an instantaneous fuel consumption figure which COULD provide some evidence, IF you chose to believe what it was telling you, but even if entirely accurate, it wouldn't account for the momentum conserved by avoiding engine braking.
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that's because I'm often coasting in neutral so have no engine braking, and its therefore not directly due to me being a terrible driver.
Brave boy! I think you'll find a lot of people here will disagree with those two points. I'll get the popcorn and sit back.
As has been discussed before, there is no fuel advantage in 'coasting in neutral' with a modern car as its electronics will cut the fuel supply on the overrun. In neutral the engine will use fuel to idle.
I still like to coast in my 1994 Pug, provided the gradient is just right and there is little traffic.
Many modern cars DON'T cut the fuel on the over-run as that allows the Catalytic converter to cool down and stop working, with a subsequent delay in heating up when throttle is reapplied.
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<< Many modern cars DON'T cut the fuel on the over-run as that allows the Catalytic converter to cool down and stop working, with a subsequent delay in heating up when throttle is reapplied. >>
That may depend on how you define Modern. All I would say is that when my Pug 207 diesel runs downhill in gear the instant Mpg figure shows 999 - meaning no fuel is being used. If I freewheel in neutral (which I only do to see what happens) it will hunt between numbers like 253, 411, 576 showing that it is doing just enough to keep the engine idling.
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