Fuel Economy Tip - Don't Brake Check
Today's tip will hopefully help you save a little bit of gas, but will more than likely help to save yourself a lot of aggravation.
The reason brake checking will hurt your gas mileage is because it causes you to constantly be on and off of your accelerator. Smooth drivers - drivers that slowly accelerate to speed and then maintain that speed - tend to get much better gas mileage than jack rabbit drivers - drivers that hit the accelerator and the brakes pretty hard, and go back and forth far too often.
So, if you notice someone is tailgating you, go ahead and move over to let the person pass. If you don't have the opportunity to get over, just maintain speed and don't "retaliate" by brake checking.
Another nice thing about not brake checking is you tend to not worry as much when someone is tailgating you. Don't let them being an aggressive driver agitate you and cause you to do something stupid.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox. Hopefully you've learned something that will help you save some cash.
Don't brake check; just move over.
For those of you who don't know, "brake checking" is when you continue to slow down or tap your brakes when you have someone tailgating you.The reason brake checking will hurt your gas mileage is because it causes you to constantly be on and off of your accelerator. Smooth drivers - drivers that slowly accelerate to speed and then maintain that speed - tend to get much better gas mileage than jack rabbit drivers - drivers that hit the accelerator and the brakes pretty hard, and go back and forth far too often.
So, if you notice someone is tailgating you, go ahead and move over to let the person pass. If you don't have the opportunity to get over, just maintain speed and don't "retaliate" by brake checking.
Another nice thing about not brake checking is you tend to not worry as much when someone is tailgating you. Don't let them being an aggressive driver agitate you and cause you to do something stupid.
Okay, I'm off my soapbox. Hopefully you've learned something that will help you save some cash.
posted by Brian Carr at 8:53 PM
4 Comments:
more importantly, by moving over you will show yourself not to be an recalcitrant asshole who is too immature and incompetent to be in control of a several tonne vehicle.
I don't know if I would go so far as to say it makes you an a-hole for not moving over, but it does make life easier for everybody if slower traffic stays to the right.
If you're tailgating, you're obviously a dangerous asshole yourself, so perhaps you should look in the mirror first.
Also, in my experience, you're just as likely to be tailgated in the slow lane when there's no cars in the centre lane(s). It seems tailgaters are just congenitally stupid, do not understand simple physics, they don't actually require a motivation for their idiocy.
I like to remind them that if I have to stop suddenly, I really don't want them to visit the interior of my car. Sometimes it's impossible to move over and people have to learn that inspecting someone's bumper stickers at high speeds is a danger to everyone in the vicinity. I 100% agree that slower traffic must always keep right, but sometimes "right" is the only available.
/Get off my rear and get off your cell phone.
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