The logical reason i use for not using my left foot to brake is that when you are driving, you should only be doing one thing at a time… accalerating or braking; therefore should only use the one foot (IMHO).
I have seen people cruising along the freeway with their brake lights on… probably just barely depressing it and don’t even realize.
On a side note, I wonder if the “2 foot stomp” people are the same ones I’ve heard tell of (and always wonder if it’s true…) who supposedly freak out during an accident and let go of the wheel to cover their face. Why would you quit driving just when it’s most crucial?
For those drivers that have replied to this thread and use their left foot for breaking, what position is your left foot in when you’re not braking?
I don’t buy into the notion that using both feet is quicker. With your right foot on the gas, you simply tilt up your foot and shift it’s postion to press the brake pedal. Your heel never comes off of the floor of the car. I think there’s more economy of motion with this setup than with using both feet. Additionally, if you don’t practice doing panic stops with both feet, you will more than likely press both pedals with both feet during an emergency.
Part two is a point I wanted to bring up. I really don’t buy the left-footed braking is faster argument, unless your foot is constanstly hovering over the brake. For automatics, from my experience, the best approach is to use the right foot, as this ensures your not braking and throttling at the same time, which, if you don’t know what you’re doing, can be a bad thing, handling-wise.
For automatic transmissions, you can sometimes “blip” the brake pedal with your left foot, while continuing to throttle, to tighten your line in a tight turn. But you have to be very gentle and even in your technique, or you can just lose it. Some Formula 1 drivers sometimes use this technique, as well, Senna being the most successful proponent of it. I wouldn’t really advise you trying this at home. It’s meant for high-performance driving, not your average commute from work.
south333:
Hold on a sec! If I’m reading this correctly, you are saying that downshifting slows down your car better than braking? Or that downshifting and braking slows down your can better than braking alone? This is absolutely wrong. (Unless we’re talking about semis/lorries.) Your brakes are there for braking. They slow your car down the best. Downshifting will not help your brakes, and in emergency situations is pointless. Who has the time to think? You use your brakes to slow down, and then you downshift to the right gear so you can accelerate quickly again.
Regarding emergency situations: If you lose control of your car, among the better things to do is to hit your clutch. Of course there are exceptions, but the point is you want to regain traction. By pressing down the clutch, you give your wheels the chance to move as fast as the ground under them, rather than fighting against the road and losing traction.
Depends on the Almighty Engineer. Some F1 cars do have space for right foot braking, some don’t. And if you’re a very powerful and influencial driver (read: Michael Schumacher), the car gets set up the way you like it, and your team mate (read: Rubens Barichello) will just have to learn how to left-foot-brake during the winter break.
I’ve tried left foot braking (in a stick, which I usually drive), and I usually end up slamming on the brakes. Can’t do it smoothly.
Of course, if I drive in an automatic after a long time, I’ll left-foot-brake unintentionally at the first traffic light / intersection / parking spot, because the clutch-reflex kicks in at speeds under 10 km/h. 
But it’s usually just that once.
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No. It’s absolutely correct. Not every car has four-wheel power anti-lock brakes. Some are rear wheel drive with front discs. It helps, big time. It can also prevent you locking your wheels up, thus keeping you in control.
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I did. Or, rather, I didn’t have to think. I was pulling a horse trailer with my old pickup, and found out going down a mountain that the brakes on the trailer weren’t working. No matter how hard I stood on the brakes, I couldn’t slow down, and without thinking I jammed it into first gear, and slowed by using the brakes and burning the shit out of the clutch as I worked the pedal.
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That’s a rather dangerous piece of misinformation to just pull out of your ass.
You have less control when the car is freewheeling than you do when it’s under power.
Actually, that’s false as well. If your suggesting a scenario where the vehicle is skidding out of control, depressing the clutch is going to hurt rather than help.
Depending on the cars attitude in the skid, you may need a variety of steering techniques to regain control. In all cases, you’re going to need gentle acceleration to get the car to respond optimally. If you’re not familiar with the techniqes, your best bet is to keep the steering neutral and use gentle acceleration until the car comes back into control.
If you simply depress the clutch you lose at least half of your ability to regain control.
You guys/gals may want to peek at this:
http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/03/22/one.pedal.car/index.html
Ultra-condensed version: One pedal that’s a combo accelerator/brake.
Well, it certanly solves the ‘problem’ of what foot to use.
The main reason I’ve heard for not braking with the left foot is because you want to train yourself to do only one thing at a time, either braking or accelerating. This lessens the chance you’re going to get very odd results from trying to brake and accelerate at the same time. (Wanna see an automatic lurch like it’s a manual driven by a newbie? “Oh no, I pushed down on the accelerator too much! Brake, brake! Oh no, I’m braking too quickly, hit the accelerator!”, lather, rinse, repeat. Don’t laugh. My Grandma did this. She also would fail to stop at a stop sign, realize this, stop half-way through the intersection, back up, stop at stop sign, then go. :eek: )
<< While riding in my Cadillac, what, to my surprise… >>
what a bunch of crap! two-foot driving is perfectly acceptable for people smart enough to chew gum and walk at the same time! the reason it is discouraged is because most drivers fall outside that catagory.
i regulary operate all my vehicles, automatics and standard, motorcycle with left and right hand shifters (no tank shifters, but i bet i could do that too!) and use the appropriate hand/foot combo for each one.
the best drivers in the world (F1, world rally, etc etc) all left-foot brake. its better. either in an automatic or a standard. period.
“the two foot method is for good drivers”, not “the two foot method is bad driving”
On a consistent basis, I drive my Ranger pickup (stick shift) to work and back, and my fiance’s Checy minivan (automatic) around town when we “step out”.
Stick shift: right foot for gas only; left foot for clutch and BRAKE (not BREAK…please? …minor point)
Automatic: right foot for gas only; left foot for braking.
So for me, the right foot is “reserved” for gas pedal and the left foot does everything else. I haven’t had an accident since 1970, one week after I got my license. And I have never gotten the left foot confused as to where it goes. No, I don’t ride the brake/clutch…the floor is where the foot belongs. How could one get confused on that? 
For the record, though; in deference to full disclosure:…I drive my fiance crazy driving this way.
Gato:
We’re not talking about motorcycles, and I already addressed the issue of why and under what circumstances a race car driver who is driving in a race may use left foot braking.
Race car driving is an extreme example, and like all extreme examples, it doesn’t necessarily translate to more generic circumstances, and non performance equiptment.
Left foot braking while street driving is bad technique.
Hey I only braked with my left foot once! and that was a newbie mistake. Haven’t done it since. Was a bit unsure about which pedal was which for a while there. The rally driver comparison which was given me by some guys in this chatroom at this landrover message board was a joke really. I don’t actually seriously think that is a justification for left foot braking!
so there. 
This is a pet peeve of mine – I’ve seen several drivers with brake lights on while accellerating & it took me a while to figure out how they do it!
Well, may I suggest a middle road here?
If a front wheel drive car understeers and goes for the outside of the bend, the thing to do is to let go of the accelerator. The car slows down until the wheels regain grip, and you can apply the accelerator again.
The same thing happens when you engage the clutch: the car will slow down until it regains grip. In fact, it may actually regain grip faster than under normal release of the accelerator. I’m no physicist, but the underlying process is called the Grip Circle.
Now, there ARE plenty of reasons why engaging the clutch is more dangerous than just letting go off the accelerator. The main one is the transfer of weight the car has under the manoeuver. For example, my car. It has a passive steering rear axle, and has a tendency to oversteer when letting go off the accelerator as a response to understeer. Lots of fun for an intermediate to experienced driver (myself being the former), but friggin’ dangerous without power on the front wheels. You need to be able to countersteer and accelerate straight away, or the car will do a 180. Mind you, all of this is when the car is being pushed to its limits. But I’ve driven plenty of FWD cars that exhibit this behaviour, some to the extreme. Honda Civic CRX, anyone?
Rear wheel drives are another issue altogether in this regards. And I’m not here to pass judgement on anyone who “brakes left” either. As long as you get out of the left lane when I’m approaching, you can brake with your dick for all I care. 
Well, I’ve obviously been taught much differently then you have.
The info I relay is from an experienced car journalist with whom I work regularly and from his experience with a police driving school in London and a school in Hungary. I’m sure you have equally sound authorities to back your claims up, and I’m interested in exploring them.
I have never once been taught by anyone to use engine braking to slow down. Never. What I was taught applies to non-disc lock manual systems. I’ve never, or rather rarely, driven a disc brake car. If you have to stop fast, generally the brakes will do a better and much quicker job than your engine will. My advice primarily applies to situations with good traction. In the wet, I’ve still been taught that pumping the brakes is better and faster than messing around with the transmission.
As for the clutch thing, I am referring to a scenerio in which you’ve temporarily lost traction. And, of course, I don’t mean to leave the clutch constantly in. You want to regain control as soon as you can, but I’ve always been taught to let the tires “catch” the road underneath before putting it back in gear, rather than fighting the ground by over-revving or under-revving.
Physically, this seems to make a whole lot of sense to me, and it’s gotten me out of tricky (though controlled) situations. Could you please explain to me why this is all wrong?
It seems to me that there is no clear-cut “right” way, since my authorities and my experience disputes yours. Of course, the police driving school in England also encourages shuffle steering, which I think is a load of bullocks.
Scylla - one more note. I’m not the only one “pulling dangerous information out of my ass” as you oh so eloquently put it.
This INSURANCE COMPANY imparts all the information I was taught, including depressing the clutch while going into a skid.
So there.
Sorry! cant agree with you here!
in my opinion, you should have to be able to demonstate great skill in order to qualify for a drivers licence. left-foot braking is a skill, and when done properly allows greater control and faster reaction in braking.
unfortunatly, in the states, it seems the only thing you need to get a license is to be able to have a warm body to prop up for the camera and the fees, and as a result, the roads are filled with dip-shits who cannot control thier automobiles. it scares the crap out of me! my life is in danger every time i get on the road, because i’m out there with people who are discouraged to master skills that allow safer operation of vehicles, because it is easier to tell them to sit on thier left foot then teach proper driving technique. for the large majority of sheep out there, right-foot only braking is fine, but to say left-foot braking is wrong is stupid in my opinion. maybe the person you suspect is using bad technique is actuall just a better driver than you.
HIJACK: i have often wondered if the VAST sums of money that have gone into supplemental safty systems research, development and implementation went into driver education instead, if we would be better off with roads filled with better drivers than roads filled with better cars driven by the same bad drivers. having less accidents seems like a better deal than surviving more of them. just a thought…
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- Braking with your left foot is dangerous in a regular automobile because as you hit the brake, you will tend to shift forward in the seatbelt slack, inadvertently pressing the brake even harder, until you lock 'em up or look like an idjit. You need a long/full leg extension (so your legs are straight or nearly so), and you need sliding-buckle seatbelts (racing-type) rather than the regular spool ones, to strap your hide into the seat tight&solidly. It’s odd but not hard to get used to, if the car is set up for doing it. - DougC
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- Braking with your left foot is dangerous in a regular automobile because as you hit the brake, you will tend to shift forward in the seatbelt slack, inadvertently pressing the brake even harder, until you lock 'em up or look like an idjit. You need a long/full leg extension (so your legs are straight or nearly so), and you need sliding-buckle seatbelts (racing-type) rather than the regular spool ones, to strap your hide into the seat tight&solidly. It’s odd but not hard to get used to, if the car is set up for doing it. - DougC
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I can’t “left foot” brake myself because my left side is very weak and I’ve tried. Simply too uncomfortable. Even if I could do it, I wouldn’t. shrug
I personally consider it unadvisable because if you left foot brake, you can very easily slam on both the gas and the brake at the same time and I believe that could damage the brake lining.
However, if someone is more comfortable doing so anyway, then they should do so. To me, it’s not that big a deal.
Gato:
You’re free to disagree, but then, you’re free to be wrong too. I don’t deny that there are valid techniques for left foot braking. However, being skilled in deliberately powersliding through a turn at 80 mph is not an advantage in street driving.
If you’re using the technique you’re dong something inherently unsafe that doesn’t belong outside of a racetrack.
There’s a possible scenario that Coldfire brings up concerning understeer in FWD cars equipped with four wheel brakes where simultaneous application of both pedals could be a good idea when a sudden turn and rapid deceleration is needed. What we’re talking about are special circumstances in which a high performance technique might have merit in an emergency.
But, in either case, we’re talking about special circumstances. My point isn’t to deny the special circumstances, but to say that general left foot braking in day to day driving is poor technique.
pulykamell:
I apologize for that comment. You’re not ulling it out of your ass, the insurance company is. I look at that alternate locking an unlocking the brakes comment they make, and based on that, I don’t give much credence to what they say.
The scenario described in that cite is one of approaching a turn too fast and decellerating too fast while trying to steer through the turn. I guess the thinking of that cite is that the poor schmuck has already gotten himself into so much trouble, we better not risk compounding it. If you accelerate while steering the wrong way in that scenario you risk fishtailing or spinning completely out. If you accelerate mildly while steering correctly, you increase your recovery time as you have positive force being applied in the direction of your steering correction.