I just got a new car that has cruise control, which is a dandy idea in theory… however, it seems a little dangerous in practice.
The accelerator on my car is very responsive, so I can’t (and don’t want) to rest my foot anywhere on it/near it. I would prefer to let my foot relax onto the floor (my feet and ankles are very strange and naturally relax into odd positions). But that feels strange and it feels like it’s adding an additional second to my brake response. Am I being paranoid? How do you all do it? Any stats on CC and how it affects driving/safety?
I usually have my foot kind of 1/2 under the brake pedal. I guess your reaction time could be slightly slower, but after you find a place that “feels” right for you you’ll find you can pounce on the brake pedal damn quickly. I don’t even know if there is any appreciable difference between the two now. (reaction time, that is).
I’m not aware of any studies although I wouldnt be suprised if they have been done.
Your foot shouldn’t really be on the brake pedal anyway. Studies I’ve read have shown that using the same foot for the gas and the brake is the safest method. I keep my foot near the gas in case I need to accelerate suddenly, or brake. Reaction time is the same, maybe slightly faster. I think the only danger would be if you fall asleep.
That wasn’t your point, was it?
Cruise control keeps me out of trouble with the cops.
Peace,
mangeorge
You also can’t use cruise control when there’s traffic, which means it’s mostly used when there isn’t traffic, and when there’s lower odds of needing to hit the breaks suddenly. **mangeorge
** is correct on the gas/break thing which is true in both manual and automatic transmission vehicles.
If you’re not comfortable with it, don’t use it, but it’s good for lead footed folks like me.
What were you driving before? I just got an old car (an '89) and it has cruise control…
It is not really good to use, when there is more than a slight possiblility that you will need to brake. This usually is on an expressway, with light traffic. If other cars are coming over into the fastlane frequently and you need to constantly adjust your speed, then do not use it. But if traffic allows you to maintain your speed with only infrequent adjustments, then it is restful and may save you a ticket.
I’ve only used cruise control a handful of times in the last ten years since I got a car with it (most often when driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas – 400 miles), but it’s definitely handy and doesn’t seem to impair the brake-response time. Like kniz said, CC is not something you’d use for day-to-day driving, but for situations where you may go for 10 or 20 minutes (or more) at a stretch without needing to slow down.
(And once you have CC, you do miss it when you need to make a long trip without it…)
I haven’t found that having cruise on has kept me from being able to brake quickly when needed; if road conditions say ‘be more careful’, I can always move my foot from the ‘relaxed’ spot (semi-under the brake). It also means that my foot isn’t tired from jiggling the gas pedal to maintain speed, which I’ve had trouble with before on 2-hour trips. I don’t know if anyone’s done a ‘cruise control safety’ study, but I’d be suprised if they hadn’t.
That sounds like my commute to work, 15-20 min where (if traffic is light) I can lock in cruise the whole way…
I love cruise control. I first used it driving from Denver to NYC. Going up through NE Colorado then through Nebraska - I would be in cruise control for hours. I only use it when I’m really in the clear. If there’s even a hint of having to use my brakes I shut it off. It’s definitely good to have unless you do all your driving around a metro area.
Wow. I use cruise control whenever I can. Mine has a “cancel” feature on the stalk which disables it without turning it off. I find that when I need to slow down quickly, I can actually “cancel” it with my hand while I’m moving my foot from where I rest it to the brake pedal. I see this as exactly analogous to the effect of taking my foot off the gas while moving it to the brake pedal.
This cancel feature is also very handy when you realize you are in the vicinity of a law-enforcement officer and wish to lower your speed without the attention-getting effect of brake lights.
Yeah, yeah, you get yourself a nice new car (no, I’m not jealous) and you crab about the great features!
Ha!
I can see how it would feel like that. I’ve never used cruise control, and would probably feel the same way. Because of it I would probably use it only on long stretches of open highway. (translation - never here in San Diego!!!)
But in reality, if you’re driving alert, I wouldn’t think the time to get your foot on the brake would be all that different than if you kept the foot on the gas pedal.
Should you ever find yourself on the road after a few too many drinks, with a psychotic killer holding a gun to your head, no doubt, you’ll find that cruise control allows you to keep it between the three-to-five lines without varying your speed, which is one of the things police easily notice.
Cruise not only helps me with leg fatigue on 6+ hour trips (which was a bitch in my old car without cruise), but it also helps me maintain a constant speed, so I don’t annoy people by speeding up, slowing down, etc. I’ve also found that over the course of a 6 hour trip, I save about 20 minutes just by using cruise, since I don’t slow down without thinking about it.
The biggest advantage of cruise control is when you are on a highway during an off hour, with little traffic. Without it one tends to speed up, especially if the road is fairly straight and flat. I have, without even noticing it, made it up to 90 mph. When you have been going 70 mph for awhile it starts to feel slower.
Going on 288, south of Houston is bad for that. Plus little shit towns such as “Iowa colony,” where there is not a single structure on the highway, but there is a cop waiting to make some revenue. With cruise control you can set an appropriate speed, and feel assured you won’t inadvertantly creep upward.
The biggest advantage of cruise control is when you are on a highway during an off hour, with little traffic. Without it one tends to speed up, especially if the road is fairly straight and flat. I have, without even noticing it, made it up to 90 mph. When you have been going 70 mph for awhile it starts to feel slower.
Going on 288, south of Houston is bad for that. Plus little shit towns such as “Iowa colony,” where there is not a single structure on the highway, but there is a cop waiting to make some revenue. With cruise control you can set an appropriate speed, and feel assured you won’t inadvertantly creep upward.
I don’t see why it is any slower to brake with your foot near the brake pedal than it is when you move from throttle to brake.
I use speed control constantly either in traffic or not. I find that it enables me to set it at the speed limit so I don’t ever have to look at the speedometer and can concentrate on the road.
It is a nuisance and I don’t use it when following a car because it is never set at quite the right speed but otherwise, no problems at all.
Cuz when your foot is on the accelerator (Throttle) it is in almost the identical position as on the brake: poised on the heel, turned upward. Moving from one to the other just means “windshield-wipering” your toes, left-right-left-right, very little effort, whereas taking the foot completely off the throttle and putting in down on the floor means a great deal more re-positioning of the entire foot, ankle, and leg may be necessary to hit the brake.
Which is apparently no big deal for most people here, but it’s still a fact. I like CC and I really want to get comfy with it, because my Matrix is going 85 before I have a clue about it. Very unnerving…
With CC on my Civic, I’ve found a place to the right of the accelerator (under the console) where I can place the toe of my shoe. It gives my foot a place to rest, and keeps it in a similar position to the accelerator. Feel around down there, maybe there’s something similar on your car.
On a very long trip, though, being able to move my foot to the floor is great so my leg doesn’t get as stiff.
