Re: One foot over the brake

[SMILLER@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Chris tells us:

>Date: Tue, 22 Sep 1998 16:38:52 -0700
>From: barton@domain.elided
>Subject: One foot over the brake
<stuff snipped out here>
>you usually don't 
>have to hit your brakes at the FIRST sign of red in front of you. If you
>learn to read the traffic around you, after a while you get pretty good
>at anticipating whats going to happen. 
>All in all I believe this makes for MUCH smoother traffic flow 
>
>Chris Barton

At the other end of the spectrum, you'll notice someone's brake lights
flash for not even a second, and then the car starts to slow down just a
little bit...  They used the brakes to cancel their cruise control.  You can
adjust accordingly.  If you ignore it, you eventually find yourself on top of
their back bumper and wonder why they can't maintain a steady speed -
but you missed the clue.  

I prefer the cruise controls (like BMW's) that have a "cancel" feature so
you don't have to use the brakes to cancel the cruise mode.  This doesn't
give followers the flash clue that you'll be loosing speed, but there are
only a few of us that know to watch for that, anyway.  OTOH, I'll often
tap the brake pedal for a second to warn followers that I'm slowing
down when I don't need to use the brakes because, unlike Chris and
most of the rest of you, the average driver doesn't anticipate changes in
traffic conditions and ends up on top of your bumper...

I hate traffic.

Scott Miller
Golden Gate Chapter
BMW CCA #44977

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