On Mon, 24 Aug 2015 10:48:51 -0700, John Robertson
wrote:

On 08/23/2015 6:10 PM, Ashton Crusher wrote:
On Sun, 23 Aug 2015 09:13:20 -0400, "(PeteCresswell)"
wrote:

Per Stormin Mormon:
Does braking with the left foot increase the
risk of accidents?

From what little I have read, there is disagreement on the answer.

The traditional answer is that left-foot braking is, somehow, less safe.

I can't remember the term-of-art for it, but there is a recognized cause
of accidents that consists of the driver stepping on the accelerator
when they were trying to step on the brake.


A driver that ALWAYS uses the right foot to Brake and Accelerate is
the one most likely to use that right foot on the wrong pedal. Someone
who is skilled at left foot braking is far less likely to try to push
the accelerator with the right foot with the intention of braking.
I'm sure there are always exceptions.

And the left foot break idiot(s) who rests his/her foot on the brake
pedal and thus drives around all day with their brake lights on? Not to
mention wearing out the brake pads or (even worse) overheating the
brakes so they fail at an inopportune time...

I've seen it maybe twice in 40 years. It's an imaginary problem. And
for all you know they were using their right foot and had it on both
the gas and brake at the same time... unless you have X-ray vision of
course and could actually see their feet. Or perhaps their brake
light switch was broken making the brake lights come on and off
without any one pushing on the pedal. Someone who rode their brakes
like that "all day" would be emitting smoke.


I see that a lot, so I vote no to left foot braking. Unless you can't
use your right foot, but we are talking about folks without any sort of
handicap (cast, missing foot, etc.).


No one has suggested that people should left foot brake if they don't
have the skills necessary. Some people just aren't trainable or don't
have the ability, or are too easily confused for anything above bare
minimum.


John :-#)#


A few months ago there was an article in the New Yorker about vehicle
defect investigation and vehicle recalls from an engineering perspective
in which it was mentioned that some people think that left-foot braking
may actually be safer because it reduces the chances of a "wrong pedal"
error to nearly zero.