Bedford Driver
Speed | Braking | Curves
Updated: Jan 25
SPEED
Everyone loves loves a little bit of speed once in a while but it's important to remember that the faster a person drives the less likely they will be able to spot any dangers or react to hazards around them. Speeding can have major consequences especially if a vehicle speeds through a busy area like an intersection or neighborhood. Imagine speeding through a school zone and then hitting and injuring a pedestrian. The consequences would go further than just the law. Your insurance goes up, you lose points off of your license, you may have to go to court, and your chances of getting a job after that could be impacted. Keep it simple and don't complicate your life. Save speeding for the track.
Ride 4
Nova Scotia Driver’s Handbook – “You should learn to control your vehicle with precision, the same way as a professional race car driver does. It is very important to begin with good instruction.”
Incredible Kevin Estre lap of the Nürburgring in the new Porsche 911 GT3 RS
Reducing your speed in a residential neighborhood ensures that you have time to react to hazards
You can try controlling your speed by letting off of the accelerator pedal without hitting the brake to see how the car slows. This also teaches you how to see and think ahead.
Stunting
Police issue 161 tickets for speeding, stunting and other vehicle-related offences. The fine in Nova Scotia for stunting is $2,422.50 and six points are assigned to the driver’s record
Driving Tips From A Cop
Good Speed
Speed will make you go faster but it won't get you to your destination any quicker
School Zones
Don't slow down to the school zone speed limit if there are no children actually OUTSIDE in the area. Make sure to check for children in the area. Some students will talk outloud saying "not seeing any children" so that the examiner knows that they are checking. Many people will tell you that you have to slow down during school hours or when the children are in the school. That is completely false. So, if you are in a 50 km/hr zone and there are children outside in the area then you slow down to 30 km/hr and if you are in a 60 km/hr zone or faster then you slow down to 50 km/hr. If you do 30 km/hr by default you will lose points.
The school zone law confuses so many drivers that a lawyer wrote a blog to clarify the law.
How To Yield
Always approach yields at a safe speed in case you have to stop. Watch the traffic that you may have to yield to while approaching the yield. If there are no cars or pedestrians in the lane you want to merge into then you don't have to yield. Approaching the yield at a reduced speed ensures that you could stop if you had to.
Proper Driving
Motorcycle fly by
Top 5 everyday driving tips from a racing driver
Braking
Racing driver’s braking tips for everyday driving
Braking is all about thinking ahead
Covering the brake pedal – You place your foot over the pedal and let it hover there until you are sure there is no risk of a collision or any other hazard.
Approaching intersections – Covering the brake ensures that your foot is just millimeters away if you need to make a panic stop.
Early braking – Applying the brakes early ensures you stop comfortably, and in plenty of time.
This is what your brakes look like. When you push the brake pedal this thingy squeezes the rotor (the circle thingy) and that is what your wheels attach to.. That's how you slow the vehicle down. When your brakes start to squeak, that's your vehicle talking to you telling you something needs to be fixed. Addressing these small squeaks and noises right away will always save you money.
That circular thing is the rotor. If you are harsh on your brakes all the time, what can happen is they can heat up. When they heat up they become less effective. This is known as brake fade. Also if you brake really hard and heat the brake rotors up, and then drive through a puddle, you can warp the rotors. This would cause a pulsation either in your brake pedal or steering wheel and the rotors would have to be turned or replaced. Just another reason to drive smoothly.
Braking Hard
When you apply the brakes while moving forward all of the kinetic energy of your vehicle and or momentum, go into the front suspension of the car which causes the car to lower slightly in the front. This is why you never want to brake harshly for a speed bump or animal. If you brake to harshly for a speed bump the car could bottom out on the bump and that would be very bad. If you were to brake harshly for a deer it would have a much better chance of coming through the windshield because the front of the car is sitting lower in that moment. Let's have a closer look at speed bumps.
There are a number of different types of speed bumps on the roads. There are speed bumps and humps and also speed tables. Tables and humps are slightly more comfortable to drive over than bumps. There is no set speed to go over these but I find 30 km/hr is good for most of them. Many times the arrows and signs marking these bumps will be missing. The lines on speed bumps in Halifax often fade due to in part to the fact that the lines are painted directly in the path of a vehicle's tires which can quickly wear the paint off.
If you ever see one of these bumps at the last second, don't hit the brakes. If you apply the brakes on the bump the vehicle could bottom out on the bump. The next time you think of it, have a closer look at these speed bumps in your area and you'll likely notice that there are chunks of the bump missing due to vehicles bottoming out. We hit speed bumps at 50 km/hr on lessons all of the time and at first the student thinks I'm crazy until they see it's just slightly more bouncy than at a slower speed. But keep in mind that hitting speed bumps at a high speed regularly will not be good for your vehicle's suspension.
Hitting Speed Bumps Full Speed (What Will Happen?) in Slow Motion
ABS
Anti-Lock brakes don't help you stop as much as they help your tires regain traction once they begin to slip.
ABS | Volvo Trucks – Emergency braking
Braking and Torque Steer
Braking Playlist
Curves
Look and think AHEAD
Keep your eyes moving and notice what is happening around you. The trick to curves is you take them just like a race car driver would. Race car drivers reduce their speed as they approach a curve, then accelerate after they are through the halfway point.
NEVER GO INTO A CURVE TOO FAST. LOOK AHEAD AND THINK AHEAD
Accident on Larry Uteck Halifax
Center of gravity
A vehicle's center of gravity will have a significant impact on how well it performs in sharp curves. A vehicle’s center of gravity, or CG, is the point where all of the masses of each of its components act. Lower is better from a handling standpoint, as it reduces weight transfer during cornering and braking.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a18201745/explained-how-to-measure-center-of-gravity-height/
Center of gravity demonstrated - Methot flips Lessio with perfect hip check
An SUV will have a higher center of gravity than a car. A car will do better in tight corners, while an SUV would be better suited for off road driving. Every vehicle (like people) has strengths and weaknesses.
New cars are rolling over more
Tesla Model X Won’t Roll
Always wear your seatbelt to avoid being ejected from the vehicle.
Vehicles are flipped everyday in traffic but those accidents rarely make the news. The reason they rarely make the news is because the people in the vehicles are usually wearing their seat belts. People that don't wear their seat belts are extremely likely to be ejected during a collision or roll over.
Seatbelt Pretensioners
The Best Way To Steer Around Tight Corners | Learn to drive: Basic skills
Look through the curve
Look up ahead through the turn
Move your eyes – glance, don’t stare
Scan left, center, right
Scan through vehicle windows for hazards
This checkered sign warns of a dead end or sharp curve ahead. This sign saves you from going in to fast so that you can reduce your speed before it's too late.
Ramp speed signs are yellow which means the speed posted on them is a recommendation and is not the speed limit.
Twisty curves on Highway 14 in a BMW 430i Gran Coupe
Running Commentary; read my mind in real time
In this video, Ken Block is able to rip through the curves and corners because he (sort of) sees ahead. His co-pilot is actually seeing ahead, and telling him what is around the next corner and he knows the track inside out. Being familiar with the roads and areas you are driving in is half the battle.
