Why left-foot braking is dangerous for drivers

Many drivers wonder why exactly the right foot is used for both: accelerator and brakes even if we speak about a car with automatic gear box where there is no clutch. Experts claim that the given scheme was invented for not pressing accelerator and brakes simultaneously.

Having a car with a manual gear box I asked myself a similar question. But then I figured it out very quickly. It happened after I had read an interesting story at one auto forum. The idea was that a driver with a manual gear box is strictly prohibited to pull over using the left foot, which works with the clutch.

The author of the story, who drives Hyundai Solaris with a manual gear box, told that once it occurred to him for the sake of experiment to try jamming on the brakes using the left foot. Since he was warned about the risk of the experiment, he chose not a busy road with almost no cars, and very carefully tried to pull over with the left foot. According to his story the effect exceeded all his expectations. The brakes have worked so hard that he bumped his head against the steering wheel. For such an experiment he needed to reduce the speed to 15-20 kilometers per hour while he was going with the speed of 35-40 kilometers per hour, thinking that pulling over slowly will help the situation.

So, I decided to repeat the experiment because I also have a car with a manual gear box. I didn’t go for the road with few cars, but I reduced the speed to 20 kilometers per hour, also, I tried to jam on the brakes with my left foot as smoothly as possible. It didn’t work. Brakes have worked all the way. Of course, I didn’t hit my head against the steering wheel, but I felt like I was getting there. Why does it work that way?

Explanation

The risk of pulling over with the left foot is that our brain cannot objectively estimate and control the power which is used by the left foot pressing another pedal besides

clutch. The left foot must press quite a stiff clutch pedal 300-500 times a day and it gets to more than 10 000 times a month.

Besides the fact that the clutch pedal is 2-3 times as stiff as the brake pedal, it has more amplitude and is pressed in a deeper way. As a result, muscle memory, connected with the left foot, is responsible for strong and powerful pedal pressing, and when you need to press the brake pedal smoothly it automatically results in the same powerful pressing even if the driver tries to press slightly.

Based on the results of this experiment I recommend that drivers with a manual gear box don’t jam on the brakes using the left foot. The deceptive feeling that you can press with the left foot more slightly will turn into an unpleasant emergency braking.