Using The Clutch At Junctions

Someone found the blog on the search term “how to stop a car at a junction using clutch and brakes”.

If you’re on an upward incline, and assuming that you can already find the bite quickly and gently, the best way to do this is to slow the car enough that it won’t coast as far as the line, then use the gas/bite to gently move it forwards. In other words, it is YOU making it go towards the give way line – not the momentum of the car.

The last thing you want to be doing is flying in so fast that you’ve got to brake hard. You will panic and forget to control it gently.

You can hold the car completely still using the gas and bite on an upward slope if you can control your feet well enough. It is not good practice to do this for too long, though, as it wears out the clutch. It can also be dangerous – if people are walking behind or in front of you, for example. Use common sense to decide when to use the handbrake and when to “slip the clutch”, as it is sometimes known. When you’re ready to move off, simply apply more gas and gently raise the clutch (the amount of gas depends on the slope you’re on).

If you’re on a downward incline, obviously you’ll need to use the brake to hold the car at the give way line. You need to be able to reliably lift your foot off the brake, set the gas, and find the bite quickly, but without stalling or lurching forward.

It is often quicker and safer for new drivers to use the handbrake, and then move off in the normal way. Holding the car on the bite can result in rocking backwards and forwards (like most pratmobiles do at lights), rolling back into another car, or creeping into the path of other traffic. However, if you can teach yourself to do it it’s a great skill.

I teach my pupils how to do it on a hill fairly early on. Some never get it perfect, but then they don’t need to be able to do it perfectly in order to pass their tests and be safe drivers. At the very least, it helps them understand the clutch and how to move away properly.

But the ones who take to it never look back. As I say to them on the first lesson, when we have a few tries: “THAT is the secret to be able to drive the car. If you can do that, you can make the car do anything!”

Remember: don’t do it for too long – just if you need it for a few moments. Never do it if you have people walking in front of or behind you.

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