HAND OR FOOT BRAKE.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18659, 30 August 1930, Page 10

HAND OR FOOT BRAKE.

In' conversation with several wellknown drivers the other day, the question arose as to the use of hand and foot brakes. Several drivers who are 1 used to handling all kinds of cars offered the opinion that the hand brake was really only a parking brake, as the Americans term it, and stated that in driving they invariably relied on the pedal brakes. This would seeni to be the general idea, but one of the company surprised the rest by saying that he consistently used the hand brake for driving purposes as well as for parking. He was a driver who takes out cars which are new and unknown to him, and drives them "all out” and under all kinds of conditions for test purposes. He would not adopt the hand brake as his normal retarding medium had he no good reason for it. His reasons, when asked for them, seem convincing. He said! that it was of the utmost importance for the sake of safety—and especially in unknown and untried cars—to be able to apply the hand brake instantly In emergency, and since each car was new to him, and since pedal brake positions were practically standardised, he made it a point on first getting in the car to familiarise himself at once with the position and the efficiency of the hand brake. He knew he would instinctively put his foot on the brake pedal, but hand brakes came in handy in all kinds of positions. He made a point of concentrating on the hand brake so as to be able to pull up the car at ippce with both brakes in case of emergency. Here is a lesson which is well worth taking to heart. Even the motorist who is familiar with all the controls of his car may find, if he tests himself, that his hand brake is not, the first thing he goes for in an emergency. But it shoud be so, for the,, combined braking effect of foot ancj hand gives one a most powerful and» gradual retardation with a safety which cannot always be obtained by extreme application of either alone.