The Brake Debate

THE HIGHWAY

Your car is traveling at 30 m.p.h. when the proverbial child dashes out in front of you. You hit the brake, of course. But with which foot? A few years ago, the question would have been ridiculous, but today the ubiquity of the automatic transmission with its clutchless floor board is making it the subject of a great debate among motor-vehicle bureaucracies. Some states encourage left-foot braking (among them, South Dakota and Michigan); some disqualify or penalize any license applicant who does it (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Utah). Most states have no policy at all. And there is, in fact, something to be said for both sides--or both feet.

Major argument in favor of left-foot braking is that (according to tests by Michigan State University) it reduces the braking time by three-tenths of a second, which means that a car doing 30 m.p.h. will stop 13 ft. sooner.

On the other hand, a driver trained to use his left foot on the brake is a positive menace in a stick-shift car, where his instinctive reflex will land his foot on the clutch--where it will do worse than no good, since it robs him of even the minor braking action of the engine. Inexperienced drivers taught left-foot braking also sometimes freeze in an emergency on both brake and accelerator (one of the incidental advantages of right-foot braking is that the driver necessarily has to take his right foot off the accelerator).

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, an organization of U.S. and Canadian officials concerned with driver licensing, has announced that it is giving especial attention to the foot problem and hoped to come up with a recommendation--right or left--by fall.

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