Brakes continue to improve, and if motorists control their braking, then they can prevent accidents. We can't all be as fortunate as Miss Young, who takes her car to the garage at regular intervals for servicing and minor repairs. One day as she was driving down a very busy street, she hit the brake pedal, but the car kept going! She shut off the key and in due course came to a halt. "Only the mercy of the Father saved me from crashing into the many expensive cars on the road" said Miss Young.

Controlled Braking

Even though we drive defensively, there are time when we need to make a quick stop to avoid problems on the road with people, places and things. "A quick stop can lock the wheels and can result in a skid and loss of steering control" advised auto mechanic Fabian Ecceleston. "To make a quick controlled stop a driver must apply his brakes to stop quickly without locking the wheel". According to Ecceleston, this technique is called controlled braking.

In order to apply controlled braking techniques in the defensive driving techniques there are some pointers to put into practice. Drivers are advised to:

First - Step on the brakes hard enough to slow the car rapidly but not hard enough to lock the wheels. To maintain steering control while slowing, the driver must keep the wheel rolling.

Second - If your car starts to skid or gets out of control, let up on the brakes until the wheel starts rolling and then step on the brakes again.

Third - Repeat this 'on-off-on' brake pumping action as needed until the car has stopped.

To apply the right amount of brake pressure is the challenging part of controlled braking. "Too hard will cause one to skid, too lightly will not stop one fast enough," says Ecceleston.

- P. M.