Fuel Economy Tip - Don’t Brake Check
July 17th, 2006 | by Brian Carr |Today’s tip will hopefully help you save a little bit of gas, but will more than likely help to save yourself a lot of aggravation.
Don’t brake check; just move over.
For those of you who don’t know, “brake checking” is when you continue to slow down or tap your brakes when you have someone tailgating you.
The reason brake checking will hurt your gas mileage is because it causes you to constantly be on and off of your accelerator. Smooth drivers - drivers that slowly accelerate to speed and then maintain that speed - tend to get much better gas mileage than jack rabbit drivers - drivers that hit the accelerator and the brakes pretty hard, and go back and forth far too often.
So, if you notice someone is tailgating you, go ahead and move over to let the person pass. If you don’t have the opportunity to get over, just maintain speed and don’t “retaliate” by brake checking.
Another nice thing about not brake checking is you tend to not worry as much when someone is tailgating you. Don’t let them being an aggressive driver agitate you and cause you to do something stupid.
Okay, I’m off my soapbox. Hopefully you’ve learned something that will help you save some cash.
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14 Responses to “Fuel Economy Tip - Don’t Brake Check”
By Anonymous on Jul 21, 2006 | Reply
more importantly, by moving over you will show yourself not to be an recalcitrant asshole who is too immature and incompetent to be in control of a several tonne vehicle.
By Brian Carr on Jul 21, 2006 | Reply
I don’t know if I would go so far as to say it makes you an a-hole for not moving over, but it does make life easier for everybody if slower traffic stays to the right.
By Anonymous on Jul 22, 2006 | Reply
If you’re tailgating, you’re obviously a dangerous asshole yourself, so perhaps you should look in the mirror first.
Also, in my experience, you’re just as likely to be tailgated in the slow lane when there’s no cars in the centre lane(s). It seems tailgaters are just congenitally stupid, do not understand simple physics, they don’t actually require a motivation for their idiocy.
By Anonymous on Jul 31, 2006 | Reply
I like to remind them that if I have to stop suddenly, I really don’t want them to visit the interior of my car. Sometimes it’s impossible to move over and people have to learn that inspecting someone’s bumper stickers at high speeds is a danger to everyone in the vicinity. I 100% agree that slower traffic must always keep right, but sometimes “right” is the only available.
/Get off my rear and get off your cell phone.
By Ambrand Dot Com on Apr 11, 2007 | Reply
If a road user wishes to travel at 30mph because he is of age/being a nervous driver/driving a tractor etc then he should drive on backroads where 30mph is an acceptable speed. If he must use 60mph roads then he should pull over from time to time to give other road users a chance to go about their normal business. If he does not do so he is SELFISH, yes SELFISH, so a word to slow drivers out there, you might think you are being uber safe but you are being SELFISH
By no one on May 2, 2007 | Reply
hey just to let u know any car tailgating a 1/2 ton truck at over 30 mpg and they get brake checked the ass hole inside the car isnt gonna look to pretty plastered on the bumper.
By Jason wagner on Sep 15, 2007 | Reply
Tailgaters deserve to die.
By Brian Carr on Sep 15, 2007 | Reply
That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?
By Diane on Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
I have only brake checked someone about 6 times in 28 years of driving. Saved for extreme cases only - like I can’t see their grill in my review mirror. I consider it a warning that if a child runs in front of me or a car pulls out unexpectedly they are without a doubt going to hit me. I don’t think some people realize just how quickly a car can stop in an emergency. I ended up here today because I was on a city street doing 35, in 35 zone, in left lane cause I was gonna turn left and I’ve got this guy on my tail whose grill I can see. He got a wake up call! No matter how close you get to my car you will NOT be able to reach my gas pedal! I brake for tailgaters, they need to learn a lesson before they kill themselves or someone else.
By Diane on Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
whose grill I CAN’T see
By ln on May 23, 2008 | Reply
The gas economy point is a legitimate one, but I really don’t think that’s a convincing enough reason to refrain from brake checking. In fact, it’s not a reason at all.
Brake checking, like tailgating, is dangerous and it puts everyone on the road at risk.
I did a major brake check on some idiot this morning, who had to come to a screeching halt because he was following THAT closely. The person proceeds to throw an infantile fit, go around traffic /on the shoulder/ to get in front of me and do the same, which made me laugh because brake checks only work on idiots who tailgate.
Look, I admit it. I was really satisfied with myself at the time. After thinking about it for a couple of hours, though, I felt stupid and negligent of my responsibilities as a driver. It was a dangerous and irresponsible thing to do. My action was spurred from one of those emotional “justifications” for doing such a thing, as I’ve had this sort of vendetta against negligent and careless drivers ever since someone’s carelessness and idiocy took the life of my mother. Thinking about the hypocrisy involved herein just makes me cringe at my own stupidity. What I’ve come to realize is that it only aggravates road rage and it puts people other than myself in danger.
The justification for brake checking is often, “What if I had needed to make a sudden stop? That idiot would have been embedded in the ass end of my car.” I thought about that, and now beg this question: “Who the hell cares?” The tailgater is going to get exactly what he deserves if you need to make a sudden stop. I guarantee you that someone riding my ass will not keep me from braking if a dog or a child runs out in front of me. Anybody who says that such a thing would prevent braking really needs to examine himself and/or his driving ability.
Though one can certainly get a few minutes of satisfaction and amusement from brake checking, after that feeling is over, really think about it. “What could have happened?” I think that thought alone will be shocking enough to most reasonable drivers to make them at least refrain from brake checking, if not never do it again.
By Eugene on Jun 22, 2008 | Reply
For all of the people who like to tailgate a tractor trailer. I have a question for you. How close do you think you can get to our trailers before we can’t see you back there. Well if you are with in 80 feet directly behind us we can’t see you.Let me tell you what.Our bumpers aren’t anything like the bumpers on a car. If you are tailgating a tractor trailer and we don’t know you are behind us and we have to stop with no warning odds are you are going to see what a DOT bumper will do to your car. It is going to total your car and probably end up killing anyone in your car.So next time you want to tailgate a tractor trailer I hope you remember this.