How to brake and stop a car in the shortest distance

1.    Avoid braking and turning at the same time. Turning while on the brakes can cause the vehicle not to turn as well or not slow down as much. Race car drivers, who are always on the edge with their vehicles, have learnt the needed skill of separating braking from turning. In 90% of corners, […]

1.    Avoid braking and turning at the same time. Turning while on the brakes can cause the vehicle not to turn as well or not slow down as much. Race car drivers, who are always on the edge with their vehicles, have learnt the needed skill of separating braking from turning. In 90% of corners, many racers use their brakes before they get to the corner, make the corner, then use the accelerator. Each section of the corner (or the straights before and after the corner) has its own purpose and separation of brakes and turning gives the best traction for the vehicle to make a desired corner.

2.    Apply the brakes smoothly: Depress your brake pedal rapidly, but not instantly. This is essential to maximize the braking potential of your vehicle. The goal is to bring the vehicle’s tires just shy of breaking traction. It is important, though, to avoid “squeezing” down on the brakes. The reason for this is that at the beginning of the braking procedure, when the car’s speed is still very fast, it actually takes more, not less, brake pressure, to slow it down effectively, as the car’s inertia is greater.

Note: This model refers to controlled braking. However, in a real emergency, the driver panics and is more likely to operate the brakes too lightly. It’s always better to brake too much rather than too little. In an emergency, it’s best to simply stamp on the brake pedal and let the car stop.

3.    Use ABS brakes, in almost all cases, by depressing your brake pedal smoothly (albeit quickly) to the floor. You will likely feel the pedal either vibrate (dependent ABS) or feel like it gives out altogether (independent ABS). Either way, it is a sign of the ABS working–don’t panic and don’t take your foot off the brake! Of course, if the pedal feels like it gave out, and you aren’t stopping, your brakes probably gave out, in which case, you should try shifting into neutral (N) in an automatic transmission vehicle or a lower gear than your current in a manual transmission vehicle (or read the wikiHow article, How to Stop a Car with No Brakes).

4.    Focus on where you want to go, not what you want to avoid. It’s very difficult to steer away from something that you’re looking at directly, and many people have a tendency to focus on what they are worried about colliding with. Instead, concentrate on where you want the car to go (to the side of the object) and pay attention to how the car feels—whether you’re at OSP or locking up.

Note: Avoid using your transmission for quick stops. The transmission is designed to accelerate the vehicle not slow it down.