When it comes to road safety hazards, not much focus is given to improper braking techniques. This doesn’t mean that accidents don’t occur due to careless use of a vehicle’s brakes; rather, it is because reckless braking itself can be hard to point out as the single primary cause for an accident. Oftentimes, it is seen as just a symptom of other inappropriate driving behaviour such as speeding and tailgating.
When improper braking techniques are applied constantly to a vehicle for an extended period of time, this can slowly affect its safety systems over time. This leads to mechanical failure, which can place a car at extreme risk in the event of an accident. Even when the brakes are not directly responsible for an accident, the effects of reckless braking habits over a length of time can still be experienced in such a case.
While proper braking is discussed and taught during typical driving lessons, a driver would need to undergo an advanced course to get a grasp of how a vehicle’s brakes work and the proper way in which he should use it. Nowadays, there are many sophisticated cars that have advanced safety features like an anti-lock braking system that can certainly be helpful in dangerous situations. But it’s not enough to rely on these said features. While they can certainly help in an accident, they only provide a false sense of security when driving and thus can contribute to more careless driving.
Some examples of reckless braking can be one of the following:
- When you suddenly brake hard at any stop signals
- When you brake while cornering at too fast a speed
- When you brake hard to prevent collision with the car in front of you that is observing proper driving behaviour
If you think about it, such instances happen very often on the road. You might even be guilty of it yourself. At one point in time or even in many instances, we all might have applied excessive pressure on our brakes. Such a behaviour is dangerous as not only can it become a hazard to the occupants of the car and other road users, but it can also damage the vehicle’s safety features.
Frequent reckless braking will greatly accelerate the wear and tear of the parts of the braking system, affecting not only their efficiency but also their lifespan. All that constant pressure over time will result in poor braking performance, which in turn will lead to more accidents in the future.
Speaking of accidents, rear collisions can also be another effect of improper braking. Sudden hard braking can easily cause pile-up accidents. If you brake suddenly and without any signal of some sort, you don’t give the motorists behind you enough time to respond properly and to bring their vehicle to a gradual stop.
Finally, one serious disadvantage of such behaviour is that it doesn’t help you one bit in case you get involved in an accident as many car warranty plans do not cover accidents that are the result of reckless driving habits. In such a case, you will have to cover the costs yourself, which isn’t something you’d want if you were trying to save money.