Driving a manual car comes with a lot of modalities that have to be carefully adhered to if you want things to go in your favour. The clutch is a downshift used for changing gears while accelerating and the brake pedal is for bringing the vehicle to a halt. Have you thought of what would happen when you step on both at the same time?

Professional manual car drivers understand that timing is imperative when it comes to effectively applying the clutch and the brake pedals simultaneously. Doing it wrongly can have your vehicle swerving out of the road and leading to an accident. Hence the need to know the effect of using brake and clutch pedals at the same.

There are myths that believe your car can go off in the middle of road when you apply only the brakes or one before the other. This article by Naijacarnews is not meant to debunk or agree with it. It's simply meant to bring you the necessary information you need, to enable you make an informed decision when applying both brake and clutch pedals - and to ensure you get the timing right.

Improper application of brake & clutch pedals may lead to a serious accident

1. Using both pedals the wrong way

It is known that simultaneously stepping on the brakes and clutch brings your vehicle to a stop. But this is absolutely unnecessary at every situation. For instance, if you're driving into house, trying to park or on the highway at a time when you're almost certain there will be no major obstruction, there's no need pushing both pedals at the same time. It leads to the consumption of more fuel. It's already known that shifting sticks and low revs leads to faster combustion of petrol. So doing both at the same time will have your vehicle consuming about twice the amount of petrol it should.

Also, the more power will be drawn to the transmission, leading to wastage. The car will eventually start to jerk as well. These are the immediate effects you would notice. In the long term, your brakes will wear out faster than its original life span. You already know how risky it is, driving with a worn-out brake pad and disc.

However, when you're driving at a top speed close to a market, a school or a busy business area (which we don't advice anyway), you can use the brake and clutch pedals almost at the same time. Yes, almost! These are necessary situations that don't occur often. This is because any pedestrian can suddenly dash into the road and you will need to abruptly stop the vehicle.

Using both at the same time makes instant halting a lot more effective. You step on the brakes then the clutch after some seconds. No, your vehicle won't somersault as myths claim. Step on them gently until you notice the car decelerate and stop gradually till the comes to a halt.

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2. How to use both pedals the right way

A lot of new drivers who learnt using a manual car were taught that the right way of bringing a vehicle to a halt is by stepping on both brake and clutch pedals at the same time, and at all times. This is not true as partly explained above. There's actually a definitive method of doing it - especially if you're on top speed in a high gear.

The first thing to do apply the brake before stepping on the clutch. For example, when you're approaching a traffic light and it suddenly goes from green to yellow, apply the brake first and then after a few seconds, the clutch follows. This way, your vehicle's speed is first lowered and then small stops are made till the car finally halts. This is the ideal method as it not only saves you fuel but enhances the life span of your pedals. You won't want to be spending thousands of naira every month burnt clutch and worn out brakes.

Learn to use it the right way to save money!

If you're wondering how this saves you fuel, it's worthy to note that gradual deceleration doesn't burn as much petrol as instant stop. This is because you're almost idling the engine and there's no force propelling them to immediately carry out an action. As for gears, it's also easier to shift your stick to the lower gear using the right way of using both pedals.

Finally, you can learn from this article that using brake and clutch pedals at the same time is not just bad for the life span of both components but equally unsafe. The best way is to first of all apply the brakes and the clutch follows. This saves you fuel as well and prevents possible accidents from occurring.

>>> Read more about car care tips here on Naijacarnews.com!