Sharp Braking

Yesterday I was saved from an almost sure accident. I was driving back home on the fast lane and there was that car in front of me going forward with high speed. I was driving behind that car and matching its speed. Never had it crossed my mind that the car in front of me might suddenly make a sharp stop, which it actually did. Seems there was some sort of speed bump or actually low remnants of some sort of 'unofficial' speed bum which the car at my front did not notice until the very last moment causing the driver to take a sudden decision to stop sharply. Me being behind that car and not expecting it to stop sharply I had to hit the brakes even more sharply managing to get my car to a complete stop just a few inches before colliding with it. In my brain, the the last split second I believed I was going to collide with it. Thank God I have not. Anyway, now I have a new lesson to learn, and learn well I should.

Lesson: No matter what, even if you are not expecting the speeding car in front of you to make any sudden sharp stops, keep a good distance between it and your car just in case anything unexpected happens. It's worth it.

Going Uphill from a Standstill

I've been practicing going uphill from a standstill during the past few days after last Friday's incident of having the car stopping in front of a growing, and continually honking, pool of cars. The day before yesterday and the day before that I practiced moving forward uphill from a standstill and became better at it yet had not perfected it still. I was not using the hand brake while attempting to press the gas to move forward.

Today I tried going up hill again but used a different technique. I pulled up the hand brake a little (two clicks or so out a maximum of seven) then started releasing the clutch till the catch point then and only then have I released the hand brake and continued the release the clutch. I then pressed the gas gently. The care moved forward and uphill with relative ease.

I also tried the previous procedure but attempted to press the gas before completely releasing the clutch. I tried this method several times but the car always stopped (the engine died) and it proved unsuccessful. The successful process I found was the one I have mentioned above.

As a side note, I noticed that as I pressed the brakes, no matter how gently, on my way uphill, I heard a bit louder-than-usual sound of the brakes engaging down the car. I am not sure if that is normal when in an uphill position. I hope this is not a result of my earlier mistake of driving with the hand brakes on for a few kilometers.

Moving Uphill from Rest

1. Pull up the hand brake for 3 or 4 clicks.
2. Release the clutch till the catch point.
3. Release the hand brake.
4. Continue releasing the clutch (after the catch point).
5. Press the gas.