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Deccelerate, or brake, which to use
Taking your foot off the accelerator (gas), or even just reducing the amount of pressure on the gas pedal, can be called "using the deccelerator".
Inexperienced drivers can often be faced with a dilemma when needing to reduce speed. Even the most novice driver will have noticed that taking their foot off the accelerator will reduce the speed, and also that changing down a gear also has the same effect - sometimes even quite dramatically.
This is a good method for saving fuel, driving smoothly, and keeping under the speed limit. However this method should only be used when slight speed changes are required, say when driving down a hill or approaching a slight bend.
When you are approaching a junction, or other hazard, you not only have to reduce your speed by some considerable amount, or even stop before proceeding. You also have a duty to warn road users behind you of this reduction in speed. This is why you must use your brake pedal to kill the speed. When you apply the footbrake, your brake lights come on behind, and warn others of your speed reduction. This ensures your safety and prevents being hit from behind when the following driver had no warning you were going to slow down so much or so quickly.
Using the gears to slow the vehicle is potentially dangerous, as the speed reduction can be quite dramatic, particularly if the wrong gear for the current speed is selected or the engine revs not matched (by flipping the gas before the clutch comes up). It also provides NO warning to following road users of the sudden and dramatic speed reduction and means you are likely to get hit from behind.
By reading the road ahead well, using your mirrors, and keeping a safe distance from the vehicle in front, you should find that only minor reductions in speed are usually necessary when the traffic is otherwise flowing smoothly, and that using the deccelerator is the best option. A driver that is regularly using the brake, or just touching the brake unnecessarily can lull following drivers into a false sense of security and make them think you are braking but not really slowing down. Then when you do brake hard they think you are simply touching the brakes again and could end up not reacting correctly and in time.
If you are in the correct gear on a hill, you should not need to brake excessively or regularly, neither should you need to use the gas pedal. If you speed up and then brake in between speed humps then you are not only wasting expensive fuel but also reducing the life of your brake pads.
On motorways, unnecessary braking causes huge tailbacks as each driver behind brakes harder and eventually traffic at the back of the queue becomes stationary.
But lets go back to the initial scenario. When you are approaching a junction, roundabout, or other hazard that requires a considerable reduction in speed, check your mirrors and use your brake. When approaching a bend that is more than a slight bend, use your brakes. This will also help the driver behind know that the bend requires a good reduction in speed. ALWAYS ALWAYS kill your SPEED BEFORE the bend, so you don't risk killing YOURSELF ON the bend.
So, think. Brake or deccelerate? Which is going to be the most economical, which is going to prevent a rear-end shunt, and which is going to get you to the correct speed to negotiate a junction or bend. Your instructor will guide you as to which is the best option.
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