Clutch and Break

Hi, everyone,

Recently, I read a driving manual and found the following instruction:
Stopping the Car
Disengage the clutch and break. You do not have to let go of the clutch at stop signs. Just make sure you change it back to first gear before you go.

In that, I would like to know if the "break" is a synonym of "brake".
Thanks in advance for helping me to clarify this.

It's supposed to be "brake." The person who typed it made a mistake.

I have to say, I can drive a manual (with a clutch) car, and I would have no idea what this was telling me.

I got it from here. And the term occurs in several times.

Learn how to drive a manual transmission or stick shift | Learn-To-Drive-Stick-Shift.com

Barb_D said:

It's supposed to be "brake." The person who typed it made a mistake.

I have to say, I can drive a manual (with a clutch) car, and I would have no idea what this was telling me.

Click to expand...

I think he is saying that when you come to a stop (like at a stop sign), you can push in the clutch, put the car into neutral, let the clutch out and brake to a stop. Then you push the clutch in, put it in gear and go.

He is saying you can just push the clutch in, keep holding it in while you brake to a stop, then move the gear to first and then continue on. That holding the clutch fully in is the equivalent of shifting to neutral.

I do this sometimes, especially at stop signs where you aren't really stopping to wait for traffic, you are just genuflecting to the idea of traffic control.

Wow. I never shifted into neutral at a stop sign or light. I just left the clutch in with the other foot on the brake, and shifted to 1st. Do you really habitutally shift into neutral at longer stops?

(I haven't had a manual since my beloved CRX had to go because it had no room for the child seat -- and that child is about to enter high school.)

Yeah. It's a pain to be holding a clutch in for minutes waiting at a light.

There is an argument for marginal safety to be holding the clutch in, as you say. If someone were to crash into you (or if you passed out), your foot would come off the clutch and your car would stall instead of rolling freely.

That said, most people drive automatics. If someone hits into them and their feet come off the pedal, their cars will roll.

SoothingDave said:

There is an argument for marginal safety to be holding the clutch in, as you say. If someone were to crash into you (or if you passed out), your foot would come off the clutch and your car would stall instead of rolling freely.

Click to expand...

There is another possibility. If you passed out or, what is more likely to happen, became thoughtful about numerous life's problems, and your foot would come off the clutch your car would "take a jump" a couple of meters into a car standing before at best, on zebra crossing crowded with pedestrians at worst.

I've never known a car to go a couple meters when you pop the clutch. A giant jerk that goes a couple feet. Not meters.

Wouldn't a couple of feet be enough to get you into unnecessary trouble?
I was taught to shift into neutral at a stop sign or light. Where I come from it is widely thought, reasonably enough, to be the right way of driving.

suprunp said:

Wouldn't a couple of feet be enough to get you into unnecessary trouble?
I was taught to shift into neutral at a stop sign or light. Where I come from it is widely thought, reasonably enough, to be the right way of driving.

Click to expand...

You bring up good points. We also have to factor in whether your car is sitting on a hill or not.

I will go back to my original thought: It's an effort to hold the clutch in. Much easier to shift to neutral.

suprunp said:

Wouldn't a couple of feet be enough to get you into unnecessary trouble?
I was taught to shift into neutral at a stop sign or light. Where I come from it is widely thought, reasonably enough, to be the right way of driving.

Click to expand...

Well, first, I don't pull so close to the crosswalk that 24 inches would cause me to plow into a pedestrian, and secondly, I have never, ever, even once been so lost in my thoughts that my foot has slipped off the clutch or the brake in my reverie. And if my foot did come off becuase I was struck from behind, being in neutral would allow my car to be pushed into the crosswalk, whereas being in first would cause it to pop and stall.

Regardless, you drive the way you think is "the right way" and I will continue to drive my automatic transmission car without really thinking about this any longer.

Suffice to say, huge difference between driving an automatic and a manual!

Sometimes I miss my manual. At a traffic light on a hill facing upwards... that's not one of those times.