| ANTI-LOCK BRAKES ONLINE DRIVER SAFETY TRAINING The theory behind anti-lock brakes is quite simple - when a wheel is skidding it has less traction than a non-skidding wheel. If you have ever had your wheels spinning on snow or ice then you know what I mean. Anti-lock brakes are also known as ABS, which stands for anti-lock braking system. By keeping the wheels from skidding when you slow down, anti-lock brakes will allow you to stop faster and also to maintain steering control, which are huge advantages. If you have ABS on your vehicle and you really don't understand how it works, I strongly recommend that you become familiar with it, and do a little practicing with it. It's easy. If you are in the market for a vehicle, try to get one with ABS. However, if you have a vehicle with ABS and don't know how to use them properly, you might be better off with conventional brakes. Conventional brakes Here we're talking about a normal braking system of disc brakes in front and drum brakes in the rear, although some cars have disc brakes all round. To make an emergency stop, or hard braking on a slippery surface with conventional brakes, you would need to continously release brake pressure every time you felt the wheels locking up. (Skidding) Then you would have to re-apply brake pressure, and release again if the wheels started skidding. This might have to be done a number of times. The problem with this is that a human being wouldn't be able to do this very quickly or efficiently, therefore taking longer to stop than ABS. The anti-lock braking system With this system, a computer is making the decision when to release brake pressure and when to re-apply. This is happening much quicker and more efficiently than a human - up to 15 times per second. For instance, the ABS will release some brake pressure before the tires start to skid, something a human couldn't do, resulting in more brake pressure being applied, thus a shorter stopping distance. Perhaps even more valuable than a shorter stopping distance is the ability to steer while under hard braking. This is where ABS really shines. You can do a little experiment to understand this business of being able to steer while braking hard. Go to a huge empty parking lot covered with some snow. Get up a little speed, hit the brakes hard, and while you're sliding, give the wheel a hard steer. Make sure you have lots of space for this kind of thing. You kept going straight, right? That is, if you had conventional brakes. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to brake hard and steer too? You can with ABS, whether the road is slippery or dry. How to use ABS Let's say you need to make an emergency stop. Hit the brakes hard, and keep that same pressure until you've come to a stop. You will feel the car shuddering, or jerking, especially at the slower speeds. This is normal - keep the pressure on the brake pedal. You will also feel the brake pedal pulsing. A big mistake that people make who don't understand ABS is to release brake pressure when they feel the vehicle shuddering. The other big mistake is to pump the brakes during an emergency stop. That's the job of ABS, so just keep your foot down hard, and let it do it's work. You can learn much more in my defensive driver course "Learn To Drive And Survive" which you will find on the home page: http://www.ultimate-driver-training.com/index.html
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