How Do You Drive On Inclined Steeps?

[Zinam]

Hey All,

I have puzzling for answer for this question!

How do you drive in inclined steeps or bridges ?

I mean. You stop for some reason (may be signal or traffic) in a inclined steep.

So what do you exactly do once the signal turns green?

How do you move your car ?

Only with the help of break & clutch or clutch & handbreak or any new inventions ?

 

[Neil.Bhujbal]

When i was in my driving school we were actually taken to inclined road (highly inclined) & made to practice the (break-clutch-accelerator combi).

Getting out of my society which directly connects to the main road we have a 60 degree inclined path.So i have a good practice & its always the break-clutch-accelerator combination for me.

 

[Zinam]

Wow!

Thats great to hear that you use Clutch - Break - Accelerator Combination.

I love this movement & it really shows the drivers confidence on the street!

 

[sriharsha]

i usually use hand brake. is it something wrong?

 

[Zinam]

Well there is nothing wrong or right!

Just try the Clutch - Break - Accelerator Combination!

Go to some empty grounds with steep inclines.

Try this, you will feel like master of road.

 

[Auto Hub India]

This is really an interesting topic which I feel like talking about.

I have started my driving life in hills itself.Its fun to drive on hills at night.I should say that drivers who learn driving in hills and drivers who know how to drive perfectly on hills,can drive on any terrain in the world, because hill/slope/inclined road surface are the toughest terrain to drive,I believe.

I will not say that I am a veteran hilly driver but I would like to give a brief verbal crash course of the same.

HILLSIDE/SLOPE/INCLINED TERRAIN DRIVING TECHNIQUE :-

Suppose you are about to drive a 4-wheeler(any) uphill on a hillside road(which is say 65 degree inclined).
First you apply the foot brake then release the handbrake.Get the gear lever to neutral position,then start the engine with the foot brakes applied.Your left foot should be on the clutch,totally pressed down engaging it and your right toe should be on the brake and right ankle should be on the accelerator, i.e. in a diagonal way.To rev the engine you just press your right ankle as required while continuously keeping your right toe pressed down the brake pedal,engaging it totally.

Now engage your gear by moving the lever to 1st gear,without disturbing the above mentioned setup of all pedals.Now press the right ankle little bit on the accelerator,revving the engine,then slowly release your left foot releasing the clutch(dont do it fast),give attention to the engine sound,you will notice that the engine sound changes as it gets engaged to the gear and the rpm decreases a bit,at that very moment start releasing the right toe which releases the brake gradually and dont release the accelerator from its previous position.Now the vehicle starts moving gradually, you keep on releasing the clutch(left foot) and the brake(right toe) and press the accelerator(right ankle) a bit so that the engine dont stop and move the vehicle in the uphill direction.

As soon as you have released the clutch(left foot) and brake(right toe) totally, rest the left foot on the floor and twist the right foot ,turning the right toe from the brake to the accelerator pedal totally resting the right foot on the accelerator and pressing it as desired, to move the vehicle in a desired speed.

This way you can drive any vehicle on hillside/slope roads of any degree of inclination.

Dont try to drive on inclined terrains/roads with combining handbrakes other than footbrakes.Its dangerous.Suppose you are using handbrakes other than footbrakes in all the procedure I have mentioned above,Then the brakes will be applied only on the rear wheels and not on the 4 wheels equally, so when you are releasing your clutch and pressing your accelerator and at the same time combining handbrakes,then if by-chance your clutch is released earlier to the handbrake-release, then the front wheels will start rolling and as the rear wheels are not moving due to brakes then the vehicle will turn sidewards and the % of its turn will depend how fast is your front wheels rolling.This situation is very dangerous in hillside driving and traffic condition.
There is another danger in using handbrake, when you use it your left hand will be on the handbrake and only your right hand will control the steering, so if the above situation(danger) occurs it will take time to leave the handbrake and hold the steering.

So I request all, infact I insist all not to use handbrake at any cost in Hillside driving.Only use footbrakes.

While driving downhill direction, drive only in 1st or 2nd gear, so that you can control your vehicle in emergency situation.Utmost you can drive in 3rd gear but in rare situations only.

Always give way to uphill traffic if you are moving downhill either it is night or day.Its a rule in Hillside driving.

 

[Auto Hub India]

TAINZ, my described technique can be used for reversing a vehicle.This technique does not require much time to move the vehicle from its stationary position, just a matter of few seconds,but before you use it efficiently you should practice it in some free grounds which have inclined terrain, and you can master it within 7days time if you concentrate.Hope you all master it soon and become efficient.

When i was in my driving school we were actually taken to inclined road (highly inclined) & made to practice the (break-clutch-accelerator combi).

Getting out of my society which directly connects to the main road we have a 60 degree inclined path.So i have a good practice & its always the break-clutch-accelerator combination for me.

Yes, it is the right way to drive a vehicle on hills/slope/inclined terrain.

i usually use hand brake. is it something wrong?

Yes Sriharsha its wrong and dangerous
Try to avoid it now onwards.

 

[sriharsha]

thanks AHI. regarding downhill drive, according to the manual of my alto, we need to engage the reverse gear and then let the car roll downhill and if we need to control the speed then brakes should be. used. i don't know how far is this true.

 

[Auto Hub India]

its my pleasure friend

regarding downhill drive, according to the manual of my alto, we need to engage the reverse gear and then let the car roll downhill and if we need to control the speed then brakes should be. used. i don't know how far is this true.

By downhill drive, which option you meant:-

1. Your Car is facing downhill and you are driving downhill direction
2. Your Car is facing uphill and you are driving downhill direction, I mean backwards.

Which one you are telling?

 

[sriharsha]

the first one.

 

[Auto Hub India]

It is deffinitely wrong,if you are driving a your car in hilly region,where only hilly roads with ups and downs are there because of following reasons:-


If you engage the reverse gear and roll forward downhill then you have to press down the clutch totally on the floor to make the car move.If you do that your car's speed totally depends on brakes and you cant engage "engine braking" in case of brake failure.And even if you release the clutch, as the gear is in reverse gear, the car will stop but it will greatly harm the gear settings and may even lead to gear cease in severe cases,the result is your car wont move an inch whatever you may do.You cant use it in daily use.
But if you are driving on a small strip of slope,say few meters then it is ok to follow your manual.

The best rule is to engage 2nd gear in soft slopes and engage 1st gear in steep slopes, but dont engage reverse gear when moving downhill continuously for a long distance

 

[sriharsha]

ok. but how come the manual quotes this? i'll scan it and post if possible.

 

[vijay]

it works as clutch,brake and accelerator and now after driving for almost 12 years now its easy to access those recline, steep roads.Just the way you practice you know the right foot at right place.

DD nice information you shared.

 

[Auto Hub India]

ok. but how come the manual quotes this? i'll scan it and post if possible.

Maruti is giving out similar wrong informations at many places.

The Maruti Driving School(MDS) is teaching its student to drive in slopes with handbrakes(which I seriously denied).They dont understand the danger factor behind it.One of my friend participated this year in The Maruti Suzuki Best Driver of India Contest--2009,he drove in the slope as I described, but the examiner was not satisfied as he did not use the handbrakes,he was disqualified at that round.Later he came to know from sources that his act of not using handbrakes on slopes is a serious mistake in the driving test.So MDS itself is teaching the dangerous way to drive how can you expect Maruti's manual to be correct?

Thanks Vijay.Hope it clears all doubts regarding hillside driving technique in the way I mentioned.

 

[RSM]

Yes Sriharsha its wrong and dangerous
Try to avoid it now onwards.

Even FIAT suggests, On slopes use the parking brake instead of the foot brake.

thanks AHI. regarding downhill drive, according to the manual of my alto, we need to engage the reverse gear and then let the car roll downhill and if we need to control the speed then brakes should be. used. i don't know how far is this true.

It doesn't looks to be correct.
Downhill
When driving down hill, try not to apply brakes, but use the engine brake (lower gear). Overuse of footbrake may result in total brake failure.
Vehicles going uphill should be given precedence.