Did you know that harsh braking has other effects than just damaging your brakes?
Harsh braking occurs when a driver uses more force than necessary to stop a vehicle. This action can indicate distracted or aggressive driving which leads to increased tire wear, a variety of maintenance issues, and sometimes, costly insurance claims.
Harsh braking is a common result of drivers not maintaining a safe following distance, increasing their risk of rear-end collisions. It can also happen when a driver is distracted and not driving mindfully or defensively when another vehicle, person, or object appears on the road ahead unexpectedly.
Effects of harsh braking:
- Wear & tear on brakes: Those who find themselves hard braking often may notice significant wear and tear on the brakes. It can also cause them to overheat. While the heat won’t spread, it can damage and warp the braking system and rotors, which will lead to expensive repairs down the line.
- Reduces the lifespan of the braking system: Average lifespan on brakes: about 250,000 miles. Hard braking all the time reduces the brake’s lifespan by half.
- Wear & tear on tires: The strain on your tires from quickly braking can cause the treads to wear out more rapidly than usual.
- Can necessitate vehicle downtime
- Contributes to fuel spend and wastage
How Harsh Braking is Measured in the BlueTree Scorecard:
Harsh Braking: Deceleration of 7 mph per second
For example, traveling at 40 mph and suddenly slowing down by 7 mph to 33 mph in one second will trigger a harsh braking event.
Financial Case for Better Braking
Safety is the primary reason to eliminate harsh braking, however, there are financial benefits that cannot be ignored.
- Fewer crashes lead to less money spent on insurance claims and equipment repairs.
- Better fuel economy – Each act of aggressive braking and acceleration increases fuel consumption by as much as a half-gallon.
- Lower operation and maintenance cost – A new set of brakes can cost anywhere from $540 – $900.
- Better MK PRO Formance Scores lead to more MK PRO Points awarded to the driver.
Safer Braking
According to industry studies, hard braking was one of the most predictive behaviors for the likelihood of future crashes. Most rear-end collisions and hard-braking incidents are caused by tailgating.
Key 4 – Leave Yourself An Out
- The safest position in traffic is with few or no vehicles around you.
- Build and maintain a space cushion around your vehicle.
- If you lose part of the cushion, work to keep at least the front and one side open.
- Anticipate the actions of others around you.
In some cases, harsh braking and acceleration are the results of driver frustration, developing appropriate coping skills needed to ease that frustration can keep a driver safer behind the wheel.