By Alex LLoyd
https://www.yahoo.com/autos/why-most-drivers-should-brake-with-their-left-foot-115959573142.html

Braking with your left foot has been a contentious subject ever since the birth of automatic transmissions. If you have just two pedals in your car, and presumably two feet to operate them, then why would you not use one for each?
Back in 1964, The New York Times reported that, in at least eight states or Canadian provinces, braking a vehicle with your left foot would result in failure of one’s driving test. And yet at that same time, a further three states actually encouraged the practice. Others were mostly indifferent.
This caused a sharp divide as to which method was correct, and over the last 51 years, that divide hasn’t softened.

Ask any professional racecar driver and the verdict will be unanimous. Braking with your left foot is a safer, more efficient way of driving. For most road users, providing you have basic skills behind the wheel, left-foot-braking is a safer practice for you, too.

Here’s why:
If you’re traveling at 60 mph, covering 88 feet per second, it takes roughly 4.5 seconds to come to a complete stop—or 271 feet, according to Edmunds.com. In the event of an emergency, 132 feet of that stopping distance will be the time it takes for you to perceive the incident followed by the time it takes for you to react to that recognition. In those first 132 feet, then, you won’t even graze the brake pedal.
There’s not much we can do about the 0.75 seconds it takes on average to perceive an incident. While that number may vary slightly between individuals, the length of time it takes to recognize a situation and begin to react is largely unchangeable.
Reaction time is a similar story. But when you consider the additional 0.75 seconds it takes for your right foot to come off the gas pedal, move over to the brake, and then depress said pedal to begin slowing down the car, there is a giant chunk of time we have unnecessarily lost.
According to Evidence Solutions, eliminating that cumbersome process of going from one pedal to the other can save you 60 feet of stopping distance at roughly 55 mph. So, if your left foot were positioned over the brake pedal, using it to slow the car down would eliminate most of those 0.75 seconds you would have otherwise wasted.
That 0.5 of a second or more saved could be the difference between avoiding an accident. How much money have automakers invested over the years in technology such as ABS, brake rotor material and other lightweight components to help shed 60 feet of braking distance? It’s all there to be had, simply by using both feet.

But wait, there’s more: Racecar drivers use left foot braking for the reasons mentioned above. Only for them, the time it takes to switch pedals is time they could still be on the gas accelerating. The other reason is by having the option to overlap both the gas and brake pedals simultaneously during a turn, one can better manage the car’s inherent pitch and roll. This can eliminate many handling deficiencies.

 

For the skilled road user, this technique may help better control a car during an evasive situation, although admittedly, the number of drivers that will benefit from this are limited.

Key word being skilled..........
Limited number of drivers benefitting? Admittedly most drivers are not drivers. Most drivers are not skilled.
They are passengers.
They hit the road after work with their brains beat to death by whatever they did for a living today
and are not in thinking mode. All they want to do is survive rush hour so they can get home, drink
some beer and watch a sitcom, until they pass out on the couch and have to get up tomorrow and
do it all over again.

For some drivers, they need to buy two 6 packs so they will have something left to drink when they get home.

 

By Alex Lloyd
There are, however, valid points as to why left-foot-braking may not be suitable for every driver. While there is no evidence to back these claims up, there is a thought that when an inexperienced driver panics, they may get confused and depress both pedals at the same time. I’d counter that by saying when an inexperienced right-foot-braker panics, they may get confused as to which pedal is which and hit the gas rather than the brake. We’ve seen it happen many times before; what's the lesser of two evils? And in almost all new cars, this is no longer a concern; in the wake of the Toyota sudden acceleration cases, nearly all have systems that let the brake override the accelerator if both are pressed by accident.
(For the drivers that grew up with three pedals, those that were perhaps taught to press the clutch and brake simultaneously when doing an emergency stop to avoid stalling, that ingrained process may be harder to shake than for other motorists.)

Covering the brake.........
Yes, it's true that few things are more annoying than a left-foot-braker resting their foot on the brake pedal and annoyingly flashing their brake lights over and over again at the traffic behind. This is, admittedly, a problem. But there’s a very simple cure:

Firstly, never rest your foot on the brake pedal, always keep it about an inch away. This would seem obvious, but evidently it’s not.

Secondly, if traffic is light and you’re leaving a safe distance between you and the vehicle in front, you don’t need to hover your foot over the pedal. In this case, leave it on the footrest.
See, left-foot-braking on the road only truly helps during an emergency situation, where, despite leaving a safe gap to the cars around you, you need to stop in the shortest possible distance. In these situations, smart drivers can often see an issue coming.
We notice the cars around us tailgating — traffic speeding up and slowing down like an accordion. Or, on a busy side street, we see kids playing, or that dog that’s not on a leash. It’s these cases where we should move our left foot over from the dead pedal and hover it over the brake, just in case the unexpected happens. When the potential dangers let up, go back to the dead pedal and relax as usual.

Correct Pressure......................
While the theory makes sense to many, those drivers that have attempted braking with their left foot on the road typically respond predictably: “It’s like I hit a brick wall,” they say.

Yes, it takes practice to coax your left foot into braking with the correct pressure. It’s like riding a bike without training wheels — at first it’s tough and you want to give up, but when you get the hang of it, you wonder why you didn’t do it earlier.
I’d recommend not jumping in both feet first (excuse the pun). Practice on a deserted road, and over time, gradually introduce the technique into traffic. If for whatever reason you feel you just can’t safely adjust, then leave it. There’s no shame in that.
But if you can make the switch, that distance you may save in an emergency — one day — could make all the difference.

 

Years ago when I worked for Jack Baldwin's Safe Way driving school, he told
me to teach right foot braking, even though I used both feet in my manual trans
personal car.

When I asked why, he said that the dual control cars had pretty poor braking
for the instructor and if we taught them to use the right foot for both gas and
brake, that we had a 50% chance of stopping the car before they hit something
if they panicked. lol

I taught my students to look so far in advance down the road, and to make
decisions so early about the situation, that never once did I encounter a panic
braking situation.
But I still taught what the boss said to teach.

Jack Baldwin's son raced formula cars at that time but I don't recall discussions in the
era of heel-and-toe that were related to braking. Brakes have gotten a lot
better since then and we don't have to downshift to slow the car down to
save the brakes anymore.

 

Most of my “How To Drive Fast” column is, unsurprisingly, about how to drive fast. As well as posing techniques, some of my pieces offer a glimpse into the inner-workings of motorsport, while others are just plain ridiculous. Siphoning through the bunch, you’ll notice I haven’t much talked about safety. So let’s start now, mixed with a dollop of speed for good measure. Here is why braking with your left foot will make you faster on the racetrack and, more importantly, safer on the road.


Left-foot braking is surprisingly uncommon. You might think that, in a land where 99-percent of cars come equipped with two pedals and an automatic gearbox, most drivers would already do this. Apparently not.

 

More on how to drive fast... Whether to use right- or left-foot-braking in your performance or racing driving is not an easy decision. There are pros and cons to each, and I talk about the challenges of left-foot-braking in this Speed Secrets Quick Tip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WeipZmhSIs

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWvP_iexTUo

2011 GT Academy winner, Jann Mardenborough teaches us how to Left Foot brake and why racing drivers use this technique. If you have any questions you want to ask about driving techniques or racing in general let us know in the comments!!