[HOW TO CONTROL THE GAS PEDAL AND SPEED | PASS A ROAD TEST SMART]
Hi there Smart Drivers. Rick with Smart Drive Test, talking to you today
about: Speed control. I had a comment from Big$MoneyBoss, and he was having some
difficulty, down there in Colorado, to maintain his speed at exactly 30 miles
per hour, which is 50 kilometers an hour here in Canada. Now, for those of
you driving around in the city, it's unlikely that you're going to maintain a
speed limit of 30 miles an hour for very long. It's more important to maintain the
buffer space around your vehicle that gives you room in which to maneuver, and
keeps your defensive posturing at a high level, as opposed to having high risk, and
being close to other vehicles and other fixed objects. It's more important to
maintain your buffer of space, than it is to maintain a constant speed, but we do want
to maintain a constant speed, and have good throttle control. So, today we're
show you how to do good throttle control, and go out on the road and maintain a
speed. And, one of the other things that we are going to show you: Is how to do a
scanning pattern that will help you to maintain and monitor your speed, so that
you can keep it at a constant level. You will be fluctuating, somewhat, to maintain
that buffer space, and as I said, that's more important than maintaining a
constant speed. And in cities, it's very unlikely that you're going to be
maintaining a constant speed. So, today I'm going to give you some exercises,
we're going to go back to the parking lot, we're going to do some work with the
throttle, we're also going to do some work with the brake. And, we're going to
show you how to improve throttle control, and improve your ability to maintain a
constant speed while you're driving down the roadway. So stick around, we'll be
right back with that information.
Hi there Smart Drivers. Welcome back. Rick with Smart Drive Test, talking to you
today about: Speed control. So, we're back in the parking lot. We're going to
teach you some exercises to do speed control. So, the first thing we're going to
do: Is we're just going to work the throttle, with the tachometer, and we're
going to try and get the engine revs to a certain Revolutions Per Minute (RPM). And
most vehicles in this day and age are going to have a tachometer. If you don't
have a tachometer, well then you can't do this exercise. But, if you can get into a
vehicle that has a tachometer, and do this exercise, this will really help you
with your throttle control. So, the first thing we're going to do, is we're going
to look down at our tachometer, and you can see that our tachometer is running
at about 800 RPM. That's the most common idle for a gasoline engine or a petrol
engine is, it's going to idle around 800 RPMs in an electronic fuel injection engine.
Most of the engines, in this day and age, are all going to be electronic fuel
injection, so they're going to idle at that level (800 RPM). So, basically all we're going
to do, is we're going to take the throttle, and we're going to try and
bring it up to 1,000 rpm, and you just work that, until you get it right to
1,000. And, you can see even I have a little bit of difficulty, but once I get
it there, once I get to a thousand RPM, right there, then I can just hold it
there, and it is exactly what you want to do on the throttle. Now, the other thing
you want to do, is play with the throttle a little bit. Just *rev* *rev*
*rev* *rev* Rev it up! Feel what it feels like, feel the physical response in the motor, when
the motor responds when you kick the throttle down. So, what does it feel like
when I kick it down- *rev* *rev*. And, you can feel that there's a bit of a lag, especially
the smaller the motors, if you got like a 1.8 liter or two liter, they're not going
to respond right away. So just *rev* get a feel of what that
feels like when you punch it down. Now, the next thing you can do, is you brought
it up to a thousand (RPM) & tried to hold it, so now: Bring it up to 1,500 (RPM), and try and
hold it at 1,500. So, just pick different numbers on the tachometer, and try to get
the engine RPMs up to that point, and then try and hold it there. This is one of the
ways that you can improve your throttle control, is by simply trying to get the
engine to rev up to a certain RPM, on the tachometer. And you can see it's a bit
trickier, than when you would initially think. It's a lot easier to control the
revolutions of the motor, when it's under load. And you can see that I can
get the RPMs to a certain point, and I can hold them there, it's very easy for
me to hold them there, because the throttle doesn't really move around a
whole lot. What is more difficult for me, is to get an exact number on the
tachometer. So I've got it at 1,500 (RPM) now, so now I'm able to hold it at 1,500. Now
I want to bring it up to 2,000 (RPM), and then I just hold it at 2,000. So that's what I
would suggest to you: Bring it up to a thousand (RPM), hold it a thousand, bring it up
to 1,500, hold it at 1,500, bring it up to 2,000. I wouldn't bring it much above
2,000 (RPM), when you're just sitting here idling. So, that's the first exercise that
you can do, just bring it up to a certain RPM, on the tachometer. And you know, punch
it down a little bit as well, just you know, just rev the motor! And you're not
going to hurt the motor, just revving it up, and feeling what the throttle feels
like. Now, the other thing we're going to do, now that we've got it going, most of
you are going to be in an automatic, in North America. And other parts of the
world are going to be in a standard transmission. I'm in a standard
transmission. And for this, even though we're in a parking lot, do put your
seatbelt on. Put the vehicle into a forward gear. Actually, what I would
suggest in an automatic, is put it down into a first gear. Put it right
down into first gear, because what we're going to do here, and I'm going to turn my windshield
on, because it is raining here in Vernon, is we're just going to get the vehicle going.
And just drive in a straight line, and be aggressive on the throttle. Same thing in
reverse, and this is going to improve. So look behind you, there's nobody behind
you in the parking lot. It's an empty parking lot, let the clutch out, and throttle up.
And then hit the brake. This is going to teach you control of both the brake, and
the clutch. So, back into a forward gear. If you're in an automatic, put it down
into a low gear, that way it's not going to go, you're not going to get as much
speed, but you're going to be able to work the throttle a little bit. Now, just
get it going. Push it right on the floor. Let it off. And you can see my cameras
banging around, because I'm hammering down on the throttle, in a first gear. And
this is one of the things you need to do, you need to feel how the vehicle
is going to respond when you hammer down on the throttle. Don't wait until
you get out to an intersection, or some other place in traffic, where you're
going to get pressured, and then you're going to hammer down on the throttle, and
something's going to happen. Actually go to a parking lot, and actually be
aggressive on the primary controls, because that is going to teach you
proper response to the primary controls. So we get going here.
And you can see, in first gear, revved it right up to 4000 RPM, and that's what you
need to do, basically. Then you back up, same thing with backing up.
And you just do that in a straight line, backwards and forwards in a parking lot.
And that will teach you both throttle control and brake control. Because the
other thing that you do, when you drive forward: Drive forward, and be hard on the
brake. My camera went forward. You need to feel, what it's going to feel
like, when you're pushing hard on these pedals, on the brake, and the throttle
pedal, right. And just do this in a parking lot, somewhere where it's
controlled, and there isn't other people around, right. Because, you don't want to
have to worry about other pedestrians, and cars, and traffic and stuff. And, at
that point, the ABS engaged, and I'll leave a card up for you, here in the corner, on ABS: How to
use the ABS, and go out and try the ABS, and actually see if you can get it to engage.
Because, that's how you can maintain throttle control in your vehicle, and
have better throttle control.
Alright, so that's one of the ways that you can learn the throttle control. And, have
some fun with it! Go to the parking lot, goof around, be aggressive on it. I mean, if you
got a tachometer, most of your tachometers will have a red line on it. You can see, this
one is about 6,200 (RPM) is the red line. Don't redline it, just bring it up to the
red line, you're going to have lots of throttle if you are bringing it up to 4000-5000
RPM, in a small engine, that is going to really take off in a first gear. And,
like I said, if you're in an automatic put it down into a low gear, that way
you're not going to get as much speed. You're still going to get a lot of speed,
but you're not going to get as much as if you were in drive, because in drive is
going to start shifting gears, and it'll move ahead really quickly. And, if you're
in a standard transmission, the manual transmission, just leave it in first gear,
for this exercise of: Learning how to do speed control. Once you've done those
exercises, then we're going to go up for a drive, and I'll show you how to do
speed control, out on the roadway. Okay,
we're just going to work on speed control. We're out on the roadway here,
and it's 50 kilometers an hour, and we're just going to work on speed control. The
first thing you need to do for speed control is: You need a scanning
pattern. So we're looking far down the road, as far as we can, we're checking our
center mirror, we're checking our instrument panel, because we want to
check, and make sure that we're on our speed control. If we're not on the speed
that we're aiming for, then you need to make an adjustment on the throttle. Then
you're going to check your wing mirrors, and then back to the front. That's the
scanning pattern that you need. Once you put the scanning pattern in place, and
you're checking, and you should be. I'll just back up here a bit. Every
time you're doing that scanning pattern, you should be going through that
scanning pattern every 8 to 10 seconds. So your eyes should be constantly
moving: Forward, center mirror, instrument panel, forward, wing mirrors, forward,
instrument panel, back to the center mirror. So, set up that scanning pattern, that
you're checking those different places all the time, and your eyes are constantly
moving. That way, you're going to be checking the instrument panel every
eight to ten seconds. And that way, you're going to be able to monitor your speed
control, you're going to have more speed control.
And, as I said in the introduction, it's more important to have a buffer of space,
than it is to maintain speed. So, at this juncture here, we're just following that
vehicle in front of us. It is trying to avoid all the potholes, and we want to maintain
a buffer of space. Now, that vehicle is gone, now we want to maintain our
constant speed of 50 kilometers an hour, 30 miles an hour. And, we're looking
forward, we're checking our mirrors, looking forward, checking our instrument panel,
looking forward, wing mirrors, forward.
So, we're always alternating, looking forward. So, it's looking forward, checking
something different, looking forward, checking something different. And, I'm
always coming back to my speedometer, my instrument panel, and checking my gauges.
So, see, I'm too high there.
So, I'm checking forward, checking my mirror, checking forward, checking my instrument
panel. Checking forward, checking my wing mirrors. Checking forward, checking that. Nobody
in the pedestrian crosswalk. And I can feel, I can start to feel my foot going
down a little bit, and my speed starts to pick up. So, checking there, checking
forward, checking my instrument panel, looking forward, checking my wing mirrors, looking forward.
Checking my speed. As you can see, my speed is always climbing a little bit, and I'm
always adjusting it. So, I'm always having a look down at my instrument panel, and
I'm always adjusting that speed back to 50 kilometers an hour.
So, if your two or three kilometers an hour, or your one or two miles an hour,
that's okay, that's perfectly acceptable. And, you're going to get better as you
practice this. And again, it's better if you get it out onto a straight stretch
here, where you can try to maintain one constant speed.
Quick review of throttle control: Go back to the parking lot, work on the exercises
that I showed you here in the video. So, just try and get the tachometer to a
certain level, and try and hold it there at that level. It's fairly easy to hold
it, it's more difficult to actually get it to 1000 RPM, or 1500 RPM or 2,000
RPM. Now, when the motor is just sitting there, idling, I wouldn't try and hold it
at idle much higher than 2,000 rpm. And you know, play with the throttle a little
bit, spike it up, see how it feels, and then put the vehicle into a gear, if
you're driving an automatic, put it down to one of the low gears. And then, you
know, be fairly aggressive on the throttle, try and figure out how it works,
figure out what the response is of the vehicle, as you're mashing down on the
throttle. And, of course, you know, do this in a parking lot where there aren't
any of the vehicles, or any of the pedestrians or people walking around, and
those types of things. And just go in a straight line, that way you're not going
to have to work the steering wheel, you're just working the throttle. And this way,
it will also help you with the brake a little bit, you can be aggressive on the
brake, and whatnot. After you do those exercises in the parking lot, then go out
on the roadway. And try and pick a fairly long straight stretch, and try and just
maintain the posted speed limit, and just try and keep it at that. And of course,
your scanning pattern is going to help you maintain your speed, because you can
work on that. And just take one lesson, isolate that, that's the one thing that
you're working on, and that will help you to improve your throttle control overall.
Question for my Smart Drivers:
Do you have any exercises for new drivers, learning how to control the throttle? Leave a
comment, down in the comment section there. All of that helps out the new
drivers, working towards getting their license. I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test.
Thanks very much for watching. If you like what you see here: Share, subscribe,
leave a comment, down in the comment section. As well, hit that thumbs up button.
Check out all the videos here on the channel if you're working towards a
license, or starting a career as a truck or bus driver, lots of great information
here. As well, head over to our website, great information over there, and awesome
online courses that you can purchase. Stick around to the end of the video,
funny bits, and links to the other videos, and to my website. Thanks again for
watching. Good luck on your road test, and remember: Pick the best answer, not
necessarily the right answer. Have a great day, bye now.
[OUTRO, MUSIC, & BLOOPER] Pouring down rain, here in Vernon! There's
some guy walking around with his umbrella. Obviously he's going for his
morning walk, but he just walked right behind my vehicle, in a completely empty
parking lot, which is a bit strange! But anyway, we will persevere, and carry on here!
[MUSIC - CREDITS]