When you descend with the car a long and steep slope, having attached a trailer without its own brake, you must reduce the speed, you shift into a lower gear (practice also called engine brake) and you prepare for braking. By using the engine brake, the wear of the braking system (the foot brake) will be significantly reduced.
When you descend a long slope and you continuously use the foot brake, the brake pads and discs intensely rub, generating excessive heat. This overheating can lead to losing the grip between pads and discs, which reduces the braking efficiency and increases the risk of accidents. This phenomenon is called “fatigue of the braking system”.
It is prohibited, during driving, stopping the engine or disconnecting the transmission. Moreover, stopping the engine in the second gear is very dangerous and damaging for the engine components and does not present any advantage when descending slopes.
Stopping, from time to time, for cooling the braking system is necessary only if the braking system is overused. But through the method provided at answer A, by using the “engine brake”, this overuse is avoided and the journey can continue without stopping from time to time.
The correct answer is: A
The situation is not regulated by law articles. It belongs to the basics and principles of preventive driving and ecological driving.
Regulation** - Article 148
Is prohibited the driver of motor vehicle, agricultural or forestry tractor or tram:
[...]
12. to release during driving the steering wheel, handlebar or control lever, to stop the engine or to disconnect the transmission during driving;
[...]
The situation is not regulated by law articles. It belongs to the basics and principles of preventive driving and ecological driving.
** Regulation = REGULATION for the implementation of OUG 195/2002 updated (Regulation of the road traffic code)
Leave a comment