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EJO,
While at a stoplight I always put her in neutral so I can keep the foot off the brake without lounging forward...
This is the most dangerous place to take your car out of gear. Of the three controls at your command to avoid a collision, only one is availble when stopped; acceleration.
Suppose you see a car sliding on the snow in your mirror? With the car in neutral the reaction time is significantly increased over what it would be to slip your foot off the brake and onto the accelerator pedal. I would rather run a traffic light than be a stationary target for a 3000 pound sleigh coming up behind me.
Reactions are ingrained. Without thought your foot moves from the brake to the throttle and back again as necessary. If you have consciously moved the transmission to neutral, the neural pathways that react RIGHT NOW are unaware of the conscious brain's action. Your immediate reaction will be to subconsciously move your foot between the controls to avoid danger while the car is still in neutral. Now your brain has to recognize that the car is not moving forward, recall the reason why, direct your right arm to move the shift lever, and the right foot back to the throttle. When changing from subconscious reaction to conscious action, the entire process is slowed as the brain makes choices and issues directions. And, there is a finite amount of time necessary for the transmission to physically engage. Snow will cause immediate loss of traction, requiring modulation of the throttle; again adding time to the equation.
The whole process increases the time the car begins to move by at least a factor of five; the difference between .5 second and 2.5 seconds. And, the difference of 42 feet -vs- 230 feet that a car sliding at 30 MPH coming up behind will cover before you begin to move.
If you have time to think about it, it has already happened.
If your engine RPM is high enough to add to braking time, idle speed is too high. Idle speed should be well below the hydraulic coupling speed of the convertor.
--
Mr. Shannon DeWolfe -- (I've taken to using Mr. because my name tends to mislead folks on the WWW. I am a 51 year old fat man ;-) -- KD5QBL
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