Driving tests

Signs of bad brakes and when to change them

All brakes have a limited life span due to the extreme conditions under which they operate. They’re essentially small disks of metal responsible for stopping the rotation of wheels connected to 1500kg or more of moving metal. They have to

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How does ABS (anti-lock braking) work?

Back in the day if you slammed on your brakes your wheels would lock up causing a skid. Once you’re skidding you have no control over your vehicle. Today we see far fewer skid marks on the roads and that’s because

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Eight new vehicle technologies for safety and convenience

As vehicle manufacturers constantly attempt to outdo one another in convenience, comfort and safety, new features appear on premium models and then gradually trickle down to the mainstream models. While automotive manufacturers sometimes develop their own systems, many of the

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Advice for correcting skids is now outdated and dangerous

If you drive a modern car – one produced in the past few years – chances are that the advice you’ve been given to correct a skid is now wrong and might even be dangerous. The Road Code has been

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How to calculate braking distances

The braking distance, also called the stopping distance, is the distance a vehicle covers from the time of the full application of its brakes until it has stopped moving. This is often given as a 100-0kph distance, e.g. 56.2m, and

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Dealing with brake fade when driving a car

Brake fade is the partial or total loss of braking power, all of which are caused by overheating the service brakes (the brakes operated by pushing the brake pedal). There are three kinds: Pad fade The material used for the

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