Illegal to put car in neutral at red lights

[snopes]

Comment: It is rumoured that in some states, New York for one, it is
illegal to put transmission in neutral at a red light. If you drive
standard the law supposedly says you have to keep it in first gear with
the clutch depressed. You always learn to put a standard transmission in
neutral at a light of course for safety reasons. I have been searching
for confirmation, and can find none, but can also not find confirmation
that it is false.

I'm doing this from memory and don't have a proper cite, but someone asked "Click & Clack" this one time in their newspaper column, and they replied that it's illegal to put the car in neutral while braking/slowing down for the light, not while sitting at the light motionless. The reason for the former is that the engine helps you brake, and, as my drivers ed instructor put it years ago, "otherwise you're just a coaster wagon going down the hill..."

-Tim

I always put my car in neutral and brake to a stop, and leave it in neutral at lights, otherwise my foot gets tired ( i have a heel spur) i wonder if it is illegal here in NJ, and how could a cop tell? if i have to accelerate i just put it back into gear again.

[Alchemy]

Originally Posted by Rehcsif

I'm doing this from memory and don't have a proper cite, but someone asked "Click & Clack" this one time in their newspaper column, and they replied that it's illegal to put the car in neutral while braking/slowing down for the light, not while sitting at the light motionless. The reason for the former is that the engine helps you brake, and, as my drivers ed instructor put it years ago, "otherwise you're just a coaster wagon going down the hill..."

The engine won't help you brake if you're in a gear too high for your speed, which you will be if you're slowing down. If you put the transmission in neutral you can more quickly go to an appropriate gear if you need to use engine braking or accelerate.

I think the dangerous bit is to have the car in neutral while moving and taking your hand off the gear selector.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by Rehcsif

I'm doing this from memory and don't have a proper cite, but someone asked "Click & Clack" this one time in their newspaper column, and they replied that it's illegal to put the car in neutral while braking/slowing down for the light, not while sitting at the light motionless. The reason for the former is that the engine helps you brake, and, as my drivers ed instructor put it years ago, "otherwise you're just a coaster wagon going down the hill..."

-Tim

Anyone who has driven in icy conditions knows this is not true. When it's icy, and I have to stop in a hurry, the transmission goes to neutral to help me stop more quickly. Since my hand is always on the shifter, it is usually quicker to put the car in neutral than it is to depress the clutch. Plus, there is less of a margin for error.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by Alchemy

The engine won't help you brake if you're in a gear too high for your speed, which you will be if you're slowing down. If you put the transmission in neutral you can more quickly go to an appropriate gear if you need to use engine braking or accelerate.

That's why it is important to downshift when slowing down at a normal speed. If one needs to accelerate again quickly, the vechicle should already be in the proper gear. Having to take a moment to check speed and RPM might be the moment that is the difference between life and death.

[Towknie]

Hah! They can dictate when I'll go into neutral when they pry the gear shifter from my cold dead hands! This is the United States of America dammit! [/sarcasm]

Anyone who has driven in icy conditions knows this is not true. When it's icy, and I have to stop in a hurry, the transmission goes to neutral to help me stop more quickly. Since my hand is always on the shifter, it is usually quicker to put the car in neutral than it is to depress the clutch. Plus, there is less of a margin for error.

We get LOTS of snow in the winter. I also drive a commercial truck, for over 13 years. You never EVER leave a vehicle in neutral on ice. One thing you have to do if skidding is steer into a skid, and sometimes you have to actually accelerate into the skid, to straighten out, especially if pulling a trailer. Can't do that if you're in neutral, and in a panic situation , it takes far to long to try to get vehicle back in gear. Also with the clutch depressed, it is not engaging the drive line, so it should be the same as stopping in neutral.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by JD65

Anyone who has driven in icy conditions knows this is not true. When it's icy, and I have to stop in a hurry, the transmission goes to neutral to help me stop more quickly. Since my hand is always on the shifter, it is usually quicker to put the car in neutral than it is to depress the clutch. Plus, there is less of a margin for error.

We get LOTS of snow in the winter. I also drive a commercial truck, for over 13 years. You never EVER leave a vehicle in neutral on ice. One thing you have to do if skidding is steer into a skid, and sometimes you have to actually accelerate into the skid, to straighten out, especially if pulling a trailer. Can't do that if you're in neutral, and in a panic situation , it takes far to long to try to get vehicle back in gear. Also with the clutch depressed, it is not engaging the drive line, so it should be the same as stopping in neutral.

Point taken, but in my defense, when I'm driving, I never shift into neutral without planning ahead on which gear I'll need to be in next unless I'm parking the vehicle (in other words, I don't ever "leave" the vehicle in neutral when it's moving). I agree with you that being in neutral when one needs to accelerate can be dangerous, and not only when it's icy. That is why it is so important to downshift when slowing down. Rest assured that when I undertake the procedure outlined above, it is merely the first step in downshifting. I move the shifter into neutral first because, if I"m on a rural road and I'm resting my clutch foot, it is a split second faster than pushing in the clutch pedal. Of course, other considerations are taken into consideration as well, like if I'll need both hands on the steering wheel, the shifter stays in the gear it's in.

I will concede that the last sentence quoted above was a bad one. "Plus, there is more margin for error." was actually the start of a thought I never completed, and know I don't even remember what kind of tangent I was on. Chalk it up to sloppy proofreading.

I will also concede that my last post was extremely poorly written.

[Sara@home]

Originally Posted by snopes

You always learn to put a standard transmission in
neutral at a light of course for safety reasons.

Never learned that, never heard that. Been driving a standard transmission for 40 years.

[zerocool]

From the California Driver's handbook (2005, p. 13) as part of the driving test the instructor will make sure you "keep the vehicle in gear when slowing to a stop."

[Zachary Fizz]

Originally Posted by bjohn13

Point taken, but in my defense, when I'm driving, I never shift into neutral without planning ahead on which gear I'll need to be in next unless I'm parking the vehicle (in other words, I don't ever "leave" the vehicle in neutral when it's moving). I agree with you that being in neutral when one needs to accelerate can be dangerous, and not only when it's icy. That is why it is so important to downshift when slowing down. Rest assured that when I undertake the procedure outlined above, it is merely the first step in downshifting. I move the shifter into neutral first because, if I"m on a rural road and I'm resting my clutch foot, it is a split second faster than pushing in the clutch pedal. Of course, other considerations are taken into consideration as well, like if I'll need both hands on the steering wheel, the shifter stays in the gear it's in.

I will concede that the last sentence quoted above was a bad one. "Plus, there is more margin for error." was actually the start of a thought I never completed, and know I don't even remember what kind of tangent I was on. Chalk it up to sloppy proofreading.

I will also concede that my last post was extremely poorly written.

I've never driven in the sort of conditions you get in ND or in BC either, but I always understood that slowing down in ciy conditions is often safer if you use engine braking (which of course needs you to be in gear)?

Originally Posted by Sara@home

Never learned that, never heard that. Been driving a standard transmission for 40 years.

I didn't learn in CA or PA, but like snopes I was taught that a manual car must be put in neutral while stopped, with the handbrake on.

My SUV is an auto, with a parking brake. At stop lights I tend to engage the parking brake but leave the column shift in "D", rather than neutral. My other cars have handbrakes, and I use them (again, with "D" engaged) at the lights. I haven't driven a manual for a while now.

[Mosherette]

Originally Posted by Zachary Fizz

I didn't learn in CA or PA, but like snopes I was taught that a manual car must be put in neutral while stopped, with the handbrake on.

Yes. I learned to drive less than two years ago and it's still current here. If you're at a standstill with the handbrake on, you should be in neutral. I think you get a minor fault for not doing it on your driving test.

Coasting either in neutral or with the clutch down will cause you to fail, however.

[Eddylizard]

Originally Posted by Mosherette

Yes. I learned to drive less than two years ago and it's still current here. If you're at a standstill with the handbrake on, you should be in neutral. I think you get a minor fault for not doing it on your driving test.

Coasting either in neutral or with the clutch down will cause you to fail, however.

Very strange. I learned to drive in 1980/81 when the advice was just that - put the transmission in neutral at the lights.

Approximately ten years later my friend learned to drive, and he was taught to keep the car in gear and hold it on the clutch.

Now it seems the advice is once again to slip into neutral.

If the driving test people can't make their minds up, what chance do the rest of us have?

[Mosherette]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

Very strange. I learned to drive in 1980/81 when the advice was just that - put the transmission in neutral at the lights.

Approximately ten years later my friend learned to drive, and he was taught to keep the car in gear and hold it on the clutch.

Now it seems the advice is once again to slip into neutral.

If the driving test people can't make their minds up, what chance do the rest of us have?

For me, it was only if you had the handbrake on and were sitting there for a long time. In fact I never really figured out when I was supposed to go into neutral and when I wasn't, but the advice was definitely only you "should" do it, and it wasn't a major thing to get wrong. I must have done something right anyway, because I passed my test

[JessBoo]

I was taught neutral + handbrake at lights and anywhere you're going to be stopped for a while, such as non-moving traffic.

My mum is astounded that I wasn't taught to put it into gear when parked, though.

[Hans Off]

Originally Posted by bjohn13

snip...Since my hand is always on the shifter snip...

Wow that's naughty!

Hans "on the wheel unles you are changing gear" Off

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by JessBoo

I was taught neutral + handbrake at lights and anywhere you're going to be stopped for a while, such as non-moving traffic.

I never heard of using the handbrake at lights.

A friend of mine used to drive big rigs and is adamant that when slowing down for a light (or traffic, or whatever), one should downshift through the gears, not just shift into neutral.

But I never did that when I drove standard.

[Toys For Big Boys]

Originally Posted by JessBoo

My mum is astounded that I wasn't taught to put it into gear when parked, though.

I don't think I was either. I always leave it in first gear when I park on our drive which is on upward slope.

[Nick Theodorakis]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I never heard of using the handbrake at lights.

....

The only time I've heard of it is in the context of helping new (new to standard transmission, that it) drivers get started when at a stop on a hill.

Nick