Locking hand throttle...

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by Telco

Not the safest thing in the world,

IMHO that depends upon how it is used. On highways with little traffic, I don't see the problem.

After all, you really shouldn't be using any "cruse control" (including more traditional ones) when you are in traffic that could result in things happening "very quickly" (say under 3 seconds reaction time). And going from "lock" to "manual" (i.e. no "hand throttle") takes a small fraction of a second if/when your hand is already on the gear shift. And even when my hand is on the wheel, it still takes me under a second to move my hand from the wheel to the stick shift and also push down on the hand throttle (thereby turning the thing totally "off").

Originally Posted by Telco

and any cops that recognize it will give you flak about it.

If true, that could be a problem...

Originally Posted by Telco

If you have to suddenly slam on the brakes, the throttle will be held on, reducing braking time, and this will make you liable in any accidents.

If you are trying to brake against acceleration, than you will lengthen your braking distance, yes. OTOH you probably shouldn't be actively using the hand throttle when in traffic.

But also remember that this is a MANUAL transmission car. This means that the engine will likely "kill" if/when "slamming on the brakes" (with the car in gear) in an emergency. And once the engine dies (which will happen in under a second in a "slam on the brakes" situation), the throttle position has zero effect on braking distance. And if (as is a normal reflex for stick shift drivers, myself included) I press both the brake and the clutch (taking the car out of gear), than all the throttle lock could do (even if I should forget to turn it off) is to cause the engine to race a bit (i.e. no difference to braking distance, even if it isn't turned off, as the engine isn't connected to the drive shaft in that case)!

Originally Posted by Telco

I'm pretty sure it's illegal to have a throttle lock that the brake pedal won't release on a vehicle used on public streets.

I'm not saying you are wrong. However, I didn't find anything about this (doing an internet search on the subject) when I was looking (before buying the kit). And even if it is true some places, I'm sure that would be a state by state thing (i.e. part of the per state vehicle code, vs any sort of national law).

Originally Posted by Telco

You might think that you can release it in an emergency, but in reality people tend to grab the wheel with both hands and slam on the brakes in an emergency.

You are correct that is the stereotypical reflex response for the average person. Which means that until someone gets used to the thing, it would be more dangerous than using the more traditional (foot) control.

However, people tend (in an emergency) to do what they have trained their reflexes to do. And already in the few days I've used the thing, I've gotten in the habit of pushing the thing fully OFF (down) and switching to my foot whenever I see any traffic that I might have to deal with (i.e. whenever I see ANY patterns that look like they could possibly result in an "emergency" if something unexpected where to occur). So I'm already starting to get the automatic reflexes to disengage this device, when I "need" to.

Originally Posted by Telco

"He might have stopped in time had he not had a manual throttle lock in place that held the gas on, reducing the vehicle's braking distance. Thanks to his illegal addition to his vehicle, Mrs. Jones and her baby will never see another day," the lawyer will say.

Whenever there is a tragic auto-accident, the lawyers are all set to come out with heart wrenching testimony. I'm sure that the picture you paint is no more damaging than any of a number of other "it's his fault" pictures out there. Just think about all the "If only he wasn't on his cell phone", or "If only he saw me", or "If only she hadn't dropped her cigarette", or even the "If only he hadn't fallen asleep" lines out there.

The truth of the matter is, learning how to drive for FE both with and without FE mods (such as this hand throttle) requires you to be a more attentive and DEFENSIVE driver to begin with (as you gain FE by ANTICIPATING the traffic). So properly used, you are probably a much safer driver with such devices, than most drivers are without them...

Originally Posted by Telco

Your argument of "But it saved me gas!!!" will fall on deaf ears.

But that probably would NOT be my argument.

Since I'm already a fairly "defensive driver" (and becoming more so, the more I learn about FE driving), I likely would have already disengaged the locking control at the first sign of things being marginal (i.e. when there were opportunities for something to "pop up" with less than a few seconds to deal with them). As such, I could truthfully counter-argue that the thing wasn't even engaged at the time, and therefore had zero effect on how fast I could brake...

Originally Posted by Telco

I'd suggest seeing if you can work out a mod to it that will allow the brake pedal to release it. If it has a trigger lock you'd just need a cable from the brake pedal to the throttle cable, so that when you hit the brakes it trips the lock arm to release it. If it's a friction lock it'll be a little more difficult to set up so the brake pedal releases it.

Sounds like a decent idea, if I can come up with some mod that isn't too big of a PITA to do. And you are correct, that it would deal with the "safety issue" of forgetting to disengage the throttle in a braking emergency (thereby making the thing at least a little safer).

However, the "lock" in my particular hand throttle (and the thing really is a hand throttle, not just a throttle lock, in the you really can control throttle speed with just your hand, if you so choose) is friction based (not trigger based), so it's not going to be the trivial cable setup you described to disenguage it from the brake pedal.