ON A SOMEWHAT CROWDED FREEWAY ON RAMP, STARTED TO ACCELERATE WHEN CARS AHEAD STOPPED. FULLY DEPRESSING THE BRAKE PEDAL DID NOT APPLY MAXIMUM BRAKING POWER. THE CAR SLOWED BUT DID NOT STOP BEFORE COLLIDING WITH THE CAR IN FRONT, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THERE WAS PLENTY OF ROOM BETWEEN US FOR THE SPEED WE WERE GOING. LATER EXPERIMENTS SHOWED THAT APPLYING THE LEFT HAND BRAKE CONTROL TOGETHER WITH THE BRAKE PEDAL APPLIED SIGNIFICANTLY MORE BRAKING POWER AND WOULD HAVE STOPPED THE CAR WELL SHORT OF THE COLLISION. FULLY DEPRESSING THE BRAKE PEDAL SHOULD APPLY MAXIMUM BRAKING POWER, AND THE HAND BRAKE CONTROL SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TO STOP THE CAR AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION. I CONSIDER THIS A SAFETY ISSUE, FOR ALL DRIVERS WHOSE INSTINCT IS TO PRESS FULLY ON THE PEDAL, BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY FOR ANY DRIVER WHO CANNOT USE THE LEFT HAND BRAKE DUE TO A DISABILITY THAT OTHERWISE WOULD NOT IMPAIR THEIR ABILITY TO DRIVE.