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February 06, 2004
Snow Blind
I was traveling down good ol' Lincoln way on this beautiful snowy afternoon in my sporty Cutlass Cierra I noticed that the large pickup in front of me was slowing down, rapidly. The trucks taillights where partially obscured by the wet snow clinging to all of the vehicles.
So I slammed on my breaks and they instantly started to make this rhythmic crunching hydraulic noise. That means that my state-of-the-art 1994 anti-lock breaks where doing their thing. Sweet. Well I wasn't slowing down fast enough so being the conscious driver that I am I checked my rear view mirror and the right lane as I started pumping my breaks to contribute to the incredible stopping power of my anti-lockers.
Finally I hit real pavement. Luckily I was only going about 5 mph at this point so my car jerked a little and stopped. I checked my rear view again to see another pickup behind me also stop just in time.
I have half a second to catch my breath when I see the reason for this whole break pad cleaning near miss. An elderly person in a mid eighties Mercedes or Jag slowly turns left from in front of the truck ahead of me. I get half of a snort of disgust out when a red import comes shooting by on MY LEFT. Now realize that I am in the left lane at this point and so that means that the import is going the wrong way. For what reason I still don't know.
So the import just creams the back panel of the jag and spins it around and then barely limps out of the way of an oncoming car. Pieces of muddy snow and ice go everywhere and everyone stops. The elderly person seems shaken up but ok. I wish I could have stayed to hear what came out of their mouth when approaching the import driver.
It was pretty amazing. Anyway, that’s my story for today.
Posted by paul at February 6, 2004 04:13 PM
Comments
Oh man i hate, and I do mean HATE when people slam on the breaks on the freeway.
I always think I'm going to die.
Good driving though... but don't pumb anti-lock breaks. :)
Posted by: Adam at February 6, 2004 05:48 PM
they are crappy ani-lockers though... they don't pump very fast, at all. Can't I pump them in that situation?
Posted by: paul at February 7, 2004 12:18 AM
Manufacturer's Recommendation on ABS: Don't pump them, especially with your eyes open- you may get an air bubble in your brain and pop your eardrums.
Anti-lock brakes are the bane of my existence.
Posted by: Bart at February 9, 2004 03:31 PM