Re: How to STOP a car with No Brakes!!
Haha.. emergency/parking brakes also known as hand brakes.
care to elaborate on your experience, what was your speed etc..I really want to know a first hand experience?Pleaaasse:)
Re: How to STOP a car with No Brakes!!
Acha, purani sarrial buddhi rooh gaari san 1990 eisweeN ka maadel. The brakes had been making grinding noises for a couple weeks but i kept ignoring them. Then for a few days the grinding noise disappeared and brakes became smooth again. Mainay kaha wah! Khud hee fix ho gaiy brakes! But then one fine snowy morning while driving to work i noticed the braking effect reducing everytime i pressed the pedal. I still didnt realize they would go away totally but i did start driving carefully keeping my distance from cars ahead.
The scariest part was when i wanted to turn left on a small street. I came into the left lane and hit the brakes to slow down, to accomodate any possible oncoming traffic. Lekin pata yeh chala kay the brakes had given up and instead of slowing down my van kept going. The snow and slippery conditions didnt make things any easier. Luckily there were no oncoming cars so i turned the van at quite some speed (about 30-40 kph) and it did feel out of control for a while but it did turn and i was able to turn into the small street. At that point i woke up my left foot and desperately tried to press the e-brake. See some stupid american cars have the e-brake near the left foot, as opposed to most cars which have it near the right hand (hence the name hand-brake).
So i engaged the e-brakes and the van skid to a stop. I still had a good 4 km drive to work so i just took side roads, drove very slow, around 20-30 kph, and drove with extra caution, anticipating stops and started e-braking from a distance 2-3 longer than normal. Also made sure that while i was braking with the e-brakes, i also pressed the regular brake pedal to make sure the car's brake lights went on (for cars behind me). Made it to work safe alhamdulillah.
All of the above could have been avoided had i had the brakes maintained. But for a $200 car what desi would spent $100 on brakes :D Kher that was the last straw in that van's 405,000 km life and now its awaiting its burial. Served us for a good ten years.
Re: How to STOP a car with No Brakes!!
And the above brings me to another important driving skill than can prove extremely invaluable especially in situations like above, and that skill is Left foot braking. See braking with our right foot comes very natural to everyone, but ever try to brake with your left foot and you will soon realize how difficult it is. You don't have that subtle touch and you start braking either too heavy or not at all. But this isn't something that cant be fixed. Every now and then give your left foot some practice and eventually you begin to brake with your left foot just as smoothly as you can with your right foot.
Apart from my e-brake saga, another time when left foot braking came in handy was when i was driving a slightly beemaar car. The problem with that car was that its idling motor had died and the moment you picked up your foot from the accelerator, it would cough to a halt. Now driving on a busy road means braking every now and then, and everytime i picked up my foot from the accelerator to apply the brakes, the car would cough cough and then stall. So what helped in that situation was that i used my left foot to do the braking and used the right foot to keep the accelerator slightly pressed.
Not a very recommended method because ideally one should be towing a car in such a condition but it doesnt harm to know for emegencies.
Re: How to STOP a car with No Brakes!!
Thanks for the details of the incidence. One thing is I cant imagin that you took it TILL your office:smack:
The left foot braking that you have mentioned is so true. Whenever I try, it IS very abrupt…but I have practiced a bit and Inshallah will .
And for the hand/foot brake.One thing is (it doesnt happen anymore:D), but I have driven my car with it on…I dont know why it would keep on running, and I was thinking how can a brake like that stop /slow a car.