Just Saw Nightcrawler. (Diagrams after the jump)

"saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars" (saabstory) 12/13/2014 at 23:07 • Filed to: MOVIES

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Interesting movie, just alright though. You can read my full review in my high school's paper The Cascade , coming out who the hell knows when.

It raised a question I've had for a long time: How do cars with cut brake lines drive far enough to crash at high speeds? My understanding of how brakes work is that the line needs to be intact for any braking to happen. Is there a way that a line could be halfway disconnected so it works for a few miles? In Nightcrawler , Jake Gyllenhal's character cuts the brake line on his rival's van. The van is parked in a driveway in such a way that it is impossible to get out without braking at least once, as shown by this incredibly poor diagram.

fig. 1, in which the blue rectangle is the van. It is facing a wall with another wall to its left. To get to the street, it must follow the dashed green line. (B) represents the proposed braking spot.

I don't see how the driver could have gotten out of his own driveway, let alone picked up a whole video crew and then crashed at high speed into a light pole (terminal speed) without using his brakes. Is there anyway that this is doable/possible?! I don't think so, but I want to know if there is. Oppo, help me out.

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars 12/13/2014 at 23:47

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on the brakes I'm going to say no way. I left my vacuum line off by accident and had the pedal floored and had maybe 5% of my normal braking power available. Idling was almost too much for the brakes to handle. So a cut line would drop pressure right away and no stoppy stoppy after that.

Your boy, BJR > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars 12/14/2014 at 00:04

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small enough slit, yeah. Something similar happened to my '95 aurora (dry rotted brake lines), made it like 5 miles before they completely gave out. I wasn't a dumbass and used my parking brake, so I managed to get off the road just fine.

Your boy, BJR > Your boy, BJR 12/14/2014 at 00:07

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and if I remember correctly, he used a wrench, which meant he could have theoretically loosened the bolt that connects the lines to the caliper juuuuuuuuust enough to get it dripping a little.

Speed.Freak > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars 12/14/2014 at 00:53

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saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > Speed.Freak 12/14/2014 at 01:27

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Eh, nothing major.

saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > Your boy, BJR 12/14/2014 at 01:30

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The movie doesn't show what he used. There is a clanking sound, but no tool is shown, so continuity there (does he just leave a tool under the van?), but I'm willing to believe this explanation. 20 POINTS TO BEN!

Speed.Freak > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars 12/14/2014 at 02:10

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That all depends on how much of cinephile your dealing with. Be glad it's not IMDB message boards they get bit troll at times.

Your boy, BJR > saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars 12/14/2014 at 11:09

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Just remember: "A friend is a gift you give yourself."

saabstory | fixes bikes, breaks cars > Your boy, BJR 12/14/2014 at 12:36

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I'm squirming now. I love that line.