no brakes!

"HammerheadFistpunch" (hammerheadfistpunch) 10/14/2018 at 11:10 • Filed to: None

1

8

!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Sad story I found out more info on today. While I was up winterizing our place wed night a semi driver co ming out of the canyon lost his brakes.

unfortunately the only terminus for the canyon road he was on was this intersection.

As you can see the options aren’t great: go straight into the condos and then the lake, go right and flip, go left and flip. he went right. I guess he hit the building so hard it will be torn down. He also passed away from his injuries though his passenger survived.

Scary stuff...but...at least it was in the winter season at night and not during peak season. It would have been a lot sadder story otherwise since the intersection is the hub of town and its usually packed with people.

I guess the council will be investigating a truck ramp upstream now.

Just Jeepin' > HammerheadFistpunch 10/14/2018 at 11:24

2

Rough. I’m glad someone survived who could explain what happened.

HammerheadFistpunch > Just Jeepin' 10/14/2018 at 11:28

0

A s far as I know he’s still in bad shape. They took him over the mountain to the hospital there then flew them both to the hospital near me. It was a rough ride.

shop-teacher > HammerheadFistpunch 10/14/2018 at 11:49

0

Brutal :(

jimz > HammerheadFistpunch 10/14/2018 at 11:54

1

how much you want to bet there’s a “no Jake Brakes/no engine braking” ordinance in that town? 

HammerheadFistpunch > jimz 10/14/2018 at 12:40

1

There is but to be fair there isn’t in the canyon, it’s only effective about a quarter mile from the intersection. He was doing 50 when he crashed, 1200 feet of Jake brake was going to do exactly nothing.

Maxima Speed > HammerheadFistpunch 10/14/2018 at 13:12

0

Wait, I’m confused. I thought air brakes engaged upon failure to prevent this kind of thing. Also I don’t understand why more people don’t use their gears to help brake in a brake failure situation. In this instance if your brakes aren’t working you slam it into 1st or reverse destroy the transmission but atleast you’ll be alive.

HammerheadFistpunch > Maxima Speed 10/14/2018 at 13:40

1

If they are overworked they don’t provide much braking. I mean they could be fully engaged   but ineffective. There is also another part of me that tells me they might have been lying. 

sadfaceishappyface > Maxima Speed 10/14/2018 at 17:36

1

You can’t simply force a non-synchronized transmission into a lower gear. You have about 100 rpm range to shift these things easily. Out of range you can stand on the shifter and grind for days.

Here is what happens. You drop out of gear to downshift. But you can’t slow down with no brakes. A very good driver might be able to give it a little gas to rev Match before the slope speeds him up more. Then engage clutch and you might slow do wn 5 mph because gears are so close. Most drivers will be stuck in neutral.

But if he was going 50, he was probably already trusting his brakes to bail him out instead of relying on the transmission to keep him to a safe speed . You have to shift before you get going too fast, because you might not be able to show down enough with brakes. On a steep grade, the overused brakes smoked and failed and by then there isn’t much you can do.  80k lbs is no joke.

Air brakes will lock if the air supply drops too low, but that won’t really help.   you will just skid off the road sooner.