"Jim Chandler" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:53:20 -0800, "Bill Noble"
wrote:


and, mr Jim, perhaps you haven't been reading anything at all about this?
How else could you make the above post - Many journalists DID research the
subject, the links have been posted here, did you not see them?


My post regarding the "journalists" was a general one. How many times
have you seen/heard/read some so-called "journalist" make a statement
on a subject with which you were intimately familiar and noticed that
they didn't know WTF they were talking about? More often than not, I
suspect. The proper course of action here would have been to turn off
the engine, by whatever means necessary for that particular vehicle
and wrestle it to the side of the road. Unfortunately, most drivers
on the road today don't have the mental presence to accomplish this.
Their first reaction is to stomp the brakes and nothing else. The
problem is exacerbated by the fact that drivers today are not taught
to drive. If they have any training at all, it's to turn on the
ignition, put it in gear (automatic) and point it where you want to
go. Since Driver's Ed is no longer taught they haven't the foggiest
about what to do in an emergency. Even in Driver's Ed, they didn't go
into much detail or depth on emergencies. I've had my share (and then
some) of mechanical vehicular failures and have managed to survive
without so much as a scratch on the vehicle. The worst one was a
total brake failure on a 28' "bread" truck that I was driving. I had
just come over the top of a freeway crossing and pushed on the brake
to slow for the approaching lights. The pedal went to the floor and
the truck continued to build speed downhill. My action was to grab
the emergency brake, slam it into first gear and lay on the horn, all
while steering the beast to the side of the road to scrub off speed on
the curb. Turns out that, somehow, the puchrod for the master
cylinder had popped out and therefore there were no brakes. How many
drivers today do you think would have had the presence of mind to do
that? Not many I'd suspect. Fortunately, I've had several years of
emergency vehicle (police car) driving, and dirt track racing
experience to fall back on. A thorough understanding of how my
vehicles work also helps. Too bad that there isn't a requirement for
SOME kind of training prior to obtaining a driver's license. Hell,
most of them today can't even change a tire.

Jim

Noted, but in this case, the driver was a CHP officer, who presumably is
well trained in all these issues.

And, to put a different take on your brake failure - a few decades back I
was driving a 356 down a hill when I noticed torque steer - "this can't be
good" thinks I, so I back off on the gas and start to slow - at that moment
the rear wheel leaves the car, taking the brake drum with it. So, I'm
leaving a nice rooster tail of sparks as the car rides on three wheels and
one shock tower. Press the brakes - nothing (single brake system, not dual
like modern cars) - pull emergency brake - nothing - mechanical
differential, downshift - nothing - there's a differential in the gearbox
and no positraction - so I turned off the ignition to reduce chance of fire
(no steering lock on that car) and rode it out - but, look at the steps I
took - there was NOTHING more to do to slow it down - it finally stopped
when the road leveled out, the shock tower caught in a crack in the freeway
and spun me into the center divider, shortening the car by about 18 inches.
That's a ride I'd rather avoid in the future.