Why I started being a slow driver when my kids were little.

[Happyflowerlady]

Losing your brakes is NEVER a good thing !
I have not had brakes go out on me for many years, and hope it never ever happens again.
It is one of the scariest things that can happen with a mechanical malfunction, or, at least that is how I feel about it. I have had an angel looking out for me on the occasions that the brakes did go out, and it seriously made me reconsider speed when I was driving after that happened.


Way back when my kids were little, we had an old 1959 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon. That wagon was built for power and speed, and it would easily pass 100 mph on the speedometer if I wasn't paying close attention.

This particular day, I had my three kids in the back seat, and we were hurrying to the next town, about a 35 mile drive. I was pushing close to at least 80 most of the way (and we were all happily singing songs together as we sped along).


When I got to Sandpoint, I decided to take the back road into town, for some unknown reason, and turned off of the highway before I got to town.
As I was doing that , and pulling up to the stop sign to make a left turn, the brakes went out just as I got to the intersection of the two county roads !
Thank goodness, I was almost stopped, and we just slowly cruised through the intersection and gradually stopped since it was a flat gravel road.
When I could actually breathe again, we walked to a house nearby and called for help . (That's what people did before cell phones)


After that experience, I realized just how much I had jeopardized my children's lives by driving that irresponsibly; and how easily we could have all been dead if the brakes had gone out on one of the sharp corners that I had careened around on my trip down the highway.
I said a thankful prayer to God for looking after us, and made a promise to drive at a safe speed from then on.

 

[SeaBreeze]

That's quite a story Happyflowerlady, thank goodness things worked out the way they did. I was never one to speed, but I did go much faster in my younger and more carefree days, until I wised up, lol. We often see the runaway lanes for semi trucks to use when their brakes go out, losing your brakes while driving any vehicle must be very scary.

 

[Mirabilis]

I often wonder what happens when the brakes go out. How did you manage to stop the car? I keep imagining myself having to drive my car until it is out of gas or I crash! Thankfully you lived to tell the story.

 

[SeaBreeze]

I always figured I'd desperately try the emergency brake if that happened, maybe downshift if I was driving my manual transmission vehicles.

 

[Falcon]

I've NEVER had brakes go out because I don't abuse them.

When going down a long hill, let up on the brakes for a second or two and let the heat out. That's what wears out brakes. I've followed cars going down steep grades with their brake light full ON...all the way until the brakes are smoking. Serves 'em right.

 

[Janis]

I've had enough close calls not caused by my speeding that I don't need to mix in bad brakes. My son in law put a bumper sticker on my card, "$$$Could Drive Faster, But Won't $$$ He knows just how frugal I am. Even though I now own a hybrid, I still insist on two miles less than the posted limit and it shows on my gas expenditures.