I almost got into an wreck yesterday. Every time I get into a panic stop
situation, I tend to think through all of the scenarios the next day or two.
I'm driving on a four lane road (2 each direction) in the inside lane, the
car in front of me pulls into the left turn lane, then changing it's mind
pulls back into my lane. The lane to my right is full, so I slam on the
brakes and depress the clutch. Hearing my tires screeching, the car in front
of me stops completely. I stop still a good foot or two from their passanger
door, then drive around them (good thing the roadster only takes up about 1/2
a lane).
My thoughts:
> I thought $1,000+ was a lot of money when I replaced 4 front calapers, two
rotors, pads, master cylinder and installed a fire wall brace. If I had hit
that car, the front of the roadster would be all messed up, and could end up
costing a lot more than the brakes. Advice: if you have a tight budget for
restoration and repairs, do the brakes first.
> The pavement was dry in this case and the tires made quite a noise as I
screeched to a halt. If I were driving a more modern car with anti-lock
braking there would be no noise, and perhaps the other car would not have
stopped. Is tire screech a valuable safety feature that we may be missing
with ABS? Thinking back to other panic stops and in this one as well, I have
never had a free hand to take off of the wheel so that I could honk the horn.
Also a honking horn can mean anything, where as screeching tires always get
an imediate reaction from the non-attentive driver.
Peter van der Pas
Mtn. View, CA
'68 2000
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