Moral-Flexibility.Net

Bob: “What’s going on? Will you stop this thing? Come on!
Doug: “The brakes aren’t working!”
Bob: “Try the parking brake!
Doug: “Take off! The parking brake NEVER works! No point in steering now…”

Tonight, while travelling the 401 my brakes failed. At approximately 85km/h, with traffic stopped ahead of me and with my 14 month old daughter in the back seat. There was no impact, no rending of metal, no dramatic slow-mo shots of cars leaping over other cars. It was almost anti-climatic as I sat watching events unfold around me.

I’d like to bask in my superior driving skills, but I think a fair portion of the credit goes to the quick prayer I threw St. Jude as my hands and feet busied themselves with a series of tasks intended to slow the forward momentum of the car.

By way of background allow me to tell you exactly what transpired.

This morning I picked Lisa up from work, twice during the drive the “brake” warning light came on then went out. “Unusual” I thought, but as this indicates low brake fluid (typically) and the light failed to stay engaged I attributed it to the weather and made a mental note to ensure the mechanic checked the brakes when the car goes in for it’s scheduled oil change etc next week.

Shortly after noon I loaded Jillian into the car in preparation for dropping her off with the Grandparents in Brampton. I took a moment before we left to pop the hood and check the brake fluid levels, finding it about 1 cm below the “max” line, generally confirming my theory that a little more fluid was needed. As the brake warning light had not come back on I gave the matter no more thought, except to add a second mental note to stop by a service station and grab some brake fluid if the light came back on during the trip.

Typical Toronto traffic followed, and after 40 minutes on the road we were a little less than halfway to the grandparents. A serious accident had occured in the Eastbound express lanes just East of Keele Street, and I found myself stuck in the morass of vehicles as four lanes merged down to two. This involved a lot of stop and go (more stop than go in fact) and at this point the brake warning light again appeared.

[mental note upgraded - top up brake fluid after dropping Jillian off]

Once past the scene of the accident traffic leapt forward for a kilometer or two and then ground to another halt, as I applied the brakes I noticed the brake pedal went straight down to the floor, and did little to arrest the forward movement of the car. Undeterred by this, traffic ahead of me remained at a standstill.

As my car slowed to 85km/h in lane three a solid wall of stopped traffic loomed ahead of me. The brake pedal, despite rapid and frantic pumping continued to do little but provide my right leg with some much needed (although not at this instant) exercise.

The following took place rather quickly, and seemed to provide for some entertainment for Jillian in the back seat. I swore, checked the mirror and slid into lane four still pumping the brakes, downshift to first, brakes appear to slow the vehicle somewhat but not rapidly enough to prevent a collision, grab parking brake release handle and hold, apply gentle pressure with left foot to emergency brake, speed diminishes more rapidly, but combination of awkward posture and adrenaline dump prevent effective use of this brake. Once speed reduced to 35-40Km/h emergency brake efforts discontinued, shift to neutral, two foot pumping of brakes appears to have slightly bettter effect, hazard lights turned on, transition to shoulder lane, two foot pumping continues and forward movement arrested approximately 2 meters past rear bumper of car that was ahead of me in lane four. Vehicle stops, squeals of laughter and clapping coming from backseat as Jillian appears blissfully unaware of what just took place.

I was able to limp the vehicle, at low speeds and with hazards engaged to the next exit (Weston Road, which I knew had both a gas station and a Canadian Tire auto shop one block South of the highway exit), and began making the phone calls that would clear my rather hectic schedule for the next few hours. Limping the car into the shop the mechanics were kind enough to confirm my suspicions that the brakes had failed, and even cited the cause as a corroded and blown brake line under the drivers door.

Fun, eh?

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