Did the parking brake break?

[Bill]

A FedEx driver has a bad day:

[trader_4]

Thanks for posting that. I saw the beginning of that on the teaser for the TV news, but they only showed it going as far as the lawn. It looked like it was going to hit the house for sure. He got lucky, it ended a lot better than it could have....

[Tegger]

trader_4 wrote in news: [e-mail]:

We had a sort-of similar incident in our town about 10-years ago, except the outcome was a lot worse. I didn't see the actual crash, but I watched a lot of what happened immediately afterwards.

A tractor-trailer carrying beer was parked at a retail-store loading dock, with the driver inside that building. There was a downward slope from dock to road. The truck rolled downhill, across the street, and crashed into a drugstore on the other side of the road, stopping about 15-feet inside the store. Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

It took several hours to extricate the truck from the store, and damage to the store was extensive. The driver insisted the brakes had been set before he left the truck. I don't know enough about semis to know how this could have happened.

[larrymoencurly]

The parking brake had to have broken because everybody always uses it every time they park, always.

[clare]

Occaisionally everyone suffers a "brain fart".Also, with an automatic, the driver will often take a "shortcut" and just use Park - and a park pawl can let go. Belt and suspenders means you never get "em bare assed." The chance of loosing park AND the E brake at once are 1 in several million

[Dean Hoffman]

I remember when people just left their vehicles in first gear to keep them in place. There was an attempted car theft in Omaha, NE a few weeks ago. The would be thief had to run when the cops showed up. He didn't know how to drive a stick shift. Oddly enough, he couldn't run faster than cops can drive or faster than radio waves.

[rbowman]

With great difficulty unless the brakes were completely out of adjustment. There are two brake circuits, one for the tractor, one for the trailer. When you pull the button out, you're dumping the air pressure, allowing the spring brakes to be applied. In other words, it's a failsafe system; lose air pressure and the spring brakes are applied.

That system can be a major pita in the winter. If the trailer has been disconnected or the spring brakes are set, they can freeze to the drum. Then you're laying under a trailer at 5 below beating on the drums with a 5 pound hammer. Must be the reason I don't drive a truck anymore :)

[rbowman]

Right... Fortunately nobody was around except a few mules and they don't talk much, but I stopped to open a gate once and didn't set the parking brake on the pickup. Luckily, it wasn't moving too fast by the time I noticed it was following me.

[micky]

Once when I was driving a cab in Chicago, I saw a cop chasing someone. I waved him into the cab and we turned right at the corner, right at the next corner and the guy was still ahead of us, running the wrong way across a bridge over the Chicago River. I could have driven after him but there was a cop in my car! I asked him what to do and he got out and chased after the guy. I guess he caught him becaue he'd rested for 3 blocks that the guy was running.

[micky]

When it's going forward, it's a lot easier to climb in than when the FedEX trauck was going backwards.

And in the video we just watched, is there something wrong with my DSL? Do I need FIOS?

Because I saw the driver open the door and it was still open when it got to the tree, and all of a sudden it was 15 feet past the tree, and I couldn't see the door anymore.

Did it hit the tree, get knocked off, or further open?

[DerbyDad03]

Further open. It's still attached to the truck after getting caught on the tree.

[micky]

So he didn't get off scot-free. He came close.

[Tegger]

rbowman wrote in news: [e-mail]:

This incident happened at the height of summer, so there was definitely no ice involved.

I figure the driver was lying. The local newspaper never did a followup article after their original article covering the incident, so I have no idea if the driver was ever charged with anything.

[Stormin Mormon]

Nice to know there are (or were) some good citizens around. Thank you.

[Stormin Mormon]

I watched from here, the tree bent the door hinge further open. Ouch.

[Frank]

Doesn't say what he did but with the lights on, he may have left it running. When I turn my car off, it locks in park.

Back where I worked, employees running shuttles or delivery vehicles were not only required to shut them off when they left them but if on a hill, chock the wheels.

We had a contractor with a construction vehicle come in and hope out of the truck while it was running and it went backward and took out 4 cars.

I've reported workers doing this in hilly area where I live and in a park I frequent.

[micky]

It wasn't solely selfless. I got a good story out of it.

I remember now, if the bridge were vacant I would have driven the wrong way on a one-way street/bridge, and it was vacant but the red light on the north side of the bridge was going to turn green I'm sure,, and I'd be going the wrong way. I think a Chicago River bridge downtown is about 50 yards long. It has two halves, both of which iift up when a boat comes.

[Stormin Mormon]

I've had a couple vehicles, the e brake did nothing for reverse motion.

[DerbyDad03]

...snip...

The "follow-up" wasn't sensational enough to be newsworthy. No one in the general public cares if the driver was fired or charged, it's the idea of a runaway 18 wheeler that gets our attention.

Now, if they had flogged the driver in public or made him lay down as an 18 wheeler rolled over him, you can be sure it would have been covered. Some poor slob losing his job, maybe losing his pension, maybe going to jail for a short time? Nah...not news.

[clare]

A properly set up e-brake is about 60% as effective in reverse as in forward in stopping a vehicle. Mabee a bit better in holding it.