What would you do if you were traveling on the freeway, you tapped your brake to make a lane change, and the pedal went all the way to the floor?
It happened to me Tuesday, in the dark of the morning, on the way to work.
While driving on the freeway, about 65mph, I needed to change lanes and so hit the breaks to make the move. But there was nothing there. No brakes.
It had felt like a cold morning, but it suddenly felt very warm in the car. I adjusted the heater to shoot in cold air and tried to think. Thankfully, there was plenty of room to manuever, so I slid over to the right lane and began coasting to reduce speed. I tried the brakes again. They actually grabbed, a little, at the very bottom, but it gave me hope.
I began to try to think what to do. Get off the freeway, of course, but how? Could I stop at the end of the ramp? I stayed in the right lane and eased back from the guy in front of me, increasing my following distance as much as possible.
About this time I noticed two things, thankfully. The Brake light was lit on the dashboard, and then, Oy, the parking brake was set. Only a little, but enough. I knew instantly that was the culprit. I released it immediately, of course, and did the math. I’d traveled about 20 miles at freeway speeds with it on. No wonder my brakes were gone.
Thankfully, the ramp was coming up and thankfully, it was Forest Lawn Drive - that is, the road next to the large Forest Lawn cemetary. I tap the brakes again, this time three times. The second time, they grabbed about halfway, the third time nearer the top. There were some brakes left.
Thankfully, the Forest Lawn ramp was not in much demand at 6 in the morning. I was the only car, so I could take all the room I needed to stop. There was only one good way to go, and I decided to try to get to a gas station or mechanic right away.
Thankfully the road continued with few turnoffs or slowdowns for a good mile or two and I began to reallize my brakes were probably cooling down. But also, there were no gas stations anywhere.
I turned at the next available corner and continued on, passing under the freeway and along more isolated roads with only a few turns or stops. I kept hunting for some place to pull in, but found only open road. At the few stops I did have to make, I gingerly tapped the brakes, and thankfully, gradually felt like they were returning (cooling). The road curved around and met the freeway again. I thought for a moment about going back home. The traffic would be in my favor, but as I kept trying the brakes I could feel them grabbing higher and higher and I started to believe that they were going to be ok. The dash light turned off somewhere in there, too.
I decided to go on to work, another 50 miles, but stayed in the right hand lanes the whole time, doubled my following distance and gently tried the brakes from time to time. Eventually I made it in. I checked the brake fluid later and it seemed okay, but all the web experts say to get the brakes checked after something like this. I guess so.
Apparently, I got lucky. Or should I say, thankfully, I had Someone protecting me.
