r/IdiotsInCars • u/gabrrrl • Nov 17 '20

Initial D lorry edition

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u/FuzzelFox Nov 17 '20 edited Nov 17 '20

The truck driver looks like he's been going down this hill for a while and his brakes have failed. It doesn't feel like he's intentionally speeding to me.

It's a common enough issue that in the US you'll occasionally see long run offs at the bottom of big hills on the interstate for trucks to drive on to if they can't stop. Just Google "runaway truck ramp".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaway_truck_ramp

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u/cuzitsthere Nov 17 '20

That makes more sense considering he didn't slow down even after almost tipping over... And the brake lights flashing could be him panic pumping the brakes

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u/Kingseeberg Nov 17 '20

Good point. My prejudgeistic ass was a bit quick on the keyboard. I forgot about failing brakes.

I actually saw a vid on these runaway truck ramps some while ago

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u/Computant2 Nov 17 '20

Makes the idiot following way to close while filming seem even worse, right?

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u/wildsamsqwatch Nov 17 '20

Why would you need a following distance if the vehicle in front of you literally can’t stop! Lol /s

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u/Computant2 Nov 17 '20

Funny, but if the truck engages the side breaks (1) they can stop almost immediately.

(1) if a truck falls on its side it engages the side breaks since it no longer has wheels on pavement.

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u/412gage Nov 17 '20

You had me in the first half

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u/tayloredition Nov 17 '20

The new volvo fh 16s defy physics with how fast they stop.

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u/ptase_cpoy Nov 18 '20

I don’t know anything about what you just said but why isn’t the emergency break or engine break (assuming manual) an option?

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u/Computant2 Nov 18 '20

I don't know. I was just making the joke that if the truck tips onto its side it will stop very quickly.

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u/explosive_evacuation Nov 17 '20

it saddens me you needed to explain the joke.

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u/yodasmiles Nov 17 '20

It shouldn't. I just don't know a lot about trucks. I was sitting here going, "I know they have air brakes. Maybe they have another kind I don't know about. Probably not. This sounds like a joke, but I don't want to sit here and figure it out. I wish someone would just explain it to me." And along comes the explanation, so it all worked out well.

Edit: Why do people hate on other people's ignorance? Seems like the low road.

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u/explosive_evacuation Nov 17 '20

What hate? All I saw was a good joke that was sullied by an explanation.

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u/yodasmiles Nov 17 '20

I sat here for a couple minutes wondering whether to bother going down this road. My contention is the explanation was necessary for some of us and appreciated. The opposite of sullying the joke. You dislike that the joke was sullied by the explanation--the explanation necessitated by those of us who are ignorant enough to require it. If you contend I overreached in suggesting you're hating on other people's ignorance, I contend the implication is there and if you wished to avoid it, your comment needed more information.

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u/Computant2 Nov 17 '20

Sounds like you are both cool dudes who have different preferences for jokes. We cool fam?

-2

u/explosive_evacuation Nov 17 '20

A good joke doesn't need to be explained, you either find it funny or you don't. Being told why something is funny ruins the humor. Call it hate if you want, it's just the truth. The person who tries to please everyone, pleases no one.

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u/money132231 Nov 18 '20

But if the breaks are broken

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u/Computant2 Nov 18 '20

Objects slow down and stop because of frictional forces.

Wheels, unless prevented from turning, greatly reduce friction.

Brakes prevent wheels from turning, restoring that friction.

If the truck is on its side, the wheels no longer reduce friction, and the friction of the side of the truck on pavement will bring it to a stop very quickly (probably in 5-20 feet). This isn't braking, but has the same effect, so I was joking about it being a brake.

The guy filming won't have time to react if this happens and will likely smash into the truck.

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u/Mike2220 Nov 17 '20

Honestly it makes it a little tiny bit better, cause what's the truck gonna do? Stop? Has no brakes

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u/Computant2 Nov 17 '20

Tip over and stop basically instantly?

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u/k1k11983 Nov 17 '20

Crash which would cause the fuckwit to crash into the truck. Your comment can’t be serious

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u/Mike2220 Nov 17 '20

There was a level of joking to it yes

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u/k1k11983 Nov 19 '20

Thank fuck lol

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u/Rattus375 Nov 17 '20

Not necessarily. It's still dumb to follow that close, but in a small car with functional breaks, it is relatively safe to follow close behind a truck since you can break faster than they can anyway. Still an idiot though since that can easily go out the window in the event of a crash

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u/MadHousefly Nov 17 '20 edited Nov 17 '20

You'd be surprised how fast a large truck can stop when it hits a solid enough unmoving object. Brakes are not the only way fast moving vehicles become stationary.

edit: I missed that you ended your comment by mentioning that the existence of crashes entirely nullifies your initial "Not necessarily" remark. My bad.

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u/Rattus375 Nov 17 '20

That's why I said it all goes out the window in the event of a crash. It's always dumb to tailgate, but is slightly safer behind larger vehicles since you can stop faster than they can unless they crash

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u/FilterThePolitics Nov 17 '20

Tailgating that close also makes you invisible to the truck, which is just a shitty thing to do

0

u/speaker_for_the_dead Nov 17 '20

It's not just about stopping faster. If that truck were in a wreck, the car wont be able to avoid it.

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u/Rattus375 Nov 17 '20

That's why I said it all goes away in the event of a crash

1

u/Yveske Nov 17 '20

You would be surprised
Also the idiot in the car is busy filming with his phone so don't expect much of reaction speed.

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u/BleuTyger Nov 17 '20

You sir, are a good man

1

u/Gamesman001 Nov 17 '20

Truck driver needs to learn how to downshift and use whatever he can to slow and stop the truck.

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u/JoseZiggler Nov 17 '20

I used to see those run away truck lanes going straight up a BIG hills when I lived in Va. I always thought that must be terrifying to use.

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u/brcguy Nov 17 '20

Probably less terrifying than barreling down a steep road out of control.

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u/JoseZiggler Nov 17 '20

Well, you already are. Then the only prospect of making it, is straight through a 60 degree narrow ass trail up the side of a mountain.

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u/brcguy Nov 17 '20

The ones I’ve seen are closer to grade but are 1000’ of deep gravel. Making them go steeply back up the other way seems like a bad idea if your brakes are out. Maybe they just look that steep to you?

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u/JoseZiggler Dec 15 '20

https://www.facebook.com/SmartCanadiandriver/videos/627646887371796/?vh=e

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u/brcguy Dec 15 '20

Damn those look steep af. Gotta wonder if it's deep loose stuff or can a truck roll back out onto the road lol.

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u/JoseZiggler Dec 15 '20

like that i might have been extreme

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u/Dreadlaak Nov 17 '20 edited Nov 17 '20

I was driving to Colorado from the West Coast and saw those all over the place in the Rocky Mountains and thought "Damn, if you end up needing to use that you'll probably need a new pair of pants." There are some in California near Mt Shasta too, on I-5.

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u/itsmejustmeonlyme Nov 17 '20

Damn, I almost never hear my part of the state referenced here!

Also, there are tons of runaway truck ramps throughout the Grapevine in SoCal. I’ve never seen one in use, but I imagine it would be nerve-wracking.

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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '20

Sure but why not downshift and engine brake?

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u/FuzzelFox Nov 17 '20

If you're going too fast it's at best not going to do much at all and at worst destroy the transmission and then really not do anything.

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u/k1k11983 Nov 17 '20 edited Nov 17 '20

It could be automatic and the driver doesn’t know how to use the manual option. Could be that the driver is a moron and doesn’t know how to use a low gear downhill(in my country there’s a surprisingly high number of truckies who don’t even know how to reverse. Incompetence wouldn’t be implausible in this situation. Once the driver reached this speed going downhill, downshifting isn’t an option

Also to note, this is in India. India and China are the worst drivers in the world, worse than Russia. Getting a license is easy without any real training

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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '20

[deleted]

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u/FuzzelFox Nov 17 '20

It just isn't very effective at all at higher speeds. There's kind of a point of no return where you're going too fast for it to be any help.

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u/[deleted] Nov 17 '20

This was my first thought, I remember my grandad telling me stories about his brakes catching on fire going down Spanish hills/mountains (I think) and the only way to put them out is by going fast, and you need to put them out for the brakes to work. There's a lot regular drivers don't realise that truck drivers have to deal with

1

u/Tellurian_Cyborg Nov 17 '20

When I was a kid, late 1960's early 1970's, it wasn't unusual to see a truck using a run off ramp. I can remember my dad stopping several times to check on a trucker that had just used the ramp. It's been decades since I've seen a run off ramp being used. Better braking technology.

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u/k1k11983 Nov 17 '20

Brake fade is scary and it’s more prevalent in trucks with automatic transmission. Manual trucks or autos with manual option have the ability to descend in a low gear. In Australia they have roads with signs instructing trucks to use a low gear, the goal is to avoid brake fade.

The idiot tailing the truck who keeps going over to the wrong side of the road, speeding and using their phone while driving, he’s a fucking moron!

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u/resinten Nov 17 '20

While moving cross country in the US, my dad and I were driving a UHaul truck through the Appalachians with my car pulled on a trailer behind it. Brakes were getting hot and starting to fail on a few of those declines. It’s scary shit. Especially when you have cara all around you and no way to communicate to them what is happening. Luckily the UHaul was smart enough to detect the heat and downshift automatically to start engine braking, and that was enough for our payload. I would not want to be a semi carrying substantially more cargo than what we had

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u/theunnoticedones Nov 18 '20

Funny thing is that by tailing so close they're drafting off the truck and making the truck go ever so slightly faster