The infamous brake check:

[Toto'sDad]

I hope this does not turn out badly, but it's a serious question. Most or maybe all of you have experienced the infamous brake check at one time or another. When I was driving truck, I experienced it many times. It seemed some form of insanity to me to get directly in front of a loaded diesel truck and tap your brakes for entertainment.

My question, and there is no judgement involved here, if you are a person who administers brake checks, can you explain the rationale behind doing so? I still see it done every day. I have NEVER brake checked anyone ever. It would never occur to me to do so. I really would like to understand what motivates people to do it.

 

[Preacher]

I saw a small car brake check a semi once.

The car was driving pretty erratically in front of me, when we came to a section of the road where there was some construction and out lane needed to merge. This guy just decides to turn on his blinker and tried to force his way into the next lane in front of a semi. The semi laid on his horn but the guy kept coming over even though there was no room. The small car just goes anyway and gets halfway into the lane when the front bumper of the truck hits the small car at the rear door. The semi had no where to go so he just kept driving, the small car wrapped on his front bumper. I heard a pop when one of the tires blew, black smoke from the other tires rubbing on the pavement.

After fifty yards the truck stopped and as I went around them on the other lane I caught a glimpse of the driver who had an ashen look on his face.
Served him right.

 

[Mjark]

I can’t imagine why anyone would do that either.

 

[thunderbyrd]

i've never seen this, but i've never been a truck driver. it sounds like an idiotic criminal act to me.

 

[tery]

That's what Moose Bumpers are for TD.

 

[Ron R]

I will confess to having performed a brake check or two in my lifetime, but never on a semi. Did it on clowns who flew up onto my rear bumper despite the fact that I was doing 9-10 over and continually passing cars on my right.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

Just yesterday, I dropped all collision coverage on two of our vehicles.

So now, I have 3 reasons not to brake check anyone.

The number one reason, of course, is that everybody is strapped these days, so , uh-uh , no, no, no…

 

[Toto'sDad]

That's what Moose Bumpers are for TD.

View attachment 1099167

I would have loved to have had one on my truck!

 

[Toto'sDad]

Just yesterday, I dropped all collision coverage on two of our vehicles.

So now, I have 3 reasons not to brake check anyone.

The number one reason, of course, is that everybody is strapped these days, let’s just be realistic !

There is that.

 

[Toto'sDad]

Just yesterday, I dropped all collision coverage on two of our vehicles.

So now, I have 3 reasons not to brake check anyone.

The number one reason, of course, is that everybody is strapped these days, so , uh-uh , no, no, no…

I'm going to pay one more time, but I have to do something about insurance. I change companies, and they give me a deal. They are like cable companies, they give you the deal, and THEN, they put a house jack under the price at renewal time.

Next year, I think I'll go the PL&PD route, and a catastrophic home insurance plan. Health insurance, and auto and home insurance are eating up a lot of my resources.

 

[Mike Eskimo]

I'm going to pay one more time, but I have to do something about insurance. I change companies, and they give me a deal. They are like cable companies, they give you the deal, and THEN, they put a house jack under the price at renewal time.

Next year, I think I'll go the PL&PD route, and a catastrophic home insurance plan. Health insurance, and auto and home insurance are eating up a lot of my resources.

Oh yeah .

The only thing that saves us is one of my sisters worked in insurance for 35 years. So every couple years she asks about our coverage and tells us who should be on which vehicle and how much coverage to have on each.

But even though my truck is almost 21 years old, and was the biggest size truck they made, I still wouldn’t brake check in that thing !

 

[getbent]

Trucking changed pretty dramatically about 25 years ago. The old truism that truckers were the best drivers on the road is no longer something that anyone should rely on. The old 'rules of the road' that we all knew and many followed are mostly gone now.

So, I witness brake checking (not as a participant) when trucks are sometimes in the wrong location and driving poorly impeding traffic during rush hour. I see when irresponsible drivers determine to punish the truck by forcing them out of an improper lane.

I rarely see brake checks in the slow lane.

There are even crummier regular drivers who have watched a lot of fast and furious, who are also anxious to get a 'big settlement and they need money now' and there are lots of stressed people driving fast among folks who are eating, talking on the phone, watching youtube, etc while driving a tractor trailer.

Because gear jamming is dead (everyone has automatics) big rigs are being driven like cars (or worse, RVs) and instead of the old fashioned, honorable, just the facts man trucker (maybe a little strung out but still serious about not missing a shift) we have lots of sloppy people driving a small train down an unmaintained highway with a third of the cars with muffler sound effects, soccer moms who think kettle bells and yoga pants are normal, and service people that overloaded with audio input from various devices while grabbing a bite to the next opportunity to help flip a house.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

I used to brake check when someone follows me too close on the rear of my vehicle. If I can't see your headlights, you're too close. Nowadays, you don't know who the hell you're dealing with.

Driving etiquette & safety rules have completely dissipated.

 

[RoscoeElegante]

I've done it a few times. When someone was tailgating me dangerously. Sounds stupid, I know. But I did it very momentarily just to light my brake lights, so my slowed speed wouldn't worsen the risk of an accident that I was objecting to in the first place. In effect, warning the jackass behind me that I could go even slower if he didn't back off.

I worry most about someone thus signaled having a gun, and using it. I once had a pistol pointed at my head 'cause I honked at a guy who'd cut me off. Not a good feeling. So I tend to drive pretty passively. An ego battle isn't worth dying for, or killing someone else over. Only when my sense of violation gets the best of me, or when I truly need to, do I honk, gesture, tap the brakes, etc. Instead, I curse freely to vent the anger, tell my kids, "Don't ever let me bring a gun into the car" (they know I won't, and that deciding this isn't on them; I say this just to give them an implicit lesson), take a deep breath, and lean on The Big Picture lever.

A friend, who often drives a beat-up state-owned pickup truck for his work, genuinely brake-checks drivers he considers dangerous or rude. They tend to back off, as it's a BIG beaten-up truck. But I think he's gambling with lives in doing this....

 

[Boreas]

I don't recall being on the receiving end of a brake check because I don't tailgate. Too old for that nonsense. I learned half a century ago you can't make someone drive faster by riding their ass.

 

[RoscoeElegante]

I don't recall being on the receiving end of a brake check because I don't tailgate. Too old for that nonsense. I learned half a century ago you can't make someone drive faster by riding their ass.

It's most often happened to me by drivers who've angrily passed me 'cause they think I'm dissing them by going the speed limit. They pull in front and want to play spite games.

 

[memorex]

When someone's tailgating me, I sometimes do the fake brake check. That's when you flip on the emergency flashers for a moment. It uses the same bulbs as the brake lights, and tricks the person behind you into believing you're slowing down. After you do that two or three times, the driver behind you either slows down or passes you, which works either way.

 

[String Tree]

I hope this does not turn out badly, but it's a serious question. Most or maybe all of you have experienced the infamous brake check at one time or another. When I was driving truck, I experienced it many times. It seemed some form of insanity to me to get directly in front of a loaded diesel truck and tap your brakes for entertainment.

My question, and there is no judgement involved here, if you are a person who administers brake checks, can you explain the rationale behind doing so? I still see it done every day. I have NEVER brake checked anyone ever. It would never occur to me to do so. I really would like to understand what motivates people to do it.

Rush Hour to and, from work.
MANY Times.

 

[imwjl]

Just behave on the roads and do a polite as you can version of staying away from trouble. No one should have our horrible experience of losing a family member from someone's all too common moment of being a jerk behind the wheel.

Do consider the right sort of brake checks. Brake checks to know you have the traction appropriate for the speed you are driving on bad roads.

If we all did considerate driving we would have benefits beyond safety. Traffic would flow better. We would be happier people and we would make others happier.

Edit: This is IMWJL v 2.x and 3.x speaking. I always tried to be a safe driver but I did not always feel the urge to work at being polite.

 

[Vegetable Man]

Nope.

If someone is tailgating, I get over.

If I'm already in the right lane, I wait for them to pass.

Most folks aren't paying attention and I'd prefer to not deal with body damage, even if their insurance covers it (assuming they even have insurance).

Also, there's no sense in angering a lunatic.