Word: brakes
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...night is balmy. The highway is lit by a full moon. Suddenly, as the car crests a hill, there it is, just 50 yards ahead, a terrorist roadblock: two small foreign cars, parked across the pavement. With only a second to react, the driver lunges at the emergency brake to lock the rear wheels, then jams down hard on the brake pedal too. He jerks the steering wheel to the right. The rear of the car twists savagely in a 180° "bootleg" turn...
There is a horrible screeching and the hot stink of brake pads and burning tires. Heart pounding, the driver guns his motor, racing away from the barricade. But now another car pulls out of a dark side road to cut him off. Though half blinded by its headlights, he jams on the brakes again, and just as his car is shuddering to a stop, he slams it into reverse and guns the engine. Seconds later he takes his foot off the gas and turns the steering wheel hard. Tires screaming, the car spins around once more, but is again facing...
Skid control comes first, performed by going through a slalom course on an inch of loose gravel. The trick is to accelerate and brake and countersteer the car as the rear end skids violently. You must use the skid. It's like driving on ice. The best way to stop a car is to brake steadily and very hard, not pump the brakes as many people believe. Next comes emergency braking and swerving to avoid objects at high speeds. Each student is ordered to drive absolutely flat out toward a sharp curve until the last possible second. Just when...
Harvard Business School Professor Alfred D. Chandler Jr. traces the origins of the schism in the American system to the late 19th century, when large enterprises, notably the railroads, often ignored the interests of local communities. The citizens of these communities began looking to the Federal Government as a brake on economic barons. Since World War II, this process has gone wild. Richard G. Darman and Laurence E. Lynn Jr. of the J.F.K. government school estimate that 40% of all decisions involving corporate capital investment now are determined by considerations other than profits or the best interests of shareholders...
...offending car is stripped of its license plates on the spot. A cracked brake light, a worn-out windshield wiper, a dented bumper-any of these can take a car off the road. Plates can be, and often are, lost because a car is dirty...