Raleigh Christmas Parade Accident- something weird about it.

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  • HoughMade

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    In case you haven't heard about it, a truck pulling a float went "out of control" and ran over a young girl marching in the parade.

    This was at just over walking speed....maybe at a brisk walking speed to easy jog pace.

    This is weird. The driver, a 20 year old, said he could not stop....but at maybe 6 to 8 mph. Since 1968, every vehicle has had a split braking system, so there's that. I have a same-generation truck as the one involved and there are cable accuated parking brakes completely separate from the hydraulic brakes. There's also the tried and true putting it in park. A lot had to go wrong here...

    ...or maybe something in the cab rolled or fell behind the brake pedal....maybe he just panicked and didn't do anything other than push the brakes that didn't work for some reason. 6 guys were able to stop the truck.

    Couple of videos:





    I am guessing that something about the mods to the truck royally screwed it up and that was combined with paralyzing panic. I have no tolerance for panic.

    Thoughts?
     

    Jaybird1980

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    In case you haven't heard about it, a truck pulling a float went "out of control" and ran over a young girl marching in the parade.

    This was at just over walking speed....maybe at a brisk walking speed to easy jog pace.

    This is weird. The driver, a 20 year old, said he could not stop....but at maybe 6 to 8 mph. Since 1968, every vehicle has had a split braking system, so there's that. I have a same-generation truck as the one involved and there are cable accuated parking brakes completely separate from the hydraulic brakes. There's also the tried and true putting it in park. A lot had to go wrong here...

    ...or maybe something in the cab rolled or fell behind the brake pedal....maybe he just panicked and didn't do anything other than push the brakes that didn't work for some reason. 6 guys were able to stop the truck.

    Couple of videos:





    I am guessing that something about the mods to the truck royally screwed it up and that was combined with paralyzing panic. I have no tolerance for panic.

    Thoughts?

    Very sad.

    For now I'm going to go with panic and inexperience.
     

    HoughMade

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    I have heard speculation about whether he heated up the brakes enough to boil the fluid. If the parade was in the Rockies, sure. Maybe all 4 brakes were dragging? Unlikely. That doesn't address the parking brake and throwing it in park. Your 4L80E is not nearly so precious as a human. Again, I'm wondering about the mods.
     

    WebSnyper

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    In case you haven't heard about it, a truck pulling a float went "out of control" and ran over a young girl marching in the parade.

    This was at just over walking speed....maybe at a brisk walking speed to easy jog pace.

    This is weird. The driver, a 20 year old, said he could not stop....but at maybe 6 to 8 mph. Since 1968, every vehicle has had a split braking system, so there's that. I have a same-generation truck as the one involved and there are cable accuated parking brakes completely separate from the hydraulic brakes. There's also the tried and true putting it in park. A lot had to go wrong here...

    ...or maybe something in the cab rolled or fell behind the brake pedal....maybe he just panicked and didn't do anything other than push the brakes that didn't work for some reason. 6 guys were able to stop the truck.

    Couple of videos:





    I am guessing that something about the mods to the truck royally screwed it up and that was combined with paralyzing panic. I have no tolerance for panic.

    Thoughts?

    I'd agree. Modification issue, combined with panic and inexperience. Emergency brake or throwing it in park, etc would have saved a life and a whole lot of issues for the driver.
     

    WebSnyper

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    items the average person doesnt think about. Especially in a panic.
    I'd also say the typical person, driving a truck with the mods on that vehicle, is even more stupid than the average bear.

    At that speed, it's about like killing someone with a runaway Zamboni... Easily prevented with just a reasonable amount of intelligence, even in that much of a crowd.


    12e83a38823b0bd686d30971fca81d8e.jpg
     
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    GodFearinGunTotin

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    (Having not being able to watch the video yet...)

    My 2003 GMC's brake line ruptured one time. That's pretty unnerving. I lost all breaking power pretty quickly. I guess it's pretty common for that vintage of truck. The one in the screen grab above looks to be quite a bit newer. I wonder if it's still an ongoing issue? After I gave the truck to my son, he had other corrosion issues and I'm thinking something associated with the parking brake is one of the things that broke with him.

    But yeah, even if my/my son's experiences were repeated, as mentioned already, my next go to would be to turn off the ignition.
     

    bobzilla

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    Parking brake,
    Transmission in Park or gear down,
    Ignition off,
    Take your pick or a combo. People don't die.
    So, devil's advocate here.....
    If he had been dragging the brakes and overheated the pads, the parking brake will be as useless as the regular brake.
    Most newer vehicles the trans is not shifted with a mechanical linkage. It's relying on the TCM to make the connection. The TCM will do what it can to protect the life of the trans because it doesn't know that moron overheated the brakes and is about to run over someone.
    Push button start in a lot of cars won't actually turn the ignition off while moving. Again, the bcm doesn't realize there's a brake failure caused by a moron at the wheel. IT's being safe and not shutting down the power source for everything while in motion.

    This is my problem with cars getting more and more complex and "convenient". I have a push button start car, but with three pedals.
     

    HoughMade

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    I appreciate the "devil's advocate" position.

    So, this generation of GMC 2500 has drum rear parking brakes. They are inside the rotor. I guess drums can get heated up too, but I don't think the drums, not being used, would get as hot as the disks. Also, it was a basically flat course with only gentle slopes over long distances anywhere. The speed was under 6 mph with the entire route being 1.4 miles, beginning to end, unless something was seriously wrong with the brakes, I think you can drag your brakes for 1.4 miles at 3 to 6 mph and have little to no appreciable fade, at least they won't go completely away.

    That generation truck did not have pushbutton start.

    The transmission is shifted from the column shift with a cable. (6L90, not 4L80) Electronics are only used to shift between gears in drive. It can be shifted into park while moving. Granted, if you have enough momentum, the park pawl can be destroyed and you might keep rolling. A few guys stopped it with body weight eventually.

    I am actually wondering if there was even a parking brake installed. I'm also wondering about something physically blocking the brake pedal from being depressed.

    Oh, and the rusty brake line issue was solved for the GMT900 platform which this is. What I can't account for is a guy making up his own brake lines to account for a lift.
     
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    Twangbanger

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    Whenever I see a truck with those kind of wheels, I start with the assumption you may be dealing with a sub-human idiot. I'm going to guess a combination of faulty vehicle modifications and/or his Monster can/vaping device rolled under the brake pedal.

    Panic I understand. Playing vehicle engineer when your reach exceeds your grasp is what was really unavoidable, if it was the case.
     

    femurphy77

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    I'd agree. Modification issue, combined with panic and inexperience. Emergency brake or throwing it in park, etc would have saved a life and a whole lot of issues for the driver.
    Looks like a lift kit on it, possible that the emergency brake cable was too short because he didn't do it correctly so they weren't hooked up. He had a lot of moving and non-moving violations in the prior several years. If I were the guy that modded it I'd be more than a little nervous at this point.
     

    Cameramonkey

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    I just sat my 16yo who is getting ready to take his written test in my wifes car in the garage. I asked him "what do you do when your brakes fail?" Without hesitation he knew about the emergency brake.

    I did have to tell him about neutral or park, and shutting the car off (while still in gear) to make the engine act like a brake. But now he knows.
     
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    bobzilla

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    I appreciate the "devil's advocate" position.

    So, this generation of GMC 2500 has drum rear parking brakes. They are inside the rotor. I guess drums can get heated up too, but I don't think the drums, not being used, would get as hot as the disks. Also, it was a basically flat course with only gentle slopes over long distances anywhere. The speed was under 6 mph with the entire route being 1.4 miles, beginning to end, unless something was seriously wrong with the brakes, I think you can drag your brakes for 1.4 miles at 3 to 6 mph and have little to no appreciable fade, at least they won't go completely away.

    That generation truck did not have pushbutton start.

    The transmission is shifted from the column shift with a cable. (6L90, not 4L80) Electronics are only used to shift between gears in drive. It can be shifted into park while moving. Granted, if you have enough momentum, the park pawl can be destroyed and you might keep rolling. A few guys stopped it with body weight eventually.

    I am actually wondering if there was even a parking brake installed. I'm also wondering about something physically blocking the brake pedal from being depressed.

    Oh, and the rusty brake line issue was solved for the GMT900 platform which this is. What I can't account for is a guy making up his own brake lines to account for a lift.
    I didn’t watch the videos only the poor quality screen grab. I wasn’t sure which gen Sierra it was. Headlights looked wrong but it was modded. Gm started pb start on the 2018 my I think. About the same time the shifters went electric. So sorry I didn’t know the exact year of vehicle in question, offering up things that CAN happen.

    Parking brakes that aren’t used in older vehicles won’t work, especially in the salt belt. It’s not something most people think of when doing maintenance.

    While the parade route itself was only 1.4 miles, how long did this get pulled? Was he riding the brakes? Too many questions we don’t have answers for and as always we here at INGO love to pull out our jump to conclusions mat and claim to know all.
     
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