The joys of driving. So this morning on my commute to work, getting off the freeway and some idiot whips infront of me (coming from side street). I slam the brakes, lay on the horn, the brakes grab for a second and the pedal hit the FLOOR! CRAP!
Had the brakes not grabbed, this jerk would have hit my passenger side door HARD (clearly his fault). NOW, I was hoping my brakes would apply enough that I don't make contact with this idiot (otherwise, it might now be MY fault despite what he did).
Luckily, no one made contact, after all the horn blowing, I think this guy got the crap scared out of him by how close my car was and he gave me the "curtousy wave" and I'm like "really".

Anycase, got the car safely to work, the Grand Am popped a rear brake line. I had it towed to where I plan to work on it this Friday (yippie). In the mean time, I'm borrowing a car (with the holidays, my parents could spare one)

Some may say "had it not been for that idiot, my brake line would not have broken". I say "If slamming the brakes caused it to go out, it was going to happen sooner or later, I am just glad NO ONE was hurt". So on Turkey Day, I can give thanks to things working out the way they did and no one was hurt, just an inconvenience. Plus side, I found the leak, most of the lines as they run along the rocker panel are good, so it should be a reasonable fix.

 

Man that's crazy & lucky. Some people just don't know how to drive at all, I had a lady one day look right at me than turned into my lane I hadda lock my brakes up & swerve

 

gotta love a holes like that. Thats why i love driving my dads suv so when people like that cut me off i lay on the air horns. I've locked up my monte twice i believe. Which is how i know my anti lock brakes dont work. My commute to school in the NY/NJ metro area, is a test of driving skill (but seriously its rediculous)

Glad you didn't hit anyone or anything

 

Thankfully theres no 4 lanes around here that I use very often I really think I'd end up ripping my hair out if i had to drive them everyday lol glad to hear everythign turned out ok considering how it could have possibly went

 

Glad no damage and your ok..

 

glad you weren't hurt. I was almost hit twice in one day a few weeks ago. One would have been minor but the other time I almost got t-boned. Luckily I seen her coming and made it around her.

 

Gad it turned out ok, I have the same feeling driving my e-bay Monte, I never know when something might just break on me? It's got 140,000 miles and has a very annoying clunk when I make right turns, but it's not broke yet and it's my winter beater!

 

chris my car is worse yet, its a craigslist monte with 141,500 miles. I wonder when something might break on it aswell

 

I'm glad this story has a happy ending.

 

Thanks guys, I too am glad things panned out OK, that the worst outcome from yesterday was a blown brake line.
All honesty, that Grand Am has over 210,000 on it. It looks rough but has been dependable for the most part. Sadly, I hat to say, this is the 4th time it had to be towed.
2008 - Fuel Pump Failed
2009 - Lower Control Arm Broke
2010 - Blew a brake line (late at night, no traffic)
2011 - Blew a brake line yesterday

On the plus side, each tow was about a year apart. Most the brake/fuel lines are original. I've checked where they run along the rocker panel every once in a while and too my surprise, the metal lines there are pretty clean (an oddity really for a car like this). She may not look sharp and nice anymore, but I take a lot of pride in knowing I can keep her going. As long as the fix is inexpensive, this Grand Am will keep going (and keeps the Monte off the salted roads for now).