Up to speed

Driver whose brakes failed at 140 kph manages to steer to safety

Call center, police successfully instruct driver to turn off motor to slow down speeding car on Route 6

A car careening down Route 6 without brakes, in undated footage released by the Israel Police on December 1, 2019. (Screenshot: Twitter)
A car careening down Route 6 without brakes, in undated footage released by the Israel Police on December 1, 2019. (Screenshot: Twitter)

It’s arguably a driver’s greatest fear — having brakes malfunction while driving at high speed.

That happened recently to an Israeli driver on the Route 6 highway at 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour).

Fortunately, the driver managed to stop the car eventually, with help from Route 6’s call center and the Israel Police’s Traffic Department, which on Sunday published footage of the vehicle careening down the highway.

In a statement, police said the driver was told to stick to the right and turn off the motor in order to gradually slow down the car.

The Hebrew-language audio accompanying the video is a phone call between the emergency responders.

In the final seconds of the video, a man can be heard giving instructions to the driver, seconds before the car safely comes to a halt.

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