Braking For Safety

So I'm driving along the other day, minding my own business. I had a few errands to run in town, so I decided, in a sort of fit of optimism, to try to park in town. That idea proved comical at best very quickly, so I headed up Main Street, took a quick right on Gardner, headed down to Liberty Street. There's always a place to park on Lily Street, if you know where to look. So I'm headed that way when some knucklehead on a bike starts with the wobbling thing, disproving the theory that you never forget how to ride a bike. I kind of steered around him and, just to be safe, hit the brakes.

And that's when the trouble started.

There was this moment of resistance on the brake pedal, the kind that usually means your brakes are working. A nice, reassuring feeling. And that moment was followed pretty quickly by what can only be called a snapping noise. That would be the brake cable as it broke, no pun intended. When your brake pedal feels like the clutch, things aren't going to turn out well.

So long story short, I had flashbacks to Mr. McDaniel's driver's ed class in Dallas so many years ago. At the time, we all thought that it was not only never going to happen to us, but that it would actually be kind of cool if the brakes did go out while we were driving. Rest assured, it's not such a cool feeling. But the old memory kicked in, and I think I actually did all the things that Mr. McDaniel told us we were supposed to do. I pulled on the emergency brake, which did absolutely nothing. So I downshifted, slowed down and actually glided beautifully right into a two-hour parking spot. I couldn't have scripted it any better.

What it really boiled down to was that I got very lucky. I had an appointment in 'Sconset that day, and if this had happened when I was hitting the rotary coming back to town, things could have been ugly. But as it turned out, there was no traffic at the time on Lily Street, pedestrian or otherwise, and everything was fine. And the whole incident got me to thinking about the recent tragedy out at Sesachacha Pond, which happened during a relatively routine fishing trip.

Segues are no accidents, kids.

Friends and neighbors, the young man who died recently of drowning was twenty-one. He died on a pond which in and of itself is not that big or that deep. It happened on a nice day when the sun was high in the sky. So there was absolutely no reason for it to happen. But it happened anyway. And while no amount of second-guessing or proselytizing about the dangers of being on the water are going to bring Mr. Pena back, this tragedy can serve as a lesson to all of us. The whole incident could have been avoided with a little common sense and safety precautions.

First of all, there were no lifejackets in the boat, which itself was pretty small. Three people plus equipment in an eight-foot dinghy without lifejackets is tempting fate, and when one of those people can't swim, you're asking for trouble. And reports indicate that the wind had picked up during the day, with sustained winds up to twenty miles an hour. Higher winds mean higher waves, even on a pond, and higher waves increase the likelihood of somebody's going over the side. But like I said, there's no point in beating this horse. A young man's life was lost when it could have easily been saved.

Kids, be careful out there. This whole pastime is supposed to be enjoyable, regardless of what you see on "Deadliest Catch." Have lifejackets available for everybody on the boat. Don't overload your boat and make sure everything balances out. Keep an eye on the weather. If things start to get rough, come in. Tell people where you're going and when you expect to be back. Pretty basic stuff.

And while we're at it, and this is actually related to the car story, it's a good time to do a mid-season check of your equipment. I'm not saying that I could have prevented the brake cable from breaking - though it's possible it could have been avoided - I did remember that it's been a while since the oil was changed. So now that it's out of commission anyway, I'll have that done, too. Just like my father always says, "You've never got time to change the oil until the car breaks down."

A few checks of your equipment to make sure it's all working properly is a good idea right about now. Does that VHF radio on the boat work properly? You don't want to find out it's not on the day you need it to call for help. Is that anchor line still attached to the anchor? And what about your bilge pump? Gas gauge still reading the right level?

All of these things might sound alarmist and whatever else, but we all thought the same thing about those movies where they showed the person driving when the brakes all of a sudden went out. Yeah, we told ourselves, like that's ever going to happen. When you're prepared for the worse, nothing surprises you.

Be safe out there. Tight lines. I