There are many people who are fearful of driving down a mountain because they are afraid that their brakes may go out during the drive. It would be very difficult for the brakes in a car to stop working completely because there are some measures in place to ensure the safety of the car. The following guide walks you through the basics of why driving down a mountain should not be overly scary to you.

Most Cars Have Dual Braking Systems

Later model cars have dual braking systems in them to prevent someone from losing the ability to brake altogether when traveling down a mountain or large hill. The dual braking system allows for the front tires to brake independently from the rear tires. That means that the brakes on the front of the car could go out, but the rear brakes will still work so the car will stop safely. For further assistance, contact a local brake service, such as Precision Automotive.

Manual Vehicles Are Easy to Slow Down When the Brakes Go Out

If your brakes were to go out while you were driving down a hill, being in a car with a manual transmission will allow you to have better control over the situation than someone in a car with an automatic transmission. In the manual vehicle, you can simply down shift from one gear to the next until you are in the lowest gear possible. This will slow down your car quite a bit so that you can pull off of the road into one of the emergency runoffs.

Emergency Runoffs Aren't Just for Big Rigs

An emergency runoff is a huge ditch that is dug on the side of the road and then filled with sand. If you lose the ability to brake, you can run your car into one of these ditches to stop your car in a safe way. There will be signs labeling the runoffs so you can easily identify them during an emergency situation. It will show an image of a big rig on it, but that doesn't make it just for use by big rigs.

Mountainsides can be some of the most beautiful sites you ever see, and missing out on them because you are fearful of driving down the side of the mountain could leave you with huge regret later on down the road. There are so many different safety factors in place that driving down a mountain is not nearly as dangerous as it was years and years ago.