Here's Why You Don't Yank Your Parking Brake At Highway Speeds

If you’re driving at high speeds and you want to slow down a bit, leave your right hand on that steering wheel and just let off the gas. Heck, if you’re feeling wild, you could even press the brake pedal. But whatever you do, don’t yank that parking brake.

A video out of Mexico shows a car lose control after apparently locking up its park brakes. The clip, uploaded by Alex Rincon on his Facebook page, appears to show a Volkswagen Jetta speed up to pass a group of motorcyclists and then quickly lose control.

Why the car lost control is unclear. A Liveleak video claims the car’s passenger pulled the parking brake, though Mexican news sites make no mention of the passenger being responsible, and some make no mention of a passenger at all (though if you look through the window, there appears to be a shadow of a passenger).

Still, if you look closely at when the car slows down, there’s smoke coming from only the rear tires. And when the passenger’s side tires come up in the air, the rear is not spinning, while the front is.
So it seems as though someone yanked the parking brake, then the car started to yaw, and the driver over-corrected, causing the car to roll multiple times on the Cuernavaca, Mexico highway.


A few Mexican websites, including Diario De Morelos, say the man in the car—who sped up to race the motorcyclists— sustained only minor injuries. Alex Rincon also posted pictures of the aftermath in the comments of his Facebook video, and the car actually doesn’t look too bad considering the severity of the crash. But with rollover accidents, the state of the car isn’t always an indication of the state of the passengers, as passengers are injured not when the cabin crumples, but when their heads impact the roof.

Hopefully reports that the man made it out okay are true, and hopefully he learns to never, ever pulling that parking brake at highway speeds. Also, street racing is the worst thing ever, so don’t do that either.