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This BRAVE man elected to commit suicide in order to protect others. I for one fervently hope his family are told what an honourable route he chose, and praise is given where due. It was not his fault the brakes failed. But he still had "options" and chose the best-worst available.

You have described what is normally called "the parking brake". It only operates the rear brakes, and is not intended as a "backup system". Of course, if everything else failed, you might try it, but I doubt you would be happy with the result. Air brakes on large trucks, RVs, etc., must be operated with great care, as the operator can easily cause them to overheat and become temporarily ineffective. It happens more often than you might expect, and is why special training is recommended. On a long downhill run, it is wise to slow down early, and use the lower gears and engine brake to maintain a lower speed, avoiding overheated brakes. As you may now suspect, "Driver error" is the most likely cause of accidents like these.

Steren has exactly the same kind of plastic packaging. It's where I usually get mine. Still, that's hardly the point, is it? Some people got up in arms about a request for coffee pods. I challenge those people to show that they are 100% packaging free and 100% recyclable. What does their toilet paper come in? What is their toilet paper made of? How do they dispose of their garbage? What does their bacon come in? Their cereal? Their restaurant deliveries? Are they all on solar instead of electricity? Let's get serious.

I use a French press - makes 1 cup or 3, no filters, no pods. Just boil the water, pour over the coarse ground coffee in the beaker and wait a few minutes for it to steep. It makes wonderful coffee IMHO.

For those of you who use these and those who don't, they are great for cutting in little slices and hiding all around the house for puppy dog hide and seek. Very popular game at our house.

https://www.theranchchapala.com/

Why not just buy the coffee beans, grind them and use the paper filters??? This conversation is just as revealing and about as silly as Walmart banning plastic bags at the checkout counter and having massive amounts of all sizes and thickness on the shelves for sale as well as all the food and other packaging flying out the door!!! And if you have a compassionate bone in your body, how about all those poor old bag ladies who lost earnings and the satisfaction of having a job that was neither demeaning nor stressful. The whole world is going insane and I am sorry to say that my home country, the USA is leading the way!!!

While HJ's post may have come across as condescending, he actually has a fair point. It is VERY difficult to sue, regardless of how just your case might be. Note: difficult, not impossible. I go by the following (very old) joke:

Don't know where you are, but the carretera here is just one long, flat strip of paved road.

El Torito

Some of these doofuses are using their jake brakes all the way through town on the carretera. Completely illegal here and completely ignored by transitos.

A 2005 can be imported even though the *official* years are 2012-2013 now....the 2 year window changes every November and will be 2013-2014 'soon'. One just has to pay a different fee when Nationalizing a vehicle out of the current 'window'... 50% of its value rather than 10% for the 'window' vehicles.

Me to , but I was indisposed

Whilst not an expert and making a wild a(:) guess like the rest of you, I think speed plays a major factor in all these types of accidents. Given the relativity long and "flat" approach to those traffic lights, the driver could be downshifting to a crawl and come to a slow speed without brakes!! Frankly most of the trucks being driven on Mexican roads, including buses look and sound like flying bombs on wheels. Sadly unless there is strict inspection testing, the majority of owners will only fix the problem when it is broken . Was it overloaded? I am sorry for the loss of life.

Everyone that read the posts has 2 contacts at the border. The work is done by them. They are in the USA. You can pay someone to call them for you or you can call them yourselves. No need to pay an attorney to call Laredo for you.

There is a foot petal on the left side under the dashboard. I am sure all cars and pickups on the road today have some kind of emergency brake (usually a hand brake). I was just curious as to why these huge commercial trucks do not have some sort of backup system to override failed brakes and avoid such a disastrous situation. For years before moving here I lived in Apple Valley Ca. in the Victorville area in what is known as the High Desert a couple of hours from L.A. In order to get up and down the 4,000 ft. elevation there is 4 lane Highway 15 and the Cajon Pass carved into the mountainside. This is the primary route back and fourth to Las Vegas and also has a huge amount of 18 wheel truck/container traffic. On the down side route (very steep) they have a diversion lane that ends in large sand bank to slow and stop runaway trucks. This is highly marked with signage well ahead of it. Maybe this should be a consideration here???

Hola mi namesake and fellow San Antonio resident...just a slight correction. As far as I know, unless they have changed it, the hours are 1 - 10pm every day and closed on Wednesday. Just another little gem in our wonderful pueblo that I did a review on in the food section a while ago.

Stupid!

Was very easy putting the “big three” on ignore and never seeing such post again.

Right, Eric. That will happen when Pigs Fly! There are so many laws now that aren't enforced, why not just add another one or two. Maybe they could get around to that after they build the facilities to check our vehicles for smog control etc. Hee Haw!

LOL...that's the one we've been using. The sign is a bit misleading...she doesn't speak English. She does excellent work, but our language gaps have resulted in some mistakes. Life is thorny enough. With my hearing problem and minimal Spanish...it's time to go elsewhere.

This is a horrible accident. Sadly, I expected this to happen as I have been watching these 22 wheelers coming down this steep grad loaded with sand or stones. The local paper said that the truck lost its brakes. For me the driver is a hero as he ditched the truck rather then continuing in to Chapala which would have most probably caused a blood bath. On a side note, when ever I am at this red light or the one across from Walmart I always keep an eye on my rear view mirror, because this is not the first time and sadly not he last as from what I understand, and please correct me if I am wrong, but Mexico does not have the same level of truck inspections that say the US or Canada has. (I went by this accident about 5 minutes after it occurred)

Which mod # are you?

Sadly, I add this information. A friend died this week in a hospital in Guad. I recommended the services of Funeraria Chapala - 179 Morelos , Chapala. 376 765 5789 ( 331 454 4094 ) to the family. I used their services Feb 2018. The family contacted that funeral parlor .. they brought back the deceased from Guad, provided the cremation services, and brought them all the paperwork to their home, along with the ashes - within less than 48 hours. .. [ Cremation Certificate - need for transport out of Mexico, death certificates in both Spanish and English and SS notified via the American Consulate when the agent met with them ]. The total bill was 14,500 pesos. .. the same price I paid 2/14/2018 , and the same professional agent - Arturo [ whose name I could not recall when I did my previous posting ]

It is very unusual for average Mexicans to stand up to the rich due to the long history of reprisal for such bravery. The bravery of these people is poorly understood and appreciated!

Homeless and unbathed?