Brake less or shift to lower gear in Fern Gully
Dear Editor,
I saw the letter on February 6 about an unfortunate woman who experienced brake failure driving through Fern Gully.
I had the same experience driving a Volvo a few years ago. I sympathise greatly with Sandra Norton and her relatives and wish to offer an explanation and maybe a solution. Fern Gully is about a mile downhill into Ocho Rios and constant application of the brakes causes them to overheat, and in some cars fail completely.
This was my experience coming out of Fern Gully.
A roadside mechanic cracked up laughing when I told him what happened. He reassured me and said that if he set up a shop outside Fern Gully, he could as he said “put his pot on fire” because every day several cars experienced the same brake failure because of overheated brakes.
Since then I always downshift and rarely use my brakes in Fern Gully. I think that this bit of advice will help several people. Many people who drive automatic cars do not know that they can shift to a lower gear.
Michael McFarlane
Kingston
mecmcf@yahoo.com
