We were rolling through Las Vegas Sunday morning on 515. Traffic was light although more than we expected for a Sunday. Anyhow, we were moving with the flow at about 65 mph in the center lane. Suddenly, the cars in my lane in front of me peeled off to the left and right and I was staring at the back of a small SUV stopped dead in my lane. Its flashers were on but were very dim. I stood on the brakes. The coach bled off speed quickly but I was pretty sure I was going to run over that SUV. I glanced right and left and was able to swerve into the right lane. Whew! Just made it.
Our rig does not have a transmission retarder; instead, it has a two speed Jake. When going through cities I usually leave the Jake on just in case I need extra braking as I did Sunday. The problem is that the Jake works best at high revs so it is not really effective in this kind of high speed stand-on-the-brakes situation.
In normal mountain driving the Jake is a very close second to the retarder but I gotta say, for the all out screaming stop, you can't beat the retarder. I'm pretty sure a coach on full retard would have been able to stop in the same situation.
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Trans retarder saved us when a FedEx driver stopped to make a left about 100 yards ahead at 55 mph.
While driving in traffic I turn off the retarder and warm the brakes regularly. Then turn it back on. Belt and suspenders after that incident.
We physically almost left the seats. At least it felt that way. No lane change available. Two lane.