r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Acceptable-Web-6296 • Jun 07 '23
"The steepest street in Mexico." Video
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u/West_Broccoli7881 Jun 07 '23
Watch the background early on in the video. There's a crash in the next street over.
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u/SmashertonIII Jun 08 '23
Is that the second steepest street in Mexico or what? Dang city planners..
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u/FknDesmadreALV Jun 08 '23
It has more to do with the type of cement used. Fucking PRI
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Jun 08 '23
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u/FknDesmadreALV Jun 08 '23
It depends on if the owner of the house could successfully get the President of the colonia to install them or if they paid out of pocket to have it installed. Sidewalks in Mexico are usually put in but the owners of the house, not the city.
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u/BlahajBlaster Jun 08 '23
It has more to do with all the dang mountains in Mexico
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u/FknDesmadreALV Jun 08 '23
Not exactly. I’ve lived in Mexico for a little under 10 years and there are some steep mfs that’s why you have to have the right cement and make deep grooves in that mf.
My brother in law was municipal president one year and he pavemented a colonia with steep hill like this one (it was steep and curving. I fell walking downhill on it and hurt my ankle).
He bought black top just like the one on this road and his council threw a big fit over it until he relented and got the type they wanted.
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u/ahabswhale Jun 08 '23
That doesn’t look like blacktop to me, just concrete covered in shredded tires.
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u/FknDesmadreALV Jun 08 '23
It is. The cement that is used in roads is grey like sidewalk. This road looks like it had cheap blacktop
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u/DweadPiwateWoberts Jun 08 '23
No it's deeply grooved, look at the street view link in the comment above
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u/Acceptable-Web-6296 Jun 08 '23
Happy cake day
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Jun 08 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LtDrebinNh Jun 08 '23
Lmfao that's excellent. Wtf hahahaha
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u/Siglo_de_oro_XVI Jun 08 '23
Is one car in the next street actually sliding backward?
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u/xNeshty Jun 08 '23
Sliding backwards seems to be actually smart - if braking doesn't stop your car on the steep street, you can accelerate upwards, bringing it to a halt. You just need to he proficient in sliding backwards down the steepest street in Mexico.
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u/KnibbHighPromKing Jun 07 '23
Oh the end brings it all together beautifully
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u/snoblitz Jun 08 '23
Hahah seriously. The cars were fine and all, but the tumbling dude really sells it. 🤣
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u/Acceptable-Web-6296 Jun 07 '23
"Context: El Paso Florentino is a street located in Mexico City, in Álvaro Obregón, and has a total incline of almost 45 degrees."
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u/kjzavala Jun 08 '23
Did it rain and get super cold?
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u/beekeeper1981 Jun 08 '23
I noticed the last time I was in Mexico, during the dry reason, if it rained a little bit, everything would be insanely slippery. No regular rain to wash away oil or other slick substances that build up on the road.
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u/clutzyninja Jun 08 '23
Okinawa is like that. It's the coral dust that builds up between rains there. Especially on paint markings. No kidding was like ice at the start of a rain
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u/scotty_beams Jun 08 '23
"Do you think all the coral dust is making the roads more slippery, SpongeBob?"
"Only one way to find out, Patrick, only one way to find out."
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u/Titus_Favonius Jun 08 '23
Pretty common during the first rain of the season in many places. Something to watch out for in California as well.
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u/waiver45 Jun 08 '23
They had to neutralise a Tour de France stage around Nice a few years ago because of these conditions. There was a descent that just couldn't be raced.
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u/redditor012499 Jun 08 '23
Bald tires
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u/KrustyDaJuggalo Jun 08 '23
What about the guy walking down the steps?
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u/ICanFluxWithIt Jun 08 '23
That was just
JohnJesus Wick practicing for his stair fall52
u/codeking12 Jun 08 '23
Juan Wick ftfy
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u/Sea-Rice-5392 Jun 08 '23
Can’t believe they missed the obvious Juan Wick joke. It was RIGHT there.
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u/Kerensky97 Jun 08 '23
Racing slicks would be better on pavement than anything. All these people are locking up brakes and sliding all 4 tires at the same time.
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u/ABathingSnape_ Jun 08 '23
These aren’t racing slicks though. Cheap worn out tires don’t become racing slicks. Slick compounds are super soft and sticky, and even then they need to be heated to get the grip they’re known for. Cheap tire compounds are more like hockey pucks.
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u/drunk_intern Jun 08 '23
This. Anyone from Latin America will know this is the right answer. Vehicle inspections here are a joke.
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u/drunk_responses Jun 08 '23
It's corrugated/stepped concrete to improve grip, but that also means slippery when wet.
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u/WineSoda Jun 08 '23
Whenever this gets posted someone says that the street was oiled by drug cartels.
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u/UnderaZiaSun Jun 08 '23
I doubt that. 45 degrees would be a 100% grade. 45% maybe, which is still insanely steep.
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u/thatchers_pussy_pump Jun 08 '23
Yeah there’s no world in which this road is 45°. A 15° climb feels vertical to someone who isn’t used to grades, though. I might buy this one at 45% (~24°), but I’d still be skeptical.
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u/GiantPurplePeopleEat Jun 08 '23
I'm glad I'm seeing more of these comments calling this shit out. A 45° slope is literally undrivable. The steepest roads in the world are 17-18° max.
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u/-SgtSpaghetti- Jun 08 '23
Insanely steep? 45% massively exceeds both Baldwin Street and Ffordd Pen Llech that have both been fighting for the title of steepest residential street for years
Guiness World Records latest measurement: The new results confirmed Baldwin Street has the steeper gradient of 34.8%, compared to Ffordd Pen Llech’s gradient of 28.6%.
A residential street with a gradient of 45% would get way more attention if true
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u/swagmastermessiah Jun 08 '23
I took an electric scooter down Baldwin St once. You won't believe this, but it was a terrible idea.
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u/Nagemasu Jun 08 '23
People used to ride wheelie bins and all sorts down that road way back when until someone died in 2001 doing it.
I think people still do it for the edgy laugh these days too though.
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u/guessesurjobforfood Jun 08 '23
Damn, there is a street in Madeira, Portugal with a gradient of 28% (they have signage indicating the gradient). I drove up/down it twice in a rental car and it was pretty dicey lol almost feels like the car will flip even though you know it won't. It's quite narrow so if you encounter another car going the opposite way, someone has to back up or attempt to make space somehow.
My wife hates these kinds of steep hills so she just closed her eyes and held on for dear life as we drove up lmao We had a manual shift car but it had an anti-roll back feature or whatever it's called.
IMO, the craziest street in Madeira isn't even the 28% gradient one. There's another one nearby where it's not that steep initially, but then as you're approaching a stop sign, it gets insanely steep and the cross street is a really narrow 2 way road. It's damn near impossible to see anything because it feels like the car is pointing straight up at the sky lol
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u/starfox2032 Jun 08 '23 edited Jun 08 '23
San Francisco, California has some streets like this.
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u/meister2983 Jun 08 '23
SF has no streets even remotely close to 100% grade. Max is 41%
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u/BrohanGutenburg Interested Jun 08 '23
For anyone confused, apparently they don't measure road angles like this in degrees.
The grade is literally just rise over run. So yeah, 100% would be 45 degrees
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u/Konocti Jun 08 '23
I went to san francisco shortly after getting my license with my friends in the 90s. In a stick shift. It was a nightmare.
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u/audiosf Jun 08 '23
I learned to ride a motorcycle here. Every other city is easy to drive in.
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u/Konocti Jun 08 '23
Yeah. When you are on a super steep hill, with the stop sign on top of the hill... and people stop 1 foot behind your rear bumper and you have to gun the gas before releasing the break so you dont roll back into them. It was a bit nerve wracking as a kid.
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u/billsinsd Jun 08 '23
A trick I learned many years ago - When stopped facing up a hill at a traffic light, with a car close behind you, pull the emergency brake, and release it as you start to press the gas and let off the clutch.
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u/Tarskin_Tarscales Jun 08 '23
That's literally what driving schools teach, over here at least. Accelerating while on an incline was even part of my exam.
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u/PrincipleAcrobatic57 Jun 08 '23
Hill start we call them over here. We were taught that whenever you stop for more that a second or so, you apply the handbrake.
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u/Razor-eddie Jun 08 '23
You mean a "hill start"?
It isn't a trick, it's what you should be doing.
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u/dan4334 Jun 08 '23
Another reason why it isn't the "emergency brake" it's a hand brake. You don't just use it in an emergency
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u/Razor-eddie Jun 08 '23
Yep. How else are you supposed to do a bootlegger's turn?
(I did not say that).
For a rally car driver, it's in operation a lot - because it works (usually) on the back wheels. So it's a way to instantly break traction - useful for both rally drivers and drifters (and donutters).
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u/starfox2032 Jun 08 '23
Yeah, I can imagine. Difficult enough with an automatic.
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u/PrincipleAcrobatic57 Jun 08 '23
Maybe it's because I come from a place where "stick shift" is the norm, but in dodgy conditions a manual would be far easier to control.
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u/jimhokeyb Jun 08 '23
Everyone takes the piss out of the Yanks for not knowing how to use a gear stick. Why? Every time I’ve hired a car in the States it’s been automatic. I’ve driven up mountain roads, long desert roads and in cities. The automatics handled it all. I think the joke might be on us Europeans. You hardly ever see automatics here.
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u/EagenVegham Jun 08 '23
You can get used to it after a while, but juggling just a brake and gas pedal is much easier than juggling a parking break, gas pedal, and clutch to get up some hills.
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u/teemusa Jun 08 '23
I am like, who would live on a street like that, but then I thought, its endless entertainment
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u/Chaos-Pand4 Jun 08 '23
The street one over doesn’t look especially better. There’s even a wipe out in the 2nd or 3rd clip.
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u/eric2332 Jun 08 '23
There's like 10 of these streets in a row. Crazy that they they didn't put the streets at a diagonal to fit the terrain.
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u/Jordangel Jun 08 '23
Houses were probably there long before the roads were built.
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u/kitsunewarlock Jun 08 '23
The answer to most "why would they plan the city this way?" questions.
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u/pm0me0yiff Jun 08 '23
Still, though... They should make these streets pedestrian only. The slope is not suitable for vehicles.
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u/Earl_your_friend Jun 08 '23
There is something kinda beautiful about no one saying, "Perhaps we should close this street".
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u/LordMacDonald Jun 08 '23
lol naw, they’re out there rubbing it down with vaseline in the morning for more lulz
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u/Sirfrostyboi Jun 07 '23
Mexico Tokyo drift
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u/Simmons54321 Jun 08 '23
Slow and Concerned: Mexico Drift
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u/RoxazXeron Jun 08 '23
People underestimate the power a cute little 45 degree angle holds.
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u/fishman15151515 Jun 08 '23
How do I tell my navigation system to avoid streets like this.
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u/brainEspilner96 Jun 08 '23
“It’s totally safe.”
-Mexican city engineers.
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u/johnshall Jun 08 '23
It's not that. Like a lot of urban areas, it started out as the outskirts of the city. People weren't supposed to live there so poor people install themselves there since no sane person would live there. They start with cardboards and wood construction, and over the years in becomes a neighborhood. Now, they have that problem.
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u/Xciv Jun 08 '23
Or it started as a donkey, goat, and pedestrian dirt path. Then eventually it gets paved, and then later on cars get introduced. But it was never meant for cars so now it's a constant disaster zone.
I've seen crazy narrow and crazy steep streets in Europe as well. There's plenty of places that are just not meant for cars at all.
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u/Ripcord Jun 08 '23
I was about to say there's no way that would be a donkey, goat, and pedestrian goat path at 45 degrees. But there's no way they'd pave to make a connecting road, either. But they did.
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u/Abe_Froman_87 Jun 08 '23
Drunk guy falling down the stairs at the end doesn't count...
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u/cschally31 Jun 08 '23
I like how he pops right up at the end lol like rolled into a standing up position
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u/Canelosaurio Jun 08 '23
The tow truck driver has steady revenue
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u/Burntfm Jun 08 '23
How is he gonna get there without crashing
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u/Canelosaurio Jun 08 '23
Long winch cable from the top. He's always got the high ground.
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u/tripp_fisk Jun 08 '23
might be time to shut it down
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u/h1zchan Jun 08 '23
Replace it with a giant stair or something because even pedestrians can struggle with a 45 degrees incline
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u/Heavy_Candy7113 Jun 08 '23
45 degrees? that's well into black ski-run territory...the snowcats that climb that are highly specialized machines, I can't imagine driving a car up that slope.
Even stairs look steep at 45 degrees...
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u/thatchers_pussy_pump Jun 08 '23
Yeah, this figure is perpetuated by people who have never been on an actual 45° slope. Even given that, you’d think that their 7th grade math skills would’ve kicked in and made them skeptical.
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u/TearOfTheStar Jun 07 '23
It's like it was designed for humans and not hundreds of kilos of metal. Hmmmm....
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u/French_Insight Jun 08 '23
The sheer PTSD this gives me of the smell of my burning clutch whenever I got stuck in fucking steep streets like these
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u/MediaDad Jun 08 '23
Can I get a lawn chair and an ice chest full of cerveza and sit on the roof of that little gold building all day and just watch the show? I would also consider a bag of tacos from Uber Eats, but that could be tricky.
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u/Cormetz Jun 08 '23
I've had Uber eats delivered by a guy with a backpack in Mexico City, so you either add to your show or get your food. Win win.
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u/KobeBeatJesus Jun 08 '23
There's probably a taquero by the liquor store. Pick some up on the way home.
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u/Fleegle1834 Jun 08 '23
I’ve seen some crazy-ass shit in my days, but this is close to the top of the list.
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u/kneeltothesun Jun 08 '23
I have nightmares about driving up really tall, and steep streets, highways, and bridges like this. I do live in a very flat area though, so I basically have no knowledge on how to drive this kind of terrain.
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u/weebtrashparade Jun 08 '23
What song is this?
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u/songfinderbot Jun 08 '23
Song Found!
Name: Protégeme Señor
Artist: ''El Obama'' Carlos Anderson
Album: Alabanzas Belicas - EP
Genre: Regional Mexican
Release Year: 2023
Total Shazams: 28382
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u/DontTakeMeSeriousli Jun 08 '23
Am I tripping or is one of those cars rolling backwards in the background?
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u/A_Tangential_Phase Jun 08 '23
I'm guessing there is a fair amount of oil built up in the grooved concrete and this was after a little rain. I think the way the cars were sliding would be impossible without some kind of contamination.
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u/TomcatF14Luver Jun 08 '23
The police were probably wanting to arrest the assholes responsible for building the street as they wrecked too.
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u/AliensHaveInsomnia2 Jun 08 '23 edited Jun 08 '23
I didn't laugh until the guy tumbling down the stairs. 😬
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u/KobeBeatJesus Jun 08 '23
I laughed when the guys who crashed the street bike had a car crash into /run over their bike. How are people not up in arms over this shit?
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u/SongRevolutionary992 Jun 08 '23
This should be titled, the most unfortunate building in Mexico
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u/lazysheepdog716 Jun 08 '23
How the fuck did they pave it in the first place!?
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u/expericmental Jun 08 '23
That's actually an interesting thing to think about. Now I'm right here with you.
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u/clutzyninja Jun 08 '23
I had to PARK on a street like this in Venezuela. Pointed uphill, in a stick shift.
I never felt more badass then getting that thing moving up that steep ass hill lol
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u/Surtur6666 Jun 08 '23
Hahahah looks like a skit.... Just need to insert the beny hill music or something like that.
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u/GunsBlazing10 Jun 08 '23
If you're pressing on the brakes and your car is still moving, wouldn't it be better to let go and hope it gets traction again? Some of these seem avoidable...
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u/dnroamhicsir Jun 08 '23
I don't blame them, they're not used to driving on ice, so that sort of logic doesn't come by reflex.
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Jun 08 '23
Maybe in a 4x4 with low range gears so you can control the descent. Regular car would pick up too much speed.
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u/Acceptable-Web-6296 Jun 08 '23
We need a ramp for tricks at the end of the road
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u/droplivefred Jun 08 '23
I always thought that Mexico’s dangerous-ness came from drugs and the cartels. Little did I know that 90% of the dangerous stats are due to gravity on this street. 😂
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u/Jairoglyphics1 Jun 08 '23
Imagine living in that house where everyone almost crashes into!!