Thursday, October 16, 2025

National Guard saves the day after semitrailer’s brakes fail

National Guardsmen in San Luis Potosí avoided a potentially deadly highway crash when a semitrailer lost its brakes on the Mexico City-Piedras Negras highway on Monday.

In a coordinated effort with toll booth operators and other motorists, they cleared a lane for the truck to drive freely and ultimately pass through a toll booth before reaching a stretch of road on which it could slow to a stop.

“National Guard troops made contact with a semitrailer driving in the left lane and they saw a woman in the passenger seat with a piece of red cloth who shouted that they had no brakes,” the national security force said in a statement.

They cleared the truck’s path, coordinating with personnel at the Los Chorros toll plaza to clear the area and leave a lane open, then informed the driver of the truck over a loudspeaker that they had cleared a path.

The driver was able to bring the truck to a stop safely near the town of Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, after having passed through the toll booths without incident.

The operation potentially saved dozens of lives that could have been lost had the semi crashed or collided with another vehicle.

A bus accident in Veracruz left 21 people dead and 30 injured after it lost its brakes and collided with a semitrailer on the Veracruz-Puebla highway last May.

Source: El Universal (sp)

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