The Cayman government minister responsible for vehicle licensing and roads has backed a police drive to clamp down on noise nuisance generated by heavy trucks fitted with jake brakes.
Minister for Planning, Lands, Agriculture, Housing and Infrastructure Jay Ebanks, said the compression release engine systems in diesel trucks, used as emergency auxiliary brakes, were often used.
Ebanks said he was familiar with the mechanics of the systems and that some truckers appeared to use them to “announce their presence and let people know they’re coming”.
He added, “It’s become a style of driving – they use them for style these days.”
Ebanks said he was in “full support” of Commissioner of Police Kurt Walton’s announcement of a clampdown on the brakes, which make a loud noise likened to machine gun fire or jackhammer drills and were designed for use on steep hills.
He added, “There is nobody driving in the Cayman Islands that needs to have jake brakes on their vehicle.
“If you’re going that fast you can’t stop your vehicle with your air brakes, you’re going far too fast.”
‘Whole island’ behind crackdown
Ebanks said, “Everyone from East End to West Bay, the whole island, has made it very clear that they wanted something done about this and I’m fully supportive of that.
“Jake brakes are not needed on this island and what they use them for is now more of a game for them now.”
But he ruled out making the brakes illegal because of the difficulties involved and because all trucks fitted with them had an on/off switch for the three-stage brakes.
Ebanks said, “I don’t think licensing needs to get involved and say people need to remove them from their vehicles. There is a switch on them which you use to turn them on or off. What drivers need to do is turn them off and don’t use them.”
Ebanks was speaking after police warned truckers that it was illegal to use unmuffled jake brakes, except in emergencies, and that offenders could be fined up to $2,500 or face six months behind bars.
“Police will be cracking down on offenders, particularly in the eastern districts.”
Designed for emergencies
Jake brakes are named after US engineering firm, the Jacobs Manufacturing Company, which pioneered them. They were designed to turn diesel engines into auxiliary brakes through a compression release engine system and were introduced in 1961.
The brakes, however, are sometimes used to limit wear and tear on conventional high-pressure air brakes common on trucks, but they produce a loud noise when activated.
Their use has been banned in many urban areas in the US and elsewhere because of noise pollution, with heavy fines imposed on offenders.
Compression release engine brakes work by opening engine cylinder exhaust valves just before the compression stroke ends, which releases compressed gas trapped in the cylinders, which slows the vehicle down.
Jake brakes were invented by Clessie Cummins, the founder of Cummins, now a global company famed for its diesel engines, after he retired.
He never forgot nearly losing his life in 1931, when a diesel truck he was driving lost its brakes as he descended the steep Cajon Pass in California, near a main railway line at the bottom.
Cummins was unable to slow down and his truck avoided smashing into a passing freight train’s last wagon by inches and, after he retired in 1955, he created a way to use the engine as a back-up braking system in emergencies.
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