You’re cruising along on Johnsburg Road thinking about what you’ll buy when you get to the store. You’re thinking about what you’ll fix for dinner tonight or what time you have to pick your daughter up from her horseback riding lesson. You’re thinking how nice it would be to take a little time off, maybe visit an exotic destination in the Caribbean. Whatever you’re thinking about, you hardly notice the car approaching from the side street. Of course, it will stop. Or will it?

You’ve had your oil changed on the car. You even had the air conditioning checked and recharged. If the summer ever warms up here in Johnsburg, you might even use the A/C once or twice. Your car’s engine is purring like a kitten and strong as an ox. You are clearly ready for the road. Or are you?

It’s one thing to know you can get in the car and go when you want. It’s another thing to also know that you can stop when you need to. So, assuming all those other conditions are taken care of – assuming the belts and hoses are good, the steering and suspension are in proper operating condition, the tires have plenty of rubber left and all electrical components in the car are functioning – you don’t want to overlook the brakes.

You don’t know if that car will miss a stop sign and pull into your path on the way to the store or, even, on the way home after picking up your daughter. If that does happen, whether it happens in Johnsburg or 1,000-miles away, if the brakes are in optimal working condition, you’ll have the best chance to stop in time.

Even if you can’t stop in time, a better set of brakes can reduce your speed significantly prior to a collision. It could mean the difference between walking away from an accident while holding your daughter in your arms and thinking how lucky you are, or … well … it’s better to have brakes that work.

It doesn’t take long to have your brakes checked. It’s not an onerous process. You can even have it done when you bring the car in for an oil change or some other regular maintenance.

There you are, sitting in the waiting room at Performance Unlimited, watching the television while sipping a complementary cup of Keurig coffee (not that crude oil they used to serve in auto repair shop waiting rooms). You look up to see the shop’s owner, Denny Norton, walking your way.

“Boy, it’s a good thing we took a look at your brakes today,” he says. “One of your brake pads separated from the backing plate. That could have caused a serious situation.”

Now, brake pads are not falling off of backing plates left and right, though it does happen. The point is that, if it happened to you, you might have pushed down on the brakes confident they would stop the car and then discovered the car was pulling hard into on-coming traffic or that it wouldn’t stop at all.

Between a separated brake pad and simply brakes that are worn out is a lot of room for error. When it comes to your brakes, for your family’s sake, if not your own, erring on the side of caution is always the best way to go. If you do, you’ll know you have a better chance of stopping when someone misses a stop sign by Johnsburg Road or any other road.