Brake Angrily

"Alright, that does it! Brake angrily, Kenny!"

— Stan, South Park

Someone is driving along the road, when a passenger mentions/does something that shocks or angers the driver, so the driver slams on the brakes. May be followed up with a "Get Out!".

Often these are Magic Brakes, because even though there is a clear screech, the car still stops faster than it would. But usually this is Played for Laughs, so it doesn't matter.

People do this in real life, but please Do Not Attempt in Real Life, as it may cause the car behind you to rear-end your vehicle, or on a motorcycle, where suddenly slamming on the brakes for 100 percent braking power will flip the bike.

Compare Stopped Dead in Their Tracks as the less violent breaking out of shock. Contrast Screeching Stop, the use of old car brakes effect when a cartoon character suddenly stops.

---

Examples:

Advertising

• A Volkswagen ad features a couple driving along when the man suddenly remembers that they just returned their Home Porn Movie to the video store. The ad then touts the car's anti-lock brakes.
• A Wall Street executive braking angrily due to a sudden downturn in the stock market is one of the hazards of the road portrayed by All State's Mayhem.

Anime & Manga

• High School Of The Dead:
  • In episode 3, Shizuka, unable to fully concentrate on driving, does this when the rest of the group are discussing their next strategy. This also happens in the Manga.
  • Pops up again in episode 8, only it almost kills Rei in the process.
• Saber does this from the passenger side of Irisviel's car in episode 6 of Fate/Zero.

Fan Works

• Trouble Island: After Calvin whips out a Long List about Dad's terrible camping skills in the car, the latter does this.
• Mass Effect: Human Revolution: This is Garrus' reaction after learning that Adam Jensen turned down the advances of the Leda Twins, a pair of bisexual, incestuous asari C-Sec officers, along with the following dialogue:
  Garrus: Get out.
  Jensen: ...We're still in the air.
  Garrus: The LEDA TWINS, who keep toying with the emotions of every lonely officer in C-Sec, practically offer themselves on platter for you, and you say no?
  Jensen: Well-
  Garrus: THE BISEXUAL, INCESTUOUS POLICE BLUE SPACE BABES WITH BIG HIPS BARGE IN YOUR SHOWER BEGGING YOU EMBRACE ETERNITY, AND YOU SAY NO?!
  Jensen: ...Now that you put it that way, that does sound kinda dumb, but-
  Garrus: Shut up! Shut your mouth, either you're lying to me, in that case that makes you a filthy liar that lies, OR YOU'RE TELLING THE TRUTH, WHICH MAKES YOU NOT-A-MAN. GET. OUT.

Films — Animated

• Eight Crazy Nights: Whitey furiously stops his car when Davey reveals that he (Davey) stole peanut brittle from the mall.
  Davey: Easy, seizure boy!
  Whitey: That's it! I'm callin' the judge!
• Goofy does this in A Goofy Movie the day after he finds out that Max had changed the road map.
• A variation in Shrek 2. The Fairy Godmother yelling "STOP THE CAR!" at her chauffeur, while in the middle of a heated argument with King Harold, has the same effect. It's then subverted when she winds down the window to reveal they've merely stopped at a drive-thru.
  Server: Well, hi there, welcome to Friar's Fat Boy, may I take your order?
  Fairy Godmother: (to Harold) My diet is ruined! I hope you're happy.
• Subverted in Wreck-It Ralph. In the scene between Calhoun and Felix as they fly the spaceship across Sugar Rush, Felix accidentally pushes Calhoun's Trauma Button when he calls her "one dynamite gal", causing her to flashback at the death of her fiancé. She doesn't actually brake the ship (she only flies it to a nearby road to drop Felix off), but the effect is in place.

Films — Live-Action

• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Gillian does this when Spock reveals he knows that Gracie, a humpback whale, is pregnant.
• Hudson Hawk: While Eddie is being driven to the bar after being let out of prison, he tells Tommy Five-Tone about Gates' attempt to blackmail him into doing a job. Tommy angrily slams on the brakes, spilling Eddie's cappuccino.
• D.E.B.S.: While Lucy Diamond and Scud are driving away from the restaurant after the gunfight, Lucy tells Scud that she "met somebody" and he brakes the car to a halt in surprise. On YouTube at 2:30.
• Speed Racer, Racer X does this shortly after rescuing Taejo Togokan from Cruncher Block's truck, prompted by this exchange.
  X: I need your help to bring them to justice.
  Taejo: Justice? That is not a commodity I waste money on.
  X: (brakes angrily) ...Get out.
• Alien Nation: Newcomer detective Samuel Francisco asks bigoted Detective Matthew Sykes why he'd would want him as his partner. Skyes slams on the brakes and, while other drivers shout insults to him and his embarrassed partner, spells out the obvious fact that "slags" murdered his last partner, so he might actually be of some use finding out who killed him.
• A variation in Joy Ride: When Lewis' younger brother Fuller starts making snide comments about his relationship with Venna, his girlfriend, Lewis veers the car off the road and into the dirt, and tells Fuller to keep his mouth shut.
• In National Lampoon's Vacation, right after Aunt Edna dies, contributing to the long list of things that already went wrong for the Griswolds. Clark does this, while clinging to a string of sanity and tells off his family when they suggest giving up and going back home.
• In Hellfighters, Tish has come from a fire in Venezuela to Houston to ask her father to come out to an oil well fire, only to do this while driving from the airport when her mother tells her Jack Lomax has already asked him.
• In Kopps, after Jessica told the police officers that the station will be closed, Jacob, who dives around with Lasse, suddenly slams on the brakes, gets out of the car and kicks against a trash can out of frustration. Later, Benny finds the damaged trash can and skid marks from the full braking together with Agneta and starts investigating, thinking it's a "crime scene".
• In Transformers (2007), it's the car itself that does this. When Mikaela wonders aloud why a super-advanced alien robot would turn into a "piece of crap Camaro", Bumblebee hits the brakes and ejects both her and Sam...so he can scan a much cooler car for an alt-mode.
• Without a Clue has a different take on the trope. Michael Caine's character (playing Sherlock Holmes) is traveling by train when he's informed that Moriarty is involved in the latest case. Cue him tugging on the alarm cord to bring the train to a halt, then cutting to him shouting at Watson in the middle of a field while everyone else has to stand around and wait for the famous detective to get back on board.
• In Back to the Future, Marty does this after the first time travel. As he drives home on the familiar road, then suddenly realizes that the district he is living in is under construction, then hits the brake at full power.
• Cosmic Sin does this for an Oh, Crap! instead of anger when someone calls up General Eron Ryle as he's driving home. The general is trying to foist the job off to someone else when he's informed that someone has made First Contact with an alien race, causing him to slam on the brakes. The use of this trope is probably why he's not driving one of the Flying Cars we see in the distance.

Literature

• Andy Griffiths' Just Series: In one story, Andy pesters his dad while they're driving through the middle of nowhere by asking him Are We There Yet? repeatedly. His dad decides to punish him by dumping Andy by the road.
• Uncle Vernon does this in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when Harry mention the dream he had of riding a flying motorcycle (a Call-Back to the start of the book when he was left on the Dursley's doorstep).
• In Generation Kill, Wright explained that Humvee driver Person was unable to argue with team leader Colbert's orders directly, and so resorted to erratic driving, including braking angrily. This hilarious tendency doesn't show up in the HBO adaptation, unfortunately.
• Being Bindy: During one of their trips, Mum casually tells Bindy that Grandma has been dead for years. Shocked that Mum would go so long without telling her something so important, Bindy asks why they can't really talk to each other, instead of flitting along the surface without touching on major aspects of Mum's life. Mum slams on the brakes, swerves into the shoulder, and angrily tells her that because Bindy isn't a young child anymore she expects to have some privacy, she won't put up with Bindy's disrespect anymore, and if Bindy acts up anymore she'll cancel the trip and take her back to her father's. Bindy shouts, "Then take me back, because I don't want to go with you anyway!" Mum drives her back to her father's house at way over the speed limit.
• In the "Tubette" story from Timothy's Tales of Hilltop School, when the other kids make fun of Doris for being so big, Gus the bus driver pulls over by the side of the road and says to them, "We're staying right here in the dandelions till the teasing stops!".

Live-Action TV

• Blue Heelers: Nick does it when he works out what Tony is saying in the episode "Piece of Cake".
• Friends: Joey gets angry when Chandler admits that he doesn't have high hopes for Joey's acting career. Joey angrily brakes and yells at Chandler to get out of the car — and they're on the Brooklyn Bridge at the time.
  Chandler: You're not actually supposed to stop on a bridge.
• Supernatural: Dean does it in the episode "The Devil You Know", when Crowley mentions that Sam and the horseman's assistant have history.
• On Seinfeld, Elaine pulls this after finding out a friend is getting divorced (though she's not angry so much as excited to be able to seduce the friend's now-ex).
• Community:
  • On the episode "Mixology Certification", Troy does this while driving drunken Jeff and Britta home. The reason: they just realized that the two bars they've been arguing over the entire night are actually the same bar.
  • Britta does this herself in "Studies of Modern Movement" when the hitchhiker she and Shirley picked up is about to sing a song about mixing of the races. It's called "Don't Do It".
• Ranjit does this in How I Met Your Mother when he finds out that Barney had sex with Robin.
• On the The A-Team episode, "Lease With an Option to Die", B.A. does this after talking to his mother and finding out she was attacked and injured by thugs.
• The season 6 opener of Burn Notice has Michael slamming on the brakes when Sam tells him that Jesse has located Anson.
• In The Golden Girls', the group are travelling by car to Blanche's family home. Rose is heard singing annoying road songs, the car screeches to a halt off-screen, and Dorothy tells her to get out of the car.
• General Hospital's Sonny does this to Brenda on their first date when she says something that ticks him off, but he then kisses her passionately.
• The Rookie: One of Officer Bradford's "training techniques" is to suddenly slam the brakes during an ordinary conversation and scream, "I've been shot! Call EMS! Where are we?!" to demonstrate the importance of a cop always knowing their location. Lucy is unable to answer, and he forces her to get out and follow as he drives slowly away, until she can tell him where they are. He fails to rattle Jackson with the trick, however.
• Combined with Pedal-to-the-Metal Shot: once the Carrangers/Turbo Rangers locked their car mechs together to form the RV Robo/Turbo Megazord, they'd slam on their brakes, tipping them up via sheer momentum. Damn cool way to get the robot ready— no random flight or jet engines, just let gravity do the work.
• In Astrid, while driving to Brittany to investigate a murder, the eponymous character shocks her colleague and driver Raphaëlle by complaining she never did "bing" with her boyfriend Tetsuo. Raphaëlle suddenly brakes, and the driver behind her almost hits her car.

Theatre

• In On the Town, during the taxi number "Come Up To My Place", Hildy slams on the brakes harder every time Chip insists on seeing an attraction from his outdated New York City guidebook.
  Chip: Hey, what did you stop for?
  Hildy: It ain't there anymore...

Web Comics

• Stand Still, Stay Silent: In the Sweden segment of the Distant Prologue, the Västerström parents seem to have decided to drive their daughter and the father's parents to their cabin without telling them they are going there to wait out an outbreak of The Plague. This results in the grandparents and daughter eventually rioting about not getting any decent food or bathroom breaks on the way. The mother quickly gets frustrated enough to brutally stop the car, which results in it dangerously swerving due to the road being snowy.

Web Original

• In this story, Cheryl does this when her toddler Caiden throws things at her from the backseat.
• "GET OUT OF MY CAR" is an Animated Adaptation of something that actually happened involving an Uber driver and a female passenger in real life.

Western Animation

• South Park:
  • Named for a line in "Towelie". Also counts as a Lampshade Hanging.
  • In "Cripple Fight", when Stan calls Cartman a "Silly goose", Randy uses the trope to express his anger that his son would use such an unmanly term.
    Randy: You do not say, "Big Silly Goose!" You call him an asshole like a normal kid!
    Stan: But Dad, I was just trying to—
    Randy: Stanley, you call your friend an asshole this instant!
• Ben 10: In the first What If? episode, Ben relives the first day of his summer vacation while remembering everything that has happened in the series so far. (This is never justified.) Naturally, this is Grandpa Max's reaction when Ben first mentions Vilgax.
• Family Guy:
  • Brian did it to Stewie in "Road to Rhode Island".
  • Peter also did it to Brian, although unintentionally, when "putting his foot down" to his father. This resulted in catapulting Brian directly into the windshield.
    Peter: Jeez, Brian, buckle up.
• Stan of American Dad! did it while driving his son's friends to a sci-fi con, which caused his chubby friend Barry to smash into the windshield. "I see one tear, fatty, and I'm doing it again".
• Arthur: In "More!", D.W. grows jealous that other kids in her class have allowances and she doesn't, and starts pestering Jane for one. This culminates in D.W. performing several chores without being asked to, and then sweetly asking Jane how much allowance she's going to get in return. Jane immediately slams the brakes and then shoots D.W. a Death Glare.
• The Simpsons:
  • In one of the original The Tracey Ullman Show shorts, "Shoplifting", Bart's parents angrily kick him out of the car and speed off after he claims that all that really happened was that he got a free ride home as a result of stealing candy bars.
  • In "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy", Homer gasps and then does it when Grampa says that Homer was an accident, and then tells his father to Get Out!.
  • In "Lost Our Lisa", Homer finds Lisa after she gets lost on a museum trip. She says she'll never take another stupid risk again, and Homer suddenly stops the car to say stupid risks are worth taking and how he found her downtown. Then Lisa points out he let the brake go and the car is rolling downhill into a river.
• The Flintstones does this often, with Fred slamming on the "brakes" when Barney says or does something that annoys him (sometimes followed by Fred yelling at Barney to get out of the car).
• In the first episode of The Magic School Bus, Arnold gets sick of Janet insulting Ms. Frizzle to his face, culminating in an aborted trip to the planetarium. Arnold calls for a bus stopdown, and asks to go someplace else. The next thing you know, the school bus is launched into space.
  • In "Spins a Web", the General does when the class re-enters the bus through a vacuum tube. When he does so, Arnold, who somehow wound up sitting in the overhead bin, comes crashing right down onto the General.

---