Catastrophic brake malfunction, or sweet-ass semi-truck driftooo? Both, actually.

As you can see this FedEx semi-truck appears to be linking some pretty freaking fresh drifts, hanging its tail out left and right as it lumbers down this northern California mountain road.

The reality is that the driver is exercising a remarkable ability to prevent a crash in what must have been a pretty terrifying situation. After sharing this video on Facebook the Truckee, California CHP office clarified that the truck’s air lines had broken, causing the trailer’s brakes to lock up and turning into a big lead sled devoid of all traction while pushing the tractor downhill.

Big rigs use air instead of liquid to control their trailer brakes because the lines are just too long to run fluid through all the way from the cab. But if the air pressure drops and the air escapes, the trailer’s brakes can go to full-lock. Remember that scene in Mad Max: Fury Road where Max has to crawl under the War Rig and re-connect that air hose to free up the locked wheels on the trailer?

Anyway back in reality, this driver did a good job keeping his truck on the road considering most of its wheels turned into skis. The cops appear to be running a rolling roadblock to prevent any idiotic drivers from trying to pass the loose-cannon big rig. Apparently they had the truck out of danger and the road re-opened for normal use 20 minutes later.

Meanwhile, police in nearby Lake Tahoe are telling people . Stay safe up there.

Hat tip to Paulo!