Hack
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2014
- Threads
- 83
- Messages
- 12,318
- Reaction score
- 7,487
- Location
- Minneapolis
- Vehicle(s)
- Mustang, Camaro
I think when you let the wheel come off the road you made a pretty big error. Maybe you wouldn't call it reckless, but I bet you avoid similar situations now. I think most people leave extra room between their wheels and the edge of the road, just in case.I had a VW Sirocco when I was a young man. I had just put new tires on the car. I was driving a NC mountain road. As I entered the turn I got a little to wide and dropped the right rear wheel of the edge of the road. As I gently corrected to bring the car back up onto the road the rear tire gave way, turned me sideways, and the rim dug in. This sent me flipping down an embankment. The speed limit on this road at the time was 55, I was not reckless or out of control. I have played this back in my head a thousand times. Other than not letting the wheel drop off in the first place, I cannot see what I could have done differently. Sometimes things just happen. It was surreal during the wreck. It felt like it was in slow motion. I was blessed that I was not killed or hurt bad. I got less for the car than I had paid for the new tires.
I spun my new to me '89 Mustang GT in the first couple weeks I owned it. This was in the early 90s. There was a little light rain and I was driving too fast. I even hit a curb when I did it. I was an idiot and I was driving too fast for the situation. I was really fortunate that the car wasn't damaged.
I spun my '70 Mustang once on a freeway on ramp in the rain. I was super lucky that the curb was a gradual slope, because the car went over the curb and completely off the road. That one - I don't even know what I did wrong, but obviously it was another case of me being dumb and driving too fast for the conditions/situation. I guess this was in the 90s as well. Anyway it was definitely many years ago.
Just because I look at a photo and say that I believe the driver was reckless doesn't mean I'm holding myself up as a great example of wisdom. And I realize I could be wrong.
But no way was he going 20 or 30 mph. That car had a lot of speed to roll over and get so far off the road. Maybe the driver was using great judgement and there's no way anyone in the world could have avoided what happened, but that seems unlikely to me.
And IMO speculating about what happened is probably more fun than hearing what really did happen.
I disagree. I think when you see flat ground and a car that looks like it rolled multiple times, assuming speed makes complete sense. It takes a lot of energy to flatten a car's roof and twist the body like that.Non taken, this was a curvy mountain road. No way to go wide open. Like I said the speed limit was 55 and there is no way to go 55. My point is that arm chair quarterbacks don't know the situation and should reserve judgement. To think you know the speed or condition a person was driving is ludicrous.
Once my mom slid off a road in icy conditions and rolled her VW bug. A local came by and tipped it back on its wheels. He popped the roof back up with his hand and she was on her way. That was a low-speed rollover. She was going maybe 5 mph and rolled down a ditch. The car was fine and she was fine. No air bags and only lap belts.
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