How things can quickly go wrong............

[maxjj Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close maxjj]

generally you get a feel for how much grip you are getting on dirt roads, if the tyres are biting you can drive with a bit more confidence and speed. But then you can still get caught out when the gravel is pushed up around some of the bends, then you might as well be on ball bearings.

Glad to see that no-one got hurt. The one thing that scares the crap out of me know is driving on some narrow and windy dirt roads and young blokes in done up 4wd`s coming towards you thinking they are on a rally .

[cfryback Find all posts View Profile Close cfryback]

Dunno how fast he was going, but I have had a similar experience in the Prado on gravel. I was doing less than 60 km/h which probably saved me. (Yes should have probably dropped tyres down and been in 4 HI).

Though I think he was over correcting too much, causing it to fishtail - gravity and momentum did the rest.

[awwricecracker Member Find all posts View Profile Close awwricecracker]

Shows the value of having a cargo barrier. Glad there wasn't anything heavy that came down on the lad.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

The one thing that scares the crap out of me know is driving on some narrow and windy dirt roads and young blokes in done up 4wd`s coming towards you thinking they are on a rally .

Ah, so you've done the road up to Cape York then? All the floggers heading south doing 140 on the wrong side coming around bends.

[juc33_prado Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close juc33_prado]

looking at it, the speed into the corner wasn't involved as it was barely a corner at all yet, however a bit of loose surface and roll to the edge of the road playe a factor and then some some unfortunate over correction.

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

Dunno how fast he was going, but I have had a similar experience in the Prado on gravel. I was doing less than 60 km/h which probably saved me. (Yes should have probably dropped tyres down and been in 4 HI).

Though I think he was over correcting too much, causing it to fishtail - gravity and momentum did the rest.

Kangaroos, gravity, momentum.

When is the gubbermint going to wake up and do something about them???

[raydes Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close raydes]

tyre

Assume that the front right tyre rolled off in the crash, wonder what pressure it was at.

Great to see they both got away ok.

the front tyre was still up until the car went on the tow truck

[rags Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close rags]

good reason why we should restrain our dogs when in the car as they can also become a flying object

[Hazza Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hazza]

Driving heavy trucks for many yaers from a young teenager one lesson I learnt real quickly is NEVER avoid an animal. Unloaded trucks let alone loaded trucks just don't stay upright.

I have run over at least 3 roos and countless bunny's as the head lights freezes them.

Must say had to change my thinking when a came across a bull one time along the Can Valley Highway.

Good to see they where both OK.

Driving to conditions is so important.

I live by the saying, "Better a minute late than Dead on Time".

Hazza

[Capt Crash Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Capt Crash]

So for the uninitiated of us "black top" drivers, what is the best thing to do when the back end steps out on gravel?

The obvious reaction is to steer into the skid to keep the nose of the car pointing foward, but are you meant to pump the brakes to bleed off speed, try to power out of it (might be worse if you do leave the road at high speed) or stand on the skids hard and lock up all of the tyres so there is no whiplash effect when the tyres do bite into the road?

Glad to see all were ok after they came to a full stop, oh and someone better sign up the young fella to the local footy team. He takes a great overhead mark on a shopping bag halfway ther the roll.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

I'm guessing that he did exactly what I did many years ago which ended the same way . He braked as he went into and around the corner travelling at speed . You will notice the corner goes up and down the other side with reverse camber .If you brake through or into the corner it unloads the back end of the car and around she goes and in this sort of vehicle without VSC your not going to get it back . And errrrrr I swerved to miss a wombat . As with my accident , someone just ran out of talent .

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

So for the uninitiated of us "black top" drivers, what is the best thing to do when the back end steps out on gravel?

The obvious reaction is to steer into the skid to keep the nose of the car pointing foward, but are you meant to pump the brakes to bleed off speed, try to power out of it (might be worse if you do leave the road at high speed) or stand on the skids hard and lock up all of the tyres so there is no whiplash effect when the tyres do bite into the road?

Its an interesting question. Driving instructors will tell you to avoid the situation. But thats not always going to happen, so what do you do when all of your "margin" is used up?

The standard answer is usually - "Get religious" as not much else is going to save the situation with physics being what they are, etc.

I was always taught "if in doubt, power out". The problem with neat little sayings like that, is they are correct about 50% of the time.

At the end of the day there is no substitute for good training and practice. In stressful situations we never rise to expectations, we always fall back on what we know or think of as a "safe" option.

I recently did an advanced driver training course with Audi at Eastern Creek. A big part of this was getting a feel for how all the modern driver/vehicle aids work. I was very surprised at just how well they did work. These courses also give you a feel for what its like when they kick in, rather than panic when something strange happens.

[Corigator Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Corigator]

...or get onto a farm paddock and have a go on the grass.

[clarkie383 Member Find all posts View Profile Close clarkie383]

We all make mistakes.
Some learn from them and some learn from others mistakes.
Then some dont survive the mistake.
Im just glad they are ok.

[Bazza Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bazza]

Speed kills .... but stupidity causes it! ( way too fast for that road )