Kevin Valentine wrote:
> A friend has a new full size Ford SUV...about 30 grand worth of bells
> and whistles. He had it stuck in the snow 2 times last winter and
> is afraid to drive it in the snow now....He figured he could go
> anywhere, what he forgot was; after he went up the (very steep)
> mountian he had to come back down.... go figure......
I read a study (I think it was in CO) that the downhill accident rate in
the state has increased and then vehicles having the accident rates are
the heavier SUV. The can go but stopping all that mass takes time. It
can be bad news in the wrong hands.
Several years ago I was passed on Texas Rd (for the local guys on the
list) by a guy in a brand new (still had the temp. dealer tag in the
window) Toyota Forerunner. This road at this point is straight (in the
dry I go about 60MPH) and it has monster ditches on both side. I was
going about 25 MPH and this guy blew past me. As I watched him get
about 1 mile ahead of me I saw his brake lights come on as he went into
the turn. I was not sure how fast he was going but his brake lights
were only on for about 5 seconds maybe. When I got to the turn I saw
the guy off in a field with the truck on the side. So I stop and call
the cops and went to check it out. The guy was busted up but he was ok,
just cuts, bruises and a good shot to the head. The truck had slid off
the road and the two drivers side wheels hit the ditch. They folded
under the truck and then the thing rolled a couple of times. All the
glass was busted and most of the sheet metal was bent and wrinkled.
After the cops got there and as I was leaving to told the guy, "Don't
worry that truck is new, the insurance company will fix it for you.'"
At that point the cop gave me a dirty look and chased me off.
BTW, I was driving a POS Nissan Sentra, FWD with skinny tires, snow
tires. Thing handled great in the snow.
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William M. Gilroy
77 Midget
95 Toyota
01 Irish Terrier
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