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Old 12-03-2010, 01:21 AM
 
Location: Interior alaska
6,381 posts, read 14,567,607 times
Reputation: 3520

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Tonight I was driving back from Fairbanks in the Dark, the roads are covered in ice and very rough and slippery. I was driving along at about 55 MPH, speed limit is 65 MPH but even 55 tonight was pushing the limits of the road.

A set of headlights came up behind me at a very high rate of speed, and started to pass. So I waited and nothing was there, looked in the mirror and it was all dark. So I stopped and went back knowing there was no road turnoffs there...

The Truck was on it's side about sixty feet off into the woods. Three guys climbed out of it, they did seem to be alright, but shaken. They won't know until tomorrow if they in fact were hurt when the aches start to roll in.

I called a wrecker for them (very isolated road at night and temp was about -20), they didn't appear to have been drinking and were moving OK. They had drove from Anchorage to Fairbanks to attend a friends funeral yesterday, and were driving back to Anchorage.

They were going in excess of 75 MPH on very poor road conditions (straight road there though), and missed my truck by a few feet.

I see people drive like that all the time and wonder why there isn't more of them in the ditches or getting killed or killing others. For a number of years I ran my wrecker up and down this area of the highway and have seen all sorts of wrecks, many fatal... Sometimes a 1,200 lb moose will walk/run out into the road and there is noway you can stop or at those speeds even get around them.

Just pisses me off at this kind of stupidity...
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Old 12-03-2010, 01:27 AM
 
Location: Palmer
2,519 posts, read 7,032,996 times
Reputation: 1395
Quote:
Originally Posted by starlite9 View Post
Tonight I was driving back from Fairbanks in the Dark, the roads are covered in ice and very rough and slippery. I was driving along at about 55 MPH, speed limit is 65 MPH but even 55 tonight was pushing the limits of the road.

A set of headlights came up behind me at a very high rate of speed, and started to pass. So I waited and nothing was there, looked in the mirror and it was all dark. So I stopped and went back knowing there was no road turnoffs there...

The Truck was on it's side about sixty feet off into the woods. Three guys climbed out of it, they did seem to be alright, but shaken. They won't know until tomorrow if they in fact were hurt when the aches start to roll in.

I called a wrecker for them (very isolated road at night and temp was about -20), they didn't appear to have been drinking and were moving OK. They had drove from Anchorage to Fairbanks to attend a friends funeral yesterday, and were driving back to Anchorage.

They were going in excess of 75 MPH on very poor road conditions (straight road there though), and missed my truck by a few feet.

I see people drive like that all the time and wonder why there isn't more of them in the ditches or getting killed or killing others. For a number of years I ran my wrecker up and down this area of the highway and have seen all sorts of wrecks, many fatal... Sometimes a 1,200 lb moose will walk/run out into the road and there is noway you can stop or at those speeds even get around them.

Just pisses me off at this kind of stupidity...


Yep. those guys were fortunate to have survived.
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Old 12-03-2010, 01:39 AM
 
Location: In my own world
879 posts, read 1,731,661 times
Reputation: 1031
I see these kinds of people all the time. It's like they think their vehicles are immune to the laws of physics. I try to stay off the roads when they're bad as I don't want my truck or my life totaled by these reckless sorts.
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Old 12-03-2010, 01:44 AM
 
Location: Interior alaska
6,381 posts, read 14,567,607 times
Reputation: 3520
The ironic thing is they went to attend a funeral of a friend that died in a car accident...
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Old 12-03-2010, 02:28 AM
 
Location: Fairbanks, AK
1,753 posts, read 2,903,546 times
Reputation: 1886
Ugh, idiots. Sorry I hope they are good and sore tomorrow (and I know they will be).
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Old 12-03-2010, 02:55 AM
 
Location: Alaska
1,437 posts, read 4,803,523 times
Reputation: 933
I really think Darwin was on to something back then.....
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Old 12-03-2010, 03:14 AM
 
Location: PA soon to be AK
42 posts, read 60,440 times
Reputation: 40
So glad everyone was safe!! Could have been a lot worse!!
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Old 12-03-2010, 03:59 AM
 
Location: Barrow Alaska
206 posts, read 514,120 times
Reputation: 270
I have noticed a 4X4 invincible mentality in 20somethings. Its like t hey think because they have a 4 wheel drive vehicle they wont succumb to black ice. But yeah like DannyL said... Darwin was on to something.
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Old 12-03-2010, 09:33 AM
 
4,989 posts, read 10,021,418 times
Reputation: 3285
Quote:
Originally Posted by starlite9 View Post
The ironic thing is they went to attend a funeral of a friend that died in a car accident...
Obviously they hadn't learn any lessons, or taken any time to reflect upon the fragility of life. Maybe this is fate stepping in to to slap them upside the head and force them to listen.

You are correct. Sadly this kind of stuff is all too common. Happens all the time on the Seward Hwy. For some reason, people are in such a hurry they are willing to put their lives at risk (and those of the people around them) and pass on a blind corner or double yellow, just to gain one extra car length of pavement, even though there are a line of cars stretching as far as the eye can see up ahead. And yeah, often its a big pickup with oversized tires. Seems to be some kind of ego thing with guys like that.
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Old 12-03-2010, 10:03 AM
 
Location: Somewhere out there
9,616 posts, read 12,916,589 times
Reputation: 3767
Wink The Engineering Perspective....

Quote:
Originally Posted by dradiin View Post
I have noticed a 4X4 invincible mentality in 20somethings. Its like t hey think because they have a 4 wheel drive vehicle they wont succumb to black ice. But yeah like DannyL said... Darwin was on to something.
Agreed! when I was working up in AK and the Yukon in the pipeline days, I saw this all the time. The simple engineering fact is that, despite your good ol' 4 wheel drive, an F350 Crew Cab with Power Stroke and a small canopy, a full load of fuel, spare tires and two or three passengers, weighs in at about 8,000+ lb. Multiply that mass times, say, 60 or 70 mph and you've got some real energy for the tire-ice interface to manage. I know: I own one'them beasts, a classic old body-style '96!

While all that weight might help in acceleration, it sure as heck does nothing to enhance deceleration, esp. when you are over-driving your lights and there's some accumulated "cruddo" on those headlight lenses, the ones protecting those OE 45W low, 55W high illumination bulbs. Yikes! suddenly, in the dark of night out on some lonesome highway, you spot a pair of moose about 200 yds away, and your truck will take about 400 yds to stop safely. So you just "yump" on the brakes real hard and hope for the best, right? Gives me the willies just thinking about it!

One good strategy: at least try to steer around such obstacles, with a bit of applied power to keep you pointed forward!

Even if you have one of the newer (and lighter?) all wheel drives with some sort of smart traction management, like my now-ancient 2003 Isuzu Trooper with TOD (Torque on Demand), you'd best be prepared for some exciting moments. That Trooper will, for instance, send power selectively to each end of the vehicle on acceleration, and integrates with the ABS and digital throttle-by-wire on acceleration and deceleration, so even if you're stupid enough to tromp on the throttle or the brakes in a corner, it will disregard your contaminated neural functions and try to get you around safely. (But note that you've also got to give it a tad bit of energy (fuel) in a situation where you're sliding a bit soz it can work it's miracles!)

Still and all, those moron drivers out there can quite decisively collect your vehicle broadside with theirs and change your entire life from that point onwards. That's the reason I still prefer the Big Old Truck out on the long roads, to withstand such onslaughts. I need to be conscious and fully alert after I'm knocked off the road by an idiot in a Prius soz I can call my lawyer on his 24/7 cell phone and get my new fiscal life started up right away! Hey; then I could order a brand-new $78k F450 CC $X$ diesel! With airbags even!

Hey: enjoy the AK countryside in the winter. It can be absolutely beautiful
when you're not stuck off the side of the road!
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