[lro] OT- SUV rollover incident

From: Rick Grant (rickgrant@telus.net)
Date: Mon Feb 24 2003 - 02:11:37 EST

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    This has nothing to do specifically with Land-Rovers per se but it is about
    SUV's and driving ability.

    This morning in southern Alberta is was about -20 when we took our Subaru
    out to the foothills for no good reason other than to go for a drive and
    give the Border Collies a good run somewhere. The roads were snow covered
    and in places there were hard packed patches of polished snow, far far from
    the ubiquitous black ice of eastern north america. We spent several hours
    on back roads just enjoying the mountains.

    Anyway, about noon I rejoined the Trans Canada with the idea of heading for
    Banff and lunch. Same road conditions but the sun had melted a lot of snow
    down to wet pavement. There was little traffic, and apart from patches of
    hard pack there was nothing to be concerned about.

    Just as we entered the mountains we were following a Lincoln
    Navigator. The two of us clipped along at 130 km/hr until we hit the
    curves through Entrance Pass at Exshaw.

    For those of you who don't know it, the drive from Calgary to Banff is
    along a four lane divided highway. Just as you enter the mountains proper
    there are a series of serious S curves which are notable for the sudden
    side winds they often get, and for the fact that they are the first curves
    a motorist has hit since leaving western Ontario. The posted speed of 110
    km/hr drops to 90 through the curves but if the road is dry a modern
    vehicle can sail through at 130+ without complaint.

    Since we were in no hurry, the sun was shining, there was no wind, and I
    just didn't feel like blasting past the Navigator I tooled along at 120
    into the curves behind him.

    I was a good 100 meters behind this guy when about a third way through this
    first curve, the one without the cliff edge to instant doom, drives onto a
    patch of polished hard pack. This is snow, it is not ice. Slippery but
    not a give-up -all hope situation.

    He hits the brakes!

    It really was like watching some child take a Hot Wheels Car and fling it
    across a room. To see some two tonnes of car leave the road and cavort
    through the air is really something.

    When I finished slogging through the snow to get to his vehicle I find an
    upside down driver in the footwell and a hysterical wife, who, unlike him,
    was wearing a seat belt, all screaming like they'd had their bowels cut
    out. The two of them were convinced they were going to be incinerated at
    any moment in a Hollywood car explosion.

    There were no injuries to speak of, but the Navigator was a well rolled mess.

    The comments I got from the driver/owner told the story. It wasn't just
    one pithy remark, rather a series of linked commentaries, spiced with
    expletives, that went on for about 20 minutes until the Mounties showed up
    and I could escape.

    This guy, and his wife, both were convinced that there had been a design
    flaw in the Navigator because there was no way that such an expensive
    vehicle could possibly have gone off the road.

    At one point I tried to point out that braking on a suspect surface in
    sharp curve, or braking at all given the nature of those Banff curves, was
    not a good idea.

    I will never ever forget what the man's wife said to me. "We know
    offroading. We're experts." Apparently the dealer had given both of them
    two hours of instruction.

    Three hours later, after the Border Collies had had a good run at the Banff
    airstrip, and after Catherine and I had had a good meal in town, we passed
    a rather crumpled Navigator at the side of the road but no sign of two self
    proclaimed accomplished offroaders.

                                                    Rick Grant

    International Strategic Communications and Media Relations
    Calgary Alberta
    www.rickgrant.com
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