FTO AUSTRALIA

kiz wrote:Unfortunately very few younger drivers have the ability to learn how to correctly get out of these situations until they actually happen

Too true, but the bigger problem is knowing not to get into these situations in the first place. Always drive within your ability, your vehicles abilities, and the environment. Doesn't guarantee you won't have an accident, but greatly minimises the possibility.

Not picking on you but just illustrating my point, 60kmh on a loose dirt road is pushing the limits of your environment.

Shane001 wrote: Not picking on you but just illustrating my point, 60kmh on a loose dirt road is pushing the limits of your environment.

Also being a younger driving I wasn't paying as much attention to the road as I should have but rather the other passenger in the car

But I am much older and wiser now. That accident was about 3 years ago

Yep, point still stands though, 60kmh was probably too fast for that loose dirt track. You're now more experienced and may well be able to 'save the lose', but the point is not to put yourself in the position where the car is capable of loosing control in the first place, on the street that is. There are simply too many variables and too many other potential users of that road that you need to make allowance for. If you want to do this go find a race track.

Let me illustrate my point. A few years ago we were up the Hunter for the weekend and decided to cut across the mountains on the way home to a few of the 'tourist' towns. There was probably 30kms of dirt track on the way. I was doing about 40, came around a blind corner and here's this young couple out for a Sunday ride on their push bikes. They weren't in the middle of the road but they were filling 'my lane' so to speak. Had I come around that corner at 60 one of 2 things would have happened. I would have cleaned them up, or I would have swerved and ended up in a tree!

I lost control & went sideways when turning @40km/h at dwayne's gravel road.
So hard to stop the slide even from just 40km/h.

As shane adequately put its the putting yourself outside your comfort zone that gets people.
I will never touch the accelerator on a street i dont know, have never been on or has too many rises/corners/loose pavement etc etc - and while its by no means a bulletproof way of making sure your safe, still better than nothing - if i dont like it i wont do it.

At phunky - yea gravel/dirt is a bitch - just too unpredictable, same with rain for me, i will usually stay 10 under in the rain, ESPECIALLY round the corners, just cant know whats the outcome.

Shane001 wrote:I would have cleaned them up, or I would have swerved and ended up in a tree!

Yeah, couldn't win either way in that sort of instance.
1) Total the car by hitting a tree.
2) Damage the car by hitting 2 spawns of satan.

Astron_Boy wrote:2) Damage the car by hitting 2 spawns of satan.

was waiting for it

True story: I'm driving in Victoria in the mountains near Mt Beauty I think it was, 100km/h zone but windy roads so I'm doing about 60 around this blind corner and here's these 3 f**king bike riders stopped in the middle of the road having a chat! And they wonder why they get abused