[wgr73]

Well, it was this past Friday I had just gotten off a great day at work. I decided to take a back dirt road home to see if it was any faster than the highway. The road was somewhat taken care of. There are your normal potholes, rocks, washouts in the road…Well, I was going 45-50mph and was missing the potholes. The last one I came up to had a pothole back-to-back so I swerved to miss one, the swerved to miss the other one. The back tires broke loose and I went into an all-out fish tail. I was thinking “awe, I’ve been here before, I’ll just steer my way out of it”. So I began to correct the fishtail…then turned the other way, then the other way…then all of the sudden the back fishtailed nasty hard to the left (almost 180°). At that point I slid for about 10ft sideways, and then felt the tires dig in… right then I said to myself, and I quote: “Oh, crap!” Then it happened, I rolled! As I was rolling my iphone came out from in between my seatbelt and stomach (where I normally keep it when I drive). Upside down, I stick out my hand to catch it (I’m thinking it was then that my head hit and busted out the driver’s side window), anyways I caught the phone (no joke, I promise!!). The reason I made such an effort to catch the phone “Chuck Norris” style, was because I was out in the middle of the desert, no one was around. So if I was hurt, I would have been screwed. Well I landed passenger side window on the ground, in my seatbelt, holding on to the steering wheel. As soon as the dust settled in the truck, I let my seatbelt down and stood up (feet out the passenger side window on the ground, head out the driver side window). I then tried to climb out the driver window but the truck started to sway back and forth. I thought it was going to land on me, so I tried to open the sunroof (which didn’t work, you can see why in the last photo). I had to roll down the tailgate window and climb out it! When I got out, I checked myself for any cuts, broken bones; ect...I then took pictures with my beloved iphone, and called my dad.

Long story short form here on out: He came, took more pictures, called the Sherriff (who took 45min to get there), then the wrecker came. I got a “careless” driving citation, a small headache, and glass in my left ear and pockets. The cop said I ‘yawed’ for 380ft! I’m not sure he’s right about that, but whatever…I went to the ER, and everything is ok. My ipod, zune, and DiyMod that was in my truck when I flipped are all ok. My shure E500’s flew out of the truck and the truck landed on them. When the wrecker flipped it over I saw them on the ground, I was shocked! They were still intact! However my $400 Oakley “Romeo II” sunglasses are shot! That’s too bad.

All in all I’m ok, which looking back, could have been worse. I’m very fortunate that I walked away without a scratch. Here are some pictures from the accident. These were taken about 2 minutes after it happened…

 

[braillediver]

Excessive Speed?


Mitch

 

[wanderman]

lol, glad you are okay.

 

[blessingx]

Glad you make it though fine wgr73. I know how scary that can be.

You did make a nice looking giant sundial though.

 

[redshifter]

News flash: you're not Mad Max.

 

[xnothingpoetic]

Bet that was some experience!

 

[wgr73]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braillediver /img/forum/go_quote.gif Excessive Speed? Mitch

Not really...then again I lost control. I should have been going slower (i.e.10mph). Thanks guys, it coulda been alot worse.

 

[ken36]

Count your blessings.

 

[srozzman]

guess its slower than the highway, huh?

 

[archosman]

Totaled?

 

[jmmtn4aj]

Thank god it wasn't a GM, eh?

I thought the back tires literally broke loose LOL. That would've been a sight

 

[vagarach]

That's the unfortunate problem with cars with a high center of gravity, even drivers who know how to correct at the limit (rather than panic and do silly things) will be defeated by the sheer force of a heavy car with lots of lateral momentum.

A similar thing happened to our nissan pathfinder, icy roads caused the car to lose grip and swerve, and just after my dad had corrected, the tires went over some dry, bare road. The instant change in grip just rolled the car right over. A writeoff, but no one was hurt, thank god.

I'm glad neither you nor your e500s got hurt

.

 

[rincewind]

What's surprising to see is the completely desolate and mostly smooth road. When I read the story I thought I'd see a windy rough and rocky trail. Depending on the pothole size, might have been better off hitting it. That's what those 4WDs have lots of suspension travel for.

 

[wgr73]

Quote:

Originally Posted by archosman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Totaled?

Yes.


Quote:

Originally Posted by rincewind /img/forum/go_quote.gif What's surprising to see is the completely desolate and mostly smooth road. When I read the story I thought I'd see a windy rough and rocky trail. Depending on the pothole size, might have been better off hitting it. That's what those 4WDs have lots of suspension travel for.

And your right about the pothole size. If I would have known this was going to happen, I would have hit it. Then again, insurance took pretty good care of me.

Im just lucky to be ok...I still cant believe the roll.

 

[greydragon]

Sweet story and a happy ending (mostly). I loved the iPhone catch moment during the roll. I imagined that scene Matrix style, 360º bullet time and all!

Glad you made alright.