What A Way To Start The Day
I usually take I-840 to I-65 in the mornings. This has replaced my old haunt, Old Hickory to Concord Road. If you can get to 65N just around 7am then you can avoid the lion’s share of traffic and have a pretty good ride in. The straight roads and high speeds also have a positive effect on my gas mileage.
Today the SUV directly in front of me swerved for some reason then overcorrected a few times and hit the guard rail head on. I had seen this coming after the first swerve and slowed way down. I was already at last 50 yard behind the guy anyway. When the SUV hit the guard rail it literally left the ground and turned in the air. I landed completely upside down, still point northbound. When I passed the vehicle pieces were still moving in their original path. I remember sitting mesmerized at the underside of a 6,000lb vehicle that was hanging a few feet off the ground.
Say what you will about the SUV-hate debate. This country is in love with her SUVs and the tree-huggers hate you for it. I’ve never really been all that loud of a voice in the crowd.
I can, however, tell you one thing. That is a lot of mass moving at a high speed. The physics involved in convincing such a body to bend to your puny power-steering will is enormous and complex. The pompous drivers that infect our roads are barely in control of these things. That driver apparently made it out O.K., but if it had landed on a Prius we’d be seeing stories on the news.
I’m not claiming to be an amazing driver. I’m also only moving about 3,000lbs of swedish steel around the roads.
Please consider if you really need that much of a machine just to get Montana and Madison to soccer practice. We shouldn’t all have to drive SUVs to protect ourselves from other SUV drivers.
Comments (5 comments)
You used to own a SUV. Don’t lie to your people:)
Jennifer / February 14th, 2006, 10:36 am / #
I hadn’t seen one flip over yet.
gphat / February 14th, 2006, 10:46 am / #
It’s very top heavy and can flip easily. They even put a warning on the visors saying they can flip easily. They scare me but I’m the best woman driver ever so there won’t be a problem!
Jennifer / February 14th, 2006, 1:26 pm / #
You are a pinnacle of female achievement and your miraculous driving talent should be recorded and shared with the world.
Noone can control 6,000lbs of SUV, that’s my only point.
gphat / February 14th, 2006, 1:55 pm / #
On my way down I65 a couple of years ago, on my way home from college for the weekend, I passed the most horrible collision I had ever seen, just north of Birmingham. The SUV, if you could still call it that, was at least 15 feet away from the camper trailer it must have rammed at 90+ mph. Upside down, the windows were smashed out and the doors crumpled in. The camper trailer, by the way, which was hitched to the back of a Dooley (sp?), was split down the middle so that it looked like an open book. All I could surmise was that the SUV rammed the camper, flipped over it and landed in front of the Dooley. But I could be completely wrong. It bends the imagination.
Sara / February 15th, 2006, 4:06 pm / #
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