Which goes only to prove that if someone has enough money to buy
any type of vehicle, new or used, it does not mean that they have the
skill to operate it properly or safely.
80 is too fast for any high CG vehicle at over 0.5 g lateral acceleration.
Yank the wheel hard, and it is easy to go over that. I'd bet that it wasn't
the first stupid maneuver that tripped the TrailBlazer. More likely it was
how poorly he reacted to a scary vehicle response (timing and steering
wheel displacement angle of a counter-steer) that did it. And he probably
let off the gas too, shifting more weight to the front wheel that was already
overloaded.
For those not familiar with Detroit's freeways, I-696 is an E/W connector
highway that is minimum 3 and occasionally as much as 5 lanes wide.
Relatively new (10 years?), partially below street grade. HazMat loads
excluded for that reason. Traffic tends to flow at 70+, and at certain
times I have been running 75mph and been the slowest thing on the road.
Back to the first paragraph subject: Today I was running on another E/W
Freeway, M-59 in the AstroVan. I was treated to a display of rather poor
piloting as a driver passed me on the right and cut me off as he went around
a car I was passing. He then backed down and blocked my lane change
to an exit. Then he cut me off again on the ramp when he apparently
decided he was in the wrong lane.
The car was a red 911 with a whale-tail. The driver... er, person with his
hands on the steering wheel.... was obviously not up to driving with
awareness or any sort of courtesy. At least he would find it difficult to
roll a Porsche....
Alan
Original Message:
> Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 21:40:26 -0500
> From: "Bruce Wentzel" <greendotracing@netzero.net>
> Subject: Re: Jeep Cherokee Rollover
>
> Curious timing this thread. Just tonight a fellow autocrosser said that last
> night he witnessed (darn near involved in) a rollover by a new (still
> temporary tags) Trail Blazer. Speed at 80 mph on I-696 outside Detroit, lane
> change maneuver, lost control, rolled.
>
> Bruce
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