Met some lucky people today...

EricG · 01-04-09, 09:02 PM

Took the kids skiing at Monarch today. Road was icy/snow-packed almost the whole way. On HWY 50 about 10 miles east of Salida somebody spun out a 4 door dodge hatchback and ended up with the back wheels hanging out over about a very steep 40' to 50' embankment down to the river. It was far enough back that the car staying there was not really a given.

I stopped to see if everybody was ok & out of the car (yes & yes). Found an actual recovery point up front and asked the guy if he wanted to try pulling it - or at least snug up a strap to keep it where it was.

So I hooked up a strap - driver didn't want to risk trying to get back into the car, so it was in park with the e-brake on. Gave it a pull, and after a little scrabbling, got the tires down to pavement and pulled it off. The couple was from NYC visiting, and were very grateful.

So a little excitement to spice up some otherwise tedious driving

PPFJ60 · 01-04-09, 09:11 PM

Wow! Sounds like they were lucky you came by. Nice job Eric.

EricG · 01-04-09, 10:38 PM

No, they were just lucky they didn't go down over to begin with. By the time I got there, it was only the car that was at risk.

black95 · 01-05-09, 09:31 AM

that's awesome. good job! something like that is scary, you always have to wonder in your head "if the car goes down, is it gonna be heavy enough to take the my cruiser with it?"

EricG · 01-05-09, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by black95

that's awesome. good job! something like that is scary, you always have to wonder in your head "if the car goes down, is it gonna be heavy enough to take the my cruiser with it?"

Yea, that thought crossed my mind. But the traction didn't look to bad, and the car wasn't moving on it's own. So I reasoned that if it started to slip, I would only be resisting a small fraction of the weight until it went all the way over.

Got me thinking about the whole scenario though. What if I had been right behind the guy when it happened, and the passengers were definitely at risk - car actively slipping. What would be the quickest way to secure the car? Digging out the strap and shackles and hooking them up took awhile.

Isotel · 01-05-09, 02:59 PM

Nice Recovery.. On the way back from monarch when i was a young kid, i was in the back seat of a Mercury Comet, my brother driving and my dad in shotgun.. We Hit Black ice and did 3-4 360's off the road.. lucky it was just a flat field we went into.. no damage to the car other than the license plates bent up.

Quickest way would have been if you had In Cab Winch Controls... Release the winch, hook it up, Engage the lock. Reel them in..

EricG · 03-18-09, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Isotel

Nice Recovery.. On the way back from monarch when i was a young kid, i was in the back seat of a Mercury Comet, my brother driving and my dad in shotgun.. We Hit Black ice and did 3-4 360's off the road.. lucky it was just a flat field we went into.. no damage to the car other than the license plates bent up.

Quickest way would have been if you had In Cab Winch Controls... Release the winch, hook it up, Engage the lock. Reel them in..

I was thinking about this again in the context of the young woman who was killed yesterday in that gas station fire. It seems she was pinned between the pump and her vehicle. It sounds like it got really bad really fast, but if somebody could have pushed or pulled the minivan away quickly?

Who knows - terrible situation. What the hell was somebody doing going that fast in a gas station parking lot to push another vehicle into the pump that hard??

Isotel · 03-18-09, 02:05 PM

yea i heard about that, crazy stuff!

LCPilot · 03-19-09, 05:02 PM

I think that is the difference between ordinary people that don't want to get involved and those that are willing to help people out lies. You hear about something happening and people just standing there frozen watching. Out of the crowd somebody moves and helps out. On a couple of occasions that has been me. Hopefully since we do things on a proactive level in this club, I tend to feel that the members are the ones to take action and make a difference.

I wish that there was somone around at the gas station that was willing to risk a bent up bumper on their car to save that girls life by pushing her car out of the way. I noticed the picture of the fire truck in the road and the car fully engulfed. Did anyone try to use the fire extinguisher at the station to put out the fire? Didn't any one shut down the pump by the emergency switch?

This is a good topic for everyone that fills up a car to think about. What can you do if this situation happened at a gas station that you are using.
Next time you fill up your vehicle, look for the emergency cutoff switch, look for fire extinguishers. Tell your friends and spouses to be on the look out.

It may save your life or the live of someone close to you.

David M.

EricG · 03-19-09, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LCPilot

I think that is the difference between ordinary people that don't want to get involved and those that are willing to help people out lies. You hear about something happening and people just standing there frozen watching. Out of the crowd somebody moves and helps out. On a couple of occasions that has been me. Hopefully since we do things on a proactive level in this club, I tend to feel that the members are the ones to take action and make a difference.

I wish that there was somone around at the gas station that was willing to risk a bent up bumper on their car to save that girls life by pushing her car out of the way. I noticed the picture of the fire truck in the road and the car fully engulfed. Did anyone try to use the fire extinguisher at the station to put out the fire? Didn't any one shut down the pump by the emergency switch?

This is a good topic for everyone that fills up a car to think about. What can you do if this situation happened at a gas station that you are using.
Next time you fill up your vehicle, look for the emergency cutoff switch, look for fire extinguishers. Tell your friends and spouses to be on the look out.

It may save your life or the live of someone close to you.

David M.

From what I read somebody did run and hit the emergency cutoff. And somebody approached with a small car fire extinguisher, but was waved off by an off-duty firefighter. Doubt a small extinguisher would've meant anything. That's what I was thinking though - drive in there and push the van away from the pump - it'd at least be a chance, however small.