I thought it was all that man... not having to keep a foot on a pedal or watch speed....
so I'm driving 38mph down a road with patchy snow and ice using cruise control, talking to my high school sweet heart in the passenger seat. here's what I THINK happened:
1: hit a lump of ice with the drivers side front tire
2: differential makes the passenger side tire speed up as the drivers side slows down
3: passenger side being the only one on solid concrete, it start the van into a spin
4: van gets almost to 180 before the tires catch and the van shoots backwards into a shallow ditch
5: van hits the back of the ditch at an angle, and the front spins back around the way I was originally going and the momentum pops us back onto the road, in the correct lane, just like nothing happened.
I think we must have sat there just staring at the road for 10 minutes afterwards. The only damage to the van was a slightly bent rear bumper. You could actually see the imprint the van made in the snow on the other side of the ditch as it was spinning.
~I'd like to say that was when I decided to become a safe driver...
Joined: Aug 02, 2006
Posts: 705
Location: McLean, VA, USA
Posted:
Wed Sep 27, 2006 2:22 pm
just one correction to the explanation, if I may
When one of the tires goes to the ice, this tire starts to spin faster, because it does not have resistance any more. This does not really matter in your case, what matters is that your car just got a turning impulse strong enough to brake other tries grip...
It is never good to use cruise control when driving on wet or snowy roads. What you described and Misha also pointed out is called Hydroplaning. The tires hit a slick spot and lose traction slowing the vehicle down below the cruise setting and then it tries to get up to speed.
I remeber drinving on a 4 lane highway with cruise control on while it was raining. Hit a very shallow puddle of water flowing acroos the highway and it felt like my car jumped 6 inches to the left.
PostPosted: Tue Jan 26, 2010 12:17 pm
It is never good to use cruise control when driving on wet or snowy roads. What you described and Misha also pointed out is called Hydroplaning. The tires hit a slick spot and lose traction slowing the vehicle down below the cruise setting and then it tries to get up to speed.
I remeber drinving on a 4 lane highway with cruise control on while it was raining. Hit a very shallow puddle of water flowing acroos the highway and it felt like my car jumped 6 inches to the left.
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take care
