Bill Tabor
EF5
Recently I was driving a van which was left with improper inflation. 22lbs driver side front, 38lbs drivers side rear, 36lbs passenger side rear, and 34lbs passenger side front. I hadn't noticed the tire was low and drove it down a gradual winding turn on a paved road after it had been raining. I was doing about 45 maybe 50 and speed limit was 45. No puddles to hydroplane just wet surface. As I started to pull out of a left turn I found the vehicle kept turning and began going sideways with passenger side forward. So I eased it right and found my self sideways with drivers side forward. Fortunately no trees, lights, or sign hazards nearby as the vehicle was like a carnival ride at this point, and I was just riding along apparently. I was approaching the right side of the road curb and had visions of the vehicle rolling. I managed to steer a bit left again which swung the back around, seemed to kill a lot of the momentum and we hit the curb back tires first and then slid down an embankment where we went through some very small trees and thorns coming to rest with back bumper gently resting against a very large tree. Whew! Everybody inside was ok. The vehicle was only mildly damaged from hitting the curb on the underside and the exterior paint got all scratched up from the thorns.
Anyway, the point of all this is...tire inflation is very important when chasing!!! Make sure you have good tire pressure all around. Make sure you have good tread left (not an issue in my case). Proper, or slightly high pressure will also help in gas mileage, but lower helps stick to the road better in wet conditions (up to a point). This is the first real accident I've had in many, many years of driving. I was surprised how dogged the vehicle acted. I've never known it to respond like that. The pressure made all the difference and made the wet road act like I was on black ice almost. Oh, and of course maintain proper speed when driving. This is obviously important and was partly the cause as well. Rather than speed limit or slightly above I should have been a little below the limit, but was in a hurry. Sometimes hurrying up will REALLY slow you down - in ways that you don't really care to know. That includes speeding tickets which are no fun either. Note: This incident didn't occur while chasing but certainly it could have.
Anyway, the point of all this is...tire inflation is very important when chasing!!! Make sure you have good tire pressure all around. Make sure you have good tread left (not an issue in my case). Proper, or slightly high pressure will also help in gas mileage, but lower helps stick to the road better in wet conditions (up to a point). This is the first real accident I've had in many, many years of driving. I was surprised how dogged the vehicle acted. I've never known it to respond like that. The pressure made all the difference and made the wet road act like I was on black ice almost. Oh, and of course maintain proper speed when driving. This is obviously important and was partly the cause as well. Rather than speed limit or slightly above I should have been a little below the limit, but was in a hurry. Sometimes hurrying up will REALLY slow you down - in ways that you don't really care to know. That includes speeding tickets which are no fun either. Note: This incident didn't occur while chasing but certainly it could have.
