my babys hurt

[SKM_87]

well ive had a whoopsies in my sri. i was encountered last nite with a rather sizable dog running out of the dark infront of my. being a sizeable creature and the road having no traffic i swerved (lesson no.1 - never swerve). then for some reason instead of your usal understeer the rear of my car steped out. now due to wet roads it happened rather quickly to turn itself around despite my efforts of oppisite lock. seeing as i was now traveling backwards at 60k's i decided the brake was the next best option. my decision was to late and i collected a rather large box curb ona very square on angle. going up the curb and also collecting a bus pole.

the damage. well i had my rear wheel and hub snapped off the I-beam. front strut and lower wishbone bent and rear bumper pulled away at one corner. rims suprisingly are good save a few marks on them. and no other body damage. hopefully not to much more underneath is broken. couldn't see much in the dark.

got some pics of someof the damage, will post

oh and im ok :D

[shoey85]

fark!!! thats no good :(

[SKM_87]

yeh. thank god for insuance. its 2g min in parts alone. a I-beams bloody $1400

[shoey85]

whoa!!! well yeah thanks to insurance(is ur excess going up?) , spose it doesnt handle like a gocart ey.

[SKM_87]

most probably. haha, yeh i reckon. jus shows, no matter what you've done you can still get caught out

[Calibrated]

lesson number 1: when there is an animal in the road. dont swerve. because 99% of the time, they will run into your swerve anyway.

[poita]

or if its small enough, dont brake ;)

[Apex]

Bugger. Lot of crashing going on as of late :mad:

[btm]

Bugger. Lot of crashing going on as of late :mad:

yeah i was thinking the same thing.

sorry to hear dude. good luck with the repairs!

[immenotu]

From a fellow injured car owner, i share your pain. Glad you're ok.

[oneightoo]

dam sam.. imagine what the damage would have been if you only hit the dog..

[btm]

he did save the dogs life though, which is a positive

[Apex]

he did save the dogs life though, which is a positive

That is commendable, if a driver was to swerve to avoid killing my dog I would pay to have his car fixed personally!

[tuzinski]

ohh damn!
i would of hit the dog.
if the owners cant control him, my car surely will!

[oneightoo]

dude, dont ever drive near my dogs..

[blueraven]

i will brake for animals, but never swerve.

But that is a point, if a dog runs out on the road, i brake, and still hit it, i can only blame the owner of the dog for letting him be out there in the first place. I have a 50kg Ridgeback who loves to bolt off into the distance at least double my max sprinting speed, and if he ever got hit, i would be stupid/crazy to blame the driver. (although knowing my dog the car would come off second best :D)

the reason you should never swerve is pretty obvious, either you could swerve into something and have an accident yourself and die, swerve into someone walk alongside of the road, or better yet head on into someone else.

[bornwild]

dude, dont ever drive near my dogs..

bwhahahahahahhahhahahhaha classic:D

[bornwild]

But that is a point, if a dog runs out on the road, i brake, and still hit it, i can only blame the owner of the dog for letting him be out there in the first place.

Exactly right, though admittedly quite a powerful debate to have in your head when you're in the midst of it all. :)

[Dave]

But the situation does vary.......... One night i was fanging through some old roads out near some bushy type area with lots of widlife, and a kangaroo came bounding into my sights, if i had kept my line i would of collected it, but because i swerved just that little bit and droped 2 wheels onto the dirt i only ran over its tail after briefly applying the breaks. Which was funny and i couldnt stop laughfing about for a good 30 mins.


Good effort though man, I share the view that atleast you didnt kill the dog, owners fault for it not being in its yard where its ment to be, but i know if my dogs ( 2 larg labs ) got run over id go mental at the person that did it, and the car would probably end up worse then yours did :p

[skulless]

ooh that hurts.

i saw a truck ran over a dog once in front of my house, it was a small dog and no way the driver could have seen the dog and it was the owner's fault of letting the dog ran onto the street. saw it happen in front of my eyes and the owner just went mental and slapped the freaking truck driver. if it was me, i would have retaliated but i fully understand the loss of their dog.

[low astra]

ohh damn!
i would of hit the dog.
if the owners cant control him, my car surely will!

im saying this in the nicest way possible, YOUR A TOOL

[SKM_87]

yeh, friggin dog, it was quite large thou and the ropad was empty so i thought it wuld b beta, but you get that. either way i was looking at damage

[jsantos]

Just thought you might be interested in knowing why your car over steered rather then under steered.

You might already know this just thought i should mention it in the hope it stops this happening to anyone else.

As you decelerate weight shifts forewards which drops the traction in the rear wheels and increases it in the front.Hence your turning ability is increased however the back becomes really slippery and so it's much more likely to step out. It's called "lift off oversteer" as it often happens when people get off the throttle quickly whist sharply turning into a corner. Which is why you shouldn't turn quickly as you brake.

[SKM_87]

yeh, i no, also had 2 ppl in the back which make these step out easier. i should of known better, i reckon i can drive well enough but we all stuff up

[digifish]

SM87 sorry to hear that...I suppose this is a classic case where stability control would have saved your bacon...mine kicked in the other day when I went around a greasy wet corner a little too fast and the rear started to let go, it was an amazing experience, I heard and felt the ABS clacking away, the car just straightened and sailed on around the corner....the guy following me span off.

It will be interesting when the fleet is all stabalised to see what happens to crash rates.

digifish

[bornwild]

You thought of getting the owner of the dog to pay your insurance excess?! After all he did cause the accident...

[Dave]

Allso to add to the comment of over-steer A FWD is a bit more tricky to control then a rwd

If you let the rear over take the front, your basicly ****ed. Same can be said in a RWD, But In a FWD you haft to strike a carefull balance mainly between steering and acceleration. You cant just let of the gass and hope the rear flicks back in. ( in 99 % of the cases with the safety features disabled T/C etc )

Im not saying thats a difinative statement applying to all fwd rear end step outs you may have "lift off oversteer" as stated below, you may of reefed on the e brake or you may of flicked it on a slippery corner or left foot brakeing and so on and so on, theres many ways.



Ill just use 2 examples which i have had ample experience with,

Picture a big pretty dirt road with lots of corners :p
Now enter the corners at a high rate of speed, many things can happen, the front can under-steer the rear can over stear, you can get a combination of the 2 plus a phuew more i cant be botherd listing but there the main 2.

say your going fast enuff but slow enuff so the front wont start under-steering ( which is easly fixed ) that the rear naturaly steps out ( The astra does it 9 times outa ten ) then your left to counter steer and toy with the trottle to keep the rear where you want it, if you back off the rear will over take you and you will loop, to much power and the rear will step back in. The trick is just enuff and you can basicly hang the arse where you want it. Now im some cases not many, very phuew minute but some if you simple back off the arse will return to where its ment to be, but 9 times out of ten it will loop you being a fwd. And to much acceleration you may invoke understeer of the front wheels and have a 4 wheel drift happening, get it right and the rear will fall back into place pretty much on request upon exiting the corner or mid way around depending.


Or theres the wet rd and e-brake around a corner, a bit more dangerous but basicly the same principles with one exception, remember to release the e-brake or your in for a world of hurt, not only flat spots on your tyres, but the ocasional gutter tree pole or fence etc. ( practice on dirt first )


Theres also the deliberatly entering a corner in such a fasion you invoke a 4 wheel slide counter-steer then use the front to pull the car around. but meh practice makes perfect. Im not perfect at any of the above but i mainly do it for fun in deserted places with just me in the car. ( ie in the middle of no where, where the only whitness to my ****ups are cows and the occasional rabbit )

Just remeber, your useing the front wheels to pull the car. Not useing the rear wheels to push the car.


Then you get your wet weather aqua plaining, or heavy under brakes step out etc.

Theres so many ways it can happen.

I hope this helps you avoid any more unlucky accidents in the future, I know from some ill get the instant, your a dick wanker / hoon. But engadgeing in driveing activities such as these in places where no one can get hurt except my self and a cow, ( im very picky and drive literaly into the middle of no where, where you can see for miles in each direction because A i dont want the death or injury of someone else on my concience and B i value my licence ) Has saved my arse many times by knowing how to handle non deliberat slides especaly in wet weather. And caused by your dickhead mates thatl never ride in your car again because it was funny to rip up the e-brake going around a bussy roundabout !

[immenotu]

...I know from some ill get the instant, your a dick wanker / hoon. But engadgeing in driveing activities such as these in places where no one can get hurt except my self and a cow ... Has saved my arse many times...

Totally agree Dave, knowing how to control a slide has saved my arse too.

I've only ever done 2 deliberate slides and they were both in the same place (just so i knew how to do it and what it felt like when a car slid) they were late in the arvo in an industrial area right at the end of a road on a dirt coul-de-sac with no cars, people or buildings around so pretty safe i thought.

I think everyone should find somewhere safe and slide a car a few times (an empty dirt paddock or similar is probably best) so that when it happens by accident you have an idea on what to do and hopefully you can miss what you would otherwise have hit.

[Apex]

Just thought you might be interested in knowing why your car over steered rather then under steered.

You might already know this just thought i should mention it in the hope it stops this happening to anyone else.


As you decelerate weight shifts forewards which drops the traction in the rear wheels and increases it in the front.Hence your turning ability is increased however the back becomes really slippery and so it's much more likely to step out. It's called "lift off oversteer" as it often happens when people get off the throttle quickly whist sharply turning into a corner. Which is why you shouldn't turn quickly as you brake.


Anyone who has driven an old school Peugeot will know about snap lift of over-steer!
Personally I have never come close to making my Astra over-steer even when provoked on a racetrack, I find the car naturally under-steers. Most cars are designed to under steer as a safety feature :rolleyes:
How do you get your Astra’s to oversteer?? Im thinking of fitting a rear swaybar to make mine moor neutral :D

[SKM_87]

You thought of getting the owner of the dog to pay your insurance excess?! After all he did cause the accident...

the dog dissappered and i ask around house bout nobody said anything.


Allso to add to the comment of over-steer A FWD is a bit more tricky to control then a rwd

If you let the rear over take the front, your basicly ****ed. Same can be said in a RWD, But In a FWD you haft to strike a carefull balance mainly between steering and acceleration. You cant just let of the gass and hope the rear flicks back in. ( in 99 % of the cases with the safety features disabled T/C etc )

Im not saying thats a difinative statement applying to all fwd rear end step outs you may have "lift off oversteer" as stated below, you may of reefed on the e brake or you may of flicked it on a slippery corner or left foot brakeing and so on and so on, theres many ways.



Ill just use 2 examples which i have had ample experience with,

Picture a big pretty dirt road with lots of corners :p
Now enter the corners at a high rate of speed, many things can happen, the front can under-steer the rear can over stear, you can get a combination of the 2 plus a phuew more i cant be botherd listing but there the main 2.

say your going fast enuff but slow enuff so the front wont start under-steering ( which is easly fixed ) that the rear naturaly steps out ( The astra does it 9 times outa ten ) then your left to counter steer and toy with the trottle to keep the rear where you want it, if you back off the rear will over take you and you will loop, to much power and the rear will step back in. The trick is just enuff and you can basicly hang the arse where you want it. Now im some cases not many, very phuew minute but some if you simple back off the arse will return to where its ment to be, but 9 times out of ten it will loop you being a fwd. And to much acceleration you may invoke understeer of the front wheels and have a 4 wheel drift happening, get it right and the rear will fall back into place pretty much on request upon exiting the corner or mid way around depending.


Or theres the wet rd and e-brake around a corner, a bit more dangerous but basicly the same principles with one exception, remember to release the e-brake or your in for a world of hurt, not only flat spots on your tyres, but the ocasional gutter tree pole or fence etc. ( practice on dirt first )


Theres also the deliberatly entering a corner in such a fasion you invoke a 4 wheel slide counter-steer then use the front to pull the car around. but meh practice makes perfect. Im not perfect at any of the above but i mainly do it for fun in deserted places with just me in the car. ( ie in the middle of no where, where the only whitness to my ****ups are cows and the occasional rabbit )

Just remeber, your useing the front wheels to pull the car. Not useing the rear wheels to push the car.


Then you get your wet weather aqua plaining, or heavy under brakes step out etc.

Theres so many ways it can happen.

I hope this helps you avoid any more unlucky accidents in the future, I know from some ill get the instant, your a dick wanker / hoon. But engadgeing in driveing activities such as these in places where no one can get hurt except my self and a cow, ( im very picky and drive literaly into the middle of no where, where you can see for miles in each direction because A i dont want the death or injury of someone else on my concience and B i value my licence ) Has saved my arse many times by knowing how to handle non deliberat slides especaly in wet weather. And caused by your dickhead mates thatl never ride in your car again because it was funny to rip up the e-brake going around a bussy roundabout !

thanks for the hints. but been through them all before, the prob with the barina is that in a big slide you cant gas your way out coz of the traction control. and ive done the dirt road, race track, motokana, handbrake turns in it. also to mention ive driven a couple race cars in my short time. just a **** up .

[reedaaron]

the unfortunate thing about having traction control.... though it does make my tyres last longer :D

[Dave]

Anyone who has driven an old school Peugeot will know about snap lift of over-steer!
Personally I have never come close to making my Astra over-steer even when provoked on a racetrack, I find the car naturally under-steers. Most cars are designed to under steer as a safety feature :rolleyes:
How do you get your Astra’s to oversteer?? Im thinking of fitting a rear swaybar to make mine moor neutral :D


Ive noticed that aswell, But ive somewhat over come it but running my fronts at 38 and rears at 35, threw a drity big sub box in the rear and realy grippy rubber on the front. Its some what fixed it, but every now and again youll need to flick the steering wheel to step it out or use the e-brake if its being stubborn, its just down to how you enter the corner.

[Dave]

the dog dissappered and i ask around house bout nobody said anything.



thanks for the hints. but been through them all before, the prob with the barina is that in a big slide you cant gas your way out coz of the traction control. and ive done the dirt road, race track, motokana, handbrake turns in it. also to mention ive driven a couple race cars in my short time. just a **** up .


Sory man, didnt mean to tell you what you already knew. No offence was ment by it. And yeah i share your view on T/C, just turn it off, fixes that problem.

[MitchSRi]

OP: If you were able to ID the dog, or had hit it, and find the owner, you can actually claim damages back from them.

I hit a dog years ago, and it was injured (took it to Vets and got owners info), then lodged a claim.

Insurance deemed the owher of dog responsible for causing the accident.

+ Dog from what I can tell was fine.
+ Car got fixed without a cent from my pocket.
- Dog owner had shits.

[SKM_87]

Sory man, didnt mean to tell you what you already knew. No offence was ment by it. And yeah i share your view on T/C, just turn it off, fixes that problem.
dont be, none taken. haha, if only i had that figured out yet


OP: If you were able to ID the dog, or had hit it, and find the owner, you can actually claim damages back from them.

I hit a dog years ago, and it was injured (took it to Vets and got owners info), then lodged a claim.

Insurance deemed the owher of dog responsible for causing the accident.

+ Dog from what I can tell was fine.
+ Car got fixed without a cent from my pocket.
- Dog owner had shits.

nice win with that.

[R3N]

Sorry to hear mate, but good to know you're alright... sometimes you just have to make a decision in a split second. There's no right or wrong but glad you came out okay. We could all say what we would've done but being put in that position given the amount of time you had to react would, in most cases, lead to a different outcome.

Though as a general rule of thumb, you could swerve and miss the dog but could've got yourself hurt so, better the dog than you or someone else