Topic
`Circumstances arise where cars are acting as life support machines: Discuss`
My proposition is that often unwittingly and for varying periods of time, cars are driven through `zones` where an engine dead breakdown could be fatal.
That these days with mobile phones it could be considered rare to be caught in a remote area , broken down in shirt sleeves in a sub zero wind.
But I remember clearly on impulse as a teenager going late at night down a track to a remote beach. There was something romantic about us sharing a moment at midnight in atrocious, rare, sub zero wind conditions. We had just got in the car and gone, no coats.
Great fun, no one around but us.
Then there was that flash of sudden insight and clarity, perhaps augmented by adrenalin as i inserted the ignition key. That the car HAD to restart.
The stupidity being remembered now just as it was recognised then in that brief moment of inserting the ignition key.
A lesson well learnt in youth.
But are you aware of any moments where the car you are travelling in was actually acting ( albeit momentarily) as a life support system?
Regards
Edited by oilrag on 24/10/2007 at 09:04
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Interesting point, well made. My concern is that so many drivers view the interior of the car as a warm cosy refuge, and, as design has improved, we become more and more detatched from the outside world. Until, as you say, it stops. Yet a car doesn't have to break down to stop. The outside whether only has to turn a little inclement, and, because of the traffic density, a lot of people end up going nowhere....
I've started carrying a spare coat in the car at all times: it's approaching the point when I need to load my winter kit.
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Tim{P}
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Probably not in the way you mean - but judging by the lavish attention many people bestow on their vehicles, their cars do indeed act as 'life support'.
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I was once stuck in a blizzard resulting in total road chaos. 8 hours to do 15 miles, the first 7 hours of this time took me just 2 miles! I wouldn't have like to have survived without the comfort of the car.
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I'm sure there are parts of the world where stopping for anything or anybody means certain death. Afghanistan, Basra, Johanesburg?
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The coldest temperature I've driven in was -34, about 100 miles across country and it certainly did occurr to me that I wouldn't last long if the car failed. Even in 2 or 3 degrees the cabin soon becomes uncomfortable without the engine on. I once arrived in Rotterdam docks with hours to spare for the ferry. It was sleeting outside and very windy and I had to run the engine every 15 minutes or so to keep warm. What a miserable day that was. Of course when I got to Hull and pulled in to fill up with petrol, everybody was wearing t-shirts.
By far the daftest thing I have ever done on this topic was during my first winter in Poland. I had Winter tyres fitted in Lodz and on Sunday evening for the drive back to Warsaw I was eager to try them out so I decided to go off-piste and do it all on country lanes. For the first time in my adult life I actually felt true fear. Huge drifts, sheet ice, no streetlights and no one for miles - at one point I was going to turn round but I knew I'd never complete the manouvre and be able to get going again. I only made it by the very thinnest skin of my teeth and I have never been so relieved to see the lights of a motorway in my life.
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The coldest temperature I've driven in was -34...
Wow that's cold!
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Whether you actually are in this situation in Death Valley is debatable, but it certainly does feel like that.
We saw maybe two other cars on our entire journey through, and the heat and solitude certainly do bring home to you that you might be in a fair bit of bother if the car died on you.
Edited by BazzaBear {P} on 24/10/2007 at 14:45
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I always carry a sleeping bag, blanket and foul weather coat in the boot.
This is not as you might think a reflection of the state of relations with SWMBO, more a reflection of my unwillingness to fork out £50 plus to travel lodge for use of a bed for 6 hours to break a journey.
Why are our motorways festooned with exhortations not to drive while tired and to take frequent rest stops yet our motorway service stations frown on anyone but lorry drivers sleeping in their vehicles?
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Why are our motorways festooned with exhortations not to drive while tired and to take frequent rest stops yet our motorway service stations frown on anyone but lorry drivers sleeping in their vehicles?
I am sure if you offer the MSA's the same £25 (that trucks pay) for the pleasure of sleeping in the urine soaked car park they wont refuse it!!!!
But back to the original post, I always carry a heavy winter coat (or 2) in the boot in winter, along with a set of jump leads (remember those!!) that I carry all year round. In the last year I have had to use the jump leads 4 times - 3 times for neighbors and once for my own stupidity during the summer!!
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I've twice been involved in an attempted hijack, and in both cases it was pretty important the car kept going - and fortunately it did.
Another one which springs to mind was the afternoon I found out that my drive to the front wheels of my 4x4 had failed. We were 100 metres from a cheetah eating its prey at the time. And stuck in the mud. We eventually got the car out, but would have preferred to stay in it!
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I've met a couple of people who have resorted to drinking coolant after desert breakdowns. Not too nice, they said.
One had also driven through an erg or sand sea during a long-range and rather desperate military operation. Both time constraints and the sand made it imperative not to stop, for fear partly of not being able to get moving again. The driver had to relieve himself while driving, hoping that the vehicle could be hosed out afterwards.
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Can't think of any but it's a cool topic
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I doubt that I've every actually been in a situation where I've physically relied on the car keeping going, I've been in plenty where I've realised that I would be very, very uncomfortable if the car stopped working. Mainly when crossing the pennines in the rain, the idea of having to stop and change a wheel is horrifying seeing as I normally don't carry a jacket!
I think since mobile phone use became so common the chances of a car breakdown leading to loss of life in the UK are pretty slim.
Blue
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I always carry jump leads, a long kagoul and several towels. I have used the jump leads several times over the years, the kagoul once (to keep dry when changing a tyre) and the towels never. Towels? They keep you warm and can dry you out. Remember HHGTTG!
I once drove in Arizona on a back dirt road for interest rather than take the main highway. I was in a regular saloon, and in four hours I saw only three other vehicles, all of which were 4x4s. If I got stuck, it would have been interesting.
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