Tahoe saved our lives

[DaveO9]

Last four hundred mile stretch of an almost 4k mile road trip. My son, 16 and no license yet, just permit, was driving. It was a good stretch for him to get an hour or so in of night freeway driving. I'm in the passenger seat, my girls, 18 and 13, in the back. All had seatbelts on. Little traffic and nice, wide section of I-84 west of Ontario, OR. (OR/ID border) He started getting harassed by a mosquito and took his eyes off the road for a second, went on to the left side shoulder, ran over a flexible guide post, then swerved hard back into the lane. Way too hard - he started going into a series of over-corrections and then we eventually went over. Rolled at least three times, maybe four or five. All a blur to me. I'll always wonder if I could have grabbed the wheel and got things settled down, but I think it was all over after his initial hard swerve.

WE ALL WALKED AWAY. No serious injuries, just cuts, scrapes and bruises. We all got a ride in an ambulance to the hospital in Ontario, with full workups there. All got discharged a couple hours later. I'll probably end up doing some PT or maybe chiropractor, as I'm having some upper back pain. Kids have no apparent issues. Crashed in a hotel for a few hours, my wife and a niece drove the 400 miles to come get us in the minivan. We had to rent a u-haul trailer to haul all our gear, plus all the tools and related, etc. that I had in the rig.

I'll most likely be shopping for another NNBS Tahoe or possibly Suburban very soon. I know other vehicles we probably would have fared OK, too, but that's just the way I am. I really liked my LS - liked the bench seat in front, simple but very effective HVAC system, cloth seats, no DVD players, etc. But you don't see many LS, mostly LT. And I liked my color too. So I'll either have to be patient or settle for something.

 

[Tonyv__]

Forget about the “what ifs” It’s the worst thing you could do to yourself. Be happy your family is still with you and you’re all walking away. Great news

This is the reason we opted for a Yukon and I prefer not to drive anything smaller. I truly feel safer in larger vehicles.

 

[Tonyrodz]

Glad to hear everyone is OK. Son must feel terrible.

 

[Fless]

Glad that everyone is okay!

 

[iamdub]

Time and again, we see members posting this level of carnage and reporting minimal bodily harm. Why would you risk finding out if another vehicle would fare as well? I have all the convincing data I need just from these pages. I'm glad you all walked away and thank you for sharing your experience.

 

[j91z28d1]

wow. that's a heck of a ride.

but yes, while it seems in hindsight you could have grabbed the wheel, years ago I was riding home from the track in a friends little brothers truck. he was a newish driver and a wet on-ramp slide a little bit on him, early days of rear only abs on trucks and probably no tc. it got him in a bit of a tank slapper. being lower speed and wet we got lucky and him just jamming the brakes it saved itself off the side of the road but I tried reaching for the wheel to help him. cause it was super slow motion, all the time in the world to do so, but the seat belt was locked, which I'm sure yours was too after the first rumble strip. the truck wouldn't let you even if you wanted too. so don't beat yourself up over it.

on the bright side, I alway say the learning curve to being a safe driver takes a few small omg moments to really set in that all this is real, and actually dangerous. all 3 of your kids just got a core memory that driving is no joke and you all walked away cleanly from it.

good luck with the back.. i don't wish a bad back on anyone.

 

[Joseph Garcia]

Really glad that no one was hurt. You can replace a truck, but not a life.

 

[OR VietVet]

Like @iamdub said, I would say I have seen approx half a dozen threads like this. Major major damage to the Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade and the people in the vehicle walk away. It's like driving around in a beautiful roll cage. Glad everyone is ok and again, walked away. I never got in an accident when I was first driving. Scared of what would happen when I got home. But, I came close a few times and can remember them all. Glad you are all ok and the Tahoe did what it was supposed to do....PROTECT YOU. Get another one and breathe easy.

 

[Marky Dissod]

Before anything else, glad y'all walked away and will heal quickly.
Try to stay ahead of back pain, you won't heal quite as thoroughly as your kids will.

My son, 16, just a permit ... started getting harassed by a mosquito and took his eyes off the road for a second, went on to the left side shoulder, ran over a flexible guide post, then swerved way too hard back into the lane ... started going into a series of over-corrections ... eventually went over. Rolled at least three times, maybe four or five ...
I'll always wonder if I could have grabbed the wheel and got things settled down, but I think it was all over after his initial hard swerve.

Pointless to stress yourself wondering. It will not help you or your kids now or in the future.

Instead, go find a parking lot, the less occupied, the better.
Always carefully, and too slow at first, practice threading the vehicle through 'obstacles'.
When it came time to teach my nephews, the best 'obstacles' were highly reflective road cones about 3ft tall.
Too short is useless, but too tall will not let them learn about the vertical blind spots.

Separate each cone by at least 300 inches. Have them thread through the cones at, say, 5-10MpH, at first.
After they find that EASY, up the speed to 10-15MpH.
First they'll notice that much more steering is needed to trace the same path more quickly than previous.
Then they'll notice how much more steering needs to be done IN ADVANCE of the next swerve.

Equally useful is slow speed precision stuff. Drive thru the cones backwards. Drop pennies through the holes in the top of the cones after driving right up to them without running them over or shoving them.
I eventually used these and other 'cone course' variations with other people to great success.

 

[mattbta]

Echo everything above. Glad all are ok.