The Blog of ROBROB8

Caught on camera, truck rolls over on highway http://www.hddashcam.com/

I bought one of these great little HD cameras and a friend of mine that has one as well emailed me this clip she got while driving home on the highway. Because of the video her car was repaired with her only paying the deductible, instead of a possible “no fault” insurance decision that would have meant she’d have to pay half of the repair cost for her car (windshield, repaint driver side door and corner panels, roof and something else, I can’t remember).

It was another drive of over 350 km’s to get home. Through the mountains, through the snow, slush and icy roads.

My Challenger handled great through it all but seemed to slip a bit through deep, long icy puddles. I’m not a professional driver so it could have just been the resistance the tires hit as I went through the water, maybe someone will give me an answer, I’ll check. And yes, the traction control was on.

I still marvel at the “Keyless Enter-N-Go” system with the sensor that knows when you’re close enough to need to open the doors or the trunk. It took a day to get used to lifting the door handle twice for the door to unlock and opne but now I don’t know how I ever lived without it. My car keys never leave my pocket!

I’d really like to get multiple sensors and stitch them into all of my jackets or jeans. And get the same system built into my house doors.

Just awesome!

Day 2 with my Challenger. A 370km drive through the mountains, from my home in Kamloops, BC to Vancouver, BC. Total drive time 4 hours.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had to drive through a blizzard, complete with slushy roads, 1300 meters above sea level, in the mountains. If you have, you know the true terror of the drive.

And driving a brand new car that you just bought the day before adds it’s own particular type of freaking out to the mix. At least I had the firesight to have snow tires put on.

The 2011 Challenger SXT Plus is a rear wheel drive car. This means that, despite or maybe even including) the traction control, you only have the rear wheels propelling the car forward. If the front wheeels get turned by a ridge in the road, well you have to drive/steer out of it quickly. I did leave the traction control on for the duration of my drive.

As I hit the summit of the mountain, at 1330 meters, the show was intense allowing only 8 to 10 carlengths ahead visibility. The snow on the road had iced in places and turned to slush in others. the outdoor temperature ws 32F, right at the freezing point. After a little while of driving at 20kph for a while, the car behind me disappeared into the ditch. After another 10 minutes I had caught up to a car that was driving a bit slower than me; he was following a snow plough. I was safe now, or at least safer than I was because now I was on on a freshly ploughed snow surface.

I have to admit that not being behind the wheel of a rear wheel drive for a long time made getting used to the driving technique was a bit slow in relearning. I fishtailed twice but both times manage dmy way out of it (don’t force the steering wheel, let go of the gas, don’t slam the brakes and steer into regaining control).

I was behind the snow plough for about 40 minutes, then he turned off. At that point of the drive the road wasn’t as bad and within another 15 minutes the road started to go downhill, I had passed the high point of the mountains. From this point thw weather turned from blinding snow to driving rain. One storm to the other!

The handling of the Challenger in the rain was awesome. No slipping or sliding even through pooled water in the roadway.
And I did make my drive safely tp my destination, no paint chips that I can see, no cracks in the windshield from road rocks (they don’t use sand on the road here, it’s thumb-sized rocks that won’t freeze into the surface snow/ice of the roads).

Robrob8 and his Challenger

Following the snow plough

View of downtown Vancouver from my hotel room