We read, almost daily, about horrific accidents involving cars over turning, skidding off the road or smashing into immovable objects. The sad thing is that the majority of these incidents are completely avoidable. Accidents caused by a part failure are a minuscule part of the problem, even driver error is not the prime cause. It is driver ignorance and in some cases e by driver arrogance. Cars will usually spin. The poorly trained driver behind the wheel is generally responsible for turning them over.
Driving schools that exist to get you a license (or renewal), both public and private are geared to help you pass the state test requirements. Other than learning the law, basic rules of the road and how to pull away from the curb, drive in some traffic and park, virtually nothing is taught about the potential death machine that you're driving. So called "Advanced" driving schools put on by high performance car manufacturers like Porsche, BMW, Lotus, Corvette, etc. do teach a little more. On a closed circuit, they can let you know what it feels like to go over the usual posted highway speed and how to get to that speed quickly. If you're lucky, you'll learn a little bit about balance, cornering and breaking properly. What are you not learning?
Did you know that when you sit in a car the first thing to do is properly adjust the seat? Sitting back and deep, you should be able to rest your wrists on the top of the steering wheel without stretching – torso should be 10 to 12 inches from the air bag compartment. Sitting with your rear end deep in the seat allows you to feel things happening before your brain records a visual image – early anticipation, quicker reaction time. Next adjust all of your mirrors so that you have an unobstructed view from 1 lane width to the right rear of your vehicle to 1 lane width to the left – more if your mirrors allow – new mirrors if they don't. The easiest way to set the mirrors is to have someone stand one car length behind and equivalent to a lane width away and slowly walk across to an equal distance on the other side.
USE THE MIRRORS FREQUENTLY – NOT JUST WHEN PLANNING TO CHANGE LANES.
All cars SHOULD have a 5 point harness for both the driver and front passenger seat, but practicality precludes that from happening. All drivers of super performance cars that want a chance to walk away from a high speed accident, MUST install a 5 point harness. Some of these cars already come with a 4 point harness like Lotus, Lamborghini, et al., However I have seen serious leg injuries when the driver actually slides through the unsecured bottom. People have no idea of the stress on the equipment and body during a sudden stop from high speed. The most chilling example was Dale Earnhardt, harnessed tightly into his race car, died when his body extended far enough for his face to impact the steering wheel – and he wasn't going all that fast. I saw a passenger who had slid most of the way out of a 4 point harness in a Porsche and wind up with most of her person under the dash.
OK. Now we're in the car and ready to go. Did you know that cars only want to go in one direction – straight ahead? Any time you turn the wheel only 2 wheels want to change direction and if you have a real wheel drive car, the back wheels are still pushing the car straight ahead. In a front wheel drive car, the front wheel want to go straight in the new direction that you are pointing them, but the back wheels have to be pulled around – they wanted to keep going straight. Have you figured out that the car is now out of balance and a mistake on wet ground or high speed is greatly magnified. Once you turn the wheel, even a little bit, all the dynamics change. The tires do not have an equal amount of surface on the road, some of the springs are compressing and want to go back to their original configuration, some of the springs are stretching and also want to return to normal and because the car is still trying to go straight you are losing (scraping off) speed. If you then apply the breaks while turning, you greatly exaggerate everything that happens and can conceivably cause the rear end to get so loose it starts the car into a spin.
All of this is just the beginning of learning defensive driving in, what could easily become, an offensive missile. The solution can be relatively inexpensive compared to what your life is worth. Take advantage of the many car club driving schools. Most are open to the public, inexpensive (most clubs are non-profit), and, if the club has a history of running competition events like Race Weekends, Time Trials, Autocross, etc., they probably have talented instructors who have mastered all of the pit falls.
