What I don’t see?!

[M.Seidam]

After several drives spent in the desert and after witnessing many refusals and stuck including mine , revising the tapes and listening to the instructions on radio and reading and watching different audio visual materials on the net I wondered 🤔 : why things still happening ?) what , still , I don’t see?! 

I would like to share with you guys what I found and think that might be the real cause of some faults that may occur ?!

Scenario 1 :

A driver climbing straight up hill of a dune ( encountering loss of momentum and eventually stand still ( front pointing up and rear down ) , now reversing straight down .... on the way down the observer now see what the driver is not realizing that his vehicle is almost sideways stuck or flip is imminent. 

What The driver didn’t see or realize , despite listening to the proper instructions in radio ?

Scenario 2 :

Performing a side slope with a decent incline and proper momentum and would assume the track is free of bumps ( trying to be ideal with no apparent cause of fishtailing related to terrine or car power ) .. at the middle of half moon now the driver realizes his vehicle is fishtailing and hearing from the radio the demand to steer down . 

What the driver didn’t see ?!

( clue : the more the incline the more this is happening ) 

Scenario 3:

A driver descending down hill regardless how steep ( the more steep the more it’s probable to happen in a given situation ) ... again finding self fishtailing and imminent flip may occur . 

What the driver couldn’t see ?

In all scenarios it’s obvious it’s control issue , now how can this be an issue ? ( assuming full concentration and car and terrain is perfect , which off course in reality it’s not but only for the sake of explanation )

Explanation : 

The driver has exerted an input to steering wheel without realizing it as it looked very minimal , however this may lead to unwanted results .

In scenario 1 : 

The driver has the habit to lean and look backward using only one hand on the steering instead of using the rear mirror to maintain body /arm/ hand position steady and relaxed during decent. 

In scenario 2 : 

The natural tendency to lean the neck away from the incline side while the your body is restricted by the seatbelt without you realize you use the hands to maintain that neck leaning leading to un noticeable input to the steering in the direction where your neck lean ( small counter steering ) this leads off course to disturbance fishtail or slowing by releasing foot off accelerator resulting in refusal or stuck or in worse case roll over .

In scenario 3 : 

As it’s advised to “drive “down hill and not to “roll “ it down as you gain speed slightly naturally you will have the urge to break , and if this is slightly harder your hand will push against the steering wheel which is mostly unintentional and unequal. this will put input to the steering wheel disturbing the directional stability .. fishtailing , braking , more fishtailing ... and so on 

Solution: 

• Awareness and knowledge about the details.
• Practice makes perfect always 
• Plan your intended next move and be vigilant , draw your imaginary line correctly and stick to follow it. 
• Avoid bad habits of being distracted . 
• Relax you hands with both thumbs up always on steering wheel and while on incline have a leap of faith and train your mind to go with the incline not against it . 
• Offroad drive needs time and patience to master , respect the gravity don’t fight it and it will bring sure to the top. 
• Note : this is my experience so far , I wanted to share . Please advice me always as learning is endless and I apologize if it was long .

Cheers 

🙏🏻🚙🌷

 

[Rahimdad]

Great read @Mohamed Seidam. Appreciate you showing us the issue and trying to use logic to explain these things. Nowadays with newer cars the cars have lot of electronics and computers always learning your drive style and trying to assist you even if you don't realize it. The car automatically applying brakes to a wheel which does not have traction can be another cause for fish tailing. I'm really happy with all your logic, and I would like to reinforce what you just said. I'm driving on road for over 26 years but never take my eyes off the road, same way you need to feel the same responsibility off-road and be aware of your skills, your vehicle and your surroundings.

[sri ganesh]

Very true, I can relate to Scenario1:In  the rear view mirror since the angle of view shows the lower level and the wings mirrors also limit sight and feels weird while reversing down a  slope our brain wants to see other wise so we tend to do that I guess, I don't do this when I am reversing in known areas- in my parking for eg total rely on mirrors and usually one hand though- but I recall doing it in desert after I find  mirror image confusing some times even unable to distinguish between the ground and dune behind so the tendency is to look back to get which causes only hand to stick on the wheel. need to practice to be 100% aware rather than our sub-conscious driving kick in.

Scenario 2 and 3 -ditto need to practice being mindful and remember what not to do