Roll Over.

On a recent club trip, some of the members came back thru Lancelin WA and happened upon this Hilux that had been rolled in the sand hills due to what some would say was inexperience in dunes. None the less, Quad drive members where on hand and put some effort in to rescueing the young man involved - he had apparently cut his hand quite badly trying to stop the car rolling over by putting his arm out the un wound window (quite a no-no). The club was happy to help out and be on their way showing that community spirit. From memory a snatch strap was destroyed & a member had his hand cut quite badly and no thanks were given but that was ok because like all clubs Quad Drive want to see everybody enjoying there leisure time activity in safety and the members genuinely like to help people out of a situation they would perfer not to be in.
Good Driving
- Grant, Vice President Quad Drive

Geoff Couper writes ... ... a trip we just recently did at Pemberton, Western Australia. Yes and its Stewy in his Holden Overlander. The location was the Warren River Mouth (Tooticup) and it's here to prove you do not need sand dunes to roll over a vehicle. Stewy hit a soft patch, a mixture of river mud, sand and water whilst the Overlander was just coming out of a side way-drift, at only about 30kmh - 40kmh. The sludge patch, which was all of about 7 feet in diameter and real hard to spot, sucked down the rear left hand wheel and de-beading the big 33 tyres (they were at 15psi). Stewy claims the engine had miss fired and he lost power in the middle of the sludgy bit and says if he had full power he could have powered himself through and out of it.

I'm happy to say no one was physically hurt but Stewy's pride took a bit of a hammering and not to mention the nice ripple tone effect along the passengers side of the vehicle. The recovery went like clock work. It was the first day of a weeks trip in the area from Pemberton to Torbay via Collie on the way home and I'm also happy to say the Holden Overlander finished the trip with flying colours, averaged a total distance of 1500km for the week.

Stewy was actually enjoying a can of Coke during the event, he was so bewildered with what was happening that once the vehicle was on it's side, gravity took over the contents of the can of Coke was then worn by his passenger Alan!

Us guys in the club (West Coast 4X4) know very well what happens to limbs when used to try and hold a vehicle up when rolling over. Sounds crazy bit most peoples first reaction is to do exactly that, good point Quad 4. Keep those shoulders up against the middle side frame of the vehicle, this will limit the chances of your arm wanting to save your vehicle. One can always replace a vehicle! Hoping you guys get a bit of a laugh out of this, cause we did!
regards Geoff Couper and West Coast 4X4.

See also 4WD safety