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Good advice: ‘Hit something soft’

  • Published
  • By Michael Pierson
  • Air Force Space Command Public Affairs
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo --  It could have been much worse.

As my family sport utility vehicle slid sideways in a snow storm, I remembered the words of my high school driving instructor: "If you're going to crash, aim for something soft."

But, there was nothing soft to the right side of Highway 115 just outside of Cañon City, Colo., and I wasn't having much luck aiming. There was a snowplow to my right and two trucks in front of me that had veered into my lane to avoid hitting a car in front of them. I broke right, missed the plow, fishtailed and then gained control just in time to see I was headed for a drainage pipe.

As far as the deputy sheriff and I could tell as he wrote his report, I had found plenty of soft stuff to hit. I had careened about 50 feet off the road, through a bush and a coffee shop sign, over a telephone exchange box and into an empty parked car.

Yes, it could have been much worse. Walking my path of destruction about an hour later, I discovered I had missed the drainage pipe, as well as a metal pole, a utility pole, a fence and a boulder. Most importantly, my passengers and I were unhurt. The fine folks at the coffee shop--whose sign I just had trashed and whose telephones I had silenced--gave us all free hot drinks while we exchanged insurance information.

The SUV was battered but still drivable. On the long drive home, our ski trip aborted, we saw at least a dozen other vehicles had spun off the road into the deepening snow. I realized I had done some things right during this trip and a lot wrong.

On the plus side, we were all wearing seat belts, I'd checked the washer fluid, and we were dressed for the weather.

The negative list, however, was much longer:
· I failed to check road conditions and weather reports the morning before we left.
· I took what I believed to be a shorter route along a winding state highway, rather than a straighter, more heavily traveled road with better visibility.
· I had not packed a winter survival kit in the vehicle.
· Even though I was well behind the vehicles in front of me, I didn't leave enough room between us for the horribly icy road conditions, which I failed to appreciate in my heavy SUV.
· I had planned a three-hour, one-way drive, followed by a day of skiing and a three-hour drive home when I was the only driver.

"Well, duh," as my kids would say. I know better than this. But, I've driven in winter conditions all my life, and I was eager to get the ski season started. Eager or not, no ski trip is worth killing myself, my family or someone else. The mountain will be there next weekend. With better planning and a willingness to reschedule or turn back if conditions are too bad, I'll get back up there so I can practice -- on skis -- how to "hit something soft."

(This article was originally published in the Air Force Space Command News Service in December, 2006)