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Driving Safety: "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"

By Megan Roth

After reading Thursday's post, you now know two things: 1) you know about my first car accident and 2) you know the dangers of PEDOs. We told your what happens when pavement edges slant more than what’s deemed ‘safe’ or what’s recommended by legislation.

But we didn’t touch on whether or not the same risks exist for unpaved roads. I’m talking about the gravel, dirt and itty-pebble roads that wind their way across every area of the country.

Lucinda Williams crows about it, Brooks & Dunn know all about ‘em, Ian Tyson has a story or two and even I have countless memories of my own stemming from high school. And while they may not be exact, the risks of driving on such roads are essentially one and the same.

Of course, there are certain dangers that one faces when driving a highway that aren’t there when they’re driving an isolated country road (such as a head-on collision) the same as certain risks exist in ‘city’ driving versus whipping donuts in an empty parking lot. However, regardless of where, when or what terrain you’re driving on, you run the risk of falling asleep behind the wheel, your car overheating, having a tire blow-up / go flat and so forth.

Yet, despite these similarities, driving on gravel (and dirt) roads has different rules. As with highways, many of the risks that exist increase exponentially in correlation with the speed at which you drive.

Remember: when driving on loose gravel roads there’s little traction to begin with, so speeding across them at unnecessary speeds is roughly the equivalent of sliding over them.

Even worse than simply driving like a maniac, you may end up doing so blind – or half-blind, at least. Gravel roads and dust go hand-in-hand, which means visibility on such roads is often less than desirable. This can cause problems not only for you, but also for cars driving behind you as well as the cars driving towards you.

Speaking of cars driving towards you…gravel roads are often wider than a single lane but narrower than a double, which can make it difficult to stay on your own side of the road. And to make things even trickier, gravel roads don’t come with any indication of a centerline. Thus, it’s necessary for drivers to be especially aware of where they’re at on the road should another car happen to come their way. In order to do this, they need to maintain control – which, I’ll attest, can be difficult to do when you’re driving too fast.

And while driving too fast is dangerous regardless of what type of terrain you’re on, doing so on unpaved roads may actually be more risky. In fact, there have been numerous studies and investigations concerning the dangers of paved versus unpaved roads, and the results have been unanimous: fatal and injury crashes are more likely to occur on unpaved roads than they are on paved roads.

Now, these studies include more than just speeding; they also branch out to include the other aforementioned factors in addition to numerous others. And while it’s to rank the risks by most dangerous to least (or vice versa), the important thing isn’t their order, it’s their presence.

The fact that those risks exist (and are known) should have you sitting on the edge of your seat (just not literally).

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Megan Roth

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on February 07, 2009 (boomark / email).