Stupidity at Work: Shoot the Spotter
I am trying this again as I think this is a very good video of what NOT TO DO, the importance of good spotters, the importance of good communication between a GOOD spotter and the driver, the importance of good and understandable hand signals, and, when all else fails, using some simple damn common sense, none of which were brought into play on this video. This video is going to be especially helpful to anyone new to wheeling who may be confused as to the importance of spotters, hand signals, learning to do easy trails first, learning about what your rig can do and approaching harder trails slowly as part of a learning curve with at least one experienced person in the group.
Since this (Front Range 4x4) is a group that has a lot of people new to wheeling as well as people who are very experienced, the video will be more useful to the people who are new. Read what the more experienced people have to say about the video.
This time, please refrain from any specific make and model references (they will be deleted) and understand that no matter what make or model of 4x4 that you drive or favor, you can get into a lot of trouble without knowledge of what you are doing when you take your vehicle off road. It happens very fast. The people in this video were extremely lucky that no one was more seriously injured. This video should also serve as a good reminder that you need to have a basic understanding of first aid, carry a decent first aid kit with you in the back country and, most importantly, have the right mental attitude to deal with a emergency in a calm manner. Panic in an emergency gets people dead.
Keep in mind, too, that 'help' may be quite a ways away, both in terms of time and distance, hence the need for basic 'first response' first aid training. Also note the people shouting to call "911". Pull up this park on the map and look at where the area is located. Chances are that there isn't going to be good cell phone reception and 'calling 911' is a pipe dream. This is even more true in our state where we have higher elevations and lower valleys. Many of the trails in this state have no cell reception whatsoever. As with any outdoor activity that takes you away from civilization, the farther you get away from civilization, the better prepared you need to be, and a good mental attitude goes a long way.
As an aside, try to picture this group of people dealing with a head, neck, or spinal cord injury, broken ribs that have pierced a lung, a compound fracture, a loss of a limb, life threatening bleeding or any one of a number of things that a rollover of this kind can produce. What do you end up seeing in your mental picture? A very dead person is what I see along a bunch of rather stunned and confused people standing or sitting around going 'WTF' and looking for the 'reset' button. Not a pretty picture....
Most of the other threads and blogs on the internet reflect what I said...and it is all over the internet. Just Google Anza Borrego/heart attack hill/jeep rollover. Almost all the 4x4 forums have a thread going on about it. I couldn't find the actual full story, but I didn't look all that hard, either. The driver ended up with a broken back, showing that having seat belts in a 4x4 rig usually means that they are there with a purpose in mind rather than something that gets in the way....
This video was filmed in the Anza Borrego Desert State Park in California, about 2 hours drive from San Diego. It is located just south of Joshua Tree National Park, an area I hit for climbing every time I am in California. It encompasses some 660,000 acres and has approximately 500 miles of off road trails.
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