Driving On Dirt Roads
While most gravel roads are all-weather roads and can be used by ordinary cars, dirt roads may only be passable by trucks or four-wheel drive vehicles, especially in wet weather, or on rocky or very sandy sections. It is as easy to become bogged in sand as it is in mud; a high clearance under the vehicle may be required for rocky sections.
Driving on dirt roads requires great attention to variations in the surface and it is easier to lose control than on a gravel road. In addition to the hazards already mentioned, and potholes, ruts and ridges, problems associated with driving on gravel roads include:
- sharper and larger stones cutting and puncturing tires, or being thrown up by the wheels and damaging the underside, especially puncturing the fuel tank if not shielded
- stones skipping up hitting the car body, lights or windshields when two vehicles pass each other
- dust thrown up from a passing vehicle reducing visibility
- 'washboard' corrugations cause loss of control or damage to vehicle systems such as suspension and steering
- Skidding (loss of traction) on mud after rain.
Read more about this topic: Dirt Road
Famous quotes containing the words driving, dirt and/or roads:
“The wind of their endurance, driving south,
Flattened your words against your speaking mouth.”
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
“The gold-digger in the ravines of the mountains is as much a gambler as his fellow in the saloons of San Francisco. What difference does it make whether you shake dirt or shake dice? If you win, society is the loser.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“We joined long wagon trains moving south; we met hundreds of wagons going north; the roads east and west were crawling lines of families traveling under canvas, looking for work, for another foothold somewhere on the land.... The country was ruined, the whole world was ruined; nothing like this had ever happened before. There was no hope, but everyone felt the courage of despair.”
—Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968)