V'gons most likely aren't safe when being driven with craniorectalitis, to
say nothing of a bad attitude toward snowbirds.  When you know that the road
is populated with less-than-competent drivers, you just need to be extra
vigilant; that means not driving down US 60 at greater than the speed limit
looking north while driving east!

BTW, I've been in two accidents in my Westy: one with a Ford 3.4 ton truck
and once with a Dodge 1/5 ton Ram something-or-other.  The Dodge was totaled
and the Ford badly damaged.  We left on vacation as soon as the ruckus
cleared with the Ford, and there was less than a thousand dollars damage
after the collision with the Dodge.

Other than the frustration of waiting to pass them, I've never had a problem
with a snowbird's driving, and I've been driving the streets of Phoenix for
thirty years.

Karl Wolz
Phoenix

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Williams" <westyvanagon@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 2:00 PM
Subject: Re: Near Death Experience in the Vanagon

> mind you all who say "competence" has so much to do
> with wether you crash or not...that this is phoenix
> after all...and any of you that have driven here with
> the "snow birds" (old folks that come from every nook
> and cranny of the country for the windter), you
> wouldn't be saying that competence had much to do with
> my situation last night.  i would also like to point
> out to andrew that i was not blaming the vehicle at
> any point in my mail...i was simply saying that in a
> crash like the one i was almost a part of...the
> vanagon would have lost...no question about it!  i
> would have reared an oversized SUV at 65-70mph...tell
> me i'd still be alive.  competence doesn't have much
> to do with a head on collision when the 2 right lanes
> of traffic come to a complete standstill because some
> old hag decides to swerve from the fast lane across 4
> other lanes so she doesn't miss her damn exit...uh
> oh...prune juice is kickin in...
>
>                                    Myc
>
> p.s. vanagons are not safe against anything of
> comparable size...show me a crash test with any other
> minivan out there...
>
>
> --- "R. Hotchkiss" <richard.hotchkiss@VERIZON.NET>
> wrote:
> > I don't understand how a Vanagon could get a bad
> > rating at 35 mph. I
> > went ice skating in mine at 40 mph and banged into
> > the guard rail twice
> > with minimal damage (had to pick up the bumper).  I
> > was amazed at how
> > strong the van is and how well I was kept in my seat
> > (everything else
> > flew). Nobody was injured, not a scratch.
> >
> > My next near death experience was getting the paint
> > job done at
> > Maaco....
> >
> > Hotch
> > 86 Vanagon GL
> > Philly
> >
> > --
> > Richard Hotchkiss
> > http://www.hotstrings-inc.com
>
>
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