Rural Road Challenges

Take care when driving on dirt and gravel roads.

By Clell G. Ballard
Updated on May 23, 2022
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by Clell G. Ballard

People in rural America have one major advantage that urban and suburban dwellers lack. Most of the time, they can easily travel almost anywhere they want to go without encountering traffic congestion. Of course, population centers in rural areas have their heavy traffic but between points on the map, it is smooth sailing. As a person who has driven across the U.S. 21 times, I can testify that not only is this a big country but it has an amazing network of really decent highways. People get used to driving where they live but sometimes aren’t too competent in different situations.

Metropolitan drivers find it humorous that we rural folks are somewhat intimidated by the crush of normal traffic in cities and sometimes dread drives to the city. After returning home from a trip that entailed city driving, the person unused to such an experience often tells his friends of his nerve-racking experience. Fortunately, it is rare that he has any real problem, other than getting lost, but the experience certainly makes an impression on him.

On the other side of the coin, individuals unaccustomed to driving on dirt and gravel roads common in rural areas may find themselves with real travel problems. The adhesion of the tires to the ground is compromised by rough surfaces. Speed must be reduced. Ridges of gravel that build up just outside of heavily traveled tracks can take the unfamiliar by surprise. The car’s front tires can get out into that and, because of extreme drag, the car is jerked violently toward the ditch. If traveling at a good clip, the driver can’t regain control fast enough.

A long, cold night in the mountains

That is exactly what happened in our area to a young man inexperienced with gravel roads. Eventually, he found himself on a narrow gravel road in the mountains. With no map to guide him, he’d made a wrong turn earlier in the day and was headed into the mountains, away from civilization.

Since it was early spring, skies darkened more quickly than the driver expected, but he kept going. He made it over Fleck Summit (elevation 7,348 feet) and was on his way down the other side when he lost control of his 1994 Jeep Cherokee. He couldn’t see that the spot where he ran off the road was high on a hillside with no trees in sight. The Jeep started rolling, and rolled and rolled and rolled. Fortunately, the driver was wearing a seat belt so he was only banged up when the Jeep came to a rest, basically sideways to the hill but up on its wheels.

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