Friday 29 January 2010 Page 7
continued from Page 5 calculation for this distance is four car lengths for every 20km/h you are travelling. Also, look ahead and get ready for corners and other obstacles before you arrive at them. An inattentive driver is forced to react to problems, usually abruptly. Brake before you enter a corner: Smoothly apply your brakes before you reach a corner and then release the brakes and use all the grip of the car to corner. Then, once you are through the turn, accelerate out. If you enter a corner with too
In the event of your front wheels skidding: Take your foot off the accelerator and shift to neutral, or depress the clutch. Do not try to steer immediately. As the wheels skid sideways, they will slow the vehicle and traction will return. As the car steers back in the direction you want to go, then put the transmission in “drive” or release the clutch, and accelerate gently.
much speed and then try to adjust in the corner, you will lose grip. In the event of your rear wheels skidding: Take your foot off the accelerator and steer in the direction you want the front wheels to go. If your rear wheels are sliding left, steer left. If they’re sliding right, steer right. If you have standard brakes, pump them gently. If you have anti-lock brakes (ABS), do not pump the brakes. Apply steady pressure to the brakes. You will feel the brakes pulse — this is normal.
If you get stuck in the snow: Do not spin your wheels, it will only dig you in deeper. Turn your wheels from side to side a few times to push
In-depth article snow out of the way. Use a shovel to clear snow away from the wheels and the underside of the car. Pour sand, gravel or salt in the path of the wheels, to help get traction. Rock the vehicle back and forth by using light touches on the accelerator to ease your car out. In summary, the experts conclude that mastering control of your vehicle in snow and other winter driving conditions comes with learning proper driving techniques and experience. Until then, go slow in the snow or stay home and make hot chocolate.
Cable car incident at La Videmanette Press release: Gstaad Saanenland tourism pulley and set off an emergency stop. The front clamp broke and the gondola crashed. All passengers remained unhurt The cable was quickly suspended back up on the affected mast and regular operations resumed, transporting the circa 70 winter sports enthusiasts traveling up the mountain, safely to the mountain station. After about 2 hours everybody had safely reached the top station, where they were received and taken care of. BDG Director Armon Cantieni ordered the cessation of the cable car until further notice. A bus shuttle to the other valley stations has been put into place. Recommendations already being implemented The recommendations of the UUS mainly comprise of three points: Firstly, the hauling cable is subjected to X-ray examination to determine any damages. The other recommendation is to instruct all detachable gondola operators within the responsibility zone of the BDG, to immediately remove
empty downhill traveling gondolas with technical problems from the cable car system, and not at the next station. In addition the lighting will be improved in the mountain station Videmanette where the gondolas exit, in order to get a better visual and to identify any problems. The BDG in addition, is
going to take preventive measures and replace the axis on mast 33 to provide maximum security. “Only when these measures have been implemented, will the cable car Videmanette run again,” says Armon Cantieni. The BDG will inform you when the cable car will be fully operational again.
Photo: asdfasdf
The cause for the crash of an empty gondola on Saturday January 16 2010 at the cable car RougemontVidemanette, was a cable clamp which had not closed properly. The gondola traveling downhill from the mountain station was empty at the time of the incident. Nobody was injured. The investigations of the incident with experts from the accident investigation bureau for trains and ships (UUS) Bern, and a design engineer, were not finished until the subsequent Sunday evening. The Bergbahnen Destination AG Gstaad (BDG), running the cable cars, has immediately begun to implement the recommended measures discussed at the final meeting. On Saturday at 11h33 the automatic alarm system of the mountain station indicated at the exit point of gondola number 20, a technical problem. A visual spot examination revealed no damage. Because no passengers were on board, it was decided to take the gondola out at the middle station, but at mast 33 the rear clamp came undone and jammed. The cable came off the
The Videmanette cable car