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E-News, Issue #58

 

To All ALERT Members: 

 

Seat Belts Do Work -- A member's personal perspective....

 

The following information is a summary of what was sent to all Mesa Police Department EVOC instructors by Officer Ryan Park, Driving Coordinator, Mesa Police Department. Officer Park was the driver of a new Tahoe which rolled over during an escape exercise (reverse 180/J-turn) with 2 other people in the vehicle. 

 

Officer Park has asked that this information be but out to ALERT members for their personal information and requests anyone with information regarding Tahoe operations, Tahoes as training vehicles,and Tahoes in escape maneuvers be forwarded to him.

Second, he wants to pass on to as many trainers as possible that on dry
level flat asphalt Mesa PD Training staff rolled a Tahoe PPV so you may want/need to assess your current practices, but ALL passengers were able to exit the vehicle and walk away...because all were wearing seatbelts.
NOTE: Pay particular attention to Ryan's comments in bullet #3 below.
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Good Morning fellow purveyors of safe driving,

I wanted to take a few minutes to cover three different but related
topics:

1.        A training bulletin came out yesterday on the new vehicles,
specifically stability control.  As driving instructors, you may be
asked about it.  Please familiarize yourself with it.  If anyone drives
a Tahoe or Caprice and has not done so already, please come out to
training and feel what the stability control engagement does when it
engages.  It was my intention to let instructors know about the bulletin
before release, but alas, it got caught up in staff/legal for several
weeks, its release yesterday was not anticipated and I did not inform
instructors in time.

2.       Many of you have assisted in the bulletin and testing the
new vehicles.  Myself and about a � dozen driving instructors have
performed the escape manuver in the Tahoe numerous times without any
indications of a problem.  As you are probably aware, I had an
unsuccessful reverse 180 in a Tahoe yesterday.  I'm going to limit
speculation and ask you do the same, but here are the facts should you
be asked and so we as instructors are aware of what occurred.

Brian from Superstition was attending a civilian driving course
with me yesterday morning.  He had a patrol Tahoe in good working order
that he was going to take to routine service after training.

I asked to borrow the vehicle to show a Lt. the stabilitycontrol demonstration as we have been testing it and per the bulletin.
I demonstrated an evasive lane change and the Lt. completed
approximately three passes and felt the braking forces of the vehicle.
We then discussed the reverse 180 with me as the driver.  I initiated
backing up.  The Lt. asked what speed we did this at.  I told him
about the speed limiter and waited until it took over.  At 35mph the
throttle cut out as expected.  I then initiated a reverse 180 from the
12 o'clock left hand position method.

The Lt  and I agree that the failure occurred almost immediately
upon my input of the first steering maneuver.  The gouges in the asphalt
(see below) also indicate the roll started well before even getting to
90 degrees of turn.  The vehicle flipped over 1.5 times, landing on its
passenger side.  We also rolled it front to back a � turn while flipping
(back bumper was facing north at rest, we were backing south at
initiation).

We have always been taught that unless you catch a police vehicle by
the rim, something solid or uneven terrain, they are stable and the
tires will slide.  There are deep gouges in the asphalt that traffic
states are both passenger side rims.  They are several feet long and at
least � inch deep.

All the tires are still inflated and beaded on the rim even post
crash.  We did not and have not checked the tire pressure, however there
were no indicators on the dash stating low tire pressure.

While I will never put myself above human error (if you doubt this
call my wife), and it's always possible I did something stupid like
reacting to the throttle cut with brake or similar student driving
error, by all accounts this was a textbook by the numbers 180
demonstration.  It was on dry level asphalt. We were the only vehicle on
the track.  There were no other known negative factors.

This was done in a 2013 Tahoe PPV (Police purpose vehicle, also known
as pursuit rated).  This has been verified by purchase order and VIN.
It had 3000 miles on it and OME goodyear tires.

There is obviously something very mechanically wrong with the
passenger front drivers rim/hub.  The brake disc is several inches off
center as seen through the holes in the rim. The tire has not been
removed yet and we have no idea at this point exactly what is broken.
Further, I do not know if the damage was the precipitating event or
occurred upon secondary impact as we flipped.

We are notifying other agencies, General Motors ,and researching any
similar events.  If you are aware of any, please let me know.  All and
any information is greatly appreciated.  For instance, Phoenix has noted
front wheel bearing failure at very low mileage in their Tahoes.

At this time please make sure all Mesa PD members are aware and do not attempt this maneuver in a Tahoe, either in training or in real world
crisis.  Please review the other POST taught responses to escapes,
including drive through the kill zone, drive to cover or abandon the
vehicle.

3.        As many are aware, one of my goals for the upcoming year has
been to start addressing what I believe is, hmm, how do I put this
politely, Mesa PD's less than 100% seat belt usage.  Law enforcement in
general has a culture issue with seat belt use.  Mesa is no exception.
In fact, of the 5 Below 100 tenants, I believe it is our #1 correctable
department issue.  Along those lines and in upcoming COE, expect us as driving instructors to talk about seat belt use.  Regarding yesterday's
incident, all three occupants were wearing seat belts.  All side air
bags deployed.  A 5400 pound vehicle is all but destroyed.  Upon rest
the seat belt was the only reason I did not fall down to the passenger
side via gravity.  The Lt. kicked out the windshield, I unbuckled
and were all able to, as they say, "walk away".  The extraordinary fact
that we were able to do this and our seat belt use are absolutely
related to each other.

... Thank you for fielding any information and comments about
the bulletin and incident and of course if you have any questions,
please feel free to contact me.

Safe driving at all times.  Tactical driving with purpose.

Ryan

Officer Ryan Park
Driving Coordinator
Mesa Police Department
Training Division
480 644-2530

 

Training Materials---

 

"Beyond the Cones"  training materials presented by Keith Wenzel at the ALERT Annual Conference is now available on the website under Training Resources.

 

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A.L.E.R.T. International is dedicated to the encouragement and correlation of research and development as well as the sharing of information, ideas and innovations in the area of emergency vehicle response operation. Additionally, A.L.E.R.T.'s mission is to provide assistance to states in establishing effective and defensible standards for employment and training of law enforcement officers in the field of emergency vehicle operations. Another aspect of the mission is the promotion of a positive, professional image of emergency response trainers.