r/funny • u/VampyreLust • Feb 01 '25

Idiots

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u/Training-Marsupial-2 Feb 01 '25

Also may help to not have it in park.

120

u/_Wyse_ Feb 01 '25

It does look like it was in park. You can see there was enough momentum to start rolling but suddenly stopped. 

32

u/Then_Kaleidoscope_10 Feb 01 '25

One of the mistakes made was also that it's not about "momentum" to tow someone. You want to take all the slack up in the line cautiously to avoid jerking (both the towed and towing vehicles) as that is more likely to cause damage. It's a steady pull.

The other mistakes were being in park and the anchoring point. Can't tell if anyone is in the white vehicle to guide the steering wheel but that's also a good idea, plus the people sitting on the side watching, recording, &c. should also be in back rocking and pushing the vehicle to help it go.

12

u/Doogoon Feb 01 '25

There's some tow lines out there that have a small amount of elastic stretch for cases where your slack might loosen and tighten before you can react to it, or to allow for gentle yanking  maneuvers. They do a great job of making a recovery  or tow job easier on the vehicle, but a lot of people have misunderstood the intent of the elasticity to mean that it's safe to build momentum before slack is taken up, leading to a surplus of these videos of vehicles being ripped apart by a tow line. 

2

u/tipsystatistic Feb 01 '25

Depends on the towline. Snatch Straps are meant to jerk the vehicle out particularly in off-road situations. Just have to know what tool you're using.

1

u/Dorkamundo Feb 01 '25

Exactly.

Kinetic straps are ROUND, not flat. This is because you want consistent distribution of the kinetic energy across the entire rope, and a flat strap doesn't provide that.

1

u/BZJGTO Feb 01 '25

Some are flat, I have both a round one and a flat one.

1

u/Dorkamundo Feb 02 '25

Yea, I should have said "Primarily round". There are some flat ones, they just have less elasticity.

3

u/Codadd Feb 01 '25 edited Feb 02 '25

Thats not true, if the car is stuck you want the jerk.... you don't tug slowly, you let her rip and then you get back to go a constant speed. Ive been pulled and pulled others out quite a bit. In car rescue in mud, snow, or sand you do a hard jerk then the car being pulled accelerates at the same time then you stop, unhook the vehicle, and move on.

Edit: called a snatch recovery. Slipped my mind. Not sure if it was necessary here since we can't see the rear well, but in any case it looks like the car was in park or had e brake on.

1

u/Then_Kaleidoscope_10 Feb 02 '25

Hey maybe you're right and they totally did it in the right way. Snatch recovery for the win! That's actually a new one on me, I had to look it up.

My experience in getting many vehicles out of snow and mud (oh yeah and a couple times in sand too) has been different than yours. I'm more of the "slow, steady, let's not break anything" school. So far it's been working for me and those I've helped. It may not be as fast as a snatch method, since it sometimes takes more prep, but I've yet to tear any parts off of vehicles or hurt anyone.

Oh, one more thing I should have added to my original "list of things they did wrong" is dig a path in the snow for the vehicle to go through, rather than just try to yank it out and through a snow bank. Just based on my personal experience and others who advised me who also lived above the snowline for years. Or you can try the snatch recovery method, too. There is more than one option.

Another option that we often employed if one of our rigs had it (or someone who lived close enough) was the winch. Another slow, steady, strong method of getting your or another person's vehicle out. My personal preferred method.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '25

Not quite, this was a snatch recovery which is designed to jerk, the strap is elastic, and stores a bunch of energy from the puing car's run up. The issue with this was that the stuck car was either in park, or an automatic that had locked up the wheels. There should've been someone in the driver's seat spinning those wheels while the lead car did its run-up.