What makes a bad dirt road??

Good question Spade

Would it be . . .

Breaking things . . .

Unscrewing the lids off jars . . .

Shaking the labels of the cans . . .

causing the evo to spill . .

Springs to break . .

u bolts to loosen . . .

Bladders to weaken . . .

Causing to bubbles to burst in the cans before they are open . . .

Cheapen the quality of the red before opening . . .

Oh, I don't know, I give in and I will take care of the above, but when you get a reasonable answer, let me know.

Cheers

corragations, sandy, potholes,general roughness, unsighned hazards such as sharp corners

mostly i guess inconsitent surfaces. If you get sucked in to 100kph and next thing there is a corragated potholed bend with no sighn.................

Well I have driven on all those things frequently. Sometimes it has seemed bad and others good. What you are asking Spade is what makes the difference?

For me it's time. If I have time to travel at a speed that makes the road comfortable then the road is good. If I am in a hurry and have to travel faster than is comfortable then the road is bad.

Same road, same conditions different attitude = bad dirt road.

Duncs

Guys, guys, guys, you've got it all wrong. For me a bad road is a boring road, one you don't remember. Now, for instance, the Ernest Giles Rd or the Pedirka Desert Rd, are an experience and those you remember and always talk about. Both are rough as guts. You'd stay in the city if you wanted flat boring roads. :-)))
Cheers

Spade.

I slightly different slant if I may.
A good road is one with little or no traffic. So by my logic, the worse the road the better.

safe travels

A bad dirt road is one that looks innocent and catches people out.

Below is an example - in this case an innocent looking road , with slight uphill , twists to the right and then has a negative camber at the same time, so just when you need to brake , the vehicle will lighten and and unload the brakes , just a little to fast and your history.

In the case below a bike at about 50kph couldn't make the turn and went straight over the edge , suffering much damage , and the following bike did likewise resulting in more broken bones.

We are recovering the first in the top picture - if you closely at the second picture , you can see the car is has a slight lean just over the hump as the road swings right - hard to see an an obvious trap, this road is at Talbotville Vic.

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What makes a dirt road bad...... A driver who that has no idea how to drive to conditions.
I enjoy driving dirt roads, I was told by an old local way back in 1967 at the William Creek pub , he said beware of the corners to the South , you hit them too hard and you'll run out out of road,

.

I've driven on Bitumen Roads that are a lot worse than many dirt roads.
We have one near here heading towards Pinnaroo from the North and it is full of little pitches that tends to throw the vehicle around so that you need to slow down to a reasonable speed. I saw a Semi loaded with Agricultural equipment there on one occasion that lost his load due to the poor road surface. No corrugations, no pot holes just poorly made and maintained.

driving to fast for the conditions!

That makes any road a bad road.

Bitumen? That makes a pretty bad dirt road.

The DRIVER.

Bad Dirt........lol.



Cheers......Lionel.

I reckon a bad dirt road is the one that when you are poking along at a suitable speed & every other bloke wants to overtake you because their time frame is not suitable & they have to be somewhere yesterday.
Hang on.
How is that the roads fault?
Maybe I don't find roads that bad after all. It might be the drivers overtaking me who left home 2 days late that I don't like.

Note to self : self, don't blame the road if you arrive late. Next time leave earlier & enjoy the ride.

G'day. If you really want to know what makes a dirt road bad, try the Tanami Track (where I live) sometime. There are cars and four wheel drives on the side of the road, wrecked and left there. I don't think much else needs be said.

Never seen a Bad Dirt Road. Only Bad Drivers.

Drive to the conditions, watch what you are doing and concentrate.
If you are doing 40kph you can gork at the scenery if you are doing 100 you cant.

Flat straight smooth roads are boring. On the other hand 100s of km of corrugations are frustrating and tiresome.

On my recent outback trip I found the roads to be smooth and cruising at 90 to 100kph was easy. So much so that I was way ahead of schedule. I had allowed for much slower conditions.

Cheers
Wayne B

A bad road:

Obviously has a chip on its shoulder.

Hasn’t been brought up on the straight and narrow.

Has gone through youth without good foundations or better roads to curb its natural enthusiasms.

Has extreme leanings to the left or right.

Hasn’t achieved a concrete value system and will turn back on its values

Hasn’t got the maturity to face the ups and downs of life.

Has difficulty identifying goals and destinations and the means of reaching these

Is not focussed and meanders all over the place

Doesn’t have an understanding of its capabilities as they have never been graded.

Needs to be upgraded