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Originally Posted by metroschultz
I am a believer in the school of thought that says 99.9% of accidents can be avoided.
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Me too. I don't call them "accidents" either. There are lots of crashes & collisions, very few accidents.
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However, if you were to get rear-ended while sitting at a stop, I see that as un-avoidable.
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I used to teach defensive driving. We taught rear crash avoidance. So I tend to see it as avoidable.
Fact is: generally your biggest risk when slowing & when stopped is traffic approaching from behind. Control those drivers by slowing early. When stopped, leave space ahead for manoeuvering & plan an escape route. Monitor your mirrors until you can clear out from your stop, or until several vehicles have stopped safely behind you. There are even more elaborate strategies than that, but those are the basics.
I've only once had to do a rear crash avoidance in all my driving: coming in to a construction zone on the freeway after having just passed a big rig, two lanes merged, then traffic stopped. I was almost stopped, and watching the rig I had gone past bearing down on me in the mirror. When I saw the smoke coming off his back tires, I hit the gas and turned out on the gravel shoulder, passing other stopped cars. Several of them clued in & followed me down the shoulder. The rig stopped where the cars had been, without hitting a thing. One of the drivers who followed my car down the shoulder waved to me as he passed me a few minutes later.
But I'm not perfect either - I've been in a couple of minor bumps (no damage, fortunately). Both were avoidable. One was my fault.