[MetroMPG]

Most people here probably know I used to teach defensive driving (long time ago, galaxy far away etc.).

I like to think I still take my driving more seriously than average.

What got me wondering about this was hearing someone talk about a crash where she rear-ended another car: the light turned green, traffic started accelerating, then the cars ahead in her lane unexpectedly stopped. She didn't stop as fast as the car in front. Bang.

Her first response was to blame her 2 year-old car for not having better brakes.

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Ever watch the TV series Mayday? (Aircraft crash investigations.) I love how they dig down to root causes. Turns out aircraft rarely have "accidents" (a word that suggests unpredictability/the whim of fate). Pilots generally admit and learn from their mistakes (when it's their fault) to improve safety.

None of this "my car should have had better brakes".

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I have a "too close for comfort" driving situation maybe every other year or so.

The last one was just a couple of months ago. While leaving a parking lot onto a 2-lane road, I was talking to a passenger about a building off to our left (see where this is going?), I looked right before I went but failed to notice the car coming from that way, at about 40 km/h = 25 mph.

Lucky #1: I noticed him after I started pulling out, so I stopped short before I actually got into his path. Lucky #2: he had seen me start to go and was already hard on the brakes - he wouldn't have hit me even if I had gotten in front of him.

He gave me a well-deserved dirty look as he proceeded past (slowly), but thankfully didn't blast his horn at me. I didn't need to hear it - I was already well aware I'd just made a bone-headed blunder!

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I've never been involved in a crash with another vehicle.

But I've had a few minor solo incidents, and now that I think of it, they were all in the snow or rain (hello ditch / curb!). All when I was younger.

Fortunately, no worse outcomes than messing up an alignment, one time popping a tire off the bead, or scraping against an icy snowbank.

I never blamed my car's tires. Root cause: speed too fast for conditions/available traction.

If one day I ever screw up enough to be involved in an actual crash, I hope I'll be willing to learn something from it.