I just witnessed a car accident!

[cfg83]

SVOboy -

Originally Posted by SVOboy

Heard a screeching and took a look out my window just in time to see two cars ail it in the middle of the intersection, pretty surreal! Some dodge magnum and an older taurus wagon...The cars just moved off and the wagon looks undamaged, somehow...luckily a tow truck was waiting at the light and he helped them out!

Well, that's the end of my interesting story.

Years ago I was in the fast lane and I wasn't comfortable because the traffic was too dense and too fast. It seemed like everyone was driving too "twitchy", you know what I mean? I moved one lane over. Within 30 seconds, I heard a "screeeeeeeetch" and a big bang, and could just make out an accident in the fast lane maybe 30-50 feet behind me.

Ever since then I call that kind of dense/fast/twitchy traffic "accident traffic".

CarloSW2

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by metroschultz

Been involved in too many accidents, I take the blame

That's rare & admirable. Most people look for any excuse to blame something/someone else. (So they never learn.)

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by cfg83

Was the Volvo dude doing the correct steering maneuver to slow down on ice?

Um, no. I think what we were seeing there was the miracle of ABS.

I admit to snickering like the camera-man when the BMW getting crunched at 3:40, but then my wife reminded me that the flashing caution arrow was pointing the WRONG WAY, so the BMW owner was misled.

Your wife is sharp! I had watched it twice before I noticed that.

[cfg83]

MetroMPG -

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

That's rare & admirable. Most people look for any excuse to blame something/someone else. (So they never learn.)

When I think back to all my accidents, I have to be honest with myself and say that I contributed to them. When I have a near-miss or a traffic ticket and I am in the correct frame of mind, I try to use that as a premonition/warning to "change my driving habits".

CarloSW2

[cfg83]

MetroMPG -

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

Um, no. I think what we were seeing there was the miracle of ABS.

Your wife is sharp! I had watched it twice before I noticed that.

Yeah, and later on you see the dude switch the caution arrow to direct traffic away from the accident(s), as it should. Oooooops!

CarloSW2

[metroschultz]

Originally Posted by MetroMPG

That's rare & admirable. Most people look for any excuse to blame something/someone else. (So they never learn.)

I am older & wiser now. I used to be "An Angry Young Man" . To note I have not been involved, or close to an accident for over 12 years now. I am a believer in the school of thought that says 99.9% of accidents can be avoided. You MUST be aware of your environment and vigilant in your activities. I am certain that everyone who subscribes to this Forum is.

I work for the United States Post Office, the policy is that all accidents are avoidable.
However, if you were to get rear-ended while sitting at a stop, I see that as un-avoidable.
As I review the accidents for my employer and see where a driver could have slowed or moved or whatever to put his vehicle out of danger. I review my own past and see all the same mistakes. ,
Damn its hard being perfect.(tongue-in-cheek) I wish I had been this intelligent 30 years ago. Maybe then I would not have the scars and bone and tissue damage I carry today.

Well that's my rant for the day, gotta get ready for work. S.

[DifferentPointofView]

However, if you were to get rear-ended while sitting at a stop, I see that as un-avoidable.

That's funny that you'd mention that, because that same incident happened yesterday. I wasn't in it this time, I just heard about it and went and saw the carnage just a block away. But one of my school buddies in a small red car of what appeared to be a quite small cavalier rear ended another one of my school buddies who was driving a rather large Chevy truck as he was sitting at a stop sign. his truck in turn rear ended one of my other buddies stopped ahead of him, and he was driving a small GMC pick-up truck. The Cavalier's front end was damaged pretty badly, almost taking off the front bumper and crunching the hood upwards into an accordion shape. The rear end of the Chevy was almost totally fine, the bumper appeared to be slightly bent upwards as the front end of the Cavalier was rammed under it, and the GMC was almost totally fine too, as it got the least of the force and the bumper just came loose on the rear drivers side and it's sort of hanging now.

I'd say that that accident was unavoidable to the two stopped at the sign. I knew all of them, so I kinda thought it was funny.

One type of accident that can't be avoided is if someone is hit by a drunk driver on the interstate. It's happened amany before. The perfect record driver is always cruising along the interstate at the speed limit being courteous and attentive and is suddenly slammed into the side by the drunk driver who is coming up fast behind them, looses control, and slams into the side of the other vehicle. That vehicle slides sideways into a skid onto the shoulder of the road, hits the grassy ditch next to it, does several flips and slams into a tree on the side of the road. That driver is killed, along with the drunk driver. You can try and be as aware as you can be, but you can't avoid things that happen in the snap of a finger. Hopefully it doesn't happen to anyone here, or elsewhere, but it always will happen to someone.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by metroschultz

I am a believer in the school of thought that says 99.9% of accidents can be avoided.

Me too. I don't call them "accidents" either. There are lots of crashes & collisions, very few accidents.

However, if you were to get rear-ended while sitting at a stop, I see that as un-avoidable.

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.

[bennelson]

The only things I ever hit are immovable objects and forces of nature.

Ok - so a deer jumped out at me once, and then I later smacked the same spot of the car on a really weird parking garage support column...