🚀 go-pugleaf

In <slrn6qt0pe.ch4.joelga@pebble.org> joelga@pebble.org (Joel Garry) writes:

>>At my usual 2-3 seconds following distance I had sufficient
>>time to signal and change lanes.  The vehicle just ahead of me ended up
>>stuck on top of the jettisoned cargo, and the vehicle behind me nearly
>>crashed into him.  Was I lucky?  Only to the extent that I could change
>>lanes without colliding with somebody.  It was not luck, but planning,
>>that I had nearly 3 seconds in which to react. The motorists ahead of me
>>and behind me each had only 0.5 seconds.

>Now wait a minute.  Why didn't the person behind you have your 2-3 seconds?

Strictly speaking he had my 2-3 seconds plus his 0.5 seconds plus the
0.5 seconds of the driver ahead of me, which should add up to 3-4
seconds.  And I had my 2-3 seconds plus the 0.5 seconds of the driver
ahead of me.

But I don't think the guy behind me was looking very far ahead.

Have you noticed how when you signal an upcoming lane change the guy
behind you sometimes speeds up before you have even begun the actual
lane change?  Well, my memory gets hazy, but maybe that's what the guy
behind me did.  To his credit he did not really ram into anybody, but he
did brake sharply.  What happened after that I do not know.  All I
remember is a confused mess of vehicles in my rear mirror.  I do recall
that when the big steel object hit the highway it made a grinding noise,
and the grinding noise became louder when the vehicle ahead of me landed
on top of the object, and dragged it on a bit further...
-- 
Rahul Dhesi <dhesi@spams.r.us.com>
a2i communications, a quality ISP
    "Any idiot can avoid automobile accidents that are his own fault.  It
     takes skill to avoid accidents that are the *other* person's fault."