🚀 go-pugleaf

c.c.eiftj@06.usenet.us.com (Rahul Dhesi) wrote:
>Gumbyy@ticnet.com (Marc) writes:
>
>>You stop at a light.  The person behind you stops at the light.  There
>>is a car in front of you.[...]
>
>>Now the car behind you accelerates for no known reason.  If they hit
>>you, would that be their fault or theirs?  Do you think that you'd be
>>able to avoid getting hit?
>
>It's statistically unlikely that doubt this will ever happen to me.

Are you concerned only with "statistically likely" types of crashes 
(whatever those may be)?  FWIW, a situation much like the one Marc 
described happened to me (some years ago).  Some idiot tapped my 
bumper at a stop sign.  Luckily (and surprisingly), the vehicle I 
was driving was not damaged. 
  
>Was the motorist behind you drunk?  Were you not able to guess this from
>the way he was driving and manage to stay far from him?  Did the car
>contain a bunch of rowdy kids who were not paying attention to the road?
>And did you have trouble staying far away from them?

In my case, I have no idea whether the man was drunk, but his 
driving (before and after the contact) showed no sign of impairment. 
He was the sole occupant of a pick-up truck, and never attempted 
emergency deceleration.  He _almost_ stopped without hitting me.  

Many drivers decelerate to a stop signal intending to leave much 
less than a car length's gap to the vehicle in front of them.  
Please don't bother to suggest that you (or anyone else) can 
reliably distinguish between one of those normal stops and one which 
will result in light impact, all by tracking the vehicle though your 
inside mirror.  

The simple fact is: there are many types of crashes that at least 
one of the drivers can do *absolutely nothing* to avoid, regardless 
of their skill, experience, or vehicle ability.
-- 
Chuck Tomlinson