🚀 go-pugleaf

In
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Gumbyy@ticnet.com (Marc) writes:

>Seconded.  A friend of mine was sideswiped by a truck.  It simply was
>missing its exit and without signal exited into the space where my
>friend was driving.

Yes, it could happen.  Maybe it was not preventable.  But chances
are that it was.

Why do some people have more accidents than others, for similar driving
miles and conditions, even if all the accidents are allegedly the other
person's fault?   You can of course blame it on luck, but remember, all
the motorists I have ever met have always blamed all their accidents on
luck or the other driver.  It is of course most convenient if the other
vehicle is a truck, because then you get lots of sympathy from people.

>It happens.  More than 90% of all accidenta are aviodable.  Some
>aren't.

My guess is that 99% of accidents are easily avoidable, and 99.9% are
avoidable with great skill.  The only obvious exception I can think of
is when you have been stopped at a read light for a few seconds, and
THEN somebody drives up and hits you from the back.  Hard to prevent.
Even then, the instant you see a collision about to happen, you can honk
and hope the guy hears you and brakes.

>I was in one where I was stopped at a red light, and so was the car in
>front of me and the car behind.  The light turned green, and the car
>behind me accelerated briskly.  They didn't even wait for the car in
>front of me to move.  There was no damage to either vehicle, but there
>was a definate bump.  One lane each way, cars coming the opposite way
>and a curb to the right, How should someone avoid that?

Perhaps it was not preventable by you -- but we need more details.  I
will tell you what I normally do at red lights:  I stay a generous
distance from the next vehicle, and when the light turns green, I start
moving and pull slightly closer to the next vheicle, then let it
accelerate away from me to my normal following distance of 2-3 seconds.
Sounds stupid, but it decreases the chances of the guy behind hitting
me.  I don't even do it consciously any more -- it's habit.  

To put this in slightly different words:  Since I have no control over
the buffer zone behind me when I am stopped, I compensate by increasing
the buffer zone ahead of me, then equalizing the two zones when I begin
moving.
-- 
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."