🚀 go-pugleaf

In <35AAD75F.9AFB5F1B@prodigy.net.nospam> Tony Wang
<tonyw44@prodigy.net.nospam> writes:

>Okay, pal, here are the two accidents I got in.  Now you tell me how
>you avoid them, since you're such a super driver.  One time, I got
>sidewsiped by a truck.  Yup, a big 18 wheeler.  The cop said it was
>only my driving skill that kept myself and my passengers alive, as did
>the witnesses.  The other time, on a snowy road, I had a green light,
>and was t-boned by a dork who couldn't stop at his red light.

Your emphasis in the first case is on driving skillfully *after* the
collision.  In fact you should not have had the collisions in the first
place.  

You should not be driving next to a truck to begin with.  Always drive
such there are no vehicles immediately to the left and right of you.  If
you see a situation about to occur where you will have vehicles on both
sides, you should slightly slow down or speed up to avoid it.

When a vehicle is only one one side of you, you are in a safer
situation, because you have room to swerve to the other side.

Only when the speed of traffic is quite slow should vehicles in adjacent
lanes not be staggered.  And even them, by skillful driving, you can
always have one side clear.

Second, trucks are big and do not change position very quickly.  If you
are in a smaller vehicle, you are far more manouverable.  Long before
the truck even gets close to you, you should have adjusted yourself out
of its way, either by speeding up or slowing down, or by swerving.  Your
peripheral vision should always be ready to alert you of any mishaps
about to occur.

In the second situation, my assumption is that when you are about to go
through a green light you do not check for cross-traffic.  You make the
questionable assumption that no other motorist will go through a red
light.  Skillful drivers do not make this assumption.  And when there is
snow on the road you already KNOW that other motorists will sometimes
skid to a stop, so you have to be extra careful.

Maintaining a decent following distance is simply a specific case of the
idea of having a "buffer zone".  Your buffer zone should extend in all
directions, not just ahead of you.  If you can maintain such a buffer
zone 95% of the time, that immediately cuts down the chances of an
accident by a factor of twenty.
-- 
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."