I saw a lady almost die this morning.

[Nephrology]

I'm also convinced that the number of high-speed collisions with stopped or barely-moving vehicles is much higher than it used to be, and that the speed of rear-enders has gone from around walking speed because the driver almost stopped in time, but couldn't, to around highway speed, because the driver was looking at his phone and never even tried to stop. This is backed up exclusively by my own personal subjective impression of seeing traffic evolve over a couple of decades but I would bet that there's someone with valid research somewhere to support it.

I've never been at-fault in an accident but have been rear-ended three times in the last 5 years. The last two times, the other vehicles were both at highway speeds or close to it. First time the Jeep swerved at least so they glanced off my rear bumper. Second time an older F150 plowed into a Toyota Sienna which then plowed into me. Annihilated my car even with a 4500lb minivan buffer. edit: All 3 times, I was either at or coming to a complete stop.

Cars are dangerous. I take driving very seriously.

[Caballoflaco]

And that's also why the most annoying thing a driver can do to me is to drive at the same speed as me, but hang out just behind me in the adjacent lane in my blind spot. Either pass me, or fall back.
.

Dude. Yes. That shit gives me the ragies.

It’s an oft discussed topic in the world of motorcycling. The general consensus is that humans are stupid herd animals and many people devote so little cognizant thought to driving that they subconsciously latch onto other drivers so they can maintain speed by simply keeping the other vehicle in their peripheral vision.

[Jim Watson]

No end to the accounts:
My best friend and his wife were killed when a truck driver ran a stop sign. Kenworth vs MG, no chance. The truck driver was very traditional... running long and fast on bennies. The company paid a large settlement to their families but that is no help.

Mike Dillon wrote that he had lost four friends to red light runners and was cautious about starting off.

I have formed the habit of looking in the mirror as I apply brakes when first up to a red light. I have had to run the light to keep from being rear ended.

[MistWolf]

A while back, my son T boned a guy who blew through an intersection at well over 100 mph. The guy was running from the cops. I'm grateful my son T boned him, not the other way around. If the guy had T boned my son, it would have been on the left side and my son was driving a very small car.

When the cops stopped to make sure my son was ok, my son said "I'm good. Just happy to do my civic duty and stop the bad guy for ya!"

[JRB]

I drive with the assumption that everyone else on the road will try to kill me when they get the chance. I also assume that I'm completely invisible to every other driver on the road.
That's kept me out of trouble for the past 20-someodd years I've been driving.

Albuquerque NM?

I was setting at light along side a city cop and we both watched a guy blow thru a red at 40 mph and the cop never moved. Just moved on like he didn't see it. My brother who lives there said you don't ever want to be the first one thru an intersection unless you have a death wish. Good advice.

Sounds about right for this neck of the woods. Given how APD's been skull dragged as an entire dept over dumb shit, I can't blame officers that stick exclusively to clearing calls for service and do nothing else. It's sad, and I have moral issues with it, but I understand.

[RoyGBiv]

Last week I was driving along a busy 30mph street (main artery through a business district). Traffic in front of me stops suddenly and I had to hit the breaks pretty hard, but stopped with about a car length (bit less) from the car in front of me. I start hearing the intermittent screeching of ABS activated wheel lock behind me and immediately let go of the brake, rolled up close to the car in front and held the brake down as hard as I could. When I looked in the rear view, the guy behind me was wide-eyed and so close it looked like his front bumper had to be in my trunk. Had to be inches, max.

On the motorcycle, I leave it in gear at red lights and scan my mirror frequently, especially when stopped to turn left, extra-especially if it's not a designated left turn lane. Cell phone idiots are everywhere.

[Doc_Glock]

I'm also convinced that the number of high-speed collisions with stopped or barely-moving vehicles is much higher than it used to be, and that the speed of rear-enders has gone from around walking speed because the driver almost stopped in time, but couldn't, to around highway speed, because the driver was looking at his phone and never even tried to stop. This is backed up exclusively by my own personal subjective impression of seeing traffic evolve over a couple of decades but I would bet that there's someone with valid research somewhere to support it.

I have only driven in Canada one time (Michigan to Toronto) and the number of drivers who just pulled out in front of me at the last minute was astounding.

Is this a Canadian thing? In the US, we usually try to merge/turn and accelerate so as to not require the traffic coming up from behind to slow in the least.

[JAD]

I recently pulled from a side road onto a main road. I was fully stopped and a truck headed my way had their blinker on as to turn down my road. So I went. The driver of the truck slammed on their brakes apparently something was wrong in the front end because it jerked the wheel hard to the right. [emoji23] I did notice from my rearview they turned their blinker off.

I trust a blinker about as much as a Chinese root cause investigation.

[JAD]

This is true, and also the reason I filter to the front (lane split) at red lights when I’m riding a motorcycle during certain traffic conditions on certain roads, even though it is quite illegal here..

I understand your thinking here and would
be real worried about my rear end on a bike too. What do you do when the light turns green? Do you cut in front, or do you try to merge behind, or do you hang out until everybody is gone through?

[NEPAKevin]

Awesome that she made it out...but she definitely used up one or more of her lives that day.

I work for a tow company and while we have had numerous gruesome wrecks, there are a few that stick out. One that happened around when I first started that the old guys always talked about involved a Trans-am with three people in it, two guys in the front and a girl passed out in the back. They went flying around a blind turn as a truck-trailer was turning across Rt-715 to go into the old Roadway terminal. The two guys up front were decapitated as the car went under the trailer but the girl in back who was lying on her side avoided the worst of it and lived.