Almost rear ended a train of cars today…
 

I was on my commute to the house this afternoon, when a long train of cars stood on their brakes. Everybody bunched up, including myself. I was looking ahead and in my mirror to the cars behind me to see what was going to happen.

Then it dawned on me, I shouldn’t worry about the guy behind me, I need to worry about the guy in front of me!

I don't commute. Just around town stuff mostly. But it's busy here most of the time. I really try to head out around 7pm to run errands where possible to avoid the traffic. That seems to be time of day least vehicles on the road.

But most days I am in it doing battle. And more times than not when I get home I reflect a bit on how fortunate I was to get home without getting into some kind of wreck.

Accidents usually all boil down to not paying enough attention to the entire traffic situation around you - and also not being more patient.

Safe travels, my friend.....

Sometimes you do need to worry about the guy behind you. I was on my commute back home from Unilever in Petone. Good light but wet road. The cars in front of me had stopped along the motorway. I stopped fine but looked in the mirror and could see a van approaching fast so I quickly moved into the breakdown lane. The van went into a zig zag skid for 100 meters or more. I don't think it would have got me but would have been very very close.

Bingo...a similar happening on I-5. I was grateful that I had good brakes, but very thankful for that wide shoulder I went to.

I try to keep situational awareness at all times. Maybe a hold over from bike riding days. One day coming home in the Miata a lady in a small Toyota was tailgating us. When a deer came onto the road from the right, I braked hard and checked my mirrors when I heard her tires protesting. She was locked up and headed for the back end of our car. I managed to get over far enough so when she came to a halt, her bumper was by my door. She gave me the "stink eye" and drove on. I don't think she ever saw the deer. :rolleyes:
Such fun, trying to anticipate the bone headed moves drivers around you can pull.

about 2 months ago there was a huge traffic jam, finally get to the accident, some kid (sitting on the guard rails) had stuffed his new Lexus 2 door under a Range Rover. When I say stuffed I mean it looks like he tried to drive under it. Fast. Half the hood was under the Rover. Definitely was on his phone for the accident.

This was on the Mark Clark, a bridge on I-526, the highway that goes around Charleston and the speed is 60 mph. Seems like there’s an accident every day on the bridges here. In this case, there was no accident, so I don’t know why everybody stood on the brakes.

I was on the inside lane, with a wall to my left and it happened so fast, I didn’t have time to look to my right, to see if it was clear to move over. I just wanted to avoid the car in front of me and give the car behind me as much time and room as possible to avoid hitting me.

I leave a huge buffer in the right lane and get passed all the time on my 2 hour commute but was going with the flow of traffic, when this happened. Maybe I was slow to see it or react or leave enough room.

I put my phone on do not disturb when driving. Avoids people calling and texting me.

Long story short, be careful out there.

Edit. Whatever the reason, it was my fault for the close call.

Glad you didn't take one up the tail pipe!
I suspect most of us occasionally have a moment where we aren't as aware as we could have been.

I always take a peek in the rear view when braking hard in traffic and have had to move over numerous times. Tailgaters are my biggest worry. Toss in distractions like phones and touch screens (You can have a dash wide touchscreen but can't be on a phone as the phone is distracting but the screen isn't) and it is a recipe for problems.

Most people do not realize how quickly our cars can stop compared to theirs and just don't leave themselves enough room. I really don't drive locally a hell of a lot for this reason and most of my miles are highway miles. Too many cars filling my rearview mirror in the past.

There have been a few times when traffic has backed up fast at speed and cars behind me have had to go in the median to avoid hitting me because the Cayenne's brakes are so good. Hard to believe how fast they can bring 5500 lb to a stop.

My vehicle has a sensor that alerts me when traffic does stuff in front of me... Its called a wife.. :)

That’s one thing my 2014 F150 doesn’t have, is great brakes. Thank goodness for ABS though. In the old days, all the cars in the train would have hit each other.

I hear you…. Ms Rocket tells me to speed up because I drive like an old man; then tells me to slow down because I’m about to hit the person in front of me; turn here when she means two blocks up the street, etc.

Glad it all worked out for the good. I drive I-85 between Opelika, Alabama, and West Point, Georgia every day of the work week and it always feels like an obstacle course.

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