[JASonic]

Saturday night at 4 in the morning I get a call from the hospital. Its my Dad asking me to pick up him and my Mom from the ER because they were in an accident. They are fine except for some good bruises.

I need to try and explain they way it happened.

My Dad is going 73mph in the center lane of I-75. There are 3 lanes going North so he's cool in the middle lane just puttin along. Out of nowhere, a car ramps on to the e-way with too much speed and drifts into the center lane where she hit my Dad. Luckily, she hit him at the center of gravity on the side of his car and he didnt lose control. Had she hit him more toward the front or back, it woould have ended in a spin out or roll over (like the good ole "pit manouver" the cops use). So anyway he got real lucky.

Ended up being $3,600 in damage because it also bent up some shit under the front end. I was actually pretty impressed at how that little "Matrix" took the hit and kept them safe.

So here is my question. Its kind of tough to describe. I had a job many moons ago training drivers to deliver WIC. We used Step vans with Refer units. Some of had a class B CDL but it wasnt required.

One of the things I trained new drivers on was "angles". Kind of like at an airshow. The pilot will never direct his plane on an angle that puts his momentum going toward a crowd. So when you ramp onto an e-way, make sure your angle never takes you in the direction of another vehicle. Either speed up or slow down so your imaginary line of travel never crosses. Even if you plan on never entering the the other cars lane, you must proceed as if you might. So you adjust your angle to keep you on your own path in case something unexpected happens.

This rule works to be very defensive in nature. You will always have "an out" because you will never be in the path of another car.

Does anyone practice this when driving? I notice some people do it but I doubt they are even conscious of what they are doing.

[Onemanzu]

i don't practice that per say... but i have a really weird line of thinking when i drive, i can pick out the idiots and i prepare for them to do the stupidest shit, like merge with out signaling and shit, i already have an out cause i have thought it over

... its just i hate people when they drive, im aggressive and defensive at the same time... its just something i picked up from being a skating rink kid cause people are even more stupid there and when you hit them, people get angry and start pushing

[TheUNZippee!]

Originally Posted by Onemanzu i don't practice that per say... but i have a really weird line of thinking when i drive, i can pick out the idiots and i prepare for them to do the stupidest shit, like merge with out signaling and shit, i already have an out cause i have thought it over ... its just i hate people when they drive, im aggressive and defensive at the same time... its just something i picked up from being a skating rink kid cause people are even more stupid there and when you hit them, people get angry and start pushing

That's the definition of defensive driving. lol



JA, glad your family is ok man.

[Onemanzu]

get off my suit case you meanie

[JASonic]

Oh they are fine thanks. Its good to be defensive like that OMZ. It will prove to save your life someday... its just a matter of time.

[AtlanticBlue99]

im glad they arent too banged up. calls like that must be scary!
on the driving end, i always have an out and a plan. eg. if a car were to come from the other direction and hit me head on, i am always prepared for a lane change or an out on the shoulder. i always leave room between me an other cars so i can accelerate or brake if needed, and i dont speed.

[nba1341]

i really dont understand the first post can someone post some illustrations as to what your speaking about?