collision avoided!!

[decrep]

Last night in the MG4 I was driving south with 3 passengers on Stirling hwy, a dual carriage way, 2 lanes each side.

A median strip in the middle with an access gap in it for cars turning in and from a side street.

We are in the outside lane, the car in the inside lane, just ahead of us, turn left into the side street.

A car waiting to cross our lanes, then pulled out in front of us. (I guess we were hidden by the car turning left).

We all thought a crash was unavoidable, but some how under full braking, I managed to thread the MG between the car and the median strip Island.

We all waiting for the crash, but somehow it didn't happen, once I had passed his front wing, I let the brakes off and continued down the road.
We've no idea what happened behind us, the road was quite busy, I just hope the situation resolved itself without further incident!

I didn't want to hit the big curb around the Island under full braking, that could have destroyed the front suspension,

So now I'm thinking, If I thought we were going to crash, should I have released the brakes and take my luck with the curb?
Glad I didn't now, but which would be worse kissing both front wings or hitting the curb?
By the time of impact our speed would have slowed to maybe 10 - 20km/h.

 

[T1 Terry]

Last night in the MG4 I was driving south with 3 passengers on Stirling hwy, a dual carriage way, 2 lanes each side.

A median strip in the middle with an access gap in it for cars turning in and from a side street.

We are in the outside lane, the car in the inside lane, just ahead of us, turn left into the side street.

A car waiting to cross our lanes, then pulled out in front of us. (I guess we were hidden by the car turning left).

We all thought a crash was unavoidable, but some how under full braking, I managed to thread the MG between the car and the median strip Island.

We all waiting for the crash, but somehow it didn't happen, once I had passed his front wing, I let the brakes off and continued down the road.
We've no idea what happened behind us, the road was quite busy, I just hope the situation resolved itself without further incident!

I didn't want to hit the big curb around the Island under full braking, that could have destroyed the front suspension,

So now I'm thinking, If I thought we were going to crash, should I have released the brakes and take my luck with the curb?
Glad I didn't now, but which would be worse kissing both front wings or hitting the curb?
By the time of impact our speed would have slowed to maybe 10 - 20km/hr

Hitting the car that pulled out in front of you and claiming it on their insurance .... if you avoided the accident and damaged your own car, you would be left with the expense of repairing it ....
Sounds crazy doesn't it, but that's just the way the insurance industry and courts have pushed things.
Over here, truck drivers are told to not avoid an accident where the other vehicle is in the wrong due to the high possibility of other innocent motorists being killed or injured if the driver lost control of the truck ....
Brutal, but reality can be a bit like that .....

T1 Terry

 

[decrep]

Thanks Terry, that's a whole different take on the situation.

As it is, the car behaved superbly, I've never been able to steer before under full braking, always had to ease up to give the wheels some grip.

 

[ReintjeWA]

It would be interesting to see if the car had intervened if you hadn’t, of course that’s not something anybody would willingly do, self preservation should take over.

Glad you’re okay though, car crashes are such a pain even if you escape unscathed.

 

[MG Clive]

It sounds like a bit of good driving to me @decrep, well done avoiding an accident.

 

[T1 Terry]

Thanks Terry, that's a whole different take on the situation.

As it is, the car behaved superbly, I've never been able to steer before under full braking, always had to ease up to give the wheels some grip.

The beauty or anti lock brakes that actually work as designed.
The truck not avoiding the idiot driver scenario was an accident on the NSW South Coast a number of yrs back. An idiot impatient female driving a Toyota van swerved back in front of the truck after attempting to overtake a string of car with double centre lines indicating a no overtaking section of road.
The truck had left to required safety margin to stop because the traffic ahead was stopped, when she swerved into that space and jumped on the brakes, the truckie swung out onto the other side of the road, lot control and killed a woman and her two kids travelling the other way ......
The owner of the trucking company and the judge both said that by avoiding the reckless actions of the driver that caused the accident, an innocent mother and her two children were killed and he was in the wrong for crossing the double centre line to avoid the accident .....

T1 Terry

 

[gary333]

Thanks Terry, that's a whole different take on the situation.

As it is, the car behaved superbly, I've never been able to steer before under full braking, always had to ease up to give the wheels some grip.

ABS should always allow full steering, that’s the point of it.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

It sounds like a bit of good driving to me @decrep, well done avoiding an accident

If you have time to panic ,you have time to do something about it. Sometimes experience and gut reaction ( the force ) just immediately take over and resolve the situation in a calmish manner , the instant adrenalin rush appearing to slow down time itself. Always helps if you have had the car a long time and are at ease with its capabilities and mechanical foibles.
Panicking and "rabbit in the headlight" reaction will rely more on luck and other peoples skills to get you out of a sticky mess .

 

[Kithmo]

Hitting the car that pulled out in front of you and claiming it on their insurance .... if you avoided the accident and damaged your own car, you would be left with the expense of repairing it ....
Sounds crazy doesn't it, but that's just the way the insurance industry and courts have pushed things.
Over here, truck drivers are told to not avoid an accident where the other vehicle is in the wrong due to the high possibility of other innocent motorists being killed or injured if the driver lost control of the truck ....
Brutal, but reality can be a bit like that .....

T1 Terry

Not so here in the UK if you have dashcam footage proving the other car caused the accident.

 

[Martinonline]

What would have been the legal outcome if the truck driver had ploughed into the back of the Toyota van; which probably would have shunted a lot of cars and that action caused fatalities?

 

[T1 Terry]

What would have been the legal outcome if the truck driver had ploughed into the back of the Toyota van; which probably would have shunted a lot of cars and that action caused fatalities?

The truck would have hit the van that pulled in front and hit their brakes, ploughing it up the road to the point where the truck would have stopped and probably only taken up the length of the van .... a few whiplash injuries maybe for any other vehicles, not likely to be a good result for the van V truck, the truck would have won .....
The person causing the accident, the van that was overtaking on double lines, would have been found guilty of "negligent driving" and if anyone was killed, the added "causing death", if the van driver lived, they would have been jailed and the insurance companies would have had to pay everyone's property damage and personal damage.

Instead, the truck driver was killed, an innocent mother and two kids were killed and a heap of other people were injured ......

It is hard to make that instant choice of avoiding the accident or staying within the rules of the road and not endangering other people who had nothing to do with the dangerous situation someone else created.

There are so many of these crazy accidents that a line had to be drawn in the sand, and that was it, stay on your side of the road ..... do not endanger other people by attempting to avoid an idiot ......

I know it sounds callous and uncaring, but in the end, if you do something stupid, expect to pay the consequences rather that relying on the other person to avoid hitting you ......

T1 Terry

 

[siteguru]

I'm of a mind that anyone playing "dare" with an HGV (and where the HGV driver can prove it via dashcam footage) deserves to get shunted - the HGV shouldn't have to make allowances for the idiots.