What Would You Do?

[VforVIBE]

I've been thinking a lot about this lately, and I just wanted to get everyone opinion...You're first in line at a stop light, and you look up in your rear view mirror. There's a car coming behind you, he WILL hit you, there is some traffic in the intersection... what would you do? Would you try and get out of the way, or just take it?Feel free to change/modify the story a bit too, like:There’s someone in front of you, but you can get out of the way by moving into another lane, or something like that.

[GrayFox]

take a quick right if you can or scoot up as much as possible... if they hit you hard enough you could be throw into traffic anyway getting a busted bumper and getting it fixed is better than getting hit on the drivers side.

[Mrizzle05]

depends on there speed, i would brace myself and hold the brakes and pull the ebrake to keep as much ground as i could... and let the forces of physics take its course, and take it like a man!Then id get my SHINEY new Si! *off topic.... my cuz had a really nice el camino he fixed up and a older guy hit him at bout 45-50 and totalled the camino! it had a $5000 paint job too.

[VforVIBE]

Quote, originally posted by Mrizzle05 »depends on there speed, i would brace myself and hold the brakes and pull the ebrake to keep as much ground as i could... and let the forces of physics take its course, and take it like a man!Then id get my SHINEY new Si! *off topic.... my cuz had a really nice el camino he fixed up and a older guy hit him at bout 45-50 and totalled the camino! it had a $5000 paint job too. you're terrible Mizzle

[KNINE]

Stay put, take the hit. If he hit's you in the rear end, it's his fault and his insurance pays for eveything. If you pull out into the intersection against a red light and somebody hits you, it's your fault no matter what your reasoning. Your insurance rates will go up and you'll likely get sued.

[VforVIBE]

ok, and what about:There’s someone in front of you and you're about to get hit from behind, but you can get out of the way by moving into another lane, do you move? I'm guessing there's a good chance the person in front of you will take the hit instead.

[KNINE]

If you can get out of way without hitting somebody, then do it. Let somebody else get rear ended. It hurts. Unless you're Mrizzle05 of course.

[Mrizzle05]

MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!Well if you hit the other person... and your too close it COULD be your fault. i live in cali, so it probably would be my fault for being "too close".But yea i would if i could try and avoid it... but 90% garuntee out HERE you cant avoid that kind of tragedy.

[joatmon]

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »ok, and what about:There’s someone in front of you and you're about to get hit from behind, but you can get out of the way by moving into another lane, do you move? I'm guessing there's a good chance the person in front of you will take the hit instead.If you move into the other lane, you might be blocking that other lane as an escape path for the car you are trying to avoid.

[Dragonsm]

I can tell you EXACTLY what I did in a situation like this. Last year on my commute into work...(it was an overcast type morning) and traffic came from 70+ mph to a dead stop. (A big accident) Anyway, I found myself in the left lane of the interstate with nobody behind me. After a brief moment, I looked into my rear view mirror and saw someone in a 300M doing about 70+ and not a clue traffic was stopped. The gentleman was busy conducting business on his phone instead of driving. As he got closer and closer...he didn't slow down and I became more and more nervous. Thoughts of being the "talk of the evening news" started to fly through my head. Personally, I stayed put....as I couldn't move fast enough....At the very LAST second...he saw me, flung the car to the left and literally just missed my rear bumper and proceeded to slide his car on the shoulder and ditch between the two interstates and buried it down in the middle of the ditch by the guide wires. If I would have tried to move to the shoulder.....I would have taken away his "out" and he would have had to either to choose to hit me or the person in the lane. As traffic began to move.....and I drove by him....I did shake my head at him, give him a dirty look and mouth a few choice words.....Someone was looking out for me that day!So in a sense....I would choose not to react at all....as the person that is about to hit you will more than likely react....and if you react...you may just put yourself in harm's way.

[nygiantzz1]

I deal with that scenario at least once a month. I usually take the shoulder and start nudging my way back in when traffic starts to move. We have too many tailgaters around here. If it was a tractor trailer bearing down on me, I'd head straight for the median or ditch. In city driving, I agreee with Mrizzle, take it like a man. Not much chance of getting hurt unless it's a big truck bearing down, then jump out of the car and run.

[DavidPIL]

Quote, originally posted by Dragonsm »I can tell you EXACTLY what I did in a situation like this. Last year on my commute into work...(it was an overcast type morning) and traffic came from 70+ mph to a dead stop. (A big accident) Did you turn on your flashers? Overcast with flashers on would have been a bit more easy to notice than just brake lights. This happened to me this past weekend on my way back from Ohio. It was snowing a bit, Icy under bridges. on I-70 cars slowed to a stand still after the traffic was rather fast for conditions. I was paying attention bu no one in front of me had flashers on. I slowed in time but it would have been close if I was multi-tasking. As soon as I went below about 50 or so, I hit the flashers to warn the trucks tha were side-by-side in the lanes behind me. They were able to slow down without a problem. There was a Magnum which had just wrecked into the median. I have to assume it was ice though it didn't seem bad when I went by. The front end was smashed good apparently from the deep snow, but no other cars around that were damaged.Dave

[Mrizzle05]

That flashers idea is smart... out here most of the time you dont have time to push the flashers and brake from a 70+ to 0. but i think that should be tought everywhere to help with this kind of situation.Out heres most rear ends are as stated... people talking while looking out the side window and smoking a cig./eating.the other half is rain! people drive like (not so good words) when it rains and it causes so many accidents and traffic.

[Mavrik]

I would jump the curb if there was a car in front of me and it looked like I'd get rear ended. Probably do something simular to that if there was no car in front of me but traffic was in the intersection. If I could make a right turn rather quickly, then I'd floor the car on out into traffic (and probably get rear ended and be at fault then lol)

[Atomic]

I was in a real downpour last fall, at night, wipers on max and I still couldn't see much, I was about two minutes from home.I was coming to an intersection with a red light, and had to be in the left hand turn lane, and had just passed a semi and trailer moving slowly in the left lane just before my turn.While I was slowing down, I looked in the rear view mirror all I saw was the headlights from the semi coming up way too fast.I pulled over one lane to the right very quickly and by the time I had stopped, all I could see out my driver's window was the first of the two rear wheels at the back of the cab.The trailer was on an angle behind me, closing off the lane behind me and two more to the right.If I hadn't have moved, it would have been very loud, and one flat Vibe, and a flatter me.

[zionzr2]

If there is a major slow down in the highway ahead I do turn on my Hazzards as i approach and dont turn them off till others are behind me and we are all well within the Jamb.As far as th senerios go, in city traffic at a light stay put! keep firm grasp of brake and wheel. May also enguage hazzards my provide enough warning. A just as was said before take it. Not wise to move up and possibly cause a worse accident. Now if you could see there was ZERO cross traffic then I might Gun it and run the red light. If I'm not first in line. Dont Move and take it. Always keep enough distance between you and the stopped vehicle in front of you (I was taught that you should be able to see the rear tires, of the car in front of you, contacting the road.) This way there is reduced possiblity of a secondary collision with the cars infront of you at which you may share fault.

[WaveAction]

hmm i've been in this situation...i was turning left and ya the guy behind me decided not to brake lol..what i did was i turned my wheels to the left so i'd hit the curb and not go much anywhere else..with the brakes applied and stuff...luckily i didnt get hit that hard but i didnt wanna hit the guy in front of me cuz it was a vette..lol..but if he did hit me i woulda hit the curb..and if at worst..jumped the curb and get hit by another car on the passanger side..

[ragingfish]

Contrary to the majority opinion, I would throw the car into neutral and stay OFF the brake.Basic physics. The longer the period of impact, the lower the forces exerted on the objects involved. If you drop into neutral, and you get hit, your car will jump forward, but you can hit the brake a second or so after impact to stop the roll. You'll have taken on less damage both physically and mechanically than if you attempt to take it with all brakes engaged.

[MRCN RCE]

good one ragingfish, i never thought of it that way and it does make a lot of sense. the good thing is i usually have my car in neutral w/ the brake off at a stop light anyway. unless i'm on an incline, then it's in gear and i usually jus keep my foot on the clutch at the friction point.about the flashers/hazard lights: i've done that since i first started drivin when i was 16. i was never told by anyone to do that, i guess you could just say that it was just an instinct i had when i was coming up on an accident that was blocking both lanes of traffic in my direction. i also do it when i have to slow down for debris in the road.another really good thing to do is to slow down and move at least 1 lane over when you're comin up on a cop that has someone pulled over. it's a law in indiana and/or michigan because of the number of cops that have been killed and injured by people driving by. even though it's not a law everywhere, it's common courtesy

[DavidPIL]

Quote, originally posted by MRCN RCE »another really good thing to do is to slow down and move at least 1 lane over when you're comin up on a cop that has someone pulled over. it's a law in indiana and/or michigan because of the number of cops that have been killed and injured by people driving by. even though it's not a law everywhere, it's common courtesy Good thing to do when you see any vehicle on the side of the road, well, maybe not the slow down part (Just move over and slow down for the police) but definitely move over for anything with flashers on in the shoulder area.Dave