Mac's Near Accident

I just had a near accident on the freeway on my morning commute. I’m on a 2 lane highway in the right lane going 60mph. To my right is a merge that comes out of a loop, but the merge has its own dotted lane for several hundred feet. Nevertheless, this is a NOTORIOUS merge. There’s always a stream of cars here, coming from the other freeway. And, because it’s an overpass/upward slope, you can’t see the cars coming until they enter the merging lane.

Today traffic was flowing well, so much that far ahead I could see the cars entering the lane, keeping pace, and then merging to my lane. I’m about 100 feet from the tip of the merge, however, when a huge charter bus coming out of the loop enters that dotted lane. “OK,” I think, “He’s going to get up to speed before merging into my lane, and merge AFTER I pass him” Not the case! (I’d seen this bus before on my commute, same place. It had done the same idiotic thing, except I was within safer distance.) His turn signal turns on and he’s entering my lane going SUPER SLOW (you know how busses are). Rather than slamming my brake pedal, my instincts told me to immediately change lanes to avoid having to a near stop. I started to pull left, simultaneously checking my blind spot. HONNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKK from a blue Toyota SUV in my blind spot. I swerved back in my lane, while simultaneously trying to brake behind the bus to somewhere under 20 mph, I think. The SUV, I’m guessing, also had to swerve to the shoulder to avoid me. We were both unscathed and he eventually sped away, being in the left lane. As for the bus driver however, what an donkey. He continued to plow to the left lane and eventually the carpool lane when the freeway opened up to 3 lanes.

What I’m most grateful for is that at the end of this, I learned some things without having to actually “learn my lesson.”

1. Always check your blind spot.
2. Horns can truly help avoid accidents. They’re not just for when you’re mad at someone.
3. Be wary of truck and bus drivers and their actions. For me, it was always easy to assume that they are good drivers (otherwise they wouldn’t have a commercial license, right?) but they have the same personalities of everyone else that can make them bad drivers.
4. Thank god for my lowered springs and rear swaybar. These things work.

In conclusion, I now feel really lucky to be at work today and I’m super glad my car is okay too, because I just washed it.

Be safe everyone.

 

While an interesting read, most drivers need to see the back of their car as a point of reference. Otherwise, it's very difficult to judge distance and how far someone is away from you. Also, you should ALWAYS check blind spots, even if you think you "don't have any."

"Expect the worst." This I truly disagree with. You should expect to survive. A huge key to avoiding a near accident is envisioning yourself doing all the right things to avoid it in the first place. It's just like in sports, when someone is "in the zone." You have to picture yourself making the shot. Expect your face in an airbag for a split second, and it just might happen.

 

Oh yeah. When I say you shouldn't expect the worse, I was talking about the point where you're already in an "incident" and potentially an accident - in other words, when you are already making your evasive maneuvers.

Of course prior to that you should expect the worst.

 

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