If suddenly you were faced with an oncoming car on your side of the road, what is the recommended reaction? Swerve to the left or right?
intrade,
Oct 12, 7:48am
what ever you do dont try and have a head on collision . You slow down in your lane and just before impact you move to the left if you can. You dont want to move in to his lane unless there is no room to dangerous to move left you move right .
snoopy221,
Oct 12, 8:15am
ONE thing is a given when i have made the evasion decision one indicator will be on and lights will be flashing. Still basic driving skills-*I'm going THIS way fool*
headcat,
Oct 12, 8:25am
While you have all this time on your hands you can write a letter home and comb your hair. More likely if by chance you avoid the collision you will have driven into the ditch to your left.
tweake,
Oct 12, 8:34am
it will be all over by the time the indicator even flashes.
frank1,
Oct 12, 8:36am
snoopy-- and you gonna do all this in a split second I guess? I would move right provided no on coming traffic. So what is the recommended reaction vic008?
tweake,
Oct 12, 8:36am
there was a case recently where a tourist was driving on the wrong side and the oncoming car dodged right, but the tourist swerved back to the correct side resulting in a head on.
gunhand,
Oct 12, 8:43am
Who was it on here who reckoned there was no situation he couldn't drive out of? Anyway, odds are no matter what you do it will be wrong, 50/50 chance. Then you have to understand driving dynamics, your car, how your car works and what safety devices on it do when you swerve, what your brakes do and how well they work etc. Unless sudden avoidance techniques are practiced over and over till you literately react before you even think then you rely on good luck, i:e what you do or dont hit if you avoid said car in the first place. If the first (like many will be) experience of sudden avoidance is your first time, don't expect to end well. Bit like skid control, everyone knows the theory but most fail in the practice.
mongolia1,
Oct 12, 8:51am
The most important thing is not to look at what is coming towards you but look at where you want to go to avoid it.
gunhand,
Oct 12, 8:53am
mongolia1 wrote: The most important thing is not to look at what is coming towards you but look at where you want to go to avoid it.[/quote
Target fixation. easier said than done.
cassina1,
Oct 12, 9:35am
On this other website I post on there are guys who have been to motorcycle riding schools who teach them all accidents are avoidable even if someone else causes it. What they dont understand is when others screw up on the road it is their speed and distance from you that decides if you will have any chance to avoid them.
msigg,
Oct 12, 6:13pm
tweak and headcat are the correct ones, fractions of seconds are involved, I think you will find most people will freeze and not be able to react fast enough( as seen on roads)
therafter1,
Oct 12, 6:22pm
This, wash as much speed as you can without locking things up and look for an escape route . unfortunately the "making our roads safer" program seems to be intent on reducing the number of escape options with the installation of barriers of varying types on the L/H/S of the road. If I'm given a choice between taking on a small drop off to the left side of the road at the risk of minor to moderate damage, or even a roll over, I would much prefer that option to a head on.
tamarillo,
Oct 12, 6:25pm
No best response as will depend on where the most space is and what's around. As very loose generalisation swerve left as that is where you should be and they get to swerve back onto a big clear side of the road away from you. But reactions and awareness will save yer butt if anything not a hard rule.
tamarillo,
Oct 12, 6:28pm
No, it's you to fail to understand. Others speed and distance is certainly a major factor but doesn't decide. There's other factors. A hazard aware and planning rider May be in a different place and be ready in a different way. Don't knock what you don't truly understand and if you don't understand go learn. And I've never heard of proffesionals or advanced riders saying you can avoid all accidents. You can help to avoid a lot though.
nice_lady,
Oct 12, 6:52pm
Hubby here: Had the experience one night leaving work driving past mystery creek. Was just approaching mystery creek from Ham airport direction, it was getting dark, the fieldays had been on. Down the dip and up towards the level road past the first mystery creek gate and SHIT there's lights on my side coming towards me. Split second to comprehend this, (I was travelling at about 80Km/h). The vehicle on the wrong side of the road had not long pulled out of one of the exits at Mystery creek. I instinctively flung the wheel left and fortunately had just pretty much passed the steep bank on my left which would have limited my leftward movement quite a lot. The other car also went left, (back into the correct lane). We avoided each other. Fortunately it wasn't quite at highway speeds. I'd guestimate perhaps a combined approach speed of say 120Km/h. You don't have ANY time to think about it even at that 'slow' speed you can only react. That's about 100 ft per second. After I had avoided the crash I flung the car into a 180 and chased the bugger. It was an instant furious reaction. I didn't bloody care if he was an 8ft tall Mobster he was going to get the benefit of my tongue. He pulled up just as he turned left onto Airport road, I had been right behind him with my horn blasting. Turns out he was a German guy who has simply drivin out of mystery creek on his 'normal' side of the road. Very apologetic. He got a severe mouthful and some rather blunt suggestions that he cease driving before he killed someone. I was very lucky because had we not avoided each other his 4wd would have driven up over my Integra bonnet and over me, (It woudn't have helped that I was travelling uphill at the time and he down). Bugger that for fun.
As I say you get split seconds to react. So forget about flicking indicators or any such stuff you won't have time.
m16d,
Oct 12, 6:52pm
I would toot the horn and flash the lights and yell outa the window. get on yer own side of the road ya b. tard.
seadubya,
Oct 12, 9:12pm
Rip on the handbrake so you’re facing the other way, then when they pile into you it will be their fault because they hit you in the rear.
elect70,
Oct 13, 1:44am
Ha it actually happened to me i swerved into the ditch &damaged side of my car it was stuck . Unfortunately no witnesses & other car carried on . a guy stopped & called police who gave me a ticked for careless driving , reckoned id made up the story
mechnificent,
Oct 13, 2:02am
This. look for the best way off the left side of the road. Whatever you might hit will be doing less speed than the head on.
mechnificent,
Oct 13, 2:04am
On country roads in summer, idiots on our sides of the road are common, and taking to the ditch is manageable. head ons aren't.
db.price,
Oct 13, 2:09am
Never go right - unless left is a massive drop off of some description or you can see that the right is the best option (no cars coming etc). 80% of the time a sudden left turn on an open road on NZ means a fence and a field. Both a heck of a lot softer than a car coming at you at 100kmh,
therafter1,
Oct 13, 2:23am
There is a bit too much of that sort of horse manure isn't there mate. That's where dash cams come in, but why should we have to install a dash cam and switch it from vehicle to vehicle to prove to plod that what you are telling them is actually the truth. I know it must be difficult for them sometimes, but not everyone they encounter is a liar!
Niece was driving north on SH4 near Horopito, wakes up on the side of the road beside a mangled rolled car surrounded by people. Gets asked by plod were you speeding, were you doing this, were you doing that, have you been drinking, have you taken any drugs, no no no no and so on. Gets issued a TON for careless use. Turns out she has Epilepsy, and that was the first time she ever suffered a seizure!
tgray,
Oct 13, 2:42am
If no one else was coming toward me (on the proper side of the road), I would swerve right. 1. more likely to miss a collision, and 2. if they hit my car, it would more likely be the passenger side.
bwg11,
Oct 13, 2:42am
I remember reading an article by Tazio Nuvolari (or possibly a reprint as he died in the early 50's) as a child in a motoring magazine in the 1950's which stressed to need to always be aware of possible "escape routes" for when things turn to custard.
The escape routes bit stuck with me and today I'm still very conscious of my surroundings when on the road, ie where are the power poles, is there a massive drain in the grass on the roadside etc etc.
As others have said, and Taupo has just proven, virtually anything is preferable to a head on.
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