The Perfect Storm

It was the perfect storm - the accident was inevitable - but it didn't happen. Why?

There were 5 cars in a row - driving about 45 mph. The first car needed to stop and turn left across traffic. Did they signal? Did they slow down early enough to alert those behind? Evidently not, as the resulting accordion effect resulted in the 4th and 5th cars skidding to a stop. I was the fifth car. How did I get sucked in? Wasn't I staying back far enough? Wasn't I watching beyond the car in front?

I made 2 mistakes which almost put me in an accident. And if I can - you can - learn from my mistakes.

First, the road bent slightly to the right. Normally I move back and forth, especially if the car in front is a truck or SUV like this time. But I was cut out of seeing traffic in front of me. Second I was distracted when a gust of wind blew some papers around the passenger compartment. Normally either one of these is no problem as I leave enough room to stop in case of a problem (remember the 2 to 3 second rule?). But together, they were enough to eat up a second or 2 and that left me no cushion.

The person in front of me swerved to the right and I swerved to the left. Tires squealing as they exceeded their friction point as I threshold braked. Whew!

Of course the first person never knew they almost caused a major accident. They stopped in the middle of the road, where there was enough room to get around if they had positioned their car right. They did not slow down soon enough, or if they realized they waited to long, they could have gone past and come back.

So to review:

1. If you can't see past the car in front of you slow down
2. If you get distracted - slow down.

Your car will stay in one piece longer.