This is why you don't rubberneck!

blas · #1 02-29-2008, 05:17 PM

So last night, we had about half an inch of snow and some freezing rain on top of it.

I saw cherries and blueberries in the distance as I entered the freeway. Another brainless idiot flipped it and went into the median. So the cops were in the left lane.

In front of me was a Cavalier. Now, the road LOOKED dry and clean, but of course, looks are deceiving.

The Cavalier just HAD to slam on its brakes and stare at the carnage. Just HAD to.

Of course, him/her slamming the brakes caused me to have to do the same. My back wheels locked up and my back end started fish tailing and I started to panic.

Of course, the fricken moron just HAD to brake to a dead stop.

I had 3 options.

Swerve left, and bash into a cop car.

Keep going straight and rear end the stupid fuck.

Or swerve to the right and go into the ditch.

I chose swerve to the right. In what seemed to be a split second, I cranked the wheel to the right, went into the ditch, gunned it, cranked it to the left, and got back onto the road.

Of course, by then, the Cavalier had gunned it out of my sight.

Mr. Rager! · #2 02-29-2008, 05:22 PM

That's how I avoided an accident about 4 years ago.

I was driving to school and in the left lane. This Grand AM cut me off so as I let off the gas to start giving myself more following distance, about two cars up lost control and hit another car. So the cars in front of me were braking. So I slammed on my brakes, I see that A) I'm not stopping that well and B) there's a vehicle behind me having a hard time stopping. So I took the ditch. As I was traveling in the ditch, there was van that lost control and went right in front of me. I managed to drive out of the ditch just fine.

That accident turned into a pileup which backed up traffic for about 2 miles. I'm glad I wasn't a part of it.

crazylegs · #3 02-29-2008, 05:23 PM

Seems more of a case of a lack of situational awareness by the cavelier, a lot of motorists HALT when they see flashing lights of any description without any thought of what else they are doing.

He panicked, failed to see what was going on behind him and slammed on his anchors.

(Blas, if the road is that bad you may wish to leave a bit more room to allow for idiots like that though)

blas · #4 02-29-2008, 05:26 PM

My dad always taught me, the ditch is better than running into someone else.

Crazylegs, I was a good distance behind the Cavalier. I entered the freeway alone, so he/she had already been traveling. I had no idea he/she was going to pull that kind of stunt. It was as though as soon as he/she saw the lights, all brains went dead and they just slammed the brakes. I wish MY brakes worked that good!

gunsage · #5 02-29-2008, 05:29 PM

This happened a couple of months ago actually. I live in a small, backwater town just southeast of Columbus (and you probably can guess what it is, actually). Naturally the back roads were not salted well. A bobtail stops ahead of me and I start to skid. Problem here is, well...let me give you a visual...

- Left lane on a do not pass, but cars were coming in.
- Ahead of me the bobtail had completely stopped.
- To the right of me was a ditch, but it was a DROP to a corn field.

I chose right and managed to stop JUST in the gravel...only to have him back up into my car.

Fortunately, we inspected everything and there was no damage, but we were both a bit worried in the interim.

Fun stuff.

RecoveringKinkoid · #6 02-29-2008, 06:34 PM

I HATE rubberneckers.

I actually yelled at this stupid cow downtown (mild weather, everyone's windows down, traffic no going very fast anyways cuz it's downtown.) because a guy on a motorcycle had gotten hit (I dont think he was bad hurt, but still didn't need the added crap of being her entertainmnet) and this cow just HAD to gawk and slow down and create congestion and problems for everyone. I yelled out my window "Hey! Hey!" until she turned around. When she looked at me I yelled "What are you trying to see? Blood? Get moving you stupid fucking ghoul!" She was all like

Man, that felt good.

Emrld · #7 02-29-2008, 07:07 PM

RK - can I be a member of your fan club?

I wish I had the ability to do what you do sometimes.

Course I kinda have to laugh about when I was involved in an accident. (My car and all those in front of it were stopped . . .the bus that turned in behind me wasn't paying attention and boom there went my car)
I have to forgive one rubber necker . . .it was my sister. She had heard the accident then was driving past . .she had to make sure I was ok. ( always exceptions to the rules out there)
Then I had some people I know drive past and I stood there and did the beauty queen wave at them.

crazylegs · #8 02-29-2008, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Quoth RecoveringKinkoid

"What are you trying to see? Blood? Get moving you stupid fucking ghoul!"

Which is why we now use screens to stop people from being able to see what is going on and close roads leading up to scene, just makes life so much easier.

Rine · #9 02-29-2008, 07:32 PM

Rubbernecking is a HUGE problem down here. I mean, even simple things like fender benders has traffic backed up for miles on miles because people slow down to gawk.

This is what I do. I take a quick glance to make sure it's not a family member and after that, I'm completely focused on driving. Other people feel the need to slow down to a crawl or hit their brakes to gawk. Annoys the heck outta me.

The only time I've had to take evasive action to avoid a collision (aside from deer encounters) is when I was driving over some bridges/man made roads over a swamp. There was someone on the side of the road ahead of me fixing a flat tire. Well, there was a van a few car lengths ahead of me that suddenly slowed down and hit the breaks I guess to gawk, so I had to swerve in the right lane to avoid it. Then, I see this tire sailing through the air--the van had hit the guy's spare tire!--and the tire is coming for me!

It bounces on the road inches from my car and bounces over my car and hits the guy behind me. It was the weirdest near accident I've ever been in.

People need to pay attention to their driving and mind their business, you know?

Greenday · #10 02-29-2008, 07:42 PM

A few months ago, I was on I76 driving into Philly to drop my friend off at her school. Some idiot decided to start swerving farther down ahead of me. For some reason, the guy in front of me felt the need to slam on his breaks. I slammed on mine too, but my brakes were a little worn down and my car didn't slow down much. Smashed up the entire front hood of my car. The other guy's jeep didn't even get a scratch on it. To the left of me was a concrete wall and there was a car to my right so there was nothing I could do to avoid it. Since my car was the only one damaged, and no one was hurt, we agreed there was no need to report the crash and just went on our merry ways.