You simply cannot avoid all threats…


EMS in front of me with sirens and lights going through the intersection with me parked at the green light.

Some lady on the cell phone driving a BMW at 35 miles an hour. She’s neither sees EMS or me parked at the signal light for the ambulance (with lights and sirens) directly in front of me turning. Plows right into the back of my rear engine hooptie. Sunglasses fly off my head and land 25 yards in front of me.


EMS hollered out the window… said they saw the whole thing; said they couldn’t stop but someone would be right along. Had a big .300 winmag Blaser just threaded for suppressor sitting in the backseat. Was coming home from the gunsmith.

I’m a very defensive driver and have spent quite an amount of time on the track.

Some of these fuckers are just guided missiles and you can only avoid so many before your number is up.

I have been in two accidents at the same intersection, with the other driver running the red light. As mentioned above, you have to watch for the unexpected. Just because your light turns green, you still have to be on the lookout for a red light runner or other problem.

Also once I put a dash cam in the vehicle, I started to drive a little better. Who knows when someone may be going through your driving history on your dashcam, you want to look good, so don't cut corners.

I, like most men, believe I am a competent and skilled driver. However, I also drive with safe operation as one of my top priorities. Driving is the single greatest risk to my health and financial security. I treat it as such. I get a might aggressive with my wife when she demonstrates poor driving technique or when my in-laws get lax with their vehicle maintenance.

Attributing factors are:

1) I rode a motorcycle for years as primary transportation in the heaviest, nastiest traffic in the country (West Los Angeles and the 405 between Long Beach and the Getty). I have been in a serious accident caused by an inattentive driver while on my motorcycle.

2) I have an enthusiast's grasp on the engineering principles which underpins car design and function.

3) I have retained a decent grasp on high school physics.

4) As a lawyer, I understand that simple day-to-day decisions can cause monumental headaches and financial ruin in today's extremely litigious society.

30 years no DOT reportable accidents.

As I explained to my 3 daughters, every year I see what most people see in 10 years of driving. I have made up to 40 deliveries a week for the vast majority of my career plenty of metro stuff in the mix.

Patients and a thick skin. It’s a rare trip that 10 mph faster will make a meaningful difference in arrival time. 1 mph slower than traffic will reduce stress and opportunity to fuck up your life immensely.

I have enjoyed reading the responses here from folks with real life experience. People in the know. I too rode a 2 wheeler for a short time and that will give one a very different perspective about being part of a traffic pattern. I use the off ramp every night where the 7 car pile up happened. Every afternoon the ramp is full and a line is formed way down the shoulder. When there is less traffic, cars exit at highway speed as its a long ramp. Those who refuse to learn this after useing the off ramp for years end up stopping completely in the lane of travel in the 70 mph interstate. No clue. The man that died and his wife, who is still in ICU had another vehicle atop their car. I hope to never be involved in such a wreck.

I have two speeding tickets in my life. Two accidents involving deer and one losing control on an icy road. And one big one in 2010 where I was driving and lost consciousness due to cough syncope and hit a 36" diameter oak tree. See below. Luckily I only suffered bruises and a few cuts where plastic shrapnel from the lower dashboard went into my legs. Even more luckily - I did not hurt anyone else. It made me think about a lot of things.... I wonder if those driving by thought it was a DWI.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
If you’re not affected after passing a bad accident then you’re likely amoral and have your head up your ass.

Or *maybe* after working 31+ hrs in EMS and digging through THOUSANDS of accidents, I just don’t give a shit anymore.
I’m retired —> not my circus, not my monkeys.
Do I wish it hadn’t happened? Of course. Only a dick doesn’t care about other people. But affected by it? No.

I passed a crash 2 nights ago in my little 1 whore town. My only concern was getting by the closed lane in the round-about without some Cop or EMT absentmindedly stepping too close to traffic. Seen it happen before…
Driving a fire truck code 3 and watching the absolutely CRAZY stuff people can do when they have to make a decision or fail to make any decision at all will certainly make you play “What if?”

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
If you’re not affected after passing a bad accident then you’re likely amoral and have your head up your ass.

Or *maybe* after working 31+ hrs in EMS and digging through THOUSANDS of accidents, I just don’t give a shit anymore.
I’m retired —> not my circus, not my monkeys.
Do I wish it hadn’t happened? Of course. Only a dick doesn’t care about other people. But affected by it? No.

I passed a crash 2 nights ago in my little 1 whore town. My only concern was getting by the closed lane in the round-about without some Cop or EMT absentmindedly stepping too close to traffic. Seen it happen before…
Driving a fire truck code 3 and watching the absolutely CRAZY stuff people can do when they have to make a decision or fail to make any decision at all will certainly make you play “What if?”

Touché