Close or what!!

[carelesschucca]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFdGKeQph-Q

Thought I'd post this to the thread, I'd forgotten all about it. the words cool calm and collected spring to mind...

[Red Herring]

Someone hasn't read the thread......see post 25!

As the lorry put it's brakes on our brave Muskovite hit the anchors and stayed in the same lane till he realised he would collide with the lorry, he then took avoiding action which resulted in him stopping alongside - he was travelling too close, had the oncoming lorry not straightend our hero would have been pulled under the rear wheels. Lucky lad - no 4 second rule over there.

Originally Posted by sorebutt

As the lorry put it's brakes on our brave Muskovite hit the anchors and stayed in the same lane till he realised he would collide with the lorry, he then took avoiding action which resulted in him stopping alongside - he was travelling too close

At least somebody agrees with me.

If you watch the vid, there is no point that the cars rate of deceleration changes relative to the truck, which would not be the case if at any point the driver had released the brakes or applied the accelerator, with the intention of overtaking. The reason I said nothing more before is that everyone disagreed with me, and there was nothing to be gained by debating it.

[Red Herring]

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

.....

If you watch the vid, there is no point that the cars rate of deceleration changes relative to the truck, ......

I think you miss my point Ralph. When the driver of the lorry hits the brakes and dives to the nearside the following car driver doesn't immediately twig that he has to stop, instead he continues on his previous course and speed, clearly assuming he will be able to drive past the lorry ("an overtake"). It's only when he sees the reason for the lorry braking and swerving that he decides to go for the brakes, by which time it's to late. Basically he committed himself to a piece of road he didn't know he could have. Sure the driver of the lorry coming the other way did the same, but you're just as dead when dead right, as you are when dead wrong!

Originally Posted by Red Herring

I think you miss my point Ralph. When the driver of the lorry hits the brakes and dives to the nearside the following car driver doesn't immediately twig that he has to stop, instead he continues on his previous course and speed, clearly assuming he will be able to drive past the lorry ("an overtake"). It's only when he sees the reason for the lorry braking and swerving that he decides to go for the brakes, by which time it's to late. Basically he committed himself to a piece of road he didn't know he could have. Sure the driver of the lorry coming the other way did the same, but you're just as dead when dead right, as you are when dead wrong!

Exactly my perception of it, either way it's close and a brown trouser moment.

Time for ABS, oh already got it

[carelesschucca]

Originally Posted by Red Herring

Someone hasn't read the thread......see post 25!

I couldn't get that to work

Originally Posted by Red Herring

the following car driver doesn't immediately twig that he has to stop, instead he continues on his previous course and speed, clearly assuming he will be able to drive past the lorry ("an overtake").

You are making a massive assumption. That he was looking at the road in front of him when the lorry braked, and not the radio, or his mate in the passenger seat, or another bit of scenery.

You could be right that he didn't brake initially because he thought he might overtake, but "clearly assuming an overtake" is wrong. The drivers intention is not clear there at all. The only thing that is clear, is from the deceleration rate, that once he decided to brake (long before he could see the oncoming jack-knife) his only intention was to stop.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

What he did wrong was left it too late to react and start braking, by which time he'd eaten up his braking distance

I said in my initial post that he left it too late to brake, and you'd need to be a clairvoyant to know why that was, but I'm 100% decided that once he started braking he intended to stop, and he only ended up alongside the truck in front, because he was worried about hitting the back of it. Nothing will change my mind about that. For sure, at no point did he accelerate.

[Red Herring]

Our views are not that different Ralph, at least not about his intention once he hit the brakes, or about where he ended up as a result of it.

Where we differ is our view of the state of mind of the driver before the incident. He may well have been planning an overtake, he might also have been thinking of other things unconnected to driving, what we do know is that when the lorry in front of him suddenly brakes and swerves to the nearside he doesn't immediately compute that he will have to stop to. This could be because he didn't notice the truck braking (your submission), or because he initially thought this might be an opportunity to pass (mine).
Either way he got it wrong and very nearly paid the ultimate price for it.

I'm not interested in changing your mind Ralph, but I do believe in learning from others so I'm always prepared to change mine when presented with logical argument. Not everybody likes to dissect an incident to the extent we do, and some don't even want to read about it, but most enjoying watching videos like this and if they go away with just a tiny bit of "what would I have done differently" in their minds then that's a result in my book.