Here are two of my own accidents which I'll use as a demonstration of what I am talking about;
I was driving a Mazda 626 down a busy road. A truck came across the intersection in front of me. Traffic blocked my veiw so I did not see the truck until it was too late. I struck the truck in a T-Bone fashion after threshold-braking from the moment I saw the truck.
I was listed as not at fault in the accident, with the other driver being 100% at fault. I recieved insurance to replace my totaled car.
I could have said, "I was not at fault, she blew the intersection without clearing it first."
I did not do that though. I thought, What could I have done differently?
As I came up on this intersection, I removed my foot from the gas and covered the brake. This caused me to slow below the speed limit, and allowed a much quicker reaction time. I credit that with saving the passenger of the truck from injury or death. That is what I did right.
What did I do wrong? I knew that there would be people wanting to get across this intersection, and that it was almost blind. That is why I covered the brake. What I shoud have done was slowed down to a jogging pace. That would have given me the ability to stop without hitting the truck. That is what I do now, in such circumstances, and I have avoided 2 accidents in the past 12 years, because of it. I would not have been at fault in either of those near-misses, but instead of ruining the day, they were a momentary blip in my radar.
My last accident occurred when I was moving out here. I was in my '96 Impala SS with the Goldwing on a trailer behind me. About 30 miles from Phoenix, I was rear-ended when traffic came to a halt. I was listed as not at fault with the other driver being listed at fault. Her insurance repaired the Impala, the trailer, and the Wing.
What did I do wrong here? First, I had decided that I would tool along in the right-hand lane and not be impatient with traffic. I broke from this plan only moments before the accident. The traffic in the right-hand lane was slowly coming to a stop, and the traffic in the left-lane was still moving along nicely. I signaled my lane-change and merged with no drama. There was about a 200' gap when I moved into the left-lane.
Moments after I changed lanes, the traffic in the left lane came to an abrubt halt. I could not get into the right lane because it was stopped. I braked to bring myself to a stop, and checked my mirrors to make sure the person behind me was able to stop. He was falling back from me, so I switched my vision to the front, and saw that I was closing with the car in front of me, but that I would be stopped before I came close to them.
Just as I switched my scan to the mirrors, I saw a sideview full of the car that had been behind me, and he came up next to me. I was now boxed in. A moment later, I felt the impact as the second car behind me hit the trailer.
What could I have done differently? The biggest thing is that I should have stuck to my plan of staying in the right lane. There would have been no wreck if I had done that. Could there have been a wreck? Sure, but lane-changes are a risk and the left lane tends to be filled with people trying to get somewhere quickly. It is a riskier lane to be in. I have seen that proven time and again.
My other option was to have taken the emergency lane when I was making the rapid stop, but there was no reason to in that instant. I can say that I am now much quicker to take the emergency lane than I was before. That may help me one day.
