Thursday, July 19, 2012

DEAR SGT. AL: CONFRONTING A SPEEDING CAR HEAD ON?


DEAR SERGEANT AL: I’d like to ask you about confronting what probably is a driver’s worst nightmare on the road: what to do when suddenly faced with a recklessly and excessively speeding driver head-on. The recent video of a crash taken by a Louisiana family coming home from a beach vacation in Mississippi of an apparently sick and unconscious driver excessively speeding on the wrong side of the road had me thinking. What should a motorist do when faced with a speeding car coming head-on from the opposite direction? If faced with an inevitable crash is it better to crash head-on with the speeding car or veer off the road and crash into a stationary object like a tree or pole? – SPEEDING LONG OVERDUE WHERE DOPES OTHERWISE PICK EXCUSES.

DEAR SLOW DOPE: Interesting question. According to the laws of physics if a hypothetical car is going in a straight line on a road in one direction at 100 mph, and another hypothetical car on the same road is going in a straight line in the opposite direction at 100 mph, then that means that if they hit each other in a head-on collision, the point of impact will have the force of a 200 mph impact. This would be a very messy and probably deadly proposition. 
To answer your question, the best defensive evasive maneuver an oncoming driver can face when suddenly and immediately confronted with an excessively speeding car coming right into his/her path, is to veer off the road and if unavoidable, to hit a stationary object. You have a better chance of survival wrapping yourself around a telephone pole than to hit a car head-on. To lessen your chances of serious injury or death by abating the chances of hitting more vehicles than the excessively speeding car, is TO VEER RIGHT THEN SWERVE OFF THE ROAD. This is where they teach you in a defensive driving course to always have a way out: as you’re driving, always give yourself a right shoulder cushion of safety, especially when traveling on a single lane roadway, in case an opposite driver loses control and hits you head-on. In either of these above videos, however, I don’t think either the driver of the Ford Expedition or the Utah State Trooper had much choice but to hit the reckless cars they faced head-on.
What concerns me even more with the Mississippi video, is the video recorder’s driving while shooting the video. I have had readers email to ask me that if he were caught doing this by a police officer if that would have been a violation. My answer is it depends on the state. In Mississippi where that horrible head-on accident recently occurred, it has no distracted driver law on the books to specifically address this. I understand the state police nevertheless admonished the recorder for doing this, as recording while driving is not a good thing. Mississippi coincidentally had a bill that just died in their state senate that would have added text messaging as part of distracted driving. While some states are specific when it comes to either using a handheld for conversation or text messaging, some are mum on using a phone for video recording or for anything else for that matter.

SLOW DOPE thanks for the great question and for citing us with a WARNING to be alert to both recklessly speeding head-on cars and exercising care when distracted by using handhelds while driving. In these instances we can split the difference between the lesser of two evils, but neither can be any worse as both can be equally as deadly. Safe driving!


Suggested Reading:

What is a CARMAGEDDON and when will it happen? 
Am I allowed to walk on a highway?
Suggested Reading:
The definition of a “Concours” car and event
Suggested Reading:
Suggested Reading:
What is the new national terror alert warning?
Taking photographs at off-limits tourist landmarks .



2 comments:

  1. If you hit a stationary object at 100 mph, and the object had a solid foundation and provided resistance then your car would slow down from 100 mph to 0 instantly while you on the other hand would not. The only thing to stop you if you were driving is your seat belt and the windshield. The seat belt would have to exert a tremendous amount of force to keep you from going through the windshield. Odds are the seat belt would rip or cut your abdomen and torso very badly. In other words your seat belt would probably kill you. If it could not keep you from going through the windshield then you would barrel through the windshield at 100 mph. It would either be into the stationary object or into thin air and odds are you'd probably hit some object near by it and you wouldn't survive the impact. Don't listen to a simple sergeant who doesn't know what he's talking about. If you hit the car that was going 100 miles per hour, then at least that car wouldn't have as much resistance and you wouldn't be slowed down immediately.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't listen to a "simple sergeant?" What, you or a higher rank could do better?

      Could you possibly be MORE RUDE as you are arrogant to NOT READ THE POST CAREFULLY? If in fact you do know how to read . . .

      I was writing about the force of impact NOT toward a stationary object, but one caused by a head-on collision, two different things. The force of the impact is calculated by the speed in opposite directions TOTAL, not just one side.

      Why am I trying to explain myself to this person? AC

      Delete

Sgt. Al here. I welcome your comments, ideas, and suggestions. You have questions about the police, and I'm interested in hearing what you have to say as a citizen. Thanks!

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