I might see the truck edging out of a driveway and trust that they're going to properly yield right of way and not make themselves an obstacle. By the time I realize "my" mistake, I might not have enough distance to stop.
Without putting blame anywhere and independently of who has the right of way, don't you just have your preservation instinct kicking in telling you that just giving a bit of brakes is not a bad idea, and that the risk/gain ratio of losing 10 seconds of your day vs. getting killed is not worth it?
In motorcycle safety courses, you're taught to never assume that other drivers can see you, in fact you are encouraged to operate as if you're invisible, and ride accordingly.
Growing up, I was told that it's better to be alive than to be "right" as it pertains to right-of-way. You can either insist on continuing because it's your right, or you can brake early assuming they're going to cut you off.
Unfortunately I saw a video of a similar accident where the motorcycle driver slid under the truck which turned across the road unexpectedly in a similar way, and one of the wheels went over the rider. He survived for a couple of minutes, during which his riding buddy held his hand, and talked to him until the end.
Videos like this are quite disturbing but I would make watching some of them mandatory during the driving course. Some people just dont get they are literally driving lethal weapons.
Agreed. An even from a more trivial perspective, I overwhelmingly prefer to lose my right of way and 3' of my day rather than fork out thousands in body job on my car.
I just don't think it's realistic to completely remove risk of other people's actions while driving down a high speed road. You can't slow down to a crawl every time a vehicle is at the side of the road, or turning across your lane from the other side. Yes, you can drive defensively - but at some point if you're driving at 60mph you have to have some level of trust that other people won't pull out suddenly.
> don't you just have your preservation instinct kicking in
Admittedly, yes; often when I write “I might...” I’m imagining a perspective adjacent to my own. In theory, I’d take my foot off the gas, put it in a lower gear (“manual” automatic), and watch what the guy does (time pending). I doubt I would really not have enough time to stop given how much I pay attention when driving.
Still, it takes two to tango, as it goes. The driver who died presumably could have and should have been paying more attention. They’d be alive today if they’d been paying enough attention to stop. And they’d be alive today if the truck driver had been more responsible. Keep in mind, the truck driver was hardly risking their own life; this was a lack of consideration for the safety of others.
Ahh, the old wisdom used to tell the oppressed to shut up and stay docile..
As a cyclist I hear this all the time. A thinly veiled threat, if you ask me. "Stop pointing out things that could've been better with our infrastructure or traffic culture, or I'll run you over".
I agree with you, and I bike often. I just dont want to use my health and my life as an argument in figuring out who is right, when on the other side is just some dumb drunk dude on a pickup texting his buddy or reading twitter while driving
Respectfully, this is a tired meme and it needs to die. This is a defeatist attitude that just gets in the way of any progress on improving driving culture. I really would prefer I can just trust the other driver.
I don't think that's feasible. Human nature just doesn't work that way. I think we could potentially get to a point where we can trust the other drivers more than we can now -- and that alone would be a laudable goal -- but I don't think it's reasonable to expect we'll ever get to a point where it's safe to place 100% trust that another driver on the road will always do the right thing all the time.
So what we're left with is defensive driving. If a giant vehicle starts edging out into the road in front of you, assume that the driver doesn't see you at all, and act accordingly.
Frankly, I don't think it's a tired meme: it is absolutely better to be alive than to be right. And sometimes those actually are your only choices.
Citation needed. Look into Finnish driving culture; it seems quite reasonable to see it as nurture over nature. I believe that it would be difficult to effect such a change given the distance between different American subcultures but it’s been demonstrated that a society can actually choose to take this seriously.
> And sometimes those actually are your only choices.
This is the part that needs to die. I was still right when I chose to allow the other driver to cut me off; turns out I’m alive too. It’s not a dichotomy but treating it like it is suggests that the other driver was “right” because I yielded. They were not. I was right and I didn’t do anything dangerous.
