Hi all

[Johnnie]

Hi all,

Joined the forum a few days ago after lurking for a while, so I thought I should introduce myself a bit.

My interest in advanvced driving is two-fold. Firstly, I am a St John Ambulance volunteer (hence the username) and SJA now requires IAM or RoADA Silver to drive their vehicles.

Secondly, I was recently an unwilling participant in an RTA (Car overtakes at insane speed just before a corner, sees another vehicle oncoming, forces himself into gap between me and car ahead and stamps on brake. 306 GTIs have better brakes than 12-year-old Cavaliers, so he slowed much quicker than I could. I couldn't get out of the way in time, and you can imagine the rest. He didn't stop, and I needed a new front end. Hope he got whiplash, I certainly did!) Apart from the expense of fixing the car, it was all just so unnecessary.

I have joined the local RoADA group but have not yet been assigned an observer, so I'm just practicing IPSGA at the mo.

[martine]

Welcome!

Sounds like you are an ideal 'candidate' and will benefit greatly from learning a few advanced skills. Your RTC sounds nasty...don't suppose you got reg.no. Did you report it to the police?

Anyway, welcome and enjoy!

[Johnnie]

No, I didn't get a reg. I didn't expect the other car not to stop, so I didn't think to take note. I should have known better really. He overtook me doing easily 90 in a 60, so I suppose it wasn't that likely he was going to play by the rules!

I did report it, and the officer on he desk said they would see if anyone came forward in the next few days. About 2 weeks later, I got a letter from the local police station saying that noone had contacted them and since I could not identify the vehicle there was nothing more they could do. I know they have other more important things to do, but that wasn't quite the result I was expecting!

Just out of interest, when did RTA become RTC?

[martine]

I know they have other more important things to do, but that wasn't quite the result I was expecting!

Just out of interest, when did RTA become RTC?

Must be very annoying.

Don't know when RTC became the standard - you know the reasoning behind it I assume? (for those that don't it was decided 'Road Traffic Accidents' imply it's fate/just one of those things - whereas 'Road Traffic Collision' implies it's not an accident!)

[PeteG]

Welcome!

[AdamW]

Hi and welcome.

[vonhosen]

Welcome

[waremark]

He overtook me doing easily 90 in a 60,

Welcome, and excellent reasons for taking further training.

Have you analysed the collision (very PC!) and thought about whether you could have avoided it? If so, how? (I am sure many of us have ideas about this - it would be interesting to know what RJ thinks.)

Can I point out one aspect?If he had to brake from 90 and you only from 60, highway code stopping distances would be 405 foot and 180 foot respectively - and even if his brakes were better presumably yours were adequate to get through the MOT. Perhaps his speed was not as high as you thought?

[crr003]

If he had to brake from 90 and you only from 60, highway code stopping distances would be 405 foot and 180 foot respectively

[pedant]braking distance[/pedant]

[Johnnie]

Thinking about it, this is what I remember happening.

The 306 cut in in front of me, into a gap that was probably already too small. I admit I did get on the horn for a second. I released the accelerator slightly, trying to open up at least some sort of gap between me and him. I didn't brake at that point, thinking he would slow enough to match his speed to the rest of us, and that since I was going slightly slower, I would open up the gap. I think at this time I must have been doing just under 60, having been going 65 ish previously like everyone else.

It must have taken a second or two for me to realise that rather than slowing to match his speed to the other cars, he really had stamped on his brake, and was slowing dramatically, probably in reaction to my horn blast. I braked hard enough to operate the ABS, but still didn't match the rate that he was slowing. Even though I have done some skidpan training which included rear-end-shunt avoidance, it never occurred to me to steer to avoid him. When we actually came into contact, I think my speed was between 40 and 50.

In total the whole episode was less than 10 secs.

I know I shouldn't have used the horn, but I did as a means of exclaiming "You ****hole!" at him. I don't think there was red mist involved after that, as I was trying to open the gap in a moderately rational manner. I know also that I should have braked (as opposed to decellerated) earlier.

[TripleS]

If somebody overtakes me in a situation that looks like something could go badly wrong, I tend to slow down a bit (subject to what's behind me) anyhow and create more space, with a view to keeping out of it.

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[waremark]

RJ, well done for having thought about how you could have made the situation less bad.

[Johnnie]

In that situation, even for a not-yet-qualified advanced driver the right course of action seems fairly obvious:

- Don't let the ****hole annoy you. Of course I was guilty of that, but I'm working on my attitude. I'm much less of a 'hot head' than I was.
- Increase the gap between you and the ***hole, which I did attempt, just didn't achieve enough of a gap soon enough.

Having said that, I must say that it is easier to think about what to do after the event than to achieve the same in real time on he road. But I suppose that is fundamentally what advanced driving is about.

Thinking about the differential in speed between my car and his, I would estimate that he did overtake me doing 90 or so, and got up to being almost parallel with the car in front of me when he saw the oncoming vehicle. He would have had to have slowed to be able to get into the gap between the car in front and mine.