triquet wrote:If you haven't been in this situation, don't get over-analytical or theoretical. If it happens the only realistic thing to do is to brake hard and pray. If you have ABS, sure, look for a escape route. But to do anything before braking is to eat into valuable reaction time. The other driver will be a state of utter panic as he will also know he's screwed up and may act completely randomly.
I have had the misfortune of being in exactly that situation , and it resulted in a very bad crash .
This was back in 1978 , when I had not long done my police driving courses , IAM and League of Safe Drivers , passed at Grade 1 , so all quite fresh in my mind . It was a Thursday evening , I had not long finished my day release course at college and was heading home , a journey of about 10 miles mostly on NSL single carriageway road . It was getting dark and the weather was dry with good visibility .
As I was approaching a moderate right hand bend at around 50mph , I could see over the top of the hedgerow that there was an artic coming the other way - this in itself was no cause for concern as it was a typical A road , wide enough for us to pass safely , and my speed was fine for the bend , having just rounded a similar bend moments earlier .
The artic reached the apex of the bend while I was still perhaps 100 yds away - THEN THE CAR OVERTAKING THE ARTIC CAME INTO VIEW . Now , this was before the days of ABS , and before wearing of seat belts was compulsory . I was fortunate to be in my dad's Mercedes 220/8 , quite a safe car by the standards of the day .
Thankfully , I had the presence of mind to brake hard on the Tarmac whilst still in a straight line , mindful not to lock up and lose control , keeping as far left as possible , and trying to leave the other car as much space as possible .
Despite that , and with only a few seconds to react , I was unable to stop before the other car hit me head on . To this day , I can still see the other car approach , completely out of control , the driver with his arms crossed in front of his face . My windscreen ( toughened glass back then ) shattered outwards into thousands of pieces , there was a crash , I kept hold of the wheel and tried to control the car , but still ended up on the wrong side of the road , behind the truck , which had stopped .
My car had been struck head-on , with about a 40% overlap of the frontal area on the drivers side , the damage tapering from the radiator grille to the A pillar . Amazingly , my engine was still running and I turned it off ; I unbuckled my seat belt , and was glad I had secured it tightly ( pre inertia reels ) , then found that the door opened and I was able to step out unhurt .
That one incident has been the reason for my lifelong loyalty to Mercedes-Benz and an aversion to small cars of any kind .
The other driver was not so fortunate . The Ford Capri he was in flew over the hedgerow behind me and landed in the field , the entire car bent into a sort of banana shape . Along with the truck driver , I ran down into the field to find the driver still in the car , motionless . We tried to open the door but the door skin came away . Some passers by came and someone went to phone the emergency services ( no mobiles back then )
Eventually , the guy was removed from the car and taken away in an ambulance with two broken legs , a broken arm and other injuries . I escaped unhurt apart from getting something in my eye .
I photographed the scene before any of the cars were removed . Later we discovered the Capri was the property of the drivers step father , he had no licence , no insurance and we learned that the owner reported the vehicle stolen . There were comments at the crash scene that the driver smelled of drink too .
Fortunately , I had the truck driver's witness statement , and the police report , which absolved me of any blame , and my dad's comprehensive insurance paid out for the car . The other driver faced a number of charges , and was ordered to pay the damages back to our insurers at something like £1 a week . We heard that he disappeared and defaulted on this .
That , thankfully , has been my one and only serious crash in my driving career ; I've had three minor 'bumps' over the years - once being 'clipped' from behind on a roundabout by a driver who turned out to be drunk and was arrested on the scene , and twice being rear ended whilst stopped at junctions .
I like to think that skill and training played a part in my favourable outcome , but I also think that instinct and quick reactions ( I was about 20 at the time ) were a factor too .
I have often thought whether I could have done more to anticipate the crash , but the truck and the hedgerows obscured all sight of the other car , until it came directly into view , and although it was getting dark , it was not dark enough to see light from his headlamps around the corner either . It was properly dark by the time everything was cleared up , but not at the 5:30 or so the crash would have taken place .
I think I would say to most people that , unless you can see something coming , you probably won't have time to think about it , and just have to rely on your instincts - which will probably be right .