Almost Killed an Older Gentleman Yesterday

[ArrestMeRedZ]

I was making my monthly pilgrimage back home from Northern California to Las Vegas yesterday. After 8 hours on the road (6 since the last gas stop) while passing through the micro town of Indian Springs, NV an elderly gentleman choose to pull out of a side road across the 4 lane Highway 95 right in front of my '13 Chevy Silverado. He had previously stopped at his stop sign, obviously seen me and remained stopped as I transitioned my gaze from him on the side to the front of my vehicle. As soon as I looked away, he accelerated from the stop. I saw the impending collision with my peripheral vision and slammed on the brakes. He stopped his truck directly in front of mine with the center of my grill perpendicular to and lined up with his driver's side door.

In my estimation, there was no way I was going to avoid a collision. I had hit the brake petal as soon as I saw the movement, and probably pushed it hard enough to bend metal. I was just hoping to slow enough to not kill the man, and had my arms braced on the steering wheel for the impact. Fortunately, I had recently purchased new tires, and road conditions were ideal. I didn't feel the ABS cycling, but the truck slowed like I had dropped a hook and took an arresting cable. I came to a stop maybe 5-10 feet from his truck. I motioned for him to go ahead (I wasn't moving), but he threw it in reverse and backed up to his stop sign. I was real relieved and not upset with him as there is no way he could have done this on purpose unless he had a death wish.

I still don't know if it was great tires, the magic of modern ABS, or my guardian angels that I had worked so hard in my youth come back for another save.

 

[Mr Nice]

Lots of older people have depth perception problems or misjudged your distance.

Yes.... technology saved you

 

[Chris142]

I had a guy do that to me a few weeks ago. But my Jeep does not have abs( you don't want it in a Jeep,pm me if you need more answers). I locked them up. Fortunately he had enough smarts to gas it. If he had not gassed it to would have creamed him.

 

[VeryNoisyPoet]

Glad you got out of that situation safely. Indeed the magic of ABS and good tires. I took a evasive maneuvers driving course when I first got my license, and had to put those skills into practice a few times since. If the system works, the vehicle will darn near stand on its nose and retain steering control throughout.

This is the kind of situation that the ABS naysayers don't seem to take into consideration. Its one thing on a race track with predictable braking zones and countless hours of practice to brake smoothly, then turn with plenty of time to prepare. There the ABS can interfere with the feel of the vehicle, and a skilled driver may be able to squeeze a few percent more deceleration with threshold braking. Or in the case of an off road vehicle you want the tires to lock up and dig into a soft surface in order to stop. On the street, having to instantly transition from relaxed cruising to maximum braking effort and evasive maneuvers isn't something that the human brain can easily do.

 

[bugeye]

My Dad is 93 and recently lost his driver's license due to a medical incident. My siblings have not wanted him to drive for at least the last three years. His reaction time is painfully slow and eyesight failing. Don't get old. Siblings and I have repeatedly asked his physicians to advise DOT to withdraw his license. None did and my father continued to drive. Thankfully he will no longer drive as the car is going away.

 

[demarpaint]

I'm all for re-testing drivers when they reach a certain age come time for renewal of their DL. They pass they drive, they fail they don't. [censored] you can even give them the a three strikes and you're out type exam. Eg: you fail you get another crack at it. I'm open minded. pick an age, and how many chances. Here in NY the license is good for 8 years, that's way too long. That means a person 90 years old is good until 98. A lot can go wrong in 8 years that can impact driving in a major way.

Funny story, my Aunt, God rest her soul, renewed her DL when she was 89 years old and argued with the clerk that the cost was too high for 8 years. She told him she was 89, and wanted to pay for 2 years. She asked how long he thought she'd live. She drove until she passed away at 94.

Or they can re-test all drivers every [pick a number] years. Make them pay a fee to cover it. I have no problem with that either.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

I've driven over 50 years now, and never had anyone pull in front of me and stop like that. On a highway even. My attention had transitioned to 2 motorcycles and a car near him going a different route that was merging onto the highway up ahead. I'm still not sure how I was able to discern the threat and hit the brakes fast enough to stop, especially since I was in that relaxed phase near the end of a long trip.

When he realized what he had done, he stopped and froze like a deer in the headlights. Early evening, about 1.5 hours after sunset, my lights were on. Maybe the motorcycles or his wife beside him distracted him. Pretty sure he wasn't texting, lol. Also pretty sure he won't be driving much longer, one way or another. I am just grateful I didn't hit him.

Bugeye, my 90 year old mother was like that. Ignored stop lights, got lost (dementia), etc. Also insisted on driving (I wouldn't let her, wife and daughter would, much to their regret). Both Dr. and DMV wouldn't take her license no matter how dangerous she was. Pretty sure they were afraid of her. She failed the test the Dr. gave her by 2 questions, so the Dr. said "close enough" and passed her.

 

[eljefino]

Mercedes did some research and found that people don't hit the brakes hard enough from 60-30 and therefore wreck because of this. This covers 3/4 of your stopping distance. Your immediate standing on the pedal was what saved that chap.

 

[double vanos]

That's nothing! I have a friend who has stage 5 Parkinson's and I just finished his driving career for him. He barely has control of his legs, is beginning to have some serious dementia issues and can barely talk. His hearing is toast too.

He dropped by the house about a month ago driving his pickup. Left it in the middle of the street, I think he thought it was parked ok. After a short visit he attempted to go home but he couldn't get the thing out of park and into gear - he was stepping on the gas thinking it was the brake; thank heavens it had a gear shift interlock! He came back telling me his truck had a problem with the gear shift.

When I saw what was happening I drove him home. I told his wife that he was done with driving and relayed what had just happened and believe it or not, she didn't quite grasp the seriousness of his inability to control himself, much less a car.

My harping didn't gain any traction until I made her realize that if he were to have an accident and kill someone she could wind up loosing everything, given today's litigation happy society. Just as I was telling her this, the tv aired a law firm ad telling folks to call them FIRST after an accident, then the police.
She sold his truck yesterday and shredded his license about a week ago. Thank God.
Now, how many people are in this shape and still driving? Shivers me timbers to think of it.....

 

[VeryNoisyPoet]

Originally Posted by eljefino
Mercedes did some research and found that people don't hit the brakes hard enough from 60-30 and therefore wreck because of this. This covers 3/4 of your stopping distance. Your immediate standing on the pedal was what saved that chap.


Several other students in that driving course I took got scared of the ABS noise/vibration and let off the brake pedal. I only held the pedal to the floor because I'd experienced that feeling before and knew it was normal.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

I expected a pulsing pedal, and didn't get it. I might have had it pushed too hard to feel. It just stopped.

Replaced the OEM tires with Goodyear Assurances a couple of months ago after I had one punctured. Old ones still had sufficient tread left, but I uncharacteristically changed them all out. Pretty glad I did.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted by VeryNoisyPoet

Several other students in that driving course I took got scared of the ABS noise/vibration and let off the brake pedal. I only held the pedal to the floor because I'd experienced that feeling before and knew it was normal.


At some HPDEs I instruct at we teach novices to apply the brakes hard enough to activate the ABS. Some students have needed three or more tries before they braked hard enough to engage it. I once had a student ask me if hitting the brakes too hard would make the airbags go off...

 

[spasm3]

I'm betting you told him, no its the opposite. NOT hitting the brakes hard enough is how you end up with the airbags deployed!

 

[Balrog006]

All this talk of ABS and technology saving the OP from a traffic crash and you are missing the point-the OP mentioned his recent maintenance and new tires-this and his quick reaction is what saved him.

ABS actually INCREASES stopping distance on dry clear roads (OP said contitions were "ideal")-ABS helps most in less than ideal, low traction situations and conditions when it acts faster pulsing the brakes faster than a human could ever hope to, but because of that pulsing actually looses a few feet in stopping distance on dry pavement in good conditions.

Good old hydraulic assisted (power brakes) and the OP's attentive driving with his well maintained vehicle saved the day here.

 

[ArrestMeRedZ]

Thanks, but in this case I don't think I could have braked in an optimum manner. I hit the brakes so hard I'm sure I would have skidded. Pretty sure the ABS had a major beneficial impact.

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by ArrestMeRedZ
I expected a pulsing pedal, and didn't get it. I might have had it pushed too hard to feel. It just stopped.

Replaced the OEM tires with Goodyear Assurances a couple of months ago after I had one punctured. Old ones still had sufficient tread left, but I uncharacteristically changed them all out. Pretty glad I did.





The newer cars I have driven with abs don't pulse through the pedal. The effect is more of the noise you hear as the system works.

Good to hear the situation ended well.

 

[2heeldrive]

Glad you avoided the accident. Good job paying attention!

I almost took out a young mom and child the same way recently. She blew a red (very red) light... didn't hit her brakes until she was in the intersection. I saw her in my peripheral vision and stopped a few feet from T-boning her. It was too close.

I never trust stop lights or stop signs anymore. I see so many people blatantly running them.

Be careful out there !

 

[rubberchicken]

Originally Posted by Balrog006
All this talk of ABS and technology saving the OP from a traffic crash and you are missing the point-the OP mentioned his recent maintenance and new tires-this and his quick reaction is what saved him.

ABS actually INCREASES stopping distance on dry clear roads (OP said contitions were "ideal")-ABS helps most in less than ideal, low traction situations and conditions when it acts faster pulsing the brakes faster than a human could ever hope to, but because of that pulsing actually looses a few feet in stopping distance on dry pavement in good conditions.

Good old hydraulic assisted (power brakes) and the OP's attentive driving with his well maintained vehicle saved the day here.


I get what your saying, but I disagree with your conclusion. The ABS lets you go to full braking with zero warning. If your comparing race track performance of ABS vs non-ABS, where the corners and braking can be seen and are predictable, then non-ABS will return shorter stopping distances. But in the real world where you get no warning then ABS will generally be the better performer.

I was at a Ford focus group meeting about 10-15 years ago specifically on ABS brakes and the question of vibrating pedals vs. omit the vibration was posed to existing Ford customers. The issue was that some people get scared of the vibrating brake pedal when ABS engages, and let off the brakes. So Ford was considering trying to phase out the vibration. Part of the meeting was taking polls on this question, then doing a Q&A on the direction and state of technology and what was feasible. Then another poll. I was very much in favor of keeping the brake pulse. Lots of data was presented showing stopping distances in real-world situations with and without ABS, and ABS always won out in the real world. They did present data on racing situations where non-ABS seemed to be superior but not by a huge factor.

 

[ZeeOSix]

A similar situation happened to me many years ago, and I was driving my old 1971 Ford pickup at the time - obviously no ABS, but it did have power drum brakes all around, which were surprisingly powerful.

Guy pulls out from my right side while I'm going about 50 MPH. He sees me coming down the road after he pulls out and then slams his brakes on, stopping right in front of me - I'm lined up perfectly for a T-bone right into his driver's door. I slam on the brakes and hear my tires squeeling, the guy's eyeballs looked like golf balls looking straight at me. I could tell I wasn't going to stop in time, but I did get slowed down pretty good, so let off the brakes and swered hard at the last second and barely made it around him. No impact, and I just kept going. Guy probably needed an underware change, and bet he looked twice before pulling out after that incedent. I still remember that close call like it was yesterday.

 

[SeaJay]

There are a lot of younger drivers today in the interest of making time that make equally stupid decisions to save 15 seconds or so from their trip. I see it all the time.