Near miss
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2018 3:04 pm
Well, for all my advanced driving supposed skills I came very close to a bad accident last Tuesday - completely unrelated to weather conditions. It was a clear road. I have no particular questions but am sharing just to remind you all how vulnerable we all are on the road and to be careful out there!
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.85547 ... 312!8i6656
I was on a rural NSL SCW with two way traffic, slightly below the speed limit. There was a school entrance ahead on the left, a car towards waiting to turn into the entrance, and two other cars waiting behind it. As I approached a fourth vehicle towards, a white van, pulled out from behind the three waiting and was heading straight for me. I applied maximum braking (ABS operating) and he also stopped. I was not able to stop before him and dived to the left, though not quite onto the verge - but very luckily there was just room for three vehicles abreast. So we were stopped three cars abreast, just beyond the entrance. After a moment the white van moved off, so I did also without having spoken.
My first thought was that the white van was overtaking, crazily and dangerously. It really would have been crazy, not only because I was coming towards but more obviously because of a total conflict with the car turning right. Subsequently, I suspect that he had failed to observe the stopped traffic in front of him until too late, and had then pulled out to avoid going into the back of it.
I remember shockingly little of the detail. For example, I cannot remember how far I was following behind the car in front, and most specifically, I don't know whether I was slow to react. I had a dash cam in the car but regrettably it wasn't attached to the windscreen (I have mixed feelings about whether or not to run a dashcam most of the time).
It is no coincidence that there is an approved road improvement scheme to create a central refuge for vehicles turning right into that school entrance!
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.85547 ... 312!8i6656
I was on a rural NSL SCW with two way traffic, slightly below the speed limit. There was a school entrance ahead on the left, a car towards waiting to turn into the entrance, and two other cars waiting behind it. As I approached a fourth vehicle towards, a white van, pulled out from behind the three waiting and was heading straight for me. I applied maximum braking (ABS operating) and he also stopped. I was not able to stop before him and dived to the left, though not quite onto the verge - but very luckily there was just room for three vehicles abreast. So we were stopped three cars abreast, just beyond the entrance. After a moment the white van moved off, so I did also without having spoken.
My first thought was that the white van was overtaking, crazily and dangerously. It really would have been crazy, not only because I was coming towards but more obviously because of a total conflict with the car turning right. Subsequently, I suspect that he had failed to observe the stopped traffic in front of him until too late, and had then pulled out to avoid going into the back of it.
I remember shockingly little of the detail. For example, I cannot remember how far I was following behind the car in front, and most specifically, I don't know whether I was slow to react. I had a dash cam in the car but regrettably it wasn't attached to the windscreen (I have mixed feelings about whether or not to run a dashcam most of the time).
It is no coincidence that there is an approved road improvement scheme to create a central refuge for vehicles turning right into that school entrance!