Almost got creamed yesterday...

[kco]

I'd use my turn signals a little sooner, farther from the turn, than normal. And I'd start braking and slowing a little sooner while pumping the brakes to make the brake lights flash on and off to warn traffic behind me. Abandoning the turn and continuing on is great if you have time. Accidents like that happen so quickly, as you mentioned, that you might not have time.

Same here. Another thing to remember is to leave your front wheels straight while waiting to make a left turn. Only turn the wheels while actually proceeding. Otherwise even a slow rear end bump can send you into approaching traffic.

 

[cmyoung2]

Years ago I was stoped at a stoplight in a Datsun pickup with a trailer. Checked the rearview and saw a fullsized Blazer coming a little fast, Then I realized I could see the tread pattern in his big front tires(not turning, just sliding). No one was coming through the intersection, so I just dropped the clutch, ran the light and tried to get out of the way. I was all the way through the intersection when he caught me. Tore up his grill, put my bumper up under the truck, but no real damage. (he ran, got caught). If I had not pulled off, I feel sure my truck would have been a mess, me too, probably. Stay alert, know what is going on around you, and get out of the way of bad stuff when possible. Goes for life in general as well as driving.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Getting rear ended is a tough one to avoid id you're just sitting there.
The one that gets me are red light runners. There is a standing order in out house NEVER EVER go immediately when the light changes.

I personally have avoided three of four T bones. I sit and wait a few seconds AFTER the light turns green , look left & right THEN I go.

 

[Bird]

Same here. Another thing to remember is to leave your front wheels straight while waiting to make a left turn. Only turn the wheels while actually proceeding. Otherwise even a slow rear end bump can send you into approaching traffic.

Very good reminder! Another thing I learned years ago when stopping behind another vehicle, whether at a signal light, or anywhere else, is to always stop far enough back that you can see where the rear tires on the vehicle ahead of you touch the road. That's for a couple of reasons. One is in case you get rearended it doesn't knock you into the car ahead of you, damaging the front of your vehicle, too, as well as involving a third vehicle. The other is in case the one ahead of you should become disabled or stalled, or if the driver gets out, you have room to go around him without having to back up first.

Incidentally, the last accident I was involved in was in July, 2005. There was a light rain falling and I stopped behind another vehicle at a stop sign on a downward sloped, wet street. And a young lady in a sedan rearended me hard enough to knock me forward but fortunately not far enough forward to hit the one in front of me. No injuries to anyone; just cost her insurance company $1,031.91 to fix my Ranger.:laughing:

 

[Bird]

Years ago I was stoped at a stoplight in a Datsun pickup with a trailer. Checked the rearview and saw a fullsized Blazer coming a little fast, Then I realized I could see the tread pattern in his big front tires(not turning, just sliding). No one was coming through the intersection, so I just dropped the clutch, ran the light and tried to get out of the way. I was all the way through the intersection when he caught me. Tore up his grill, put my bumper up under the truck, but no real damage. (he ran, got caught). If I had not pulled off, I feel sure my truck would have been a mess, me too, probably. Stay alert, know what is going on around you, and get out of the way of bad stuff when possible. Goes for life in general as well as driving.

In 1973 or 74, one Sunday I had some college lessons to work on, so my wife took our 2 little girls to go visit her brother's family that afternoon. I had bought a little Opel Cadet to tow behind a little motorhome and that's what she drove that day. It turned out that the Dallas Cowboys were playing that Sunday and traffic on the freeway, near the stadium, came to a stop. My wife said she saw a big Pontiac coming and knew he couldn't get stopped, so she pulled off onto the shoulder of the road and accelerated. But when the Pontiac driver saw he wasn't going to get stopped, he pulled off onto the shoulder, too, and ran them down. It did massive damage to the little car, broke the back of the drivers seat off, and sent my wife and daughters to the hospital, but fortunately only minor injuries.

 

[aczlan]

I personally have avoided three of four T bones. I sit and wait a few seconds AFTER the light turns green , look left & right THEN I go.

Works until the person coming behind you is watching the light rather than you and rear ends you at 45MPH.
Happened to Dad in 2000 when we were down in GA, he was ~10 cars back and the (uninsured) guy was watching the light rather than the cars in front of him. That pushed the back bumper of his '84 Volvo 760 Turbodiesel almost into his tires... Dad was NOT a happy camper (especially has he had just gotten the engine rebuilt a few months before), the insurance company didn't think that the rebuild was worth anything (a receipt for the rebuild helped change their minds to a certain extent though).
I then got to move the engine/transmission from that car into a "roller" that Dad picked up.

Aaron Z

 

[jonyyuma]

Same here. Another thing to remember is to leave your front wheels straight while waiting to make a left turn. Only turn the wheels while actually proceeding. Otherwise even a slow rear end bump can send you into approaching traffic.

Exactly what happened to a co-worker here..he only did one thing wrong and it was to cut his wheels to turn left..he was rearended into the oncoming traffic,at a stoplight. He lived nearly a year after, until the effects of the accident finally took him.