I almost had an accident the other day. It was about as close a call as one can get without ending up as an extension to another cars’ rear bumper actually, and it was because I was being too vigilant. Hang on a sec, is that even possible? Can being too vigilant get you into trouble on the road? Well, if my recent brown-stain-inducing incident was anything to go by, the answer is yes.
What happened was this: I was in the middle lane attempting to cut-out into the fast lane, like what that black car in the base of the photo above is doing, and I did the necessary, which was to check my mirrors, signal right, look over my shoulder and only then execute my move if the adjacent lane was clear. You see the thing is, I really despise it when other drivers suddenly cut out into my lane without looking, so in my efforts to make sure I didn’t do to the same to another unsuspecting road user, I’d made the mistake of looking over my shoulder and away from what’s in front for too long.
You guessed it. Upon looking back at the traffic in front of me, which had been moving at a decent pace moments earlier, I was mortified to note that the cars in front had slowed down considerably from the last time I was looking up front. In fact, the car directly in front of me had pretty much come to a halt.
The good thing is, because the adjacent lane was clear, I’d already begun to make my lane-change move, but with only a quarter of my car in the next lane, and three-quarters still in the middle lane, there was no way to avoid a rear-end collision with the car in front. Given how close I already was to having a rear bumper for breakfast, stomping on the brakes would not have helped.
Yanking hard on the steering wheel to the right, I missed the rear bumper of the car in front by millimeters I’m sure. Let’s put it this way, if there was a fly on the corner of that rear bumper, I’d have knocked it off, that’s how close it was. I’m not proud of this at all, but I am thankful that all the stuff I’d learned in advanced driving courses about emergency evasive maneuvers kicked-in when it mattered most. As I’ve always said, you only need to have to use it once, for it to be worthwhile.
Once the adrenalin had settled and my heartbeat had resumed to a more sedate level instead of trying to beat its way out of my chest, I began analyzing the scenario of what nearly ruined my whole week, not to mention the front of my car. I came to the conclusion that in a weird way, I’d been too careful about executing my lane-change, and in turn had taken too much time. In a roundabout way, I was perhaps guilty of one of the 3 “I’s” I’d written about earlier – Impatience, Inconsideration, Indecision.
In being overly cautious, I’d taken way too long to execute a lane-change, and in those few seconds of looking away, the scenario directly in front of me had changed dramatically. I’d ‘lingered’ too much, and that can be construed as ‘indecision’. I’d also made the cardinal sin of neglecting what’s directly in front of me for too long, and in this instance, ‘too long’ was all of 2-3 seconds at most.
I reckon a vast majority of fender-benders can be attributed to a scenario similar to the one above; in fact I was once rear-ended at a junction while trying to cut-out because the driver behind me was also looking to his right for a gap in on-coming cars, so that he could cut-out too. Gunning his accelerator when he saw a gap, he went right into my rear bumper because I’d not moved yet. In his haste to cut-out, he’d completely forgotten that there was a car in front of him. Yes, it happens, and more often than you think.
So folks, I guess the lesson here, and the one I nearly learned at great expense recently, is that while it’s always good to know what’s going on around you when you drive, never neglect the area that’s most important, which is right in front of you. Remember, keep a safe distance, because no one likes a tail-gater. Always leave yourself an ‘out’, and one way to do that is to have enough of a gap between you and the car in front. See you on the road!
