4 ms·

I'm dubious that accelerating out of danger is the 'best' option in any but the most contrived of circumstances.

chrisseaton 7y ago
I said 'safest' - I don't know who you're quoting with 'best'. But if your options are hard breaking or hard accelerating, it's easy to see when hard acceleration is better - when someone is immediately behind you and the road ahead is clear, and then for example someone swerving into your lane from the side
- benj111 7y ago
  "when someone is immediately behind you and the road ahead is clear, and then for example someone swerving into your lane from the side" If someone swerves into your lane you accelerate... into them? Unless its a really wide road (12 lanes?) where you have plenty of time to see that person, and somehow know they're going to pull into your lane, but you can't pull into another lane because Theres too much traffic. As I said, contrived examples. (wasn't quoting you btw, just put best in inverted commas, as there's a lot of different interpretations for best)
  - deleted 7y ago
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  - chrisseaton 7y ago
    > If someone swerves into your lane you accelerate... into them? Obviously not. Accelerate out of their way.
    - benj111 7y ago
      "Obviously not" Well I didn't think so either, I still don't see how it would work though, if they swerve into your lane ahead of you, you should brake, if they were behind you, you probably wouldn't see them, so there's a very narrow range where you can both see them and plausibly argue that accelerating is a reasonable option, and even then it seems to me at the very least, braking would be no worse.
sl1ck731 7y ago
Happens often on interstates. Only a couple days ago my only option was to get ahead of a semi that was intent on merging into my lane. The other option would have been to brake and hope I can decelerate fast enough to get out of the way of his entire trailer, and the traffic behind me doing 80 would have been a problem.
- benj111 7y ago
  We will never know if he would have pulled into you had you not moved, or passed within the speed limit. I find lorries start broadcasting what they're going to do quite early, that doesn't mean they're going to pull into a space you're already occupying, otherwise I would be dead many times over.
  - sl1ck731 7y ago
    Well he was half in my lane by the time I overtook him without telegraphing his intent. Truck drivers are some of the worst drivers on the road, at least in the US. Though fatigue is probably a large factor.

I said 'safest' - I don't know who you're quoting with 'best'. But if your options are hard breaking or hard accelerating, it's easy to see when hard acceleration is better - when someone is immediately behind you and the road ahead is clear, and then for example someone swerving into your lane from the side

benj111 7y ago
"when someone is immediately behind you and the road ahead is clear, and then for example someone swerving into your lane from the side" If someone swerves into your lane you accelerate... into them? Unless its a really wide road (12 lanes?) where you have plenty of time to see that person, and somehow know they're going to pull into your lane, but you can't pull into another lane because Theres too much traffic. As I said, contrived examples. (wasn't quoting you btw, just put best in inverted commas, as there's a lot of different interpretations for best)
- deleted 7y ago
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- chrisseaton 7y ago
  > If someone swerves into your lane you accelerate... into them? Obviously not. Accelerate out of their way.
  - benj111 7y ago
    "Obviously not" Well I didn't think so either, I still don't see how it would work though, if they swerve into your lane ahead of you, you should brake, if they were behind you, you probably wouldn't see them, so there's a very narrow range where you can both see them and plausibly argue that accelerating is a reasonable option, and even then it seems to me at the very least, braking would be no worse.

sl1ck731 7y ago

Happens often on interstates. Only a couple days ago my only option was to get ahead of a semi that was intent on merging into my lane. The other option would have been to brake and hope I can decelerate fast enough to get out of the way of his entire trailer, and the traffic behind me doing 80 would have been a problem.

benj111 7y ago
We will never know if he would have pulled into you had you not moved, or passed within the speed limit. I find lorries start broadcasting what they're going to do quite early, that doesn't mean they're going to pull into a space you're already occupying, otherwise I would be dead many times over.
- sl1ck731 7y ago
  Well he was half in my lane by the time I overtook him without telegraphing his intent. Truck drivers are some of the worst drivers on the road, at least in the US. Though fatigue is probably a large factor.