11 ms·
When I learned to drive the only advise my mom gave was. “If you see a ball then slam on the break” I was told this for months. Few years later Driving down
by treeman79 5y ago
When I learned to drive the only advise my mom gave was. “If you see a ball then slam on the break”
I was told this for months.
Few years later
Driving down a road that had endless cars parked along sides. So no visibility of yards.
A small ball came from behind a parked car and bounced in front of me.
All I heard was my moms voice. Instantly slammed on brakes.
Sure enough a kid ran out in front of me chasing the ball.
Car stopped inches from kid. He never even noticed me.
Even a moments hesitation and that kid would have been dead.
I was going a little below speed limit too, which clearly helped.
- dekhn 5y agoThis is great but I think it's always good to be aware of the consequences of stopping quickly (rear ending which might cause its own problems of the same magnitude)
- treeman79 5y agoA good point. But person behind has a metal cage and air bags. Kid has a t-shirt.
- moron123 5y agoThe impact of the rear ending would probably propel the car forward and hit the child, is what I think the previous commentor meant.
- dekhn 5y agoThat, and/or possibly killing several other people. I'm not advocating that people run over the kid at all, I just mean: always be aware of people behind you when braking quickly.
- saalweachter 5y agoYou should worry about what's in front of your car first and what is behind it after. There's a reason we ~always assign blame to the car that does the rear ending. Don't tailgate, people. You never know when the car in front of you is going to slam on the brakes because a ball, small child, or plastic bag jumps out in front of it.
- simondotau 5y agoI don't know about other people but as a driver I try to be aware of what's behind me at all times. Where I live (Sydney Australia) it's extremely rare to be tailgated on a suburban street — but when I am, I'll drive to the conditions. That means in an area where road incursions are probable (e.g. where there are pedestrians or playgrounds) I will drop my speed below the limit. If someone is being persistent or aggressive, I'll pull over and let them pass.
- stephencanon 5y agoThe drivers behind you are responsible for maintaining a safe following distance so that you can slam on the brakes when a kid runs into the street. It’s not your job to worry about them. Eyes on the road in front of you.
- simondotau 5y agoYou're saying it's better to just hit a child with your own momentum than hit a child with the momentum of the tailgater behind you?
- ryathal 5y agoRear ending is almost always the job of the following car to maintain safe distance.