<MISC> my first accident avoidance maneuver..

[Christopher Pawlowicz <chrisp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

hey,

I'm all jumpy and full of adrenaline and just felt like telling everyone
about it :)

Driving to work minutes ago, (a nice crisp -20C morning with about 5cm of
 fresh snow on the ground), put-putting down the street at about 50km/h
 when some freak in a Taurus pulls out of a parking lot (without even
 looking my way) and grinds across right in front of me!
   (he was turning left across my path)


Thumbs squish down on the horn buttons (which emit a feeble croak from the
snow packed air dam area)..

Slam on the brakes (abs goes bzzzzt) nope, no *way* I'm gonna stop in time,

so off the brakes, back to the throttle,
crank the wheel, aim for the spot right behind the guy (and just in front
 of the next car coming out), do a lane change maneuver to nip to the right,
fiddle the throttle to keep the back end in line,
squirt back to the left and into my lane (instead of flying into the
sidewalk) and I'm on my way.

yikes! a driving school exercise that actually saved my sheetmetal ! cool !

For a split second I considered T-boning the guy instead of avoiding him,
but all the hassle of getting a new car etc would probably not be worth it.

And I also thought of people telling me of similar experiences where they
*did* end up T-boning the guy ('there was nothing I could do') and think
to myself 

driving schools are awesome!
driving schools are awesome!
driving schools are awesome!

sigh. Only 4 more months to the next driving school.


Chris Pawlowicz
'89 325i - winter beast! none shall stand in my way!
'74 2002 - sleeping

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