Five years ago, I hit a woman with my car on I-75 | Hacker News Reader

Five years ago, I hit a woman with my car on I-75

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22 pointsedward14 comments

I thought this was well written and honest.

But based on the description of that second accident, the author was absolutely at fault. Never swerve into oncoming traffic… take the hit. But I understand that’s easier to say than decide in the moment. I hope technology can continue to make driving safer so those decisions are easier to make or don’t need to be made.

I had to take the hit about ten years ago. A large animal crossing, cars close behind me, oncoming traffic... and my two kids in their car seats, in the back seat. I had to risk a 200+ kg deer coming through the windshield.

If it had been a human on the road, I don't think I'd be able to control my reaction to avoid hitting them, no matter the situation. Not time to think much.

I came very close to taking a hit. Was working with a flight instructor on some instrument training. On landing, a deer broke out and took that as an opportunity to cross the runway. Speeds were way too low for me to throttle up and pull up, though that was my first inclination. The grizzly veteran shouted "Fly through the deer!" I did... the deer did not make contact, and we did what constituted a great landing - someone else could use the plane again. Yanking back on the stick would have likely stalled us out for a bad landing. Words stuck with me for driving, etc. Fly through the deer.

Wow. I learned to fly in high school. God I can just picture it. “Fly through the deer!” I’d laugh all the way into orbit after getting out of that one in one piece.

People always overestimate their agency in panic situations.

Unless you have significant training, your actions in panic situations are rarely better than random.

I have had a couple situations where it seems like I made incredible decisions that worked out great. I like to remind myself that "boxcars comes up twice in a row" does not mean I'm a God and that "snake-eyes comes up twice in a row" does not mean I'm a moron.

I don’t drive, which is terribly inconvenient, but I believe it would be ethically wrong for me to do so.

I theoretically know how to drive, but I’m very bad at it for lack of experience, which makes me a hazard to myself and others if I do drive. I could be a better driver if I had more experience, but I can only obtain that experience by driving, in which case I’d be endangering the lives of myself and others. So I’m stuck.

It’s a vicious cycle.

It's not a vicious cycle, everyone on the planet who drives started with a lack of experience. Heck, you would have a lack of experience in riding a bike on the road for the first time.

Everyone on the road has a different level of attentiveness and experience on the road, regardless of their years of driving. We know that as a society people make mistakes but we hope that the majority don't, which is why we have insurance. You need to start by driving predictable easy routes, then slowly branch out if it has been some time since you have been driving.

However, if you feel that you would put other people in danger when driving, then I applaud your self awareness in taking other steps which are probably better for your own health and the planet :) I do think we can do better when it comes to frequent recurring travel such as driving to work as opposed to weekend travelling or holiday travelling.

I don't think you're permanently stuck. There are courses specifically for learning how to drive more safely, that presumably let you practice things in such a way you are unlikely to injure anyone.

I think the fact that you put this much care and consideration into your driving puts you well above most drivers. It's no different than learning how to ride a bike really; go slow, maybe get one of those "student driver" stickers, and you'll be fine.

It's a call for simulators.

I was involved in a collision where an infant narrowly missed being struck and killed. I wasn't at fault, the other driver crossed the middle of the road directly in front of me and my vehicle struck the cargo area of their vehicle (the baby was in the back seat on that side of the vehicle).

I occasionally wonder how I would have processed it if things had gone differently, fault or not.

I've had horrible luck driving cars - thankfully nothing as bad as injuring humans or colliding with oncoming traffic, but I've come close. The stakes - and expenses - are so high compared to other forms of transportation. I prefer cycling although doing it in NYC I don't know if it's actually rationally safer or cheaper than living elsewhere with a car.

OT: Why is this a link to twitter and not to the article referenced in the tweet? There's no other content there.

Archived article by itself: https://archive.is/sxctl

Crazy how big a factor hospital bills and insurance were. (Insert generic European commentary on universal healthcare here.)

Imagine being so full of yourself that you turn a terrible accident into a sob story about your feelings.

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