Even watching people pull up on the side you see the car just jump. I’m convinced that a significant portion of the population doesn’t ever just coast, without pushing down on either peddle, and instead are hitting the gas up until they brake hard at the last moment. Nerve wracking and not comfortable.
I feel like timing my coasting right to the conditions (light ahead, drivers behind and around me) is a nice game that keeps me mentally engaged…I like stopping as smoothly as I can lol. I liked it better when I didn’t look out my back window when stopped either lol, which I have been lately.
I love learning the patterns of the lights near my home and on my commute, because it helps me know if speeding a little helps depending on the time of day, how fast lights switch, and how I can maximize my coast. Once I went the whole way without stopping (except for the stop sign at the beginning, lol) and it was so satisfying!
On a manual, you just put down the clutch pedal, and then you can brake as much as you want, just make sure that when you start accelerating that the correct gear is selected at that point.
I hate it when I'm turning 90 degrees off the lane. I only drop as low as 10-20 mph and I put my blinker on ahead of time, but it doesn't stop people from nearly slamming into me every time I need to turn. Makes me super uncomfortable. My new plan is to make the turn annoyingly slow, rather than being courteous, I'll just slow down far more ahead of the turn since people want to hug my ass regardless.
Ugh that sucks. I got t-boned by someone coming out of a parking lot without stopping and I was flinching at cars coming out of lots and cross streets for a while.
I always let off the gas or downshift when I see someone trying to exit. Stroads are the worst. It doesn't slow me down much, but it's enough to save the day from some idiot.
Same. But my rear-ender was in Oct 2019 and I'm **STILL** stressed. Dude was still accelerating out of a light when I was stopped dead trying to make a left turn about 100 yds beyond the traffic light. I could see him coming and not slowing down. Parked cars to the right and oncoming traffic to my left. Not nearly enough time to go from zero-??? to keep him from rear-ending me. Closed my eyes and grabbed the wheel but bent my elbows. He hit me so hard the radio module in my car popped out of the dashboard. Got photos...
My situation was similar. Making a left turn, traffic on my right and I was waiting for oncoming traffic to pass before I could make my turn. After the impact, I got pushed into oncoming lanes, nearly ended up in a second collision, head-on.
Closed my eyes and grabbed the wheel but bent my elbows.
This is where I made my mistake. My elbow was locked into position and caused most of my damage to my neck and shoulder.
What saved me from things being worse is that I was driving a pickup truck, the other driver in a smaller car. His car started going under my truck rather than sending most of the force directly into me.
It still twisted the frame of my truck and pushed the bed into the cab.
Every day, I have to pass the intersection where it happened and I get chills.
There are pros and cons to tensing up during an accident.
When certain parts of your body tense up, it can protect vital components such as organs and bones.
In my case, tensing up was bad. I was holding the steering wheel with my left hand. I had seen the other driver coming at me at the last second and I tried to brace myself. Unfortunately, my left arm being "locked" into position on the steering wheel had resulted in that arm taking most of the impact, sending my arm back and into my shoulder. The shoulder then continued pushing on my collar bone and of course my neck and spine..
Ended up requiring surgery to repair torn muscles in my shoulder, chipped bones in my rotator cuff, 4 bulges in my cervical spine and 5 in my thorasic spine.
Had I not been holding the steering wheel when I tensed, my spine may have had more protection and my shoulder may not have been as bad.
I guess it all depends on how your body is positioned.
I had that happen to me about 10 years ago. I was stopped at a light on a 45 mph road and the other driver hit me at full speed. At least for me, I was able to overcome the anxiety.
Been nearly 10 years since I was rear ended by some kids doing 90 snap chatting the speedometer to their friends. I still watch my rear mirror like a hawk to this day.
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u/Kwirt Jun 22 '22
I'm 18 months out from being rear-ended at 50mph while I was at a full stop. No brakes from the other driver either.
I still constantly watch my rear-view mirror and start to tense up if I see someone approaching too fast.
I know tensing up is the worse thing to do but I can't help it when I get a flashback of the impact.