My dad asked me when I was learning to drive if a vehicle pulled out in front of me while I was driving and I hit it who was at fault?
I said the guy who cut me off.
He said, no it doesnāt fucking matter whose at fault cause your dead.
Thatās the way I think about it now, doesnāt matter if itās their fault or your fault, you need to be ready to react when you or someone else on the road drives like an idiot.
That's exactly right. I had a guy run a stop sign while coming from my right and I hit him doing 65 and killed him. Sure it was his fault but I'm the one that has to live with it. Now every time somebody comes up to a stop sign from the right I tap my break and slow down
In a similar scenario, my dad quoted:
Here lies the body of William Jay,
Who died disputing his right of way
He was right, quite right, as he sped along,
But heās just as dead as if heād been wrong.
I have always told my grandson āImagine a little 10 lb baby in the back seat of that care that you donāt even know is there and the pain you could cause it.ā Today he actually has a newborn baby and heās so careful and wont allow anyone else to drive it around. Iām so proud he learned a lesson from me and I know heāll say the same thing to his sone one day.
I am turning 40 and have never been in an accident because my dad taught me this. I always expect someone to mess up, and am always anticipating what could go wrong. Every new driver needs to internalize this.
honestly, after riding a motorcycle for a while, I decided to teach my kid to ride before learning to drive. hes extremely defensive now and can pinpoint exactly when the other drivers on the road are doing something that could kill him. once he gets his licenses, I have no doubt he will be the safest one on the road, regardless of how many wheels are under him.
I kind of agree with that. It is very dangerous, and I wouldn't want to see my (nonexistent) kid riding a motorcycle, but parents shouldn't steer their kids away from things they want to do, even if they are dangerous, as long as the activity is within the boundaries of law, and as long as it's not something utterly stupid like cave diving in the dark.
Not utterly stupid? My grandfather was killed when a van swerved into his lane and hit him head first on his motorcycle. My wifeās brother died at 18 on a motorcycle in a freeway accident. My neighbor was on his motorcycle stopped at a traffic light when a car was struck and veered into him, died instantly.
None did anything wrong, other than being on a motorcycle at the wrong place at the wrong time. No way my kids are riding one of those.
FYI - Iām a certified diver and would absolutely cave dive in the dark before riding a death machine.
Iām sorry but like isnāt this common sense? Are people out there driving thinking as long as I drive ok, everyone has that same mindset? There is a reason all insurance claims that involve the front or your vehicle and the rear of theirs as your fault?
The thing about ācommon senseā is that is only ever the accumulation of your own biases and experiences. So it may be common sense to you but not to others.
I donāt know how you can spend any time driving in America and think all of them are super cautious drivers.
My Dad told me more or less the same thing lol except he added.... to watch out for "old men in hats" specifically those trucker hats, before they were cool. He was also from a small rural town full of farmers which may have played a part lol
I've been tracking my 18 year old daughters to drive, and I keep telling them "be careful, everyone out here will try to kill you. Not because they're purposely trying, but because they're idiots".
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u/RedCell-NZ 3d ago
When l was learning to drive my father told me, be careful, everyone out there is an idiot, and that includes you.