TEG

Thankfully an oncoming car usually has more energy absorption capability than a brick wall. (Unless you run into the solid metal bumper of some old big rig).

TEG

Put another way, when your car and another car have a "chance encounter", they get to share crumple zones.

SByer

Unless the other car is a big, oversized, environment-hating, me-first-and-damn-the-world SUV.

Make me wish gas would go up to $8/gal.

TEG

Be careful what you run into...

doug

Reminds me of this Family Guy clip. Something similar almost happened to me yesterday in my Miata. Driver of an SUV, while talking on her cell phone, changed lanes without looking. Almost ran me over. Fortunately those little cars have great handling and I was able to avoid a collision.

SByer

For those in other states:
CA recently enacted a hands-free law.

As an avid cyclist, I'm not fond of it, because there always used to be a visual cue of who was a voluntary idiot. Not so much, now.

mittelhauser

??? If you are riding with traffic (like you are supposed to) how are you able to get a visual clue that they are on the phone?

They just veer into you from behind as they look down to dial...

-Jon

graham

When I ride in city traffic during rush hour, I frequently bike passed cars waiting in line for a light to turn green. It is good to pay attention to see if they are talking on the phone or yelling at their kids or whatever to determine if they will swerve into my lane and crush me.

SByer

And, likewise, those coming at you to make a left turn. Or at 2 way stop signs where you're about to cross. Eye contact with a normal driver usually means they see you. Even direct eye contact with a voluntary idiot and you're still probably invisible to them.

I recently finished reading Traffic (Tom Vanderbuilt), and it's quite eye opening. We already don't have the brainpower to drive safely - the brain just takes shortcuts like ignoring things in its visual scope that it doesn't have "abbreviations" for. Talking on a cell phone - hands free or not - takes a good, large chunk of that already overtaxed part of the brain and diverts it. Meaning even things like stop signs, stop lights, motorcycles, and children playing in the street can go completely unseen, even if directly in front of the driver. Even worse, it happens at a level that you have no clue that it's happening. Thus the belief by many that they can still drive safely while talking on a cell phone even when those of us behind them know they're driving like drunken sailors on leave.

I personally think that cell phone records should be part of any crash investigation, and that at-fault determinations should be changed such that if the records show there was a call in progress with a solo driver, that they be held at least 50% at fault.

TEG

Back when I was motorcycling, defensiveness was the rule. If I saw a car signal towards my lane I would get out of the way regardless if they looked. Sometimes they turned to check the lane and saw me but they would change lanes anyways. I could tell it wasn't that they wanted to run into me, but rather they didn't see a car so it didn't register that someone was preventing them from getting into the lane. Sometimes they would look right at me and I got to know that "blank stare" that meant "I am not really paying attention - just going through the motions looking for large objects in my peripheral vision".