

Dead Man Driving - swombat
http://www.menshealth.com/men/best-life/life-lessons/highway-traffic-safety/article/ebe07febcb6c4210VgnVCM10000030281eac?print=true&url=http://www.menshealth.com/men/best-life/life-lessons/highway-traffic-safety/article/ebe07febcb6c4210VgnVCM10000030281eac

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Zak
The article mentions that drivers usually fail to apply the brakes fully when
attempting a panic stop. Some cars include brake assist systems that
automatically apply full brakes when the driver presses the pedal suddenly
enough.

I had the opportunity to give such a system a real-world test a couple years
ago. I came over a crest on a German autobahn at just under 100 MPH (160 km/h)
in a Volkswagen Crafter (a large van) to find a traffic jam in front of me.
It's an odd experience; there's a snapping noise, and the pedal pressure is
reduced to almost nothing. For an instant, I actually thought something had
burst in the hydraulic system and the brakes had failed. The system applied
the brakes as hard as the ABS would let it until I released the pedal.

~~~
jacquesm
I hope that you were running that van empty.

It's completely crazy how fast people will drive vans on the German autobahn,
160 to 180 is no exception. Big problem when you're hit by a gust of sidewind.
(that's when being loaded comes in handy again, but you can't really have a
good stopping distance _and_ good handling at speed).

------
hkuo
Summmary:

\- a million irrelevant paragraphs to make this guy seem like someone you can
relate to

\- guy driving on wet road

\- picks up phone

\- looks up and sees he's about to crash into another car

\- swerves across median into oncoming traffic

\- head-on collision with a Chevy Silverado

\- more irrelevant stuff about what goes on in those microseconds of the crash
to try to scare you

\- explanations of what you should do in inevitable crash events

Editor anyone? Interesting read anyway, but I probably read every 3rd or 4th
sentence.

~~~
frossie
I beg to differ. The article did a good job of blending physiological fact,
psychological data and accident statistics in a coherent narrative.

As for the stuff making you relate to the guy - well, the whole point is that
everybody believes it can't happen to them. The idea is - every fatal crash
has a backstory, and yours doesn't protect you from it.

[Edit: the last link in that article might be of more interest to HN too:
<http://www.zoomsafer.com>, which on quick perusal seems to be a service that
automatically detects you are driving (presumably my monitoring your speed)
and automatically autoresponds to calls by telling them where you are]

~~~
ellojones
Hi, this is Eleanor Jones, marketing manager for ZoomSafer. Frossie, thanks
for highlighting how technology like ZoomSafer's safe driving software can
prevent tragic crashes by reducing mobile phone use while driving.

ZoomSafer prevents distracted driving by using your phone's GPS to detect when
you're driving and automatically activating 'safe drive mode'. In 'safe drive
mode', ZoomSafer locks your phone's keypad and screen so you can't text,
email, or browse the web while driving - completely eliminating the need to
look at your phone when your eyes should be on the road scanning for potential
hazards.

The unfortunate situation detailed in the Men's Health article is one that's
entirely too common - there were 6,000 deaths from distracted driving in 2008
alone. Visit www.zoomsafer.com to learn more about you can stay safely focused
on the road.

------
ams6110
It's been many years since I took driver's ed but I don't really recall a
whole lot of time spent on the subject of emergency maneuvering. It would
probably be a really good idea if you have a kid learning to drive, or for
yourself, to take a few lessons that include recovering from a skid (actually
doing it, not just reading about it), drifting off the road, etc. etc.

~~~
eoin_murphy
I can't remember where or when I heard it but I do recall that the number of
accidents increase when the driver believes that they are good enough to avoid
a crash through emergency manoeuvring. Safe driving is being aware and driving
in such a was so as to prevent getting into that situation in the first place
and if someone is trained to recover from a skid/drifting etc... then they're
more likely to take risks.

That being said, if you can handle a car in emergency situations is a good
thing as long as that doesn't encourage you to cause those situations.

------
epochwolf
> The more accustomed you are to the road, the more difficult it is for you to
> imagine disaster. And so it is with LaBar. His eyes stop scanning, his
> attention withdraws, his response time drops from around 450 milliseconds to
> about 1,300.

I noticed this in my own driving a year or two ago and I've since trained
myself to become more alert as I get to intersections near my home. It's
really amazing how alert I get. Unfortunately this training makes it difficult
to fall asleep quickly after driving home. :)

>You're About to Rear-End the Car in Front of You

>The instinct: Brake hard

>The right response: Brake even harder

This is very dangerous if your brakes aren't in good condition. I did this
last week with the SUV I normally drive. I applied the brake at full force to
stop at a light.* I slammed on my brakes and on a flat, dry road surface my
vehicle skipped 1/4 of the way into the intersect. I should have stopped
before it.

Now I had known my brakes were acting a little weird but my dad replaced them
today and I found out about 50% of the rotor surface was gone in large
patches. Had I known just how bad my brakes were (I don't know anything about
cars) I would have had them fixed sooner.

* I was driving the speed limit, not five over. I wasn't distracted. I did see the light change to yellow and started braking. Then the light quickly turned red. The light was way too fast for the intersection. (It's an odd intersect, there are two lights in a row and the traffic is usually heavy enough that you can't get up to 35mph to the second light during that time of day but I had a clear lane through the first intersection)

~~~
ars
Brake full force anyway. There is no way that braking full force will cause it
to take longer to slow down unless your tires skid.

What does "skipped 1/4 of the way" mean?

What does "50% of the rotor surface was gone in large patches" mean? Have you
ever seen a brake rotor? Are you implying you had big holes in your rotor? The
rotor does not have a special surface, it's just bare metal. The only way the
surface could be gone is if you have a hole in it.

~~~
wooster
By skipped 1/4 of the way, I take it to mean he skidded 1/4 of the way across
the intersection (or, alternatively, 1/4 of his car was in the intersection).

If your pads are worn through you can wear grooves into your rotor surface.
Grooves in your rotors reduce braking friction and are very bad.

~~~
ars
Grooves are very bad. But they don't reduce friction. It's happened to me,
they make the most horrible grinding noise, but they stop the car quite well.
Too well.

~~~
epochwolf
There wasn't any grooves. My brake pads are still good. Only the rotors were
bad.

