Assume there is a good chance that swerving out of the way of a drunk driver (say one who is driving on the wrong side of the road) will prompt the drunk driver to swerve towards you…
is it a viable option to stop in the road and let the drunk driver hit you?
physics would suggest that if you’re stopped and he hits you, there will be less energy in the crash than if the two of you were moving, right?
is stopping and “letting” (i.e. running a high risk) the drunk driver hit you a viable option?
That is a question that is impossible to give a one answer fits all occasions answer to. Is there a right shoulder? How wide is it? Is there a cliff or drop off there? How high is the drop off? What are you driving? What is the other guy driving? If you try and swerve into his lane, will he also swerve that direction?
Lots of questions that will need answering in a very short period of time.
However in general I have a few answers for you.
In general the worst place to take a hit is on the side of your car. Your shoulder (or your passenger’s) is only about 12" from the outside edge of the car. Compare that to the 6+ feet between your chest and the front bumper.
Also high on the list of ways you don’t want to be hit is an offset frontal collision, where only one front corner of your car takes the impact. While bad this is not as bad as a side impact.
Slowing down or stopping and taking the hit square on the front of your car is an option, but not necessarily the best one, it might be, but there is no way to tell in advance.
I know I was once on a small highway in rural California approaching a curve to the left. To my right was a 6’ wide shoulder and then 15’ drop off to a farm field. A semi truck came around the corner in front of me, the rear trailer wheels lost traction and the trailer swung into my lane. :eek: I hit the brakes and headed for the shoulder. Just about the time I was ready to head over the drop off and into the field the trucker got it together and I was able to head back into my lane.
Point is you have to keep your eyes open and know your options.
I once remember finding myself on a bicycle in the middle lane of a 3 lane road with two motorcyclists coming up fast behind me…I was going to change lanes…but kept going straight on the theory that it was better to do the most predictable thing.