# What would you do in this driving situation? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 8, 2018, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662 "2018-06-08T04:35:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/21 "2018-06-08T12:54:06Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I think you can’t know what the best option is unless you have a full mental picture of what is all around you. > > I was always told that you should be constantly checking mirrors and knowing your surroundings so I can’t imagine a situation where I don’t know what is to my right, I mean the only reason I’m in the left lane is because I’m passing something and so I have to be fully aware in order to make that pass safely. > > If you don’t know what is to your left, right, front and back at _all times_ then you are a less safe driver. > > For the scenario as stated, veer off to the right, braking as necessary to try and hit a gap\* that I already know is there\*, and risk multiple side collisions rather than a head-on. This is the answer. Be aware of the traffic around you so you DO know if you can safely swerve right. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/22 "2018-06-08T13:21:30Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > This is the answer. Be aware of the traffic around you so you DO know if you can safely swerve right. That’s true, another thing I was taught in driver’s ed was to always have (when possible) an ‘escape route’, or at least know what it is. I do regularly keep an eye on my surroundings _especially_ if I anticipate something happening, so I know if I can swerve or slow down very quickly etc. A good example of this is being behind a car I feel like might get into an accident. I make sure I have enough distance between us so that if they wreck, I’m not standing on the brake pedal and getting rear ended. Similarly, there’s a few places I can think of where the right lane of the freeway turns into an exit only lane. I do my best not to be next to people as we approach the exit since more often than not, they’ll come flying back over at the last second.\* However, to stay with the OP, one of the conditions was not being aware, at that second, if there was someone next to you. “you should always know” or “I always check my mirrors” or “you should have stopped driving if you were tired” make the hypothetical not work. \*There used to be an interchange in Milwaukee that as you came up to it the left 2 lanes said [Chicago] and the right lane was [Not Chicago]. I got very used to checking license plates and not being next to anyone with an Illinois plate. Better than half the time people with Illinois plates would realize they were in the wrong lane and zip over. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/23 "2018-06-08T13:39:21Z")
I keep track of all the cars on the road around me. It’s still possible that a car that was behind me to the right speeds up right then, but even if not I’d swerve to the right, only enough to stay clear of the oncoming car and hopefully there’s enough room for everyone to squeeze through. If not it’s still better that I collide with a car going the same direction as I am then hit one head on. One of the worst things to do here is to hit the brakes, it takes away your ability to maneuver and could make it all worse if there are cars behind you, and if you do move to the right also you could get hit by a car behind you in that lane. I’d probably hit the turn signal out of habit as I started to move to the right. I hope that would warn anyone behind me that something is happening, I’d hate for them to collide with oncoming car after I move. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/24 "2018-06-08T13:55:02Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > But the vehicle coming at me is a bus full of orphans headed for cancer treatment when the nun driving it had a heart attack. So now you just killed twenty cancer-orphans. But one of them was going to grow up to be Hitler. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/25 "2018-06-08T14:02:58Z")
> [@ticker](#): > > Press that red button hidden in the gearstick knob you were always told never to press. Yes, but not all vehicles are equipped with the Inspector Gadget/Speed Racer feature that springs one’s vehicle safely over the approaching car. One wishes more car manufacturers offered this important safety feature. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/26 "2018-06-08T14:19:56Z")
Swerve to the right. As others have said, it is preferable to a head on collision. In fact, this would be my strategy even if I knew that there was a car there. Depending on how things work out, they will probably be better off for it as well. If they are to the right and back a bit, then the violence involved in my head on collision could impact them as well. > [@ticker](#): > > Press that red button hidden in the gearstick knob you were always told never to press. But, what would you do with a Mariachi band? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/27 "2018-06-08T14:47:31Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > I would throw that bad boy into reverse and lickity split backwards. > [@Isamu](#): > > Bail out and roll to the side. Textbook manuever. > [@Isamu](#): > > Oh and then wave goodbye to my family in the back seat. That’s not actually in the textbook but I figure it’s just polite. I’m dying of laughter over here! :D:D:D On the serious side, I’m with most who would swerve right. Instincts are a bitch to overcome. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/28 "2018-06-08T15:12:03Z")
**Jackknifed Juggernaut** , I would swerve right. I think anyone in the U.S. who says otherwise is wrong or deluding themselves. You don’t have time to think; only to react. Swerving right is the most natural reaction. Sideswiping a car is also less likely to be deadly than hitting someone straight on so this is the right reaction. I also think you overstate the odds of actually hitting a car in the next lane. At 50 mph, if traffic is travelling at roughly the same speed in each lane, you only have a 50% or greater chance of hitting a car next to you if the cars in the adjacent lane are packed less than two car lengths apart and if nobody is trying to reduce the chance of being sideswiped by avoiding driving right next to you. In the real world, at 50 mph, cars tend to be spread out more (probably more like 3-4 car lengths even in fairly tight traffic) and at least some people really do try to stay out of the blind spots of the cars next to them. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > In this situation, I expect that, for the vast majority of people, instinct is going to be the only thing that enters into what action they actually take. > > If you truly have “much less than a second to react,” I seriously doubt that anyone (save for maybe a very skilled driver, with extensive experience in defensive driving techniques) would actually have the time to process the thought that “there’s a good chance that there’s a car to my right.” Agreed, except even with that extensive training, there is no real chance to think rationally. This is a matter of reflex. The reflex is going to be to flee the bear coming after you. > [@DavidwithanR](#): > > I think it’s a case of [2 certain deaths] versus [unknown number of injuries, death possible but not certain]. I hope I’d swerve. I don’t know. A head-on collision at 50 mph isn’t a certain death. Even terrible accidents are surprisingly survivable in modern cars if you wear your seat belt. > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > For the scenario as stated, veer off to the right, braking as necessary to try and hit a gap\* that I already know is there\*, and risk multiple side collisions rather than a head-on. At some points, all drivers are less safe than they should be. To think otherwise is to delude yourself. I’ve read that 90% of drivers think they are above average. Since most of them are in the broad, indistinguishable middle, there’s a sense in which most of them are wrong. > [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > I’ve actually been in a similar situation: straight-ish highway, but dark, two lanes each direction, little to no median. I didn’t have time to parse out your dilemma or clear my blind spot. I just swerved. Exactly what I would expect. > [@elbows](#): > > While I may not _know,_ with certainty, if there is a car to my right in my blind spot, I must surely know the ‘potential’ of there being one there, based entirely on my awareness of the cars immediately near me. Why fight the hypothetical? If you’ve driven any meaningful distance, I guarantee you that there was at least one second when you weren’t aware of whether there was a car next to you. If you don’t think this has happened to you, you lack the self-awareness for me to believe that you have perfect awareness of traffic. > [@Slash1972](#): > > This is the answer. Be aware of the traffic around you so you DO know if you can safely swerve right. This is not the answer to the OP’s question. It’s the answer to a different question that makes you feel superior. > [@BobBitchin](#): > > My response would be stand on the whoa pedal and go right. Taking momentum out of the possible crash is good and this seems like a pretty natural reaction. It probably makes it more likely that you catch a driver off guard in the lane adjacent to you but that you wind up with a less serious collision than the one you avoided. Not a terrible outcome. > [@BobBitchin](#): > > You are right, I should know if there is anyone to my right, but the guy theoretically to my right shouldn’t be hanging out in my blind spot. > > And he should be watching the road ahead, and know I’ll be going right in case of kamikaze Buicks. > > So, if we get hurt, I guess we all dropped the ball to some extent. All true. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/29 "2018-06-08T16:10:04Z")
> [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](#): > > This is not the answer to the OP’s question. It’s the answer to a different question that makes you feel superior. Well, thanks for setting me straight great moderator of this thread’s answers and how people feel when posting them. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/30 "2018-06-08T16:13:44Z")
As others said, it won’t be a considered decision if you’re driving; it will be all reflex. But it’s certainly a real-world scenario for the programmers of autonomous vehicles. An AV would already know if there’s a vehicle on the right. So let’s assume there is - as the programmer, do you instruct the vehicle to favor the known head-on collision or the known side-swipe? Even knowing the side collision is coming, I think you have to go with that over head on. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/31 "2018-06-08T16:19:17Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Swerve to the right. As others have said, it is preferable to a head on collision. > > In fact, this would be my strategy even if I knew that there was a car there. Depending on how things work out, they will probably be better off for it as well. **If they are to the right and back a bit, then the violence involved in my head on collision could impact them as well**. This is the deciding factor, I think. If they’re close enough that my swerve is going to hit them, they must be at least partially overlapping with my position along the length of the highway, and a massive head-on collision literally in the lane right next to them is overwhelmingly likely to spread into their lane anyways. In that case, I’d hope that the third driver is also paying attention, and realizes that hitting their brakes is _their_ best option. If they can drop back even a few feet, they’ll likely clear the lane for me to swerve, avoiding an accident altogether. In fact, I’ve done just exactly that, when I’ve thought that someone in front of me was about to have an accident. Those accidents didn’t actually happened, but if they had, I’d have taken myself out of the equation, which is best I can do as just one driver. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/32 "2018-06-08T16:22:31Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > An AV would already know if there’s a vehicle on the right. So let’s assume there is - as the programmer, do you instruct the vehicle to favor the known head-on collision or the known side-swipe? Even knowing the side collision is coming, I think you have to go with that over head on. One of my rules for avoiding accidents is “Aim for the hole”. If you know there’s a piece of pavement without any other cars in it, try to put yourself in that spot. One other solution would be to swerve _and speed up_. Go right to avoid the head-on collision, move (relatively) forward to avoid the sideswipe. A human driver probably couldn’t pull that off in the time available, but a robocar would react much faster. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/33 "2018-06-08T16:53:29Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > One of my rules for avoiding accidents is “Aim for the hole”. If you know there’s a piece of pavement without any other cars in it, try to put yourself in that spot. I’m curious if that’s true, at least in general. I recall hearing a race car driver saying “aim for the crash”, the idea being that by the time you get there, the whole mess will have slid somewhere else. Granted they’re going at a 2,3,4 times faster than a tired driver on a 50mph road. Someone else mentioned this, but I think it’s worth reiterating, go right and hope that if there’s another person next to you, they’re playing the same game. I remember seeing something like this play out years ago. 4 lane road (2 lanes in each direction), speed limit 35, cars probably traveling 30-40. I watched as a car in on coming traffic very briefly went over the center line and then back. Almost as if he was swerving around something in the road (but I don’t know the actual reason). He was far enough over to clip a car, but someone the sheriff that he would have hit saw it, swerved around him (to the right) and back…like nothing even happened. Just went around that guy and kept driving. That was probably close to 20 years ago and I can still picture it in my head. To this day I can’t believe how fast that cop reacted. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/34 "2018-06-08T17:01:07Z")
If you keep driving, you’re going to hit head on at 100mph equivalent (both vehicle speeds added) and you’re very unlikely to survive. If you slam on the brakes, you reduce the speed of the eventual collision, but you’re still very likely to be killed, with ‘severely injured’ being a possibility. If it is a truck coming at you, you’re still dead. \*\*Swerve right hard. \*\* The people you may hit in that lane aren’t entirely out of the woods, collision wise or liability wise. They should see it coming too and know you need to move right to survive it. Doesn’t mean that they will react properly or at all, but if you hit someone and their vehicle ‘pushes back’ to keep you there, they might have some legal issues with your next of kin and the state. They could also be injured or killed by flying auto parts or your vehicle being driven into that lane if you don’t get over. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/35 "2018-06-08T17:05:21Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > If you keep driving, you’re going to hit head on at 100mph equivalent (both vehicle speeds added) and you’re very unlikely to survive. Minor nitpick. That’s actually been disproven a few times now. Two cars hitting each other head on at 50 doesn’t add up like that. If you’re going 50 and hit a car coming at you at 50, you’re going to feel like you were going 50 and hit an unmovable object. The car traveling towards you at the same speed puts enough force on your car to bring it to a dead stop, just like what would happen if you hit a brick wall. Perfect world and all that. Same size/mass vehicles, traveling exactly towards each other etc. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/36 "2018-06-08T19:09:30Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Minor nitpick. That’s actually been disproven a few times now. Two cars hitting each other head on at 50 doesn’t add up like that. If you’re going 50 and hit a car coming at you at 50, you’re going to feel like you were going 50 and hit an unmovable object. > The car traveling towards you at the same speed puts enough force on your car to bring it to a dead stop, just like what would happen if you hit a brick wall. > > Perfect world and all that. Same size/mass vehicles, traveling exactly towards each other etc. Of course, if they are in a Chevy Subdivision SUV, and you are in a Chevy Spark, the world may not be so perfect. OTOH, if the situation is reversed, then don’t bother swerving, just brace for a little bump. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/37 "2018-06-08T20:00:01Z")
Anyone who drives 50 mph in the fast lane deserves to die\*. So stay in your lane. Also, anyone who drives 50 mph in the fast lane is obviously unaware of his surroundings. But the driver tailgating the slow driver in the fast lane may get the biggest surprise here. \*Hypothetically. I’m not really wishing death on anyone here. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/38 "2018-06-08T20:11:55Z")
I would move right. My chances of surviving a head-on collision are not too good but I’ll take my chances on a side collision with a car going the same speed and direction as me. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/39 "2018-06-08T20:13:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Minor nitpick. That’s actually been disproven a few times now. Two cars hitting each other head on at 50 doesn’t add up like that. If you’re going 50 and hit a car coming at you at 50, you’re going to feel like you were going 50 and hit an unmovable object. > The car traveling towards you at the same speed puts enough force on your car to bring it to a dead stop, just like what would happen if you hit a brick wall. I used to work for Ford writing software to analyze just that kind of crash–head-on into a concrete barrier–and your explanation is exactly correct. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662/40 "2018-06-08T22:01:41Z")
Given the scenario in the OP, I would freak out, plow straight into him, and die. “Much less than a second”? That’s not enough time for me to form a coherent thought; I wouldn’t even register what those headlights _were_ before plowing into them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-in-this-driving-situation/815662.md?page=3)