What would you have done as a passenger?

Fuzzzy

I had a situation yesterday that I've never encountered before (and for me, that's a looong time) and still wonder what I should have done. All feedback is welcome and appreciated.

I had a root canal the day before and took a pain pill just before my wife and I left the house to run a couple of errands and grab some lunch. I almost always drive (she says I have control issues) even if we are in my wife's almost new Outback, but since I had taken the pain pill I opted to be a passenger. We made one stop, then went and had lunch, and were making one more stop on our way home.

Two blocks from our intermediate destination we were stopped at a red light on a two-lane road where we were going to turn right onto a 4-lane street with a small grass median. It had been raining there and the road was still very wet. There were (I think) two cars stopped in our lane ahead of us. Traffic from the 4-lane street had the green light and was turning both right and left (that street ended at the intersection). The third (I think) vehicle coming in our direction was a Mustang (isn't it always a Mustang?)--looked to be a GT or faux-GT, all black with heavily tinted windows. As s/he was completing their left turn, they apparently goosed it a bit and got almost sideways--heading toward the rear of our car.

We had a few feet between us and the car ahead of us, and no curb (I don't think) on the right with a church on that corner lot. As the Mustang's driver started to try to regain control, not only was it obvious that he wasn't going to be able to straighten up but he was increasing his angle right toward our driver's door. I thought it was a given that we were going to be hit. My wife was absolutely frozen at the wheel. I actually considered a few options, none of which were very appealing. It really did seem like it was slow-motion. The driver eventually found the brakes but I still "knew" we were going to get hit. The more he slowed, the more I was willing to accept being hit. I ended up doing nothing, and the Mustang somehow stopped short of hitting us. We didn't exit the vehicle to look, but I would bet a substantial sum that he had less than an inch left before making contact. We sat there for a moment and I told my wife to drive on. I was furious, but I had enough sense to realize that nothing good would come from a confrontation. I think the Mustang must have thought he hit us, because we were a block or more away before he moved. And he left in a hurry. Idiot!

Wife was too shaken to drive home after our next stop, where we confirmed there was no damage or evidence of any contact.

At the time, I figured my options were:

A) Just sit there and await impact. That turned out fine. This time.

B) Yell at wife to drive. Probably she taps the car in front of us and maybe even steers toward the Mustang's lane.

C) Yell at wife to drive and yank steering wheel to right into churchyard. No idea how far we would go before wife stopped and we might still tap the car in front of us.

If the Mustang hadn't been slowing, I almost certainly would have done C. Given that the Mustang was slowing, but his driver's side headlight was making a beeline for our driver's door, how bad was my decision to let my wife take a hit in that seat rather than possibly initiating chaos since I was "certain" that we were going to get at least a light thump?

Thanks for reading this far, and no need to be gentle.

JC-Nismo

Don't focus on the "what if's" You both came out unharmed and no damage to your car so anything else can fly a kite in the world of Wonder................. Period!!!

Slartibartfas

Better the devil you know than the one you don't.

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SouthArk370Z

IMNSHO, the best option would have been to talk to the frozen driver in a firm tone to knock them out of their reverie. "Aim for the churchyard" or similar. Yelling will probably make things worse.

Grabbing the steering wheel is a BIG no-no in my book. Do that while I'm driving and you're gonna pull back a bloody nub.

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Fuzzzy

Thanks, everyone!

somms

As a driver, I would be furious at a passenger trying to exert control, specially during a crisis.

If you know ahead of time that you don't trust the driver to safely get you through an emergency and you're otherwise impaired, consider a cab/uber or other public transportation.

And yes, it's always a mustang.

Jsolo

Good to think about these situations as it builds a sort of pseudo experience.

Many years ago in motorcycle training they had us lock up the rear wheel at slow speed (15-20 mph) to get an idea of what it felt like. Of course, there's 2 schools of thought on this. MSF says ride out the skid, others say release it esp if the bike is still tracking straight. Releasing it if the *** end starts coming around usually results in a highside (bike bucking you off). Regardless of the outcome, we now had some idea what a locked up rear wheel felt like.

To answer your question, option A. If you do much of anything else she may freak out and hit the gas hard or manage to somehow lose control of the car. Back to bikes again, we were taught to always have an escape route. Not very easy with a car, but you do have control over how close you stop to the car in front. I'll usually leave at least 3/4 of a car length or more.

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cigarclifford

Nice to read that your wife and you are fine Fuzzzy

-Clifford

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ChaseZ

This is clearly the more important piece of information shared.

And I don't think you could have done anything different. By the time she would have reacted in some way you you yelling instructions at the same time as the near miss is taking place her instincts likely would have been to mash one pedal or the other, neither of which would accomplish a slow controlled movement out of harms path - and there very likely wouldn't have been the time for that anyhow.

The real answer to what you should have done however is to size up the situation then pull out your CCW and shoot the driver through his windshield hitting his right shoulder which would cause him to pull the steering wheel correcting the uncontrolled slide of his car and resulting in a harmless fishtail down the road with a large gap between his vehicle and any other traffic, coming to a gentle stop near the opposite curb.

You could then nonchalantly go ahead your day with full and quiet confidence that you saved the world from the needless fate of yet another careening, ill-advised mustang.

Thanks, we owe you one!

Fuzzzy

^^^



Winner!