"mazda616" (mazda616)
08/26/2016 at 21:38 • Filed to: Driving
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"mazda616" (mazda616)
08/26/2016 at 21:38 • Filed to: Driving | 1
| 13 |
I’m an animal lover. My mother raised me that way, as she was too. She was only around for the first eleven years of my life, but her lessons are still engrained in my mind. So, when I see a dog, cat, rabbit, raccoon, squirrel, or even a bird in the road, my instinct is to slam the brakes and swerve around said animal. I know that’s stupid, I promise. I know swerving can cause worse accidents.
It’s like, in those situations, I immediately swerve. Afterwards, I’m cursing myself for it. Because I know how dangerous that was, and I know I need to continue on my path and just hit whatever little critter had the unfortunate idea of running out in front of my moving vehicle.
How in the world do I break this habit? Animals in Kentucky must be dumber than most, or else just more plentiful. I’d say once a week or so, I have a near miss with some type of creature.
The S10 and I almost took out a freakishly tall deer the other night, in fact. Would have been interesting to see if the 21-year-old truck’s airbag even worked.
Overall, I feel like I’m just not a very good driver. I love driving and I’ve been doing it for ten years, but I’m not the best. It sucks. I have to slam the brakes a lot, or else I feel like I do when I really don’t. I also tend to slightly overreact if another car tries to pull out in front of me or drifts into my lane. I’m a bit paranoid, I guess. Not sure why. I’ve never been in a serious accident. I’ve had two fender benders (one shortly after I got my license in 2006 and another in the summer of 2008). Both times, I bumped the rear end of the car in front of me. I got lucky each time that the driver of the car I hit declined to notify the police or call their insurance.
I’m going to have a kid in my car soon. I have got to get better. :-(
Chariotoflove
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 21:43 |
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You're not alone in braking for animals. Most people I know try their best not to hit the furry critters. It does sound like you tend to be a little skittish, possibly leading to sudden movements that could be problematic. I hope that doesn't get worse when the little one is with you. Do you think a driving course might give you some confidence and increase your skills (not the court ordered ones; the racing ones)?
VincentMalamute-Kim
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 22:00 |
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I’m with you, animal lover. I’ve gone to the track “driving schools” with the Audi Club and BMW Club. They’re basically track days but they throw in a few lessons and exercises so that they can call them driving schools for insurance purposes. Some of the exercises might include panic stops, wet slaloms, and sudden unexpected swerving where you don’t know which you’re going to have to swerve.
I have actually found these useful for day to day driving. And actually used the swerving lessons to avoid a large piece of wood in the middle of the road. The BMW Club with the Tire Rack also holds Street Survival courses.
Basically the stuff you need for real world driving, not to get your license. You really should do at least one of the above. It’ll help. If you have a sporty type car and can get in with the appropriate club, track days where they pair you with an instructor will help too. Even Autocross. Anything where you’re driving at the limit will help your skills and confidence.
wafflesnfalafel
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 22:00 |
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/wor…
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mazda616
> wafflesnfalafel
08/26/2016 at 22:09 |
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Okay, I'm not that stupid.
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mazda616
> VincentMalamute-Kim
08/26/2016 at 22:11 |
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There’s one of those on September 27th at the Corvete Museum, which is 45 minutes from me. I think I’m going to go.
I drive a Mazda6, which is the sportier of the family sedan type cars.
The Lurktastic Opponaught
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 22:16 |
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Remove all distraction and vary your route. There’s a particular road near me that gets grindingly busy in the summer, so for those months I take a route that’s 5 miles longer, with quiet low to moderate speed twisties, one light, and near zero traffic. It takes the same amount of time.
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VincentMalamute-Kim
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 22:20 |
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You should go. School and driving lessons teach you how to drive by the rules. What you really need are lessons and experience on what to do at the limit (safely of course), which the other things give you. And there’s clubs for every damn thing under the sun so I’m sure there’s a Mazda club that does track days/driving schools if you really want to expand your skills.
Usually what I do in your situation is brake hard. I usually don’t try to swerve because doing both braking and swerving quickly overloads your tire limits (probably your skill limits too). I don’t remember how I developed that reaction but probably the schools helped.
I think the Mazda6 is more than sporty enough to stand up to track days. I’m assuming you haven’t done those. You will burn up consumables - oil, brake fluid, pads, tires - but the experience can be invaluable for safety reasons. And a lot of people find them fun.
oh, I have a modified Audi S4 and the big thing I learned is that you don’t learn as much with high powered cars. Low powered cars are better for actually learning how to drive.
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mazda616
> VincentMalamute-Kim
08/26/2016 at 22:24 |
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Shoot. I just read where it's for drivers ages 15-21. I'm 26 (will be 27 in November). I am a member of a somewhat local Mazda club. I'll ask around and see if they know of anything.
shop-teacher
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 22:31 |
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Yeah, don’t do that. My uncle totaled my grandma’s ‘74 Camaro that way. Having the kid will probably help.
Cash Rewards
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 22:49 |
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Autocross works too. You really learn how to handle your car and that breeds confidence. As for the animals, I got lucky. When I turned 16, my mom gave me a stack of articles she had been clipping out of the newspaper for years about people swerving to avoid animals and causing worse accidents. Never was an issue for me from the start.
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VincentMalamute-Kim
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 22:52 |
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Sounds like for you, a car club driving school/track day will be the next best option. After that lots of companies hold open track days. Even the SCCA
https://www.tracknightinamerica.com/
The open track days don’t usually include those driving exercises that the clubs driving schools do but they will throw an instructor in with you if you’re a beginner. Better than nothing and you do get to experience your car at the limit safely which is better than experiencing the limits for the first time while in traffic.
Urambo Tauro
> mazda616
08/26/2016 at 22:53 |
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Trying to avoid hitting animals is noble. I think you’re just struggling with the threshold of when it’s appropriate.
If there are no other cars around, I think that using the full width of the road for evasive maneuvers is acceptable. But when there are more valuable things at stake, you have to prioritize what you’re willing to hit. And maybe that’s a lot to process, especially for a split-second decision.
One of the things that has helped me make those split-second decisions is to have clearly established priorities that affect my driving as a whole. For example, I believe that safety should always be your #1 goal. It’s more important than the law, the flow of traffic, or personal convenience. No matter how much I’m in a hurry or trying to be courteous, or trying to avoid getting pulled over, I will do ANYTHING to avoid injuring another person. Second priority for me is avoiding property damage, and on, etc.
And maybe that’s something that can help you. As an animal lover, you’re probably putting animals on the same level of priority as humans. But animals just... do dumb things, and I think that a lot of animal vs. car encounters are just survival-of-the-fittest/natural-selection at work. A car will obliterate a puppy just like a lion will obliterate an antelope. And it’s just the natural order of things.
I once ran over a cat, and even though I felt bad, today I have no regrets because in that moment it was either the cat, a mailbox, or an oncoming car. Obviously, hitting the other car would have been the worst decision I could have made. As for the mailbox- well, that would have been property damage (not just the mailbox owner, but my car too). The cat that suddenly darted into the road did a dumb thing, and ultimately bears all the responsibility for its own death (as harsh as that may sound).
Jayvincent
> mazda616
08/27/2016 at 07:53 |
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The unofficial safe driving course rule is “if it fits in a skillet, go ahead and kill it” because squirrels are plentiful and unlikely to destroy your car or injure you if you hit them. Hard braking is recommended, provided you have the situational awareness to ensure you aren’t being tailgated. Swerving is bad as you can’t predict where the animal is going next (about 51% of the time they reverse course when they see you), oncoming traffic risks, additional confusion by the oblivious tailgater, etc... In fact situational awareness is always the best defensive driving tactic. Scan the road shoulders for critters ahead and you will have more time to slow down and assess their suicidal intent. Pay attention to the time of day (raccoons, squirrels, rabbits in the morning, deer from dusk to dawn, dogs all day long). The previous advice about a defensive driving or car control class is the best. It will give you the confidence and muscle memory to react correctly without over-thinking in an emergency situation. I learned more from my kids defensive driving class than I had from decades of “driving experience.”
As a side note, I was once told by an instructor that armadillos are almost always road kill rather than a survivor because they are: slow, near-sighted, and prone to jump straight up in the air (presumably to curl into a defensive ball) when frightened. So even if you have the road clearance to buzz a ‘dillo, you will probably feel a thump. Any Texans or Floridians with personal experience want to chime in?
