I've been rear ended several times, didn't plan on any of them. In two cases I'd been stopped for a couple minutes prior to the crash, in another I saw it coming but couldn't do anything to prevent it. AFaIK the only way to avoid this is to not drive on public roads, or if you must then just don't ever stop (which may have other undesirable consequences).
I was rear-ended a few times when I was a young man and eventually learned ways to mitigate both the risk of being hit and the risk of hitting another vehicle as a result of being hit. For example:
- Maintain adequate following distance to avoid having to stop abruptly if the car in front of me does. This gives the guy behind me more time to stop.
- Add an extra second or two of following distance when following a truck, bus, farmer pulling a load of hay, or anything else that obstructs my forward vision.
- Also add a second or two when the vehicle behind me is a truck or bus to compensate for that vehicle's longer stopping distance if I have to stop.
- Add a second or two of following distance when following a motorcycle or very light car that presumably has a shorter braking distance.
- Signal turns and lane changes early, and always signal before slowing down. People who start to slow down first and then signal (especially if they don't flash the brake lights) are practically asking to be hit.
- I generally don't brake to slow down to go through a village, but I still flash the brake lights to let following drivers know that I'm slowing down. The following driver may not have noticed the "Speed Zone Ahead" sign.
- When stopped at a light as the first vehicle, I maintain firm pressure on the brakes and leave some room between me and the crosswalk or intersection. That reduces the risk of my being propelled into the intersection or a pedestrian.
- When stopped at a light and not the first vehicle, I maintain firm pressure on the brakes and leave enough forward distance to see where the tires of the vehicle in front of me touch the pavement. That reduces the chance of my being propelled into the vehicle in front of me if I am hit.
- I've also learned to mellow out and move over to allow tailgaters to pass me. The only time this is a problem around here is during the spring fishing season, the summer, and the hunting season, when a lot of "downstaters" are on the roads. The locals don't tailgate. I think it's because of the deer. Having to slow down because the car in front is trying to avoid hitting a suicidal deer is a common situation up here, but one that doesn't happen downstate.
There was one time I was rear-ended that I'm glad I didn't avoid. When I was in college, one of my jalopies was a 1969 AMC Rebel wagon that I bought for $450.00. I was waiting at an intersection to make a left turn when I was rear-ended by a limo. It was just a mildly jarring hit, not a violent one.
The middle-aged passenger in the limo, who owned it but wasn't driving, ran out of the car to make sure I wasn't hurt (I wasn't). He seemed genuinely concerned and offered several times to take me to the nearby hospital. I declined and assured him that I was unhurt. Then we looked at the damage. It was minor. The tailgate was slightly dented and the window wouldn't roll down. His bumper was higher than mine, so my bumper wasn't damaged at all.
He, I, and the driver exchanged the usual information. We didn't call the police because there were no injuries and the damage was minor. The owner also gave me $500.00 in cash to fix the tailgate and told me to call him back if the damage cost more than that to fix.
I fixed the damage to the tailgate myself the next day. I just popped out the dent and re-aligned the crank-type window mechanism inside the door. The dent popped out very nicely, so I decided to leave it at that. Later that day the owner of the limo called to check up on me again. I told him that the damage was fixed, and I assured him once again that I was unhurt.
I thought that was the end of it until I got a call from a lawyer who said he had a $5,000.00 check for me from the limo owner, along with a release to sign stating that I was uninjured and considered the matter settled. I thought I'd hit the Lotto! I drove like a bat out of hell to the lawyer's office, signed the release after barely reading it, and walked away five grand richer than I'd been that morning. Five grand was some pretty decent coin back then.
I didn't replace the Rebel, though. I banked the money and kept driving the Rebel until the brake master cylinder, the starter, and the muffler went bad -- all on the same day. It had 225,000 miles on it by then.
I thought it was an act of kindness on the Rebel's part that all three parts failed on the same day. Had any one of them failed, I probably would have fixed it. But because all three failed the same day, I sold it to a
junkie automobile recycler for $35.00. Then I bought a used, then late-model Plymouth for $1,300.00 cash, which I drove for a couple more years before buying my first new car.
Rich
