Stupid Human Tricks

[Jim & Bev <jazman@accunet.net>]

Last Friday night, I was driving Bev and a co-worker home from dinner here in
Southern Illinois.  It was snowing lightly, the road was covered, somewhat slushy
not frozen solid.  We were in the '87 5K CS TQ.

As we approached a known dangerous insection (see diagram below. Dashes indicate
main traffic flow, dots are stop before proceding)  I noticed out of the corner of 
my eye that car that was supposed to stop before entering main traffic flow, was 
NOT SLOWING DOWN.

                  |
                  |  
            _ _ _ |.........

I immediately began slowing down, and when I realized that they were actually
Running the stop sign, I hit the ABS Hard.  The car (a early '70s Pontiac or
Chrysler behemoth, mostly rust, was full of teenagers and was driven by a young
girl.  I bet she wasn't licensed) began braking and came to a full stop blocking
both lanes of traffic. 

The ABS on my car kicked in on the wet slushy pavement. CLUNK_CLUNK_CLUNK.
The Q stopped about 5 feet shorty of the driver's door of the rusty whale.
The teenagers' eyes were about the size of my wheels hub covers.

The combination of two factors saved the front end of the Q and probably the girls life.
1) I noticed that the vehicle was not slowing for the stop sign and 2)ABS.
If either factor was missing,  I would not be a happy camper right now.  

Accidents are caused by a combination of factors not just one:  such as vehicle 
condition, alertness of driver, weather condition, speed, human stupidity, etc.
Speed alone does not cause acccidents but it certainly aggravates the seriousness of the 
accident, and can contribute to shorten driver reaction time.  One risk factor alone is 
not a problem.  But couple 2 or more risk factors together and that's when accidents 
happen.


Happy Motoring,

jazman