Driverthink occasionally receives comments from drivers who have been involved in car crashes.  A common thread is that there was “Nothing I could do”.  It happens.  Driverthink likes to refer to this as being “Trapped.”

There’s no question that, sometimes – “Oopsy Doops” can happen to us and is seems that there was simply nothing we could have done to avoid it.  Or could we have?

A typical scenario would be that we pull up to a traffic light in the middle of three lanes of traffic.  Cars are stacked up to our left and right but there’s no one behind us.  Then suddenly, he comes out of nowhere and wham!  We just got rear-ended.  Not much we could have done about that, right?  We certainly didn’t want to pull into the cross lanes to avoid it and we really had nothing else we could do even though we saw it coming (or maybe didn’t) in our rear view mirror.  We were “Trapped”.  We got creamed!

A vast majority of these “Trapped” crashes appear to be of the “I got Rear-ended” persuasion although there are many other situations where it can happen.  A quick review of “How to Avoid Rear-End Accidents ” might be in order here, but let’s pursue the issue a bit further. 

In many of these crashes it might seem at first blush that there was nothing we could have done.  We were already Trapped.  But maybe we actually could have done something.  Nah – not when we were already trapped, but how’s ‘bout before we got trapped?  Did we consider what was going on before we got trapped – and how we might have avoided becoming trapped in the first place?

The time to avoid bang and crunch when we’re “trapped” is not when we’re already trapped.  It’s before we get trapped!  Yeah – sometimes it’s simply unavoidable but we can try to play the “odds” game.  We can try not to get trapped, or plan it so that if we do, we stand less chance of getting clobbered.

So how can we avoid getting trampled on when trapped?

First, we want to position ourselves so that we have an escape option – always a really neat idea but not always possible.  If we end up in a middle lane with buggies on each side of us, there won’t be much of an escape option.  We might want to select a side lane instead.  Is there a wide median beside us that we can pop into if we see calamity coming in our rear-view mirror?  How about a right lane with healthy safe lane to our side or even a driveway or curb we can jump to safety in?  Escape options are really cool things to have available but we have to look for them – before we’re trapped.

It goes with out saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that rear-view mirrors and a healthy dose of Situational Awareness will always keep us safer but it can really increase our odds if we have to get trapped.  Speaking of Rear-views, when we’re stopped is not the time to settle back and ignore them.  We’re stopped.  We know what’s in front of us but knowing what’s coming up behind us can be really helpful – even if it seems  terrorizing!

Who’s driving behind us?  Next to us?  How’s she driving?  Does he look like he’s paying attention or is he busy texting Aunt Dora’s Daughter that he’s got to go to the bathroom?  Doesn’t look like someone I want to be stopping in front of!  Might want to switch lanes and let him clobber some other poor sucker.

If I have to move into a trapped situation am I surrounded by drivers who look like they’re competent and paying attention or am I in front of someone who looks unsafe at any speed outside of the driveway?  I’ll drive slower or faster to change lanes and avoid her if at all possible.

If we’re stopping behind someone and there’s no one behind us yet, a little extra distance can be useful.  Not the time to be a “Stop on my Tail-gater ”.  We don’t want to stop too far behind our front bumper buddy but a car length or two might give us a little room to move forward if we have to, and it just might avoid crunchity bump.

If we’re stopped or slowing down and the driver behind us looks like she’s quickly going to find a home in our trunk, flashing brake lights will get her attention far more quickly that static ones.  Let’s stab the brake pedal a few quick times to remind her we don’t want to be introduced.  Already stopped?  We can always ram it into “park” and flash those brake lights to our heart’s content!

The time to avoid an accident from being trapped isn’t when we’re already trapped.  It’s before we get trapped.

Yup.  Sometimes we’re going to get trapped.  Sometimes there’s absolutely nothing we can do.  But very often – there’s something we could have done!