Highway speeds - Keep your distance!
It always amazes me how close people follow going highway speeds. They seem to think it's OK to follow 4 car lengths at 110K / 70MPH...
Yesterday afternoon, returning from a day trip to the Banff / Canmore area, traffic was fairly heavy. Nice day, a lot of people out.
I was at the wheel of our Nissan Rogue doing about 111K with the cruise on. Suddenly, I saw 2 deer, a doe and her fawn, at a fast trot coming right towards the highway from the right, on an angle directly towards the front of our car. DW and her 90 year old mother with me.
I jumped HARD on the brakes, a very dangerous thing to do in highway traffic but it was that or a collision. The doe passed about 40 feet in front of us and somehow made it between the back of the car beside us, and the front of the one behind him. I started to swerve into the left lane to avoid the fawn when it suddenly turned and ran back. I then stayed in my lane.
Quick mirror check, the guy behind me swerved off the road on the shoulder, hard on the brakes, to avoid hitting us, and had to stop fast to avoid the fawn. The Class A MH right behind him also took the shoulder. Not sure, but I think he hit the car behind us. He was following too close to slow down fast enough. Again, not sure.
As soon as I was clear of both deer I hit the throttle to get out of the way of traffic rapidly climbing towards my bumper. Success, I made it through without hitting anything or getting hit.
I watched the mirror as we left the scene. The MH and the car behind us were now both stopped on the shoulder, likely to exchange info and insurance. There were other cars now stopped on both shoulders, likely multiple collisions. Most vehicles were following too close. Maybe not, who knows?
Bottom line, keep your distance from the next car, pay attention to what's going on. Even though an open divided freeway tends to make people think it's all clear, a sudden emergency can show up in an instant like that.
I'm glad I was paying attention.
Yesterday afternoon, returning from a day trip to the Banff / Canmore area, traffic was fairly heavy. Nice day, a lot of people out.
I was at the wheel of our Nissan Rogue doing about 111K with the cruise on. Suddenly, I saw 2 deer, a doe and her fawn, at a fast trot coming right towards the highway from the right, on an angle directly towards the front of our car. DW and her 90 year old mother with me.
I jumped HARD on the brakes, a very dangerous thing to do in highway traffic but it was that or a collision. The doe passed about 40 feet in front of us and somehow made it between the back of the car beside us, and the front of the one behind him. I started to swerve into the left lane to avoid the fawn when it suddenly turned and ran back. I then stayed in my lane.
Quick mirror check, the guy behind me swerved off the road on the shoulder, hard on the brakes, to avoid hitting us, and had to stop fast to avoid the fawn. The Class A MH right behind him also took the shoulder. Not sure, but I think he hit the car behind us. He was following too close to slow down fast enough. Again, not sure.
As soon as I was clear of both deer I hit the throttle to get out of the way of traffic rapidly climbing towards my bumper. Success, I made it through without hitting anything or getting hit.
I watched the mirror as we left the scene. The MH and the car behind us were now both stopped on the shoulder, likely to exchange info and insurance. There were other cars now stopped on both shoulders, likely multiple collisions. Most vehicles were following too close. Maybe not, who knows?
Bottom line, keep your distance from the next car, pay attention to what's going on. Even though an open divided freeway tends to make people think it's all clear, a sudden emergency can show up in an instant like that.
I'm glad I was paying attention.
