What Would You Do

[want-a-be]

Seen this the other day when a RV was entering the interstate from the on ramp. The traffic was heavy but a driver flash his head lights to the RV to enter the interstate, as the driver slowed down for the RV he got rear ended. The RV went on down the road, my question is should the RV have stop to tell what happen and to make sure no one was injured?

[msmith1199]

time2roll wrote:

Mile High wrote:
Just some info about "rules of the road" out of the Colorado Drivers Handbook.

Merging: You must yield to all vehicles on that roadway. Do not merge if another vehicle must slow down for you.

Entering the Freeway: When entering a freeway from an on-ramp try to increase your speed to match that of the freeway traffic. Remember, you must yield the right of way to the traffic already on the freeway.

Freeway Driving: .....To be courteous to vehicles entering the freeway, you should change to the left (or center) lane, if you can do safely without slowing the traffic flow.

Following Too Closely (C.R.S. 42-4-1008(1)) "The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway"

Yes and when you are 35+ feet and traffic is following as if it was a NASCAR drafting exercise.... someone needs to accommodate the merging vehicle.

In the OPs case I speculate the five cars behind the RV expected to pass so as not to be behind the large vehicle.

Ever put on your blinker and suddenly a few cars need to pass on that side? Happens all the time to me.

Ha Ha, that's a Southern California thing! I learned to never use my blinker to change lanes on the freeway down there because as soon as you turn it on that is a message for the car in the next lane to speed up and block you from changing lanes. That's why so many people shoot at each other on the freeways down there.

[msmith1199]

I'd be interested in seeing the actual law from any state that requires you to stop and render aid, or one that requires you to stop and give a statement assuming you are only a witness. I've never heard of such laws, but I would like to see one if they exist.

[time2roll]

Mile High wrote:
Just some info about "rules of the road" out of the Colorado Drivers Handbook.

Merging: You must yield to all vehicles on that roadway. Do not merge if another vehicle must slow down for you.

Entering the Freeway: When entering a freeway from an on-ramp try to increase your speed to match that of the freeway traffic. Remember, you must yield the right of way to the traffic already on the freeway.

Freeway Driving: .....To be courteous to vehicles entering the freeway, you should change to the left (or center) lane, if you can do safely without slowing the traffic flow.

Following Too Closely (C.R.S. 42-4-1008(1)) "The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway"

Yes and when you are 35+ feet and traffic is following as if it was a NASCAR drafting exercise.... someone needs to accommodate the merging vehicle.

In the OPs case I speculate the five cars behind the RV expected to pass so as not to be behind the large vehicle.

Ever put on your blinker and suddenly a few cars need to pass on that side? Happens all the time to me.

[toedtoes]

Mile High wrote:
Yes, at least in CO there is a law that requires you to render aid unless there are others already there, but I don't think they require you to stop as a witness.

We do it to ourselves - People were getting sued for rendering aid incorrectly so they just quit stopping. We had to pass the Good Samaritan law that exempted you from liability for stopping and rendering aid just to get people to start helping again, but you were only exempt if you were never trained in medical response.

Serve as a witness, and you can get a supboena to testify with no regard or compensation for your job or where you live out of state.

I don't think that its that they don't care, they just don't want to get involved. It's just not a very friendly world anymore.

I think there is also a safety issue. On a busy freeway, there could be 10 or more "witnesses" - you start having that many vehicles stopping for a fender bender, then you're creating a greater potential for more accidents.

I would suspect that for most "witness must stop" policies, rules, etc., that there is a differentiation between a minor accident and a major accident. And that they do not expect EVERY witness to stop, but that they expect SOMEONE to stop and offer assistance.

[Mile_High]

Yes, at least in CO there is a law that requires you to render aid unless there are others already there, but I don't think they require you to stop as a witness.

We do it to ourselves - People were getting sued for rendering aid incorrectly so they just quit stopping. We had to pass the Good Samaritan law that exempted you from liability for stopping and rendering aid just to get people to start helping again, but you were only exempt if you were never trained in medical response.

Serve as a witness, and you can get a supboena to testify with no regard or compensation for your job or where you live out of state.

I don't think that its that they don't care, they just don't want to get involved. It's just not a very friendly world anymore.

[jrclark]

If you witness an accident a decent person will stop and render aid as necessary including providing information as a witness. In many states the law requires that you stop. Sadly in our society many don't want to get involved - simply they don't care and they do not want to be a Good Samaritan. By the way, if you did not witness the accident and others are already rendering aid then you do not have to stop. Again, common sense should be the rule, but, sadly many are void of common sense.

[Mile_High]

I would seriously challenge any legal requirement for witnesses to pull over, or there would be dozens pulled off at every freeway accident.

However, if the MH caused the front car to slow by forcing a merge, then the MH is technically a hit and run I believe, or at least fled the scene of an accident he contributed to.

[wa8yxm]

Legally a witness is supposed to stick around and chat with the officer. And it would have been nice if the RV had done so.

BUT: The first line ASSUMES he'd seen the crash happen Since it was BEHIND his RV there is a better than even chance he did not see it.. Thus he did not even know it happened.

I hope the non-attentive tailgater who rear ended the nice guy gets all that he deserves.

Generally the man with the leaking Radiator is considered to be AT FAULT in and for good reason.

[time2roll]

Mile High wrote:
On a side note - I know following too close is inexcusable in any case, but how do you maintain enough distance in front of you driving a MH when any gap you create is filled within seconds by cars maneuvering through lanes to get ahead? I find it impossible sometimes.

I just go that much slower. They do not usually last very long before they are compelled to move again. It all is about equal in the end. I always have room in front of my vehicle for a person to cut in... even in heavy traffic.

Until self driving cars are common the problem will just persist.

[PastorCharlie]

Too many people want to play traffic cop from behind the wheel while driving. Impeding the flow of traffic is also a violation. Slowing down starts a chain reaction that takes several seconds for following traffic to respond to.

The vehicle that slowed down to allow merging traffic started the traffic crisis.

It is the responsibility of merging traffic to do safely.

Sure the driver that rear ended the vehicle in front of him/her was driving too close to avoid the accident BUT the one that impeded the traffic that started the crisis was the one playing traffic cop. They are neither licensed or certified to do so. If drivers want to play traffic cop let them be trained and licensed to direct moving traffic, and to do so safely OUT IN THE OPEN WHERE EVERY DRIVER CAN SEE THEIR INSTRUCTIONS TO THE TRAVELING TRAFFIC.

What happened in the case of the OP was a private signal between two drivers, unknown to others, that involved many other drivers and their families who were left out of the communication. All their lives were endangered by the decision of the one who impeded traffic for another's rush to get on the highway.

Safety overrule courtesy on the highways. Playing traffic cop can and often does cause property damage, serious bodily injury and even death BUT the guilty one often times goes free.

Hopefully they have a conscience that will prevent them from continuing their bad judgment of trying to direct traffic from behind their steering wheel; on our highways.

[mtofell1]

Merging should be a required 9 week class before getting a driver's license. It's annoying enough in my truck but gets really bad with the 5th wheel attached. It just blows my mind how many people roll down the on-ramp completely oblivious to their speed and the conditions they must merge into. There's always that moment of panic when they finally look up and realize where they need to be. I can only imagine the frustration the big rig drivers face.

[toedtoes]

Mile High wrote:
Just some info about "rules of the road" out of the Colorado Drivers Handbook.

Merging: You must yield to all vehicles on that roadway. Do not merge if another vehicle must slow down for you.

Entering the Freeway: When entering a freeway from an on-ramp try to increase your speed to match that of the freeway traffic. Remember, you must yield the right of way to the traffic already on the freeway.

Freeway Driving: .....To be courteous to vehicles entering the freeway, you should change to the left (or center) lane, if you can do safely without slowing the traffic flow.

Following Too Closely (C.R.S. 42-4-1008(1)) "The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway"

Out of the above, only the "Following Too Closely" is an actual law cited in the manual, the rest are rules. As I read it, the guy in the back gets the ticket, but unfortunately it very well could be a combination of fault between the two guys in front of him. The Motorhome may not have yielded forcing the freeway car to slow, or the freeway car may have voluntarily slowed to be courteous rather than changing lanes or doing nothing as suggested above. Without additional facts its hard to tell, but root cause could be very different than what we all think it is.

On a side note - I know following too close is inexcusable in any case, but how do you maintain enough distance in front of you driving a MH when any gap you create is filled within seconds by cars maneuvering through lanes to get ahead? I find it impossible sometimes.

Thanks for putting that out there. For me, I find it's easier to maintain the distance if I already have distance between me and the vehicle in front of me. If someone moves in, I can easily open the space back up by cruising for a few seconds without any use of the brakes. If I'm already too close to the vehicle in front of me, then another vehicle simply moving in between us forces me to put my brakes on.

With that extra room, someone merging has a place to go - they just have to reach the appropriate speed. And if I'm in the slow lane, I am not doing over 55. And if the vehicle behind me would maintain a safe distance, then someone could choose whether it was safer to merge in front of me or behind me without anyone having to "be nice" and slow down.

I will move over a lane if it's safe.

Nothing non-courteous about any of it. If folks followed the rules of the road, then others wouldn't have to guess whether they should try to merge or not. They wouldn't be subject to "friendly folks" who slow down to unsafe speeds or "jerks" who cut them off because how dare a motorhome get in front of me.

[DiskDoctr]

I slow and flash my lights to yield space and give courtesy to drivers all the time. It removes the uncertainty so the other driver knows if he should slow down just in case, or do his best to gain speed for merging- knowing he has the room to merge.

This is even more important with larger vehicles that have limited acceleration and stopping capabilities.

Someone hitting you from behind is presumed at fault with the possible exception if the front driver actually SKIDS his tires or is "brake checking"

Courtesy and safe operation is always the right answer, as opposed to "I am driving whatever way I want and everyone else has to maneuver around me."

[Mile_High]

Just some info about "rules of the road" out of the Colorado Drivers Handbook.

Merging: You must yield to all vehicles on that roadway. Do not merge if another vehicle must slow down for you.

Entering the Freeway: When entering a freeway from an on-ramp try to increase your speed to match that of the freeway traffic. Remember, you must yield the right of way to the traffic already on the freeway.

Freeway Driving: .....To be courteous to vehicles entering the freeway, you should change to the left (or center) lane, if you can do safely without slowing the traffic flow.

Following Too Closely (C.R.S. 42-4-1008(1)) "The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard for the speed of such vehicles and the traffic upon and the condition of the highway"

Out of the above, only the "Following Too Closely" is an actual law cited in the manual, the rest are rules. As I read it, the guy in the back gets the ticket, but unfortunately it very well could be a combination of fault between the two guys in front of him. The Motorhome may not have yielded forcing the freeway car to slow, or the freeway car may have voluntarily slowed to be courteous rather than changing lanes or doing nothing as suggested above. Without additional facts its hard to tell, but root cause could be very different than what we all think it is.

On a side note - I know following too close is inexcusable in any case, but how do you maintain enough distance in front of you driving a MH when any gap you create is filled within seconds by cars maneuvering through lanes to get ahead? I find it impossible sometimes.