I really don't know how to evaluate the following experiences. Perhaps I am a "great" driver. Perhaps not. At no time was ABS involved. These all were when I was younger. Now I drive so "far off" the cars in front of me and watch so carefully, I wonder if something like this will ever happen again. I now drive as an "old fart". #1 I have practiced extensively at driving in bad conditions. I have lived in some of the "snow capitals" of the world. ( including Winter Park , CO ... Alma, CO ) I have driven through driving blizzards. For fun, I would take my 20 year old Toyota and put it into a "360" at 50 mph. I would crash into snow banks. ( I dented the Toyota up a bit. ) I drove on loose sand and in mud. #2 While driving a VW in heavy traffic at about 35 mph , I turned to say something to a back seat passenger. He screamed. I turned back to discover the car in front of me had gone into full panic stop. My VW under heavy braking turned 45 degrees and the nose of it slid past the car in front to the left ( USA driving direction. ) and bounced back just enough to miss oncoming traffic. No impact. #3 While driving a BMW 60 mph on I-70 I came around a curve ( to the right ) on a bridge and found that black ice had formed. The road was perfectly dry up to that point. Directly in front of me was a truck that had crashed into the left hand guard-rail. Better yet there were 3 people who had gotten out of the truck and were standing on the road between me and the truck ( duh ). "Come on , baby" I implored. I horsed the beemer to skid at almost right angles ( point to the right ) to the direction of travel and it suddenly "dug in" just a tiny bit and threw me past the idiots and into the right hand guard rail after which I spun around a few times. That was the end of the line for that BMW. #4 Driving the same BMW earlier on I-25 I was idiotically speeding at 55 on an icy road. Coming around a curve, there magically appeared 3 cars abreast that were moving at about 25 mph. I put on the brakes and there was minimal traction. The BMW started to rotate and at about 45 mph I drove the BMW backwards through a gap between the cars. The BMW finished rotating 360 degrees and I continued down the road without stopping. #5 Driving a Spider Veloce * ( Alfa Romeo ) ( painted flat gray ) at 65 mph in misty rain , at night, with my headlights on ( I checked them afterwards ) I approached a dump truck coming the other way. This was a straight-away on a two lane road with ditches immediately ( 3 feet ) off the lane. Maybe 150 feet from the truck , I saw a pickup truck with camper come around to pass the dump truck. I put the Spider into the ditch with two wheels clinging to the pavement. ( I felt the Spider tilt down into the ditch ) Zim zam zoom The pickup flashed by and the Spider bounced back on to the road. Looking in the rear view mirror , I saw the pickup disappear around the dump truck with no brake lights flashing on. I stopped as soon as I could, looked at the headlights and kissed my Spider. * one of the world's litey-est cars #6 Driving in Boulder, CO , I was talking to my son about how bizzarely pedestrians act in that city. I slowed down for a yellow light and as usual checked my rear view mirror. ( I have been "big- time" rear-ended at least three times ) Behind me a car was zooming right at my bumper. I drove my car to the right up over the curb and onto a grassy parking strip. The female driver behind me shot through the now red-light . "Whoa" said my son. "Awesome" #7 Irrelevant I have been hit twice by cars. [7a] Once a VW backed up into my back as I was standing in a parking lot. Quite a whack. As I slipped on the icy pavement ( Grand Lake , CO ) , I was pushed right up to a wall ( 3 feet away ) and the VW took off. People who ran up to me said they knew who the solo woman driver was. About 10 minutes later the VW returned , and a guy got out. People rushed up to him shouting " The guy who got hit is okay". "Wow" he said, "My wife insisted I come back for the laundry". [7b] The second time I was crossing a very long intersection. The light turned green just as I stepped in front of a "muscle car". The guy burned rubber as he moved out. I was ~100mm from his bumper and I bounced up to his windscreen where I was essentially staring him in the face. He slammed on his brakes... I slid off the hood and landed on my feet and kept walking. I did not look back. Gus > On Nov 23, 2009, at 2:47 PM, Bob Blick wrote: > > > On Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:33:24 -0700, "Vitaliy" > said: > >> Based on personal experience and on what I read it is precisely the >> training >> (be it in driving or flying a plane) that helps avoid panic during a >> stressful situation. Your body "knows what to do", some people >> would say >> "the training kicks in". Conscious processing of what happened, comes >> after >> the fact. > > Personal experience? Have you ever hit a kid with your car? > Everybody's > different, I'm sure I've had more driving experience than you, and > I'm a > pretty good driver. I might do better than average when it comes to > kids > running in front of me, but not better than ABS. If it's a raccoon, > I'd > probably do better than ABS. Or just run over it. > > Cheerful regards, > > Bob > > -- > http://www.fastmail.fm - Email service worth paying for. Try it for > free > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist > > -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist