Whew! Narrow escape, and I am extremely thankful that everyone managed to squeeze into the correct lane in time. Must have been terrifying - good reflexes on your part for both incidents!
It would be insane to think the 2nd incident was due to defensive driving. Seemed to me it was entirely due to not looking ahead (or being able to see ahead) on the part of the person doing the passing.
There's a reason I've taken to Hwy 7 on my trips to Ottawa. Never mind the fact that it's a shorter distance, cheaper on fuel, quicker, and a much prettier drive, it's far less stressful compared with the 401, which is usually nuts, especially west of Kingston, for some reason.
Well, yes, but I knew that something was going on in the left lane ahead of me, and did nothing to warn the traffic behind me about it beyond slowing down. I could have put on my hazard flashers - that might have tipped him off. And once he decided to pass, I should have slowed down immediately to minimize the danger to everyone, rather than hesitating until the crisis was almost upon us all.
I guess what I mean is that I was only *trying* to drive defensively, not *actually* driving defensively - I did not commit to it.
The awesome thing is that, without any serious consequences at all, you've had a chance to learn from the experience for the future.
I picked that trick up from Moria, hitting the hazard lights when I come to a slowdown on the highway - I do it often now. Would never have thought of it before I saw someone else do it, but it makes so much sense.
Thinking it about it a little further, I'm not sure that hazards would have been a good idea in this case.
The problem is that hazard flashers are more traditionally used to warn traffic that the vehicle with the flashing lights itself constitutes the hazard. Flipping the hazards on with no visible reason for it on the road ahead would only have provoked following traffic to pass my truck, as they would assume that I was experiencing some sort of difficulty, which would have precipitated the very situation that I ended up in anyway.
I suppose I could have turned on the hazards, slowed down, and moved out into the centre of the roadway, making it impossible for anyone to pass, but then if someone plowed into me from behind, I was out of my lane, and it would probably be judged to be my fault.
I think I've arrived at the stage where I'm over-thinking it. ;-)
It would be insane to think the 2nd incident was due to defensive driving. Seemed to me it was entirely due to not looking ahead (or being able to see ahead) on the part of the person doing the passing.
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I guess what I mean is that I was only *trying* to drive defensively, not *actually* driving defensively - I did not commit to it.
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I picked that trick up from Moria, hitting the hazard lights when I come to a slowdown on the highway - I do it often now. Would never have thought of it before I saw someone else do it, but it makes so much sense.
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The problem is that hazard flashers are more traditionally used to warn traffic that the vehicle with the flashing lights itself constitutes the hazard. Flipping the hazards on with no visible reason for it on the road ahead would only have provoked following traffic to pass my truck, as they would assume that I was experiencing some sort of difficulty, which would have precipitated the very situation that I ended up in anyway.
I suppose I could have turned on the hazards, slowed down, and moved out into the centre of the roadway, making it impossible for anyone to pass, but then if someone plowed into me from behind, I was out of my lane, and it would probably be judged to be my fault.
I think I've arrived at the stage where I'm over-thinking it. ;-)
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