Driving at peak times should be avoided as though it were some kind of plague. we have taken a couple of holiday road trips, but we have always left the day before, or very late on the day when everyone starts their journey. That has worked well, leaving us with normal driving conditions. However, on one of those journeys we ended up returning with everyone else. It was not pleasant. In fact, it was really dangerous and super stressful.
This past Easter our son had to leave on the same day as the rest of the country took to the roads because he had a long journey with commitments at his destination. He loaded his car with his things because he was moving, and that gave added weight to the car, as though he was carrying three or four passengers.
He was aware of the need to keep an appropriate distance between his car and the one ahead of him. The problem is that when you try to do that at peak times another car is inserted in that space, so its almost impossible to maintain proper distance.
Traffic was moving along at about 100 kph when suddenly up ahead there was a crash and all traffic came to an abrupt halt. He almost had enough space to stop safely, but not quite enough. He hit the car in front of him once and that car was propelled into the car in front of it. His car was heavy compared to the car he hit. It took three tow trucks to clear the scene but everybody walked away.
When a member of the family is involved in something like that it comes home to everyone. However, in his case there was not drink or drugs or excessive speed involved. If you hit someone from behind you are automatically deemed to be at least negligent for not having kept your distance. He was given a ticket for that, and ironically so was the driver he hit for the same thing for running into the car ahead of him. The proximate cause of their crash was the original one, so those tickets may be annulled.
In my case I had to crawl along with all lanes nose to tail for over three hours, something I will go to extreme measures to avoid in the future, even if I have to stay home.
The moral of the story is to avoid being a part of the problem, no matter what you need to do.
Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael
