Another Reminder to Pay Attention

[PianoAl]

I was lucky to miss this block of cement on highway. I had been making a music selection, and looked up just in time to disengage FSD, decide which way to turn, and swerve. Pretty happy with my reaction time and the car's handling.

Another reminder: Even if you forget to save the video clip (as I did here),the last 55 minutes of video are on the USB drive (you can't see it on the car's screen. You have to use your computer—look for RecentClips). I keep a spare USB drive in the car, so I can swap them out to preserve recent clips.

 

[MLXXXp]

looked up just in time to disengage FSD, decide which way to turn, and swerve

You took one step that you didn't have to. You could have decided which way to turn and then just yanked on the steering wheel. No need to disengage FSD separately.

 

[PianoAl]

You took one step that you didn't have to. You could have decided which way to turn and then just yanked on the steering wheel. No need to disengage FSD separately.

That's what I did. Yeah, I didn't express it correctly. Shoulda said:

Looked up, decided to swerve left even though the rock would go under the car, swerved (disengaging FSD).

All that happened in less than a second.

 

[AZAV8R]

You got lucky! And quick.

What I really hate is when the car in front of me swerves and I have zero time to react to the cause. This happened to me last year on the freeway. The truck I was behind swerved to expose a freaking box right in the middle of my lane. With traffic on both sides of me, I had no choice but to brake hard (no traffic behind me) and hope to minimize the damage. When I hit it, the box exploded... into clothing all over the road. Whew. I still pulled off to make sure there was no damage. I should have gone directly to a casino.

 

[mikez10288]

You got lucky! And quick.

What I really hate is when the car in front of me swerves and I have zero time to react to the cause. This happened to me last year on the freeway. The truck I was behind swerved to expose a freaking box right in the middle of my lane. With traffic on both sides of me, I had no choice but to brake hard (no traffic behind me) and hope to minimize the damage. When I hit it, the box exploded... into clothing all over the road. Whew. I still pulled off to make sure there was no damage. I should have gone directly to a casino.

If this happens frequently, it's a pretty clear sign that you drive too close to the car in front of you.

 

[AZAV8R]

If this happens frequently, it's a pretty clear sign that you drive too close to the car in front of you.

I did not say it was happening frequently. I'm well aware of safe following distances. Sometimes, s**t just happens.

 

[3sr+buyer]

I did not say it was happening frequently. I'm well aware of safe following distances. Sometimes, s**t just happens.

Obviously, you were following too closely, because you were unable to avoid hitting an object that was unmasked by the vehicle in front changing lanes. If the object were something like a stopped vehicle, the result could have been much worse.

 

[JaxonDM]

Close call. We all need that fast reflex

 

[MOE J]

I had a bouncing golf ball bounce right in front of me, no time to break or swerve. Hit ground, started to rebound as I drove over it. I heard a clunk, kept diving. I assume because of the sealed under-carriage it caused no damage.

 

[AZAV8R]

Obviously, you were following too closely, because you were unable to avoid hitting an object that was unmasked by the vehicle in front changing lanes. If the object were something like a stopped vehicle, the result could have been much worse.

Your powers of observation must be astounding - from where you sit, you can determine my following distance? Wow!

As you were not actually there, why bother to arm chair quarterback? I’m so sick of people that like to comment just to hear themselves speak.

 

[3sr+buyer]

Your powers of observation must be astounding - from where you sit, you can determine my following distance? Wow!

You could not avoid a crash that you could have avoided by having a longer following distance. Therefore, your following distance was too close for the conditions.

 

[oreobbq]

Is this the start of a good Internet beef? Better hurry before the mods come lol. I think you both have valid points. Longer follow distance is usually a good thing but each situation is unique and blanket statements are inadequate.

 

[SalisburySam]

 

[AZAV8R]

You could not avoid a crash that you could have avoided by having a longer following distance. Therefore, your following distance was too close for the conditions.

More hot air...

 

[EatsShoots]

Obviously, you were following too closely, because you were unable to avoid hitting an object that was unmasked by the vehicle in front changing lanes. If the object were something like a stopped vehicle, the result could have been much worse.

It wasn't a car, though. Had it been a car we can assume the vehicle in front of him would have seen it earlier and reacted sooner. As things get smaller the expectation is that a vehicle in front will delay its reaction.

Some site google sent me to said at 70 mph thinking + stopping distance (which is what you're arguing is necessary) @ 70 mph is 315 feet. Nobody is keeping a 100m distance with the car in front of them at 70 mph.

 

[dafish]

It wasn't a car, though. Had it been a car we can assume the vehicle in front of him would have seen it earlier and reacted sooner. As things get smaller the expectation is that a vehicle in front will delay its reaction.

Some site google sent me to said at 70 mph thinking + stopping distance (which is what you're arguing is necessary) @ 70 mph is 315 feet. Nobody is keeping a 100m distance with the car in front of them at 70 mph.

Exactly. I suppose it’s the nature of the internet to have a few folks that judge others before thinking about the real issue at hand.

 

[AZAV8R]

It wasn't a car, though. Had it been a car we can assume the vehicle in front of him would have seen it earlier and reacted sooner. As things get smaller the expectation is that a vehicle in front will delay its reaction.

Some site google sent me to said at 70 mph thinking + stopping distance (which is what you're arguing is necessary) @ 70 mph is 315 feet. Nobody is keeping a 100m distance with the car in front of them at 70 mph.

EXACTLY! Thank you. Some folks on the web just want others to know how smart they are. This person ignored any other options to tell me repeatedly that I did not know how to drive safely.

 

[stopcrazypp]

It wasn't a car, though. Had it been a car we can assume the vehicle in front of him would have seen it earlier and reacted sooner. As things get smaller the expectation is that a vehicle in front will delay its reaction.

Some site google sent me to said at 70 mph thinking + stopping distance (which is what you're arguing is necessary) @ 70 mph is 315 feet. Nobody is keeping a 100m distance with the car in front of them at 70 mph.

The common recommended safe following distance is 3 seconds.

Section 8: Safe Driving - California DMV

Be Aware of Your Surroundings To drive safely, you need to know what is around you. This helps you make good decisions and react to hazards on the road. This image shows the areas around your vehicle. Scan Your Surroundings To give yourself time to react, avoid last minute moves and hazards...

www.dmv.ca.gov

At 70 mph you are traveling at 103 feet/sec, so that is roughly 309 feet, so actually 315 feet is almost right on the dot.

So actually @3sr+buyer was right, if a safe following distance was used, you should be able to stop in time, even if a car in front of you changes lanes to unveil a stationary object.

Of course most people don't use a safe following distance. They use fixed lengths like car lengths, which is not the right metric to use.

For Teslas, every number in the following distance setting corresponds to about 0.5 seconds, so a setting of 7 corresponds to about 3.5 seconds. I have mine set to 6 or 7, but I know plenty of people have it set much lower.

To be fair, sometimes I accelerator override to narrow the gap, but I do that generally when the car ahead is pulling away quickly (AP is slow to accelerate) and when I have good visibility past the vehicle I am following. I don't dare do it when the car in front is a large truck that blocks the view completely.

 

[helobubba]

The traffic is so bad on the DC beltway and I-95 that it's very difficult to maintain a safe distance as drivers are constantly cutting in front of each other.

 

[MOE J]

We need a warning collision eminent voice prompt.