I was going to drop my kid off at school when a dog ran between two cars and my back tire ran over a portion of the dog. I slowed down and stopped not knowing what to do and watched the dog hop up and hobble away into an adjoining back yard. What seemed to be the owner followed the dog into the back yard. I immediately pulled over but had to roll up my windows as my dog was riding along. I waited a few houses away not really knowing how to react and asking my kid what she thought I should do. When the dog quickly wandered off she wasn’t sure how I should act either.
What do I do? My initial hesitancy is tied to the dog quickly walking away into what looked like it’s home and the owner slowly following it away. I’m concerned of getting into the middle of a highly emotional situation if the dog needs to go to the vet. If the dog lay lifeless I would have had no issue with getting out and consoling as needed. Is there a difference? I think also am concerned I’ll get told I’m responsible and need to help cover any vet costs.
Nope.
If you’re driving at 60kph / 37mph (60kph is a standard speed limit in residential areas here, not sure about the limits where you are), people and kids and dogs can sometimes be on the side walks. There can also be cars parked on the side of the road.
You can be as safe as is reasonably possible, but if something shorter than a parked car sprints out at full speed, into the side of your car, what are you going to do?
Yes be aware of your surroundings, yes drive at a speed where you can stop in a reasonable distance for almost anything that can occur in front of you in that environment. But no, not every single thing is avoidable
And most importantly - leash your fucking dogs
If you’re driving 37 mph next to parked cars, you’re going too fast.
In my neighborhood, next to parked cars, I go about 20 mph.
I’m going to stop. Which I can do because I’m going slow enough to do so.
It’s not a complex concept.
At 20mph, if something sprints into the SIDE of your car and under you back wheel, you’re not going to stop in time.
You don’t have precognition or superhuman reactions (and even if you did have the reactions of an F1 driver, physics are still going to happen). I applaud your approach to safety but your overconfidence is confusing.
At 20 mph you have time between when the space in front of a car becomes visible and the time your back wheel comes to match that point, to stop the car.
There is a speed at which you can see and respond to the thing that’s trying to dive under your car. That’s the whole model.
You’re watching as new spaces becomes visible as your position with regard to obstacles changes. As soon as you can detect there’s someone unexpected in front of that car, you can stop.
Firstly, you’re either vastly overestimating how good you are at scanning every single gap and new space while also taking in the rest of the traffic, road conditions etc, OR you are the most incredible driver to exist and your brain should be studied by self-driving car companies for their software.
Secondly, and this is the simplest way to show that you’re incorrect:
Average driver reaction time is 0.75 seconds (that’s to see something, and move your foot to the brake pedal and begin to hit it). At 20mph, you’ve travelled 22 feet before you even begin to slow down.
And that’s a generous reaction time. This article puts it at 1.5 seconds for unexpected side-incursions: https://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/reactiontime.html
You’ve now travelled 44 feet before even hitting the brake.
If that gap you’re looking at is behind a tall vehicle and we’re talking about a kid or a dog, you’re along side before seeing the entire gap. Your back wheels are hitting that sprinting dog well before you’ve even touched the brake pedal.
I’m starting to think you’re either making shit up just to argue, or your overconfidence in your own driving is actually making you more dangerous on the road than safe
20 mph ≈ 29 fps
Not arguing with the majority of what you said, but speed limit is maximum safe speed in perfect conditions. (At least here in the usa).
You are both expected and required to go slower depending on conditions.
Reduced sight lines means imperfect conditions and as such you are supposed to slow down.
That’s a good point, we had road safety ads and signs saying that the speed limit is not a target: drive to the conditions.
I would have gone into more detail about the type of roads that are signed at 60kph, 50kph and 40kph here, and the expected hazards on each etc. But at the end of the day, you aren’t going to slow down to car-park speeds for every parked car you go past, that would be making yourself more of a danger for other traffic.
And if you look at the reaction speed / velocity / distance travelled calculations I mention further down, you’ll never be driving slow enough to avoid a fast and low surprise side-incursion like a sprinting dog from between parked cars.
Safe driving limits the amount of hazards that would be unavoidable, but it doesn’t eliminate them.
All so very true.
One more bit of devils advocate though lol.
Slower driving would also give more time for the other ‘party’ to react and adjust as well / potentially limit the injuries sustained.
But realistically yeah it doesn’t make a difference because licenses are way to easy to get and keep (again usa - other countries may differ) and american drivers pretty much all have their heads up their asses 24/7.
100%. It’s all about minimising risk, my tone with my other comments probably came across a bit harsh. But that fucker was telling someone it was all their fault. And that when they drive, there’s literally nothing that they couldn’t stop in time for.
They were so confidently incorrect it was annoying the shit outta me