Test Your Accident Acumen

Preventable or
Non-Preventable?

Take this quiz to find out if you could have avoided these collisions.

When two vehicles collide, it's rare that it's all one person's fault. Even when one driver has broken the law, frequently there's something the other driver could have done to avoid the collision or lessen its severity.

The following scenarios are based on National Safety Council guidelines and actual collisions documented by insurance companies and fleet administrators. Check your grasp of your responsibilities as a driver by giving your opinion as to whether you, as the driver of the blue vehicle, could have prevented the collision. Make a note of your answers, and then compare them to the explanations.

1.     You're stopped in the fast lane in stop-and-go traffic. The traffic starts to move again, and you reach 20 miles per hour, trailing the vehicle ahead of you by 20 feet. A car slightly ahead and to your right suddenly darts into your lane without signaling. You apply the brakes, but hit the car's left rear bumper.

Preventable or Non-preventable?

2.     You're in the right lane approaching an intersection with your right turn signal on and a red car is about 50 feet behind you. You have a red light, but right turns are allowed on red. You stop to let a car in the cross street go by, and then begin to turn. Part way through the turn, the red car veers onto the shoulder to avoid rearending you and hits your right rear passenger door.

Preventable or Non-preventable?

3.     You're driving a few minutes after sunset on a two-lane, country road with unpaved shoulders. You're going 5 mph under the speed limit with your headlights on. Far ahead, a car coming toward you with its headlights off is passing a pickup truck. The twilight makes it hard for you to judge how far away the car is. You maintain your speed and position in the lane, but it takes the car longer than you expected to pull completely back into the other lane, and your cars collide.

Preventable or Non-preventable?

4.     Considering that close to 100 percent of the miles we ever drive are moving forward, it's no wonder that cars are built to travel better in that direction than to the rear. Forward motion takes advantage of a feature of vehicle suspension called "caster," which makes your car more stable, but does just the opposite in reverse, making your vehicle harder to control. The faster you go in reverse, the more unstable your vehicle becomes.

Preventable or Non-preventable?

5.     You're the only car on an undivided, four-lane road, obeying the speed limit at 50 mph. From the right, an eighth of a mile ahead, a vehicle pulls out of a cross street and illegally stops in the middle of the road, partially blocking both lanes in your direction. Since you see no oncoming traffic beyond the intersection, you expect the driver to promptly finish crossing the road, and so maintain your speed.
But as you near the intersection, the car still hasn't moved. You hit the brakes and swerve toward the right, but spin out of control and hit the other car.

Preventable or Non-preventable?

Answers

1.     Preventable. At 20 miles per hour, you were too close to the vehicle ahead of you. The proper trailing distance was 60 feet, which would be a two-second gap. By following too closely, you didn't leave enough space for the red car to complete its move or for you to stop without impact.

2.     Non-Preventable. You obeyed all traffic laws and were aware of your surroundings. The other driver failed to maintain safe following distance, which is why he had to try to pass you on the right to avoid the collision.

3.     Preventable. You had the right of way, but didn't take any precautions to avoid the accident. Proper actions would have included slowing down, honking, flashing your high beams, or moving as far to the right as possible to give the other vehicle room to maneuver.

4.     Non-Preventable. With two cars out of control ahead of you and heavy traffic preventing a lane change, slowing down quickly was your best bet. By maintaining a safe following distance you avoided hitting the car in front of you. Too bad the same can't be said for the driver behind you.

5.     Preventable. It was illegal for the other driver to stop in the middle of the road, but you had plenty of time (in fact, nine seconds) to slow down or steer away from the vehicle to avoid the crash. Spinning out of control meant you waited to the last second to react.

*Sources:National Safety Council, www.auto-insurance-claim-advice.com, New Mexico Department of Public Education, State Farm Insurance