My -almost- freak accident
 

I'm driving around on the highway with my ex in the car. Traffic is moving fairly okay. I'm riding about maybe 50-60something in the middle lane. I normally have very good peripheral vision, but this time I suppose I was a bit too focused on her and then I got that sense where you feel something is coming up very close. I looked ahead and realized the van in front of me broke hard, I'm like wtf ****, broke hard (tires squealing) and jerked the wheel to the right. Nothing happened, and the whole thing happened in less than a second. After I got over the matter, I realized that was not possible and would have crashed into the van if I was still in my Acura Integra. I remember the brakes where horrible on it and the steering feedback was no where as nimble as the Z's. I have no excuse for my moment of carelessness on the road, but I came to the conclusion that, damn, this car is good.

I've had the same thing happen to me, where I swear if I was in my GTI, I for sure would have hit the guy in front of me. Love this friggin car.

Yup, im on your boat. Ive already had quite a few moments where the Z's responsiveness saved the car. I also made a chick behind me eat a pole, but she was tailgating me and got a plethora of warnings before i slammed my brakes on a yellow light.

I've gotten to the point where i trust in my car completely
but i can not trust anyone around me.

Yea most people are oblivious to everything around them

Pics of your ex so we can see why you were distracted :stirthepot:

:stirthepot:

Hah. I see what you did there

Had the exact same thing happen to me...except 5 cars ended up in the back of me :shakes head:

I'm glad you didn't crash and nobody got hurt. Did your ex finish what she was doing or did this ruin the moment? :nutswinger:

P.S. In the future turn the wheel to the left when your ex is in the car. That way her side gets the impact. :hello:

Why does the car in front always seem to slam on the brakes as soon as you look away?

First problem: ex

this story is funny to me cause i literally got hit by someone in my Fit where i knew i could've avoided had i been in my Z. :D regardless i would've still been :mad: since i wouldve waste my brake pads. lol :D

but i got a 1800 check from my insurance, fixed the car myself for free (7hrs of PDR, and 1-2hrs sanding/polishing the headlamp to rid scuffage) and spent the money on some music gear i wanted. :p

I've had a motorcycle for 36 years and can tell you that truer words were never spoken.:icon14:

no doubt man, the brakes in this car are awesome. only problem is, like others have said, they're better than everyone around you. scares me everytime I have to stop fast. just look in the rearview mirror and hope no one was riding your ***.

Why does anyone look away from a car they are following?

One thing to consider. If you brake full force and try to turn, you won't. That's massive understeer. Fortunately you have a car that really stops amazingly. Last month in my HPD course, we got the cars up to 60 and then full brakes. The Z stopped in less than 3 car lengths. Whew.

Your 60-0 was less than 50 feet??? Am I missing something?

Next time you're behind someone and they brake (doesn't even have to be slamming on the brakes)...don't brake for a couple seconds, as if you were looking away. See if you hit them or not.

Tell the wifey to keep it buttoned up in the car man! :excited:

This

http://www.clevelandleader.com/files..._cleavage2.jpg

:icon23:
exactly
plus i forgot what we were talking about but she looked pretty fine that day

:icon18:

I know... Unless you are about to change lanes or something and need to look over your shoulder how does this happen? Was the OP *gasp* looking at the girlfriend while talking to her?

I only thought this happened in the movies (and I wanna yell at the actors look forward why you are F*cking driving!) but my dad said he saw one of his coworkers doing this in real life. Like wtf?

So you almost rear-end someone because you weren't looking forward and its almost a 'freak' accident???

Uh... Isn't that the whole reason we have ABS now? I could be mistaken but I thought that was one of the big reasons for ABS... so you can actually still maneuver/turn the car when doing full breaking?

my actions were pretty clear in my first post and how old are you?

I actually read the thread yesterday and didn't actually post until today. I didn't remember you saying specifically that you were looking at the girl instead of the road when it happened but did remember your eyes were away from the car/road in front of you.

I can't say I have a lot of sympathy for drivers who rear-end others in situations like this as it means they were following too close for the level they were concentrating on what is going on in front of them.

Not that I think my age is all that relevant but I am 26. I honestly don't even understand how people can look away from the road like that except in cases when its necessary (looking over your shoulder) which should take around 500-750ms. The only time i ever might rear-end or hit someone who was in front of me is because they pulled out in front of me and even immediately applying breaks would not slow me down enough to hit them.

I said in the end I have no excuse for my moment of carelessness but I'm no blonde behind the wheel either. Perhaps you missed KillerBee's post

Didn't miss killerbee's post as it was one of the new ones when I accessed the thread again today but honestly a girl regardless of what she is wearing isn't really even an excuse IMHO.

I did; however, miss where you mentioned no excuse for the careless though which shows some carelessness on my part as well. If I remembered/noticed that I probably wouldn't have reamed into you more. Sorry about that.

Remember it only takes a split second. I have had a similar expierence. I was in the left lane looking to get over into the middle lane. I looked at my passenger side mirror for just a split second, and i saw it was clear. As soon as I looked started to get over I saw the brake lights come on hard in front of me. I jerked the wheel hard to the right and then back straight like a pro it was all instincts.

I learned 2 things in that moment. This car is as amazing as they say, and I have much better driving reflexes than i ever knew. It was like I slowed time down like in the matrix or something. I saw everything so clearly. it is hard to exlain. I also scared the living crap out of the car that was in the far right lane as the nose of my car flew directly at it before I straightened up into the middle lane.

Your head may be looking forward, but your eyes maybe on one of your mirrors for a split second, and thats all it takes. Can you tell me how to look at the passenger mirror with one eye, and forward with the other eye? Than there are the times where you look over your shoulder which can take even longer. This is even in situations where you are at the proper trailing distances to the speed you are going.

I read this thread the other day and just realized now that my old 3000GT wasnt as responsive as luckily your Z was. It was wet outside and I was looking to switch over to the right lane. I checked and saw somebody was on my right so I couldnt switch and by the time I was looking straight again the car ahead of me was at a dead stop (turning left, there were no turning lanes on this road). I never follow closely but the combination of wet roads and the fact that the ABS on the 3000 was broken landed me straight on this womans trailer hitch.

Anyway, the airbags deployed and the tower told me the car was totaled, even though he started it and drove it straight onto his tow truck. I got it repaired entirely for 2k and then sold it a few months later for 5k. Totalled my ***!

Im glad you are ok, and so far the Zs brakes have been superb. As has been said, a split second is all it takes.

Brakes a definitely better than what I had on my 240SX. However, braking potential is about the same with my Celica GT-S. Then again, I had lowered suspension w/ a car weighing 2500lbs w/ Potenza pole positions on it.

While the brakes are great, remember not to put crappy tires on these Zs. haha

OK, I'll try this. Unless it interferes with my text messaging. Actually, every time I look in the side mirror to go around the slow car in front, he slams on his brakes. Well, maybe not everytime.

Damn! Who do those belong to?!