Was in a multiple car accident. Not my fault, not hurt, but I'm a learner.

[Locut0s]

seriously?

that's 45mph here in the states.... go 45mph on a highway, and you risk being shot, and run off the road.

hopefully you were in the far right (ie breakdown) lane.

Well it was a minor highway. Highway in name only really. The posted speed was 70km/hr. I was not going faster or slower than anyone else. I just handled the emergency like a n00b

 

[MJinZ]

Still in the bank. 40k of it is in a long term deposite. The rest is just in savings. It's more like 51k now since I'm not working. I've offered to pay my parents for everything incuding rent for living at home. They won't accept a single penny. I WILL be giving them at least $800 whether they want to accept it or not once I get a job. Yes like you say I could afford it now but they won't accept a penny now, hopefully I can make them accept it when I get a job.

See my mother is of the more traditional Chinese type who would be horrified at the idea that your children owe you money and or should be kicked out when they turn 18+. My father is sort of like that too despite being white.

But I do feel guilty and will find some way of paying them at least the 800 or so.

So wtf do you do all day again?

 

[Locut0s]

When you drive a lot, (I typically go more than 30k miles per year) you start developing a sense for when something's about to go wrong.

It's certainly possible to get into a situation where you can't avoid hitting the person in front of you, but I've noticed that there are some people who seem to routinely end up in multi car accidents (or situations where the other drivers did things that made an accident unavoidable) and there are some that just never seem to be in accidents at all.

When he was teaching me to drive, my dad gave me some good advice to avoid accidents:

- slow down as you approach a green light and quickly look both ways. If someone's blowing through the red you'll usually have a chance to slam on the brakes.

- If you're ever on the highway and there's confusion (i.e. someone needs to merge but they can't, or someone's weaving, two cars don't see each other etc.) just slow down 5-10 MPH and keep your foot on the brake. Most of the time nothing happens and you just resume your old speed. sometimes you need to panic stop and that first 5-10 MPH is the difference between a fender bender and nothing.

- ALWAYS know where you can go if you need to swerve. Unless it's bumper to bumper, don't let people drive right next to you or sit in your blind spot. Speed up or slow down. You should check your mirrors and blind spots once or twice a minute. A good test of this is if you need to change lanes, you should already know that the lane is clear. Obviously check before you go, but if there is a car there, ask yourself how he got there without you knowing about it.

Thanks. All very good advise and also the same kind of things that others including my own father have tried to instill in me. I just need a shit load more practise.

 

[Locut0s]

So wtf do you do all day again?

See 3 or 4 posts up.

At the worst point I started to drink like a bottle of vodka every 3 or 4 days. Still doing nothing. However I have since then stopped drinking, lost 50+ pounds, started to improve my life in other ways, like started driving (lol on that).

 

[MJinZ]

Forget work. Get your degree first. Figure out what you want to do while you have time living at home.

 

[Locut0s]

Forget work. Get your degree first. Figure out what you want to do while you have time living at home.

I can do that while working too as I'm not going to be getting a "carrer job" but more of a retail job. And I will be earning money to boot at the same time. If I go back to school now without deciding 100% that that's what I want to do NOW I will just be wasting money and time. This way I can at least earn money and continue to improve my personal life and keep school open as an option for later. Plus I can study at home off of the textbooks and Internet at the same time as well.

 

[lxskllr]

What are you leaning towards career wise?

 

[MJinZ]

I can do that while working too as I'm not going to be getting a "carrer job" but more of a retail job. And I will be earning money to boot at the same time. If I go back to school now without deciding 100% that that's what I want to do NOW I will just be wasting money and time. This way I can at least earn money and continue to improve my personal life and keep school open as an option for later. Plus I can study at home off of the textbooks and Internet at the same time as well.

Retail is a waste of time for a few $ bucks an hour when you can go to school instead. You should be doing it the other way around, first school, then find a job that fits your school schedule, but only if you're up for it and it doesn't affect your grades and learning.

Since your parents are supporting you, your primary job is to enrich yourself, not make a few bucks.

 

[Locut0s]

What are you leaning towards career wise?

Comp Sci mostely.

However one of my issues is that my interests are so broad, Math, Physics, Biology (Botany and Entomology), Cosmology, Particle Physics, Comp Sci, Photography, and others, that I have difficulty nailing any one thing down as something that I can say "yes that's the career that I want". I read up on all of the above and more all the time (at least to some extent).

 

[Locut0s]

Retail is a waste of time for a few $ bucks an hour when you can go to school instead. You should be doing it the other way around, first school, then find a job that fits your school schedule, but only if you're up for it and it doesn't affect your grades and learning.

The only if your up for it is part of what I'm concerned about. I dropped out of university off and on like 5 times because of the depression and anxiety. Things are much better now but I'm still not really really confident.

 

[lxskllr]

Comp Sci mostely.

However one of my issues is that my interests are so broad, Math, Physics, Biology (Botany and Entomology), Cosmology, Particle Physics, Comp Sci, Photography, and others, that I have difficulty nailing any one thing down as something that I can say "yes that's the career that I want". I read up on all of the above and more all the time (at least to some extent).

That's tough. Maybe you aren't meant for a "career". Bullshit jobs would give more freedom to do what you want. The money may not be great, but there's more to life than money.

 

[MJinZ]

Comp Sci mostely.

However one of my issues is that my interests are so broad, Math, Physics, Biology (Botany and Entomology), Cosmology, Particle Physics, Comp Sci, Photography, and others, that I have difficulty nailing any one thing down as something that I can say "yes that's the career that I want". I read up on all of the above and more all the time (at least to some extent).

Photography isn't a major. Math is a part of other science disciplines, unless you're actually interested in doing applied mathematics like Statistics (basically working with numbers your whole life), it isn't something I would consider.

Computer Science is fine if you're actually interested in being buried in code, otherwise, explore an Engineering degree like Computer Engineering for a bit more versatility. Physics is a good general degree if you want to pursue a fairly wide range of science disciplines down the road, Biology is not.

 

[BoomerD]

Driving 45 mph on the freeway? WTF are you, Asian?

OK, it's usually the old Asian women who do that around here...or Mexicans.

Learn to fucking drive ya dammed hippie!!

If you've only been driving for 3 weeks, you do NOT belong on the freeway in traffic.

You should be driving on deserted roads where there's no one to run into while you learn, or at least, on surface streets where the speeds are slower. (although not necessarily safer)

 

[Locut0s]

Driving 45 mph on the freeway? WTF are you, Asian?

OK, it's usually the old Asian women who do that around here...or Mexicans.

Learn to fucking drive ya dammed hippie!!

If you've only been driving for 3 weeks, you do NOT belong on the freeway in traffic.

You should be driving on deserted roads where there's no one to run into while you learn, or at least, on surface streets where the speeds are slower. (although not necessarily safer)

Umm the speed limit was 70km/hr. This road is called a highway in name only really and people do travel on it in the 70-80 km range but it's not a true highway. Also most highways here in the city have a max speed of 90km/hr (55 mph) though most people do 100-110. Outside the city I believe 100 is usually the max on the highway. I was not going slow on this road, I was going the same speed as all the rest of the traffic.

As for driving on the highway I'm not one of those lurch and stop guys. I AM new yes and need more practice but I feel pretty comfortable already in most situations, even on the highway. Parallel parking, backward stall parking etc are not bid deals either. I definitely need to improve my response time and perhaps drive a little slower until they are better but otherwise I'm comfortable. My problem is that it's not automatic yet, I'm analyzing every situation too much which slows my response times. This happened mostly because it was an emergency situation with all the other cars coming to a sudden stop. It's true that a seasoned driver may have responded better than me here and maybe avoided the accident altogether but it's not really like my driving is that bad even now.

However I may stay off the highway for a few weeks because of this, till I get a little more comfortable .

 

[Cuda1447]

A lot of people don't realize how far is a safe distance behind. I have been in one minor accident as a driver. I learned my lesson the hard way too. I was driving down a two lane road, following a truck. Out of no where he swerved off the road into the construction area on the shoulder. DIRECTLY in front of him was a stopped car making a turn. He must not have been paying attention and saw this car at the last second. I don't even think he applied breaks, just when right off the road. Well, now he is off to the right, stopped car in front of me and oncoming traffic to my left. Literally nowhere to go. I tried to stop on time, but skidded into a car in front of me. Accident was my fault, I was following to close. Essentially the way I look at it, if the car in front of you suddenly disappears and a brick wall appears at the front of his car, do you have enough time to stop? If not, you might be following to close.


Yes, I know the rule is a bit drastic, as it's not really possible to avoid that situation all the time, but at least try. Personally, I try to get out from behind cars and drive in open road. If that means speeding a little bit to get ahead of everyone, I'd rather do that and be safe.

 

[Lonyo]

So wtf do you do all day again?

He posts on ATOT.

 

[Eli]

Welcome to the world of driving.. lol

 

[msw1382]

What did you learn?

I thought it was 3 seconds

 

[rh71]

Anytime you hit someone from behind you're gonna get a ticket.

that sucks especially if you didn't hit but the guy who hits you in the butt pushes you into them.

 

[Bryophyte]

Yes, did you learn that once you are at a certain distance, it means your foot should be on the brake either pressing light or hovering, so that you can dead-stop within a few feet within a moment's notice?

So you're one of those guys that drives around with the brake lights on while accelerating?

 

[killster1]

i personally hover my left foot over break pedal and right foot on gas, a corvette other day that i was tailgating slammed on his breaks full strength and i managed not to hit him it was awesome, then he let me by and tried to slam into the side of me, what ever i only had a 20k$ car at the time so i let him try it (and zoomed off) was very weird but it proved my technique of hovering with your foot over break while driving to close is very good thing to do, i also have over sized breaks and 20" tires seems to help slow me down, guy was a psycho, now if he would have hit a brick wall in front me i doubt i could stop in time (like in your scenario so you kinda have to be looking ahead of the car in front of you,, (why i hate it when suv with tinted windows is in front of me)

 

[bruceb]

Most police officers and driver instructions suggest that "if you can't see the rear tires of the car in front, then you are too close"

 

[fatpat268]

i personally hover my left foot over break pedal and right foot on gas, a corvette other day that i was tailgating slammed on his breaks full strength and i managed not to hit him it was awesome, then he let me by and tried to slam into the side of me, what ever i only had a 20k$ car at the time so i let him try it (and zoomed off) was very weird but it proved my technique of hovering with your foot over break while driving to close is very good thing to do, i also have over sized breaks and 20" tires seems to help slow me down, guy was a psycho, now if he would have hit a brick wall in front me i doubt i could stop in time (like in your scenario so you kinda have to be looking ahead of the car in front of you,, (why i hate it when suv with tinted windows is in front of me)

wtf? try not tailgating next time.

seriously, if you find that you need your left foot hovering over the brake while driving, then you're doing something majorly wrong.

 

[MJinZ]

So you're one of those guys that drives around with the brake lights on while accelerating?

You're one of the guys who failed reading comprehension. That's a statement, not a question.

 

[MJinZ]

i personally hover my left foot over break pedal and right foot on gas, a corvette other day that i was tailgating slammed on his breaks full strength and i managed not to hit him it was awesome, then he let me by and tried to slam into the side of me, what ever i only had a 20k$ car at the time so i let him try it (and zoomed off) was very weird but it proved my technique of hovering with your foot over break while driving to close is very good thing to do, i also have over sized breaks and 20" tires seems to help slow me down, guy was a psycho, now if he would have hit a brick wall in front me i doubt i could stop in time (like in your scenario so you kinda have to be looking ahead of the car in front of you,, (why i hate it when suv with tinted windows is in front of me)

You're the psycho.