Country: Greece
Name: Ismene Pampouca
Category: Story

Well, I thought I was an excellent driver, one who follows all the rules of the road, all the additional rules of the BP driving standard, and some more …. I am driving a brand new 4x4 car, with top notch safety equipment in the car. And with 11 air bags to protect me … I felt nothing could go wrong. And true nothing bad had happened before. But this time, I had a near miss….

Situation:
On Sunday 7/9/2008 at around 13:00, we are on our way back to Athens, driving north on the national motorway. There was heavy traffic, fast-moving at the speed limit of 100-120 km/h. Distances between cars were slightly less than what they should be for this speed...
We were now driving on the 3-lane motorway south, in a stretch of the motorway where a cement separator separates us from the 3-lanes heading south. We were in the middle lane, and all other lanes had cars as well. I was focusing in keeping my distance from the car in front of me, and trying to assess the traffic situation on my lane. The traffic was so dense, that no driver would think of changing lanes at this speed… or so I thought.

In my car, I had two passengers who were constantly chattering. Their noise was distracting me from driving, but I decided to say nothing. I made a conscious effort to focus only on the driving.

The “un-expected”:
Until the unexpected happened! My front passenger shouted: “What is happening out there?” and pointed to my left.
I looked on my left lane, 3 or 4 cars in front. And instinctively, I pressed my alarm signals, because, although I could not yet explain what was happening, what I was seeing was not “normal”.

There was a cloud of white smoke… and then a dark-blue car flew up in the air (exactly as it happens in the car races when an accident occurs) and you could see it dragging vertically on the side of the cement separator…

• First thought: we are heading in for a big accident, and I can probably do nothing to avoid it, there is nowhere to go but straight on and we are moving at high speeds … keep calm – don’t panic!
• Second thought: in my car we are all wearing seat belts in my car, I know that, I checked this before we started
• Third thought: I have a new car, but un-tested to sudden braking at 100km/h - will the ABS do its bit when needed? If I brake too hard, is there a chance of my car “flipping over”?

And then the dark-blue car started rolling, from the left lane it landed in my middle lane, 2 or 3 cars ahead of me ….

As this would give me only a few meters before I would have to stop my car, I started braking, smoothly, adjusting the pressure on the brakes so as to keep an even distance with the car in front, keeping a eye on the “flying” car, but … not having any clue what the cars behind me were doing. (I was only hoping my alarm signals had alerted them sufficiently!).

The blue car eventually stopped moving after a couple of rolls on the right lane, on all four of its wheels. The windshield was smashed; some of the airbags were deployed. We stopped in the middle lane, then maneuvered over to the right lane, for me to calm down and to offer assistance if needed… Other cars stopped as well. Nobody was harmed.

Reason for the accident:
The driver of the blue car was talking on the phone and driving on the fast lane at 120km/h. He was holding his handset, he swerved slightly to the left - which at that speed gave him only 1 or 2 seconds to recover his direction before hitting the cement wall. Of course, because he was talking on the phone that 1 or 2 seconds was not enough for him to react.
He caused an accident, and put everybody around him in danger. Things could have been much worse.

What worked well for me in this situation?

• I guess the fact that all drivers were sufficiently alert to act quickly and efficiently while the blue car was flying in the air and rolling in front of us, is a big success.
• All my passengers were wearing seat belts, so I knew that if we were involved in an accident, I did not have to worry about them not holding on to their seats
• We did not have any items loose in the passenger compartment, so again in case or sudden braking nothing would be flying around in my car
• I had a top notch car with many airbags, to protect driver and passengers

What did not work very well?

• Too much noise in my car was distracting my attention - I should have seen this happening myself: had I not been alerted, I would have lost a few more precious seconds, and who knows what could have happened
• I had not followed my instinct to ask my passengers to keep the noise down to let me concentrate on the driving
• I was not fully rested before starting my journey, therefore my reactions were not as fast as they could have been
• All the safety features in my car were giving me a false sense of security, which made me feel at ease and relaxed
• My distance from the car in front was not what it should for this speed
• I was not sure of the capability of my car to stop at this speed…. How it would re-act if I had to brake more suddenly and engage the ABS
• I thought the unexpected would be “just” a driver changing lanes consciously, I never expected to see a car to come flying and rolling across the motor way

Lessons learned:

• Always be alert
• Stop whatever is distracting your attention immediately (here are some examples: mobile phone conversation over the Bluetooth, radio news that are upsetting you, conversations “with” or noise from your passengers, instructions from your GPS kit that are confusing you, etc)
• Know you car
• Keep safe distances for the speed you are driving, the conditions of the road, the traffic level, and the level of your alertness
• Expect the unexpected
• Start your journey calm and remain calm no matter what the driving conditions are