# Safety on I-5 in a white Prius



## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

I've almost been hit a number of times by 18 wheelers lately. Just on Thursday, two different trucks, 100 mi apart, didn't merge onto I-5 and actually came into my lane, pushing me out. The same day a Prius was totally smashed by another small car, but by a head-on accident.

There are frequent small car head on accidents, here, that total the cars. People do drive fast & there are many truckers, possibly due to the agriculture. They're very aggressive. The last trucker could hardly hold on to his wheel as he swooped into the freeway, & tried to go in my lane over me again, a few minutes later. That time must have been purposeful. The trucker in front went to the right shoulder then the fast lane to try to get the guy to pass. He could see there was a problem.

Airbags do little good in these accidents. I'm used to Jeep Cherokees not Priuses. Statistics don't mean much, as they aren't reflecting what I'm seeing on the road & in the paper, right now.

What do you think? Gas matters some but I feel safer in a bigger SUV. Any recommendations?

( At least in LA, people go 5 mph due to traffic :wink2


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## KHouse75 (May 14, 2008)

People look at me like I'm crazy when I tell them this but I drive a 2011 Challenger with the 5.7L with 6 speed manual . At 60 MPH, I get 29.8 MPG. At 70, I get around 28 MPG. I have the power when I need it but don't get terrible gas mileage.

Not sure what you're looking for in an SUV but if I had the money, I'd get a Tesla Model X. If I needed an SUV today, I'd pick up a GMC Acadia Denali. I'm 6'4" so I need plenty of room. My wife's Suburban had a tree fall on it so I spent a few hours at CarMax trying every model SUV on the lot. I only found about 4 different models that I could physically get in and the Acadia was at the top of my list. Drove great. Loved the interior. Insurance fixed the Suburban so no Acadia for me.

New Suburbans and Tahoes are outrageously over priced so I'll never buy another new.

Trucks are another option. You can pick up a nicely equipped Ram 1500 at a pretty good price.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/dodge/challenger/2011/2011-dodge-challenger-rt-test/

I think that'd get too much attention. I live near a raceway.:biggrin2:
Will look into the SUVs.

I liked the way the Jeep Cherokee looked, not so much the current ones.

It just occurred to me that if I started speeding, I could avoid a lot of the 18-wheelers that go 55-60. Just not when they don't merge.


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

I hear ya Nik but I doubt it has much to do with driving a white Prius but more to do with you feeling a tad more vulnerable as you are used to driving something larger.

I don't know what it's like in the States but the trucking industry has changed significantly up here. It used to be dominated by either company fleets where the driver was an employee and the company really cared about their image, or owner operators, where the driver had a lot riding on the tractor he owned and, I think in most cases, really enjoyed the job. They were the somewhat romantic 'knights of the road' who would help motorists in distress and even be extra eyes for the police. Now it is dominated by drivers hired from a driver-pool company under contractor to a tractor leasing company who are contracted to the load company, so everybody is just doing a bottom line A to B job. Also, from what I've seen, a lot of them simply aren't that good and there have been recent revelations about lax government oversight of driver training companies.

I was born and raised in Toronto (escaped in 1973) and still have to drive the major freeways from time-to-time but flatly refuse to ride my motorcycle or drive the wife's Miata down there. You need to be hyper-defensive and just assume they can't see you.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

For some reason the on-ramp is really short up North, here, unlike LA & Orange Counties, so the 18-wheeler just comes barreling toward the side of the car. Truck side to car side, in the same lane. You don't have time to check the next lane to see if you can move over. 

No way to see them. Maybe that's why they seem out of control with centrifugal force on the swerve.

I have to get a way to draw this! :wink2:

I have the same feeling that I used to when a speedboat would fly over us scuba-diving in the ocean & all I could hope was that my air tank would at least put a hole in their hull! ( We did always have a flag up in the boat)


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

Some drivers (truckers and regular drivers) like to play games with Prius drivers. You know, those granola-crunching, Birkenstock wearing, solar-loving Leftist Greenies.:biggrin2:
.
.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

I don't know any!:biggrin2:It was a gift. Don't look a gift Prius in the mouth.


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

One time an off ramp I was using was backed up into the highway. As I get into the back of the line, I look in the mirror and see a tractor-trailer approaching and looks like he is coming in rather hot. After a second or so, I realize he is having a hard time stopping. He is able to move over into the other lane, and comes to a stop about 30 feet past me.


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## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

SPS-1 said:


> One time an off ramp I was using was backed up into the highway. As I get into the back of the line, I look in the mirror and see a tractor-trailer approaching and looks like he is coming in rather hot. After a second or so, I realize he is having a hard time stopping. He is able to move over into the other lane, and comes to a stop about 30 feet past me.


Good for you for having situational awareness and checking your rear view mirror. I do that constantly, and it drives my wife crazy. She says I'm too paranoid. I argue that this is from experience. I've avoided many rear end crashes because of this habit. 

This is why I'm always looking in the rear view mirror:


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## SPS-1 (Oct 21, 2008)

Dave Sal said:


> I've avoided many rear end crashes because of this habit.


Another time, I almost avoided a crash by looking. I was stopped at a light and again saw another car closing in rather quickly. I took my foot off the brake and I think I had enough room to move forward enough to give her room to stop. But figured that if I put my foot on the gas, I would just end up ramming the car in front of me. (Its amazing how sometimes you can think things through in a split second.) She did hit me, but my foot was off the brake, and it just pushed me forward a little.

I had my car checked out, and it was fine, and she paid for the check. Even if your car looks ok after an accident, you need to get it checked out professionally. There are frequently energy absorbing crush panels behind your bumpers. Besides loosing the protection, when you go to sell your car, the other guy's mechanic might notice it when you go to sell your car years later.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Dave Sal said:


> Good for you for having situational awareness and checking your rear view mirror. I do that constantly, and it drives my wife crazy. She says I'm too paranoid. I argue that this is from experience. I've avoided many rear end crashes because of this habit.
> 
> This is why I'm always looking in the rear view mirror:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irE5z6X2pL0



That's what I'm worried about. . . .not so much from the rear, although, my dad always said don't get in front of a dump truck, no brakes. . .now add three to four more trucks right around the immediate area & you have this area.

I also don't drive behind a truck with a ladder in the back hanging out. Had a pt who had it go flying fr the back of the truck & thru his windshield. . .

I can understand your hypervigilance. I think it's normal.:wink2:


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## NotyeruncleBob (Mar 9, 2017)

When I'm cruising along and then come up on slow traffic on the highway I turn on my hazards to warn those coming up behind me. I leave 'em on til there's at least one car behind me. I think it's pretty standard in EU to do this if you're the back car in a traffic jam or major slowdown, but I don't see it much here in the US. 
That truck video above scares the **** out of me.


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

NotyeruncleBob said:


> When I'm cruising along and then come up on slow traffic on the highway I turn on my hazards to warn those coming up behind me. I leave 'em on til there's at least one car behind me. I think it's pretty standard in EU to do this if you're the back car in a traffic jam or major slowdown, but I don't see it much here in the US.
> That truck video above scares the **** out of me.


Man, it looks like it didn't brake at all before impact.

I try to do the same and and agree it doesn't not seem that common over here although I do occasionally see others doing it. I've become hyper-vigalent through motorcycle riding because you are are just so damned vulnerable. I'm always looking way ahead, monitoring way back and trying to always have an escape route. There are all sorts of techniques one learns over the years, particularly during inclement weather.


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

lenaitch said:


> I've become hyper-vigilant through motorcycle riding because you are are just so damned vulnerable. I'm always looking way ahead, monitoring way back and trying to always have an escape route. There are all sorts of techniques one learns over the years, particularly during inclement weather.


I actually change lanes rather than have a motorcycle in front or behind me. No way am I going to hit them! :biggrin2:


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## lenaitch (Feb 10, 2014)

Nik333 said:


> I actually change lanes rather than have a motorcycle in front or behind me. No way am I going to hit them! :biggrin2:


I'm the same with following dump trucks, flat decks or trailers - too much chance for stuff to come flying off.


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## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

lenaitch said:


> Man, it looks like it didn't brake at all before impact.
> 
> I try to do the same and and agree it doesn't not seem that common over here although I do occasionally see others doing it. I've become hyper-vigalent through motorcycle riding because you are are just so damned vulnerable. I'm always looking way ahead, monitoring way back and trying to always have an escape route. There are all sorts of techniques one learns over the years, particularly during inclement weather.


I used to ride a motorcycle when I was young. Looked forward to it every spring at the first smells of cut grass and warm breezes. One day (a Friday the 13th no less) I was riding a Honda 750-4 on the way back from a buddies house on Interstate 94 southbound in Chicago. I was in the center lane going about 60mph when all of a sudden I see blinding light in my mirrors and the next thing I know me legs are flying over my head and I'm sliding on the pavement for about 150 feet. The skin on my palms, wrists and fingertips started burning away so I managed to cause myself to flip, ending up going feet first and watching traffic swerving all around trying to avoid running me over. I had been rear ended by a drunk postal worker who veered off into a ditch a few hundred feet ahead. That was the last time I ever rode a bike and the beginning of my "rear view mirror paranoia".


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Dave Sal said:


> I used to ride a motorcycle when I was young. Looked forward to it every spring at the first smells of cut grass and warm breezes. One day (a Friday the 13th no less) I was riding a Honda 750-4 on the way back from a buddies house on Interstate 94 southbound in Chicago. I was in the center lane going about 60mph when all of a sudden I see blinding light in my mirrors and the next thing I know me legs are flying over my head and I'm sliding on the pavement for about 150 feet. The skin on my palms, wrists and fingertips started burning away so I managed to cause myself to flip, ending up going feet first and watching traffic swerving all around trying to avoid running me over. I had been rear ended by a drunk postal worker who veered off into a ditch a few hundred feet ahead. That was the last time I ever rode a bike and the beginning of my "rear view mirror paranoia".


Well, it's based on experience. I'm glad you survived.

I was hit twice in a car, by a car, side & back. By a Russian physicist visiting Hawaii, no less. He even commented on the effects of shear on the car. My head/neck were hurt by the rapid blows/swings. Coup-contra-coup. I was afraid of driving for awhile after that, but most has long passed. Not a serious accident but long lasting.

There seems to be a realistic fear based on the realities of our jobs, that lasts. That's only a problem if it causes trouble in your life. 

In a recent thread, a member suggested that I think about what accidents have caused in my family & friends, & realize that they weren't too bad. But, as I thought, I realized they were awful!:surprise:


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## Dave Sal (Dec 20, 2012)

Thanks Nik333. I also had to get over a fear after the motorcycle accident. Even riding in a car was cause for a bit if anxiety for a couple of weeks. That went away though, but this accident and other things that I've witnessed over the years have given me a healthy paranoia, as my wife calls it. Personally I think it is a form of wisdom, which can only come from experience.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Nik333 said:


> I've almost been hit a number of times by 18 wheelers lately. Just on Thursday, two different trucks, 100 mi apart, didn't merge onto I-5 and actually came into my lane, pushing me out....


I drive a MX-5 Miata. I know how you feel. This is not my first small car, and I have learned that you have to pretend like you're invisible to the other vehicles around you, and you have to also make yourself visible at all times. 

You can't pace other cars, or they will almost always change lanes and force you over without seeing you. When passing another vehicle on the interstate, don't gradually pass them up. Speed up and get the front of your car next to their doors as quickly as you can, so they can see you. Remember, most of the traffic around a small car is looking down at you. They probably didn't even know you were passing them until you were beside them.

When I pass 18-wheelers, I speed up quite a bit. If it's day time, I will turn my headlights on just as I am about to pass another vehicle just to make myself that much more noticeable. Depending on time of day and where I am, i'll leave my headlights on during the day time. When the sun is at my back, I do turn them off because I am afraid that the sun will make it hard for someone to tell if I hit my brakes or not because of the lights already being lit up. Ever seen the sun glare off the back of a car and find it hard to see their brake lights come on?

It's scary getting stuck beside an 18-wheeler at highway speeds. Especially, when you look over and realize that his tires almost come up to your roof. :surprise:

You constantly have to be watching your mirrors, the vehicles around you, and trying to anticipate the other drivers next move. 

Sometimes, you cannot always do that. Soon, i'll be adding a flasher to my 3rd brake light, so that when I hit the brakes, the 3rd brake light will flash 3-5 times before remaining lit up. Similar to this one:

Skip to 1min in.






Another thing i'll be doing is getting a louder horn. I've found that the horns that come in small cars aren't loud enough for the traffic around you. A louder horn will get attention. If you've ever heard the horn of a Miata, you'll understand what I am talking about. :laughing:


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

r0ckstarr said:


> You constantly have to be watching your mirrors, the vehicles around you, and trying to anticipate the other drivers next move.


Hey!!! Where have you been? We never heard about the result of your photography from a canoe.

Thanks, good advice. I made a trip with no incidents. I think I have to avoid rush hour & pre-Holiday weekends. To make matters worse, there's a recall on the side air-bags. That's the most likely point of impact from these big rigs not merging, although, I don't think an air-bag would help.


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## r0ckstarr (Jan 8, 2013)

Nik333 said:


> Hey!!! Where have you been? We never heard about the result of your photography from a canoe.


I couldn't login or reset the pw for the longest time. Then, just before this site faded from memory, I decided to try again and found a post explaining the problem. I've also been very busy with other projects. Still haven't decided on a boat that I want, so all wildlife photography has been by foot on land. Though with this recent hurricane, I wished I had a boat. How have you been?


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## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Good, thanks. Glad you're back.:wink2:


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