I returned home this morning from a round trip to Virginia last week, where I was offline for much of the time. Many thanks to our guest bloggers here for holding down the fort! I left Salem at 1pm Sunday and made it to Davidson, SK last night around 11pm (over 3,000km in 36 hours) and thus need a few hours to catch up.
The trip was uneventful – save for a minivan that chose to cross my path on US460 in Virginia, forcing a high speed chicane around his front, through the intersection and into the opposing side of the divided highway, where I pulled safely to a stop in their left hand turn lane. If you ever find yourself trying to decide between a Subaru Outback and some other brand of small car or SUV, buy the Outback. Trust me.
Oh wow, Kate. Glad you’re okay. A reminder for us all that it takes just one nitwit to wreck our lives.
Yup. Drive as if every texting son-of-a-bitch is out to kill you. That’s the definition of defensive driving nowadays.
Perhaps it is because I live in the State of CA … where literally every other car on the road is operated by a driver with no valid drivers license and no vehicle insurance … but I have developed a new strategy for staying alive on the roads here. Whenever the light turns green … I check the cross street in BOTH directions before moving across the intersection. No, I don’t trust that anyone else on the road is paying attention nor that they care. It’s every man/woman for themselves … and I’m not trusting the colored lights or the driving laws with my life.
Congrats on your evasive driving, Kate! I’ve survived a few near misses with rando yahoos … and I’m glad you have the skills and Divine providence to have seen you through this one.
Glad as well that Kate had traveling mercies. I hadn’t look up the word “chicane”.
Sounds racist…….a feminist might say.
Chicane? Is that a “trans” thingy? An addadictomy?
Awk. Shoild read “I had to look up…”.
Good thing you weren’t driving the big van, then…that maneuver would be all but impossible.
I was probably doing 55mph. There would have been a dead minivan driver. Tires were screaming on the Subaru, but it stayed on its wheels.
“I was probably doing 55mph. There would have been a dead minivan driver. Tires were screaming on the Subaru, but it stayed on its wheels.”
It’s funny…I know three different people now who have owned Subarus for years who then went out and bought a newer version (one is my neighbor across the alley, who even kept the old one but bought a new one for his wife). Must be something to them to inspire that kind of loyalty.
All wheel drive standard. Subarus are expensive to own but the performance can’t be beat.
Glad you’re ok Kate. That must have been very unsettling.
I recently bought a 24 Outback (my fourth Subaru in twenty years and always for safety reasons). This preference started when I worked/lived in Qatar where in just two years I was involved in two accidents.. No other accidents in over 50 years of driving. Too many Gulf Arabs drive like maniacs, and a bit like Kenji above I always assume that someone is going to run a red.
On many occasions I’ve driven from Houston to Toronto and I feel much safer with Subardu’s handling and driver assist. I know that you also do frequent long drives, so please be safe. You might even consider a dashcam for legal protection in the event of an accident.
Years of evasive driving around whitetails paid off.
I can hope for a bit of Karma; that the other driver dropped their cellphone, and it broke.
(Glad you’re OK.)
I worked at Subaru’s U.S. HQ for almost 20 years. They were always immensely proud of their crash test ratings and had multitudes of letters from drivers amazed at the horrible crashes they walked away from. Having said that though, they are terrible drivers and seem to love hogging/parking themselves in the far left lane. Their socialist worldview informs their driving decisions, in that they don’t want anyone to get ahead of them.
TC,
It’s not nearly that complicated. They’re mostly self-important a$$hoLS.
I have always reminded my kids and grandkids that, when driving, always assume that the other guy is going to do something stupid because invariably they will. There are simply too many drivers (and I use that word lightly) on the roads today that have no business being behind the wheel unless the vehicle is stopped and the keys are removed from the ignition. I prefer the term “steering wheel holders” as opposed to “drivers”.
I’d been following another vehicle about 100yds back for a couple of miles. Kept my eye on the minivan as we approached the intersection at the bottom of a hill (it’s Appalachia). The minivan waited for the first car to pass, and then pulled out into my path to cross the highway. I don’t think he even knew I was there until the green blur passed in front of his headlights.
James Dean was not so lucky … and thankfully Kate … you’re no James Dean.
“we approached the intersection at the bottom of a hill ”
Oh, wow…there goes the option of trying to stop. Glad you’re on the ball, Kate (thank a whitetail next time you see one…;)…
The craziest drivers I ever came across were the Italians, followed by the French. They would pull any crazy stunt to pass you, including driving down the middle of the road f*rcing any oncoming vehicle to shift to the edge as much as possible, while you had to do likewise.
I don’t disagree with you but my recent 4 days in Toronto/Mississauga had me scratching my head about drivers there these days. They were aggressive, arrogant, and incompetent.
Robert count yourself lucky to not have been driving recently in the Wangcouver area, it’s as bad as ever. Immigrants and ESL (barely) seems to be the worst drivers.
That said, we’re traveling around the interior, and have seen our share of stupid human tricks already. I find one of the best ways to give clearance to the stupidity on all sides of me, is to ride the white line now, no matter my speed. Lots of clearance from the speed demons coming at me…..
Third World driving is becoming a whole new skillset for Canadians.
Ontario has the lowest fatalities per billion passenger kilometers amongst the provinces.
Jamaica has the craziest drivers I’ve ever seen. Traffic laws are merely suggestions. Stop signs optional.
Not impressed with the driving in SK either. I don’t know why, but there is way too many dolts out there that doesn’t understand the need to turn down their hi-beams when approaching an oncoming vehicle.
When it’s pitch-dark on a lonely road with little traffic, the last thing I needed to see was spots in front of my eyes, and as you get older, it takes longer to recover your vision after being blinded by someone that compensates for a burnt headlight by keeping his beams up.
I also saw what had to be the longest skid mark I’ve ever seen in my life. It went for quite literally (and I use the word literally LITERALLY) for MILES! Obviously a frozen caliper locked one of his wheels, but the idiot had just passed a service station. Rather than turning around, and head for the garage, the fool decided to just keep on going for about 10 Km. As I followed the skid mark, I can see the track cross over from the shoulder to across the center line, meaning the driver was having a difficult time controlling the vehicle, crossing into oncoming traffic.
I’ve NEVER seen that level of incompetence on the road, even in Quebec, and I’ve driven in 5 provinces with over 45 years experience.
For your viewing pleasure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmBibFdMIRU
Nice driving! Glad you’re safely back home.
Glad you’re safe, Kate. Schedule a rest day or two if you can.
Ninety-five per cent of people on the road have no business sitting behind the wheel.
If you’ve ever driven the US freeways and I-system through big city construction zones in the driving rain, you cannot help but appreciate the competence of the drivers and technology involved, and always at higher speed than sensible people would recommend. I’m a lot less cynical about the capabilities of the average driver than most people.
Exactly right.
I got T-boned in a brand new Outback about 2014 by an Infiniti sedan that was making about 30mph, and walked away completely intact. Surprised the heck out of me, because I thought I was done for.
24 ounces of coffee I’d just purchased was instantly vaporized, and the airbag gave me a pretty good shot, but that car saved my bacon.
The young lady that nailed me was way more upset than I was, and I did all I could to calm her down, once I figured out I was fine.
Asian-Americans have the lowest Traffic Fatality Rate per 100M Person Miles
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813188
“Asian-Americans have the lowest Traffic Fatality Rate per 100M Person Miles
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813188”
I believe that…they just cause others around them to have accidents instead.
I know how that can feel and like Subaru, but love Volvo. Back about 2002, on highway 401 near Toronto, 130 km/hr (norm there), tractor trailer one car length ahead and one lane over hit something, flipped, tractor came across my lane while the trailer swung across two lanes and shoulder on its side just as we passed the end of an off ramp entry.. 80+ degree turn, 130 kph, car tilted 30+ degrees, skidded, tires stayed on!! 99 Volvo v70R . No damage, all ok .. deep breath and back on 401 past the overpass. many behind us hit the trailer and each other.
Now drive a 2021 v60 – absolutely great car – wife has a 2020 S60, loves it.
“I know how that can feel and like Subaru, but love Volvo.”
Yeah, Volvo was the original “built for safety” car. My dad had one back in the late 60’s/early 70’s.
So glad that you are okay, Kate. I used to make drives like that all the time…6,000 mile tours of AB and BC in ten days. The almost-dead stories would fill a book.
Be happy to spell you sometime.
Another example of your extraordinary awareness of the world around you, Kate.
Thank you for sharing that harrowing moment with your many admiring readers of SDA.
Teaching kidlings to drive entails teaching them to do what other drivers expect them to do, and to be aware that other drivers may not do what they expect the other driver to do.
3000 km in 36 hours?
How much sleep in those 36 hours or are there multiple drivers?
Just curious.
B T W welcome back.
Solo trip. I caught 4 hours of sleep Sunday night in the back of the car in Deforest, WI. Long distance driving is my lone superpower.
More power to you.
Thought my 12 + 16 hours in 2 days with my cat was commendable.
Welcome back!!
(And I daresay that LD travel is NOT your ONLY superpower!)