Not at all. Sometimes, it just doesn't matter what you do. That's why they call them 'accidents'. (not like anyone rear-ends someone on purpose.....)

 

Happy b/day 'keaton

Hope ya have a great day...

 

Yes indeed, sometimes your options are taken away from you. That said, the driver in question in this thread just plain futzed up. The conditions were challenging, true, but there's a big difference between challenging and impossible. Glare ice is impossible, packed snow is challenging. Challenging you can adjust for. He didn't, so his truck is wrinkled. Kudos to the guy for choosing the ditch, but it was his own damn fault that he was in that position in the first place.

If that driver accepts that some other driver created the hazard but his involvement in it was his own doing he'll be much more likely to avoid repeating the same mistake. If instead he blames the conditions and/or the other drivers and/or capricious gods he won't learn a damned thing and will probably have that same kind of wreck again. If we blame the conditions and/or other drivers and/or capricious gods we won't learn from his mistake, either, and will instead have to learn from our own.

I'm not denigrating that guy. I'm just saying that it's better to own your mistakes because you can't learn from denying them.

 

I suppose the biggest thing is, people don't expect other people to be flat out stupid on the road. (brake checking for no real reason.) Of course, there is always the rabbit/squirrel/cat/dog/possum/woodchuck that wasn't seen by the third vehicle back.....

I think riding a motorcycle for a lotta years taught me to watch out for others stupidity. Even though it still bit me in the *** occasionally..... (lady looked right at me, in a BRIGHT RED VW Rabbit, and then pulled out in front of me anyway..... THUMP!) She got the ticket.

 

I pretty much assume everyone else on the road is gonna do something stupid every time I drive.

 

You will live longer that way.

 

And they all seem to congregate in this corner of the country.

 

That's a potentially deadly assumption to make.

Same here. I can't even count the number of times I've had to use my escape routes to avoid being splattered at stop lights. I only ever got hit twice, about ten minutes apart, by some guys who didn't want me to see the next sunrise. Riding made me very aware of how stupid and/or inattentive people can be and very careful to avoid becoming a victim of it.

That's a big part of why I hold other people's feet to the fire when they screw up, and hold my own feet there even longer when I do something stupid.

 

Back when I had a gun and a badge I was trained to do just that.

Never got into a situation where I needed to but,...

 

Neighbors got a pellet delivery from Lowes yesterday. We left shortly after the truck got there.

Didn't notice last night, but the driver took out my mailbox with his forktruck...

Lowes will be replacing my mailbox tomorrow!