...The area i live in is quite forgiving too as I am just off a busy road (no kids and hugely open)
Does that mean you are not going on public roads, or passing children on the pavement.:nenau:nenau
They also tend to walk out, in between parked cars on normal roads...
Accidents happen...
BUT in most accidents there is a cause, and blame...
In all traffic accidents involving more than one vehicle, there are always innocent people that are involved, and in the majority of times, there is nothing that these people can do about it.
It can also happen so quickly.
Nobody expects to have an accident.. although some drivers are accidents waiting to happen...
But you can take precautions, wear a seat belt, make sure there are no loose items on board, maintain your vehicle to be 100% Be alert, never drive when tired or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Never use a phone whilst driving. Don't have distractions in the car, messing with the radio, sound system, sat nav, or a Mother-in-Law talking AT you...:doh cor blimey...:doh
Most importantly, don't modify your vehicle so it puts you, your family or other road users at anymore risk.
The problem with modern cars, is they all have bumpers at different heights, and the problem with SUV's and 4x4's they are taller and tend to ride over the vehicle in front.
In the same way, if a car runs into the back of a 4x4, it tends to go underneath it, lifting the back...
I drive defensively, one of my defences is, when I stop... to have an escape route.
This I believe saved my sons life about 10 years ago.
A queue of cars were approaching a roundabout, 1/4 mile to go... a van in front braked hard, the cars in front stopped easily, I was braking and I could see in my mirror that the car behind was oblivious to the situation, with a very high risk that he was going to run into the back of our Fiesta that I was driving with my son in the back at a speed in excess of 30 mph...
I just moved over to the left and mounted the grass verge out of the way...
The car behind CRASHED into the car in front of us, followed by another car behind him which CRASHED into him...
We were the smallest car, we would have been the crumple zone for all cars involved, I doubt any of us would have walked away from this.
We gave the first driver an extra 13 feet extra stopping distance, plus the space in front of us, thus reducing his impact speed and reducing his injuries.
Recently, on a local motorway, a 23 year old lady was killed by a lorry, whose driver was on the phone, he crashed into a line of traffic, her car was crushed, killing her outright. The driver of the lorry went to prison...
There is little you can do about this, OR IS THERE ? in a similar situation, I stopped a good distance from the car in front, in a queue, as there was nothing behind me...
Brake lights on, still in gear, looking in the mirror... I see a car skidding to an uncontrolled stop, I could see he would just about hit me, so I crawled forward a few feet giving him a longer distance to stop...
I still remember the look on his face after I did this... he was so grateful.
On the motorway in such situations I try to keep an escape route especially if I am at the rear of slow to stationary traffic.