Rear-ended

[Rhythm Thief]

Touch wood, I've only had that brown trouser moment in a car, sitting at the rear of a queue of other cars on a dual cw, which the driver behind fails to spot, cue some hard braking and skidding and all I could do is watch it my mirror.

I've been on the other end of that. A few years back I was coming over a bridge in Falkirk in an articulated lorry, doing around 30mph. Something over the parapet of the bridge momentarily caught my attention and when I looked at the road ahead again, I discovered that the traffic had stopped about 50 yards ahead of me, and there I was still doing 30mph. I stood on the brakes and wrenched the wheel over to the right, and as the car at the back of the queue disappeared under my windscreen I was waiting for the impact. I came to a stop with the back wheels of my tractor unit roughly level with the driver of the car.

Then all the traffic moved off and I got back onto the correct side of the road and carried on.

 

[PBancroft]

I've been on the other end of that. A few years back I was coming over a bridge in Falkirk in an articulated lorry, doing around 30mph. Something over the parapet of the bridge momentarily caught my attention and when I looked at the road ahead again, I discovered that the traffic had stopped about 50 yards ahead of me, and there I was still doing 30mph. I stood on the brakes and wrenched the wheel over to the right, and as the car at the back of the queue disappeared under my windscreen I was waiting for the impact. I came to a stop with the back wheels of my tractor unit roughly level with the driver of the car.

Then all the traffic moved off and I got back onto the correct side of the road and carried on.

Eeep! I've done something similar when I hit the brakes too hard on a patch of surface water. I was in a mini and started aquaplaning towards standstill traffic at a junction ahead. Luckily the car I was heading towards moved forwards a car length, and the car behind stayed put. I slotted inbetween the two quite neatly, and we all carried on as if I had intended to do that all along...

 

[XmisterIS]

I had a similar experience in Melton Mowbray a while back, although I was in my car. I stopped behind several other cars at a traffic light and was blissfully listening to mary Black on the CD player. H aving been stopped for a minute or so, I noticed a car approaching rather quickly from the rear then felt his rapid approach as a nudge forward despite the handbrake being applied.

I got out of the car and saw that the foolowing car had nudges into my tow bar, fortunately causing no damage. The driver of the offending car said, and I quote, "it's an automatic, it does that sometimes."

What sensible response could I have made?

Last summer I had a teenager who was speeding and not looking at the road ram hard into the back of my car while I was stopped at a school crossing with the five-year-olds going across in a crocodile with the lollipop woman. Luckily I had the handbrake on as per usual, or I would have been shunted forward and killed the lot of them. Anyway, the teenager in question went white as a sheet and started shaking when I told him how many children he would have killed if my car had not been in the way. Also, my towbar made light work of the front of his car.