Idiots, poor Mercedes :(

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On a serious note...

Our peripheral vision lacks the capacity of fine resolution or seeing detail.

But the brain will be alrerted to any moving object or bright colours entering our peripheral vision.

The truck driver was focusing on the road ahead, as he should. But the parallel movement of the vehicle in the lay-by must have triggered some level of increased awareness through an automatic (if mild) Adrenalin secretion.

What the driver then does will differ from one driver to another.

(The Adrenalin secretion obviously turned into a rush once the truck driver saw the Hyundai continue rather than stop).
 
Turning off a main road into a side road, there’s a pedestrian approaching the corner - have they seen you ? A polite ‘toot’ will make them aware of your presence.

Nowadays, alas, the sort of idiot pedestrian who hasn't seen you is usually wandering along in their own little world, headphones in and quite probably texting as well, and your polite toot is likely to be received with a volley of abuse and vulgar gestures, and quite possibly a kick at the side of the car if you pass close enough.
 
Turning off a main road into a side road, there’s a pedestrian approaching the corner - have they seen you ? A polite ‘toot’ will make them aware of your presence.

Remember they have right of way if they actually start to cross, so the same as someone on a zebra crossing, I wouldn't beep one of them to let them know I was ploughing on and they should wait for me.
 
Remember they have right of way if they actually start to cross, so the same as someone on a zebra crossing, I wouldn't beep one of them to let them know I was ploughing on and they should wait for me.
Indeed , but most will wait .

While ultimately pedestrians have priority ( both parties have right of way , which is a different thing ) , peds are supposed to look around for traffic before stepping off the footway, and it is self preservation for them since regardless of who is in the right they will come off worst .

The horn warning is to let them know you are approaching, how you proceed depends on their reaction, but it is always better to give timely warning of your approach .

If they step out into your path and you hadnt warned them , you will have to answer why not .
 
Turning off a main road into a side road, there’s a pedestrian approaching the corner - have they seen you ? A polite ‘toot’ will make them aware of your presence.

The need for an audible warning may become more frequent with the advent of electric cars as the pedestrian will be even less likely to hear the car approach.

For a brief period in the late 70's motorcycles were required to be fitted with a beeper intended to remind the rider to turn off the indicator after a turn. To be heard particularly at speed they were off necessity quite loud. Many riders viewed them as an annoyance and disconnected them. My 79 BMW has one and I find it a useful safety feature as it serves the purpose well of warning pedestrians in the above scenario. I know they've heard it because I see their heads turn. No reason cars couldn't have and external indicator beeper.
 
I wonder... if instead of the truck, it was a Tesla on autopilot - what would it do?
 
The need for an audible warning may become more frequent with the advent of electric cars as the pedestrian will be even less likely to hear the car approach.

For a brief period in the late 70's motorcycles were required to be fitted with a beeper intended to remind the rider to turn off the indicator after a turn. To be heard particularly at speed they were off necessity quite loud. Many riders viewed them as an annoyance and disconnected them. My 79 BMW has one and I find it a useful safety feature as it serves the purpose well of warning pedestrians in the above scenario. I know they've heard it because I see their heads turn. No reason cars couldn't have and external indicator beeper.
Some ( electric ? ) cars already have synthetic engine noise which plays through the car stereo.

This could optionally be played through an external speaker to achieve the same result , along with electronic tyre squeal and other sound effects as desired.
 
Hyundai driver was 100% in the wrong, but the truck drivers anticipation of the situation was pretty shocking too. You could see from a long way back what was going to happen but the truck driver didn't see it until very late.
Hindsight is a great thing. I doubt anyone would be expecting the Hyundai to pull out rather than stop.
 
I wonder... if instead of the truck, it was a Tesla on autopilot - what would it do?
Fire an EMP burst at the Hyundai to disable it ?

Actually, there’s a serious thought : with smart vehicle technology , cars ought to be able to communicate with each other so that in an emergency it isn’t just one vehicle that has to do the avoiding...
 
I've watched a lot of dash cam clips over the last couple of years or so and a lot of clips seem to feature the driver being blindly-unaware of the impending collision, even though you can see it unfolding well in advance.

I'm never sure if they are blissfully unaware or whether they are deliberately trying to teach the third party "a lesson".

Very odd.
 
If the lorry and its driver were instead a motorbike and rider, I doubt very much if the collision would have occurred. There's a world of difference between being legally in the right and self preservation.

It's all very well explaining to St. Peter at the Pearly Gates that you had right of way but I doubt he'll take any notice.
You would think so wouldn’t you. But there’s a post on Facebook showing exactly this situation with a motorbike in lane 1 running into a car entering from a slip road.

 
Either the bike rider was massively distracted or he fancied a new bike.
 
You would think so wouldn’t you. But there’s a post on Facebook showing exactly this situation with a motorbike in lane 1 running into a car entering from a slip road.

Yes this one is odd.

From the insurance/legal point if view the red car is clearly at fault.

But the odd bit is that the biker never braked? Not even at the very last minute.

On the plus side, the biker appeared to be wearing protective gear and seems unhurt.
 
You would think so wouldn’t you. But there’s a post on Facebook showing exactly this situation with a motorbike in lane 1 running into a car entering from a slip road.


At the risk of being accused of racialisticalism, I would suspect that the driver of the red car has never passed a driving test in this country since he seems totally unfamiliar with the basics of entering a dual carriageway from a slip road.
 

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