On Wed, 11 Jul 2012 04:45:12 -0400, Stormin Mormon wrote:

Today (July 10, 2012) there were radio reports of a vehicle crash, near
me. I searched for it on the web, but did not find it. What I remember
is:

Driver of vehicle killed. (insert name) was sitting at an intersection.
He was struck from behind, by another vehicle. This pushed him into the
path of an oncoming driver, who happened to be driving a semi trailer,
with a heavy tank full of product. The driver was killed instantly.

When I was in Driver Education, we were taught to wait with our steering
wheels straight. So, if we were hit from behind, we'd go through the
intersection, instead of pushed into oncoming traffic. I guess the
deceased either didn't take driver ed, or decided not to follow the
instructions he got. And, he's dead.

That's what I was taught. Of course, the one time that I was rear-ended
in traffic I was going straight, and just got smacked into the car in
front of me.

As pointed out, if you don't get smacked straight on it doesn't help --
but there's an awful lot of rear-enders that are straight-on and come as
more of a surprise to the driver of the following vehicle than to the one
hit.

--
Tim Wescott
Control system and signal processing consulting
www.wescottdesign.com