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16: Accident Types: DRIVING FORWARD... HIT BY OTHER DRIVER  Being struck by another driver while driving forward is quite common. There are many avenues of attack. Your vehicle can be struck by vehicles going the same direction or approaching from either side who are turning left, turning right, or proceeding straight ahead. Your vehicle can also be struck by an on-coming driver making a left turn. Because of the potential difficulty in determining who hit who in a head-on collision with an on-coming vehicle, such incidents are considered elsewhere (see Back to Basics 15: Driving Forward: Miscellaneous Accidents), even though many probably do belong in this class. About the only driver who cannot reasonably hit you is the one making a right hand turn while coming from the opposite direction.
Being struck by the other driver does not mean the other driver is at fault. You may be at fault if you fail to yield the right-of-way at a traffic control device or at an uncontrolled intersection. You may be at fault if you fail to yield to a vehicle which by statute has the right-of-way, such as police or an emergency vehicle using flashing lights and siren, or school or public transportation buses in some jurisdictions. You also may be at fault if you were speeding, passing in an unsafe manner, or driving erratically. Even if the other driver is at fault, you may have been able to prevent the altercation. If you saw the driver about to turn across your lane and insisted on your legal right-of-way and a collision resulted, a different choice by you could have prevented the accident, even though the other driver may have been cited. Similarly, if you saw a vehicle approaching a traffic control device at a speed where its stopping in time was questionable but you chose to proceed, any ensuing accident could have been prevented by you. The same is true in both instances if you should have seen the other vehicle but did not because of distractions such as music, conversation, mind occupied with other things, etc. Diligent application of defensive driving techniques can often prevent accidents such as a driver turning into you, because your scanning identifies the potential and you back-off accordingly instead of insisting on your legal right-of-way. Staying out of another driver's blind spot precludes him from accidentally turning into you. Proper following distance, especially when applied to tailgaters, greatly reduces the risk of being rear-ended by another driver. Sometimes such incidents are not preventable by you, such as a driver turning at an intersection without slowing or signaling, or changing lanes without warning or visible need. Such occurrences should be uncommon if you consistently practice defensive driving and maintain your space for life by active scanning, diligent maintenance of following distances, identification and protection of escape routes, and control of blind spots. Do not cause an accident by insisting on your way, even if the law is on your side. Being legally in the right does little to assuage remorse if demanding that petty right costs someone his life. Remember it is your time, your convenience, your conscience, and possibly even your life that you are protecting. Drive defensively for humanitarian reasons or drive defensively for selfish reasons... but drive defensively. One last class of struck-by the other driver that should be mentioned is when your vehicle is parked. Although not occurring while driving forward, these incidents should be considered before you park. To prevent such an incident, choose a parking place that does not block someone else's egress. If you park on the street, stay close to the curb and do not park directly across from a driveway.
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