Roads? Where we're going...
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Playing Elite May Have Saved My Life Tonight
- Thread starter Ziljan
- Start date
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Glad you got out of that close call in one piece!!
Surely in a Mini you should have nipped under the trailer and popped out safe on the other side... or just stayed in the same lane as he crossed over!!!
OP, as a motorcyclist I knew what was about to happen as soon as you said "At the last moment he committed to exiting the freeway by swerving into the lane next to mine" - and honestly, that would have been my cue to get on the anchors right there. Semis have a freakin' HUGE blindspot and riders develop an almost uncanny sixth sense about when the trucker has just put you in it... at least the ones that intend to live long enough to retire do!
He was (a) distracted by the fact he'd almost missed his exit - always a red flag when somebody changes lanes rapidly near an off ramp. (b) Probably focused so much on the lane next to him that he wasn't paying attention to the next one over at his initial lane change.
Then, once he changed lanes, if you were in just the wrong position he might easily have been looking right over the top of your Cooper. His blind spot is deeper the lower your vehicle is. Heck, he'd probably have had a better chance of spotting me since my bright yellow helmet sticks up head and shoulders higher than the roof on a Cooper. Still not something to rely on though. The moment he started to move into the lane next to you it was time to be a couple yards astern of those spinning bombs that truckers call "tires"
He was (a) distracted by the fact he'd almost missed his exit - always a red flag when somebody changes lanes rapidly near an off ramp. (b) Probably focused so much on the lane next to him that he wasn't paying attention to the next one over at his initial lane change.
Then, once he changed lanes, if you were in just the wrong position he might easily have been looking right over the top of your Cooper. His blind spot is deeper the lower your vehicle is. Heck, he'd probably have had a better chance of spotting me since my bright yellow helmet sticks up head and shoulders higher than the roof on a Cooper. Still not something to rely on though. The moment he started to move into the lane next to you it was time to be a couple yards astern of those spinning bombs that truckers call "tires"
I had the opposite problem. I crashed my car into my house because I thought the AutoDock would kick in. Damn you, Frontier...
Great story, glad you came out of it ok. Playing Elite does lead to some interesting things in the 'real universe', like playing over winter and then come Spring flying a real aircraft for the first time and having to cope with things like aerodynamic forces and GRAVITY. I landed on a grass strip, but left a big trench as it was a bit of a hard landing. The trench was clearly visible from 1500ft on a later flight.
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Glad to know you're safe! To all those NPC Sidewinders who died in the service of honing mail slot reflexes, we salute you for keeping Ziljan with us ( '-')7
The same said my wife ... and she is not even playing ED.
And people say video games have no positive aspects to them! Fact is, your situational awareness and reflexes were both improved thanks to playing Elite Dangerous, many studies have been done on this subject, many different games used, they also increase deductive thinking and problem solving ability.
I too drive a Mini, and I've had more than a few morons who either simply didn't look and tried to occupy the same spacetime my Mini was in, or worse, people who look, SEE me and decide that their car is bigger, therefore they have the right of way! Amazing how agile and responsive the Mini's are, and mine has the full passenger compartment airbag safety feature, which I hope I NEVER have to test!
I USED to drive a motorcycle, I was a biker, rain or shine, hot, cold, whatever, I drove my bike, only used the car when I was taking the kids with me. After one too many close calls, I sold the bike and haven't been on one since 1994. When I was single, if I got creamed, well, my family would take it hard but that's it, no one was actually dependant upon me for anything. After I got married and had kids..yeah, no, that ain't gonna work, not going to leave my kids without a dad because people in Oklahoma, the state I live in, are totally blind to motorcycles. Final straw was watching a police motorcycle with his lights and sirens blaring get run over by a truck, killed the cop, and the lady driving..'I didn't see him'...I was right behind him, she looked right AT him and still pulled right out into him, would have been me if he wasn't there...got home, hugged my kids and wife, called a buddy who'd asked about buying my bike and he picked it up that night.
I too drive a Mini, and I've had more than a few morons who either simply didn't look and tried to occupy the same spacetime my Mini was in, or worse, people who look, SEE me and decide that their car is bigger, therefore they have the right of way! Amazing how agile and responsive the Mini's are, and mine has the full passenger compartment airbag safety feature, which I hope I NEVER have to test!
I USED to drive a motorcycle, I was a biker, rain or shine, hot, cold, whatever, I drove my bike, only used the car when I was taking the kids with me. After one too many close calls, I sold the bike and haven't been on one since 1994. When I was single, if I got creamed, well, my family would take it hard but that's it, no one was actually dependant upon me for anything. After I got married and had kids..yeah, no, that ain't gonna work, not going to leave my kids without a dad because people in Oklahoma, the state I live in, are totally blind to motorcycles. Final straw was watching a police motorcycle with his lights and sirens blaring get run over by a truck, killed the cop, and the lady driving..'I didn't see him'...I was right behind him, she looked right AT him and still pulled right out into him, would have been me if he wasn't there...got home, hugged my kids and wife, called a buddy who'd asked about buying my bike and he picked it up that night.
Living in Russia and driving on the roads here with all the crazies around, i think for me its the other way around. Life has trained me for flying in Elite
And if you live in Moscow, like me, you're probably well trained for Horizons as well...
What I want to know is: did your driver rank level up?
Joking aside, really glad to hear you survived that encounter.
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Living in Russia and driving on the roads here with all the crazies around, i think for me its the other way around. Life has trained me for flying in Elite
In Russia you don't get a taxi; the taxi gets you.
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You should have interdicted him and demanded cargo.
Hear ya on that one, Kristov. I too hung it up when my first kid was born in '93 but now, after the divorce and with both kids through college and making it on their own, I'm back on two wheels and aint giving it up until they nail the lid on my coffin
Coming back after the break and no longer believing in my own invincibility as one tends to when one is younger, it made me a better rider AND a better driver too. ATGAAT and MUCH better situational awareness, maybe because I KNOW my reaction times aint as good as they were when I was younger so I need to keep a better watch to give me more time to escape.
He was in a Mini, he hasn't even got 1 ton of cargo space in that thing. I have one myself, and I can buy dinner and fit it in my car, provided I eat light and don't have anything else in the car, like my cellphone
I love the car, it's a lot of fun, but it seriously lacks any room inside it. I'm 183cm and 93k, my seat is pushed all the way back, 2cm from the backseat, and that gives me all the leg and head room I need, although my head actually sits up above the headrest