Reversing lights? You cannot be serious!

[XP@]

If you were follwoing at the correct distance, the reversing vehicle would close down the stopping distance.

If the car was hit head on, then it to could suddenly start coming torards you. This is why you should have a 2 second (in ideal conditions) gap. I would be willing to bet Mr H did not have a 2 second gap.

I've seen shit happen, and even 2 seconds is not a lot of time to sort yourself out if the vehicle in front of you decides to come to an un-expected/abrupt halt.

[Paul in NZ]

Oops, spelling. Thanks for pointing that out

I thought it was funny.... or a place in australia....

[Sniper]

I thought it was funny.... or a place in australia....

Lol, fair enough, looks like it

[Re-cycled]

Sorry to hear of your latest misadventure. I don't personally believe you should be putting any blame on yourself though. I reckon most riders would have been caught out by that particular bit of 4 wheeled stupidity, there are some things you just don't expect to happen. You'd asume a fault in the reversing light switch, surely ?? I guess we can all learn from your misfortune.

Don't be discouraged, here's an offering from my new book of quotations - "All experience is an arch to build upon"

[Re-cycled]

You should ride with a distance so you can stop. You didn't therefore it is your fault.

Hey man, join us in the real world ! I've always wondered how you do that stop in half the clear distance thing, eg when taking a corner at 80/ 90/ 100 k's. I reckon you have to take some things on faith or you will have us all creeping around with flag men running in front.

[XP@]

You should ride with a distance so you can stop. You didn't therefore it is your fault.

Hey man, join us in the real world ! I've always wondered how you do that stop in half the clear distance thing, eg when taking a corner at 80/ 90/ 100 k's. I reckon you have to take some things on faith or you will have us all creeping around with flag men running in front.

Depends if you are paying for the damage or not... the law is the law and an insurer could and will not give a damn - if you are at fault then you are at fault.

Personally I was following a second behind a friend. He screwed up a corner, clipped a car and STOPPED. I slowed down a lot, but had nowhere to go and not enough time to go there in. I did have the presence of mind to lay off my brakes before I ran over his legs and he did say the f650 was a light bike, only limped for a couple of weeks and his initial impact had done most of the damage.

If you are going to ride up the arse of the car / bike in front then it is your risk. After that accident I try and find a bit more space, but when the bit is between the teeth I will accept the risk.

[magicfairy]

My understanding of the Law. (AA magazine a couple of years ago spelled it out)
If you hit the vehicle in front you are at fault EXCEPT in 2 circumstances.
1 It reverses into you
2 A vehicle pulls into your lane in front of you, too close, and before you have time to adjust your following distance it stops.

[James Deuce]

Depends if you are paying for the damage or not... the law is the law and an insurer could and will not give a damn - if you are at fault then you are at fault.

Dead right. I had a discussion with an Aunty because she was het up that her Brother (an Uncle) had been charged for hitting a car that did a sudden U-Turn in front of him. She couldn't see that even though it may have been the U-turnee's fault from a practical sense, from a legal sense the Uncle was entirely responsible for the collision.

Bit of a bugger really.

However in this instance, throwing a vehicle into reverse on the open road is just plain stupid. XP@, you grumpy bugger () imagine what your brain would do when confronted by an immobile 4WD in the passing lane, with the reversing lights on. Why is that RAV4 getting bigger (0.5sec), SHIT! It's stopped, I can see reversing lights but my brain doesn't expect to see them right here because it has never happened before (0.5sec-1 sec), SHIT! reversing lights, and there's 50-75% of your legal reaction time gone.

[scumdog]

If you are going to ride up the arse of the car / bike in front then it is your risk. After that accident I try and find a bit more space, but when the bit is between the teeth I will accept the risk.

Good call - a piece of advice a LOT of drivers/riders could well take notice of, following too cloce is a very common thing - often it is a female who is daydreaming (or something) and unaware if it (cars mostly) or males who are riding/driving 'aggresively' i.m.h.o.




(Hides behind C.B. awaiting a barrage of counter argument and 'sexist'! comments)

[imdying]

imagine what your brain would do when confronted by an immobile 4WD in the passing lane, with the reversing lights on. Why is that RAV4 getting bigger (0.5sec), SHIT! It's stopped, I can see reversing lights but my brain doesn't expect to see them right here because it has never happened before (0.5sec-1 sec), SHIT! reversing lights, and there's 50-75% of your legal reaction time gone.

Putting an automatic gearbox in reverse will not slow the rav4 down any faster than if they'd piled on the brakes... it still has momentum which needs to be bled off, so that argument isn't valid.

[FROSTY:Me]

sorry ID you aint been in acar when thats done--a rav is 4wd--literally all 4 wheels are trying to go backwards and the whole thing just locks up

[James Deuce]

Putting an automatic gearbox in reverse will not slow the rav4 down any faster than if they'd piled on the brakes... it still has momentum which needs to be bled off, so that argument isn't valid.

It is - the reversing lights - think about it for a second. I'm not talking about the vehicles. I'm talking about how the brain works, and how the body reacts. We practice things so that we don't have to learn how to do stuff over and over. A BIG chunk of what we do is on autopilot. When something happens that is well outside normal experience, possibly even never even considered, your reaction times are extended hugely because you have to process, consider, and then create a solution. Adrenalin will get you so far, but then instinctive reactions are generally exactly the opposite of what you need to do when dealing with things we've created, rather than evolved to deal with.

[imdying]

sorry ID you aint been in acar when thats done--a rav is 4wd--literally all 4 wheels are trying to go backwards and the whole thing just locks up

Yes, and the wheels lock, and it slides... just as if you'd stomped the brakes too hard. In fact, if it were ABS, it would actually stop faster on the brakes than if you'd put it in reverse.

[chickenfunkstar]

Putting an automatic gearbox in reverse will not slow the rav4 down any faster than if they'd piled on the brakes... it still has momentum which needs to be bled off, so that argument isn't valid.

Yeah, but if the brake lights came on, you'd instantly know what was happening. When the reversing lights come on I bet it'd take most people a wee while to figure out what was happening.

[imdying]

Oh yeah, don't doubt it, and for the record I don't believe that you'd stop in time even with the 2 second rule. You wouldn't however be confronted with an imobile 4wd with it's reverse lights on, rather a 4wd with its reverse lights on and a shiteload of smoke. Probably the smoke that'd save your life