I experienced a near miss today
Richard Fischer
Safety Culture Development | Human-centered Operations | Authentic Leadership
It could have ended very badly. As I was on my way to pick up my son from school, a car exiting a parking lot almost hit me. I was very lucky to be able to jump to the side quickly enough to avoid the car.
What was I doing? Walking on the sidewalk, expecting the car to stop to let me cross.
What was the driver doing? Definitely something else, not looking at the way in front of her car (texting? setting her GPS?)...
As I greeted my son he noticed that something was wrong and asked me about it. My adrenaline rush had not yet settled down and I probably looked restless.
The conversation that we then had on our way back was a great opportunity to raise his awareness about road hazards.
My learnings:
- Better look twice and never expect others to behave according to the rules. Being used to driving in many countries, I practice what is called defensive driving. As a pedestrian, you should also educate yourself and your children towards defensive walking.
- Always make sure to have eye contact with drivers. Stop in case you don't get this eye contact.
- As a driver, NEVER, really NEVER get your eyes off the road. There is no excuse. When you put your seat-belt on, do it before you start your engine. If you need to set your GPS, do it while your car is not moving. If you know you are tempted to look at your phone, switch it off. Your brain is not wired to handle multiple tasks at the same time and especially not while driving, a task that requires full sensorimotoric attention.
As my son asked me today: "So daddy, if you would have been run over, who would have picked me up from school?"
Energy Professional
6 年very good post ????to highlight the risk we experience as a driver, cyclist and pedestrian- half of drivers or vulnerable users claim that they didn't see each other after an incident, even looking at the eye might not work- check unintentional blindness- as you say the key is always focus, avoid any distraction - travelling ( walking, driving, cycling, even being a passenger) is a serious task which we need to pay attention, be defensive and expect the unexpected??