https://midatlantic.aaa.com/DrivingP...edDrivingVideo

We need something like this in driver's ed. The basic technical skills are important to drill in; but the actual "collision avoidance" is the application of such techniques in an overall strategy. They teach you threshold braking, they put you in slaloms to teach you how the vehicle dynamic works, how to load and unload your suspension effectively without spinning or skidding out, how to recover from skids ... then you do collision avoidance, where stuff appears in your way and you have to somehow get out of the way.

It's all well and good that you have now mastered ultimate control over your car; but you first have to recognize that something is in your way, and second have somewhere to go to avoid it if you simply cannot brake fast enough. That means you need to know what's around you at all times--a core driving skill. "I never saw you" means you weren't paying attention; and even if you didn't, you should have spotted your outs well in advance and been able to pull off a lane toss or threshold brake as a flinch reaction to seeing something suddenly enter your vehicular path.

Why we don't teach this stuff standard I'll never know. There should be a race course with obstacles behind the DMV, which you're required to lap 3 or 4 times as stuff occasionally jumps out in front of you. Parked cars with blow-up dolls inside, inflate/deflate randomly so you start recognizing people in cars, recognize lights turning off as you approach maybe, doors popping open ... the doors are cardboard and can be blown off by impact relatively safely. Hell, the whole side is a cardboard cut-out that can open a door or just pull out without warning and jump in your way.

But that'll never happen. It happens in real life constantly, though. One trip on a Saturday, 15 miles, 60mph on the highway, 30-40mph in the city, and I had to dodge and twitch-brake (from the throttle!) 7 or 8 times, in the rain! These people pull out into mid-street turnabouts in the rain! They're suddenly a good 10 meters away and in my way and I need to brake almost instantly and find somewhere safe to go! Also, of course, crazy people trying to make their exit from the fourth lane over in 15-20 meters, straight across heavy traffic. You'd think it'd only be particularly heart-stopping at 20-40mph over the speed limit, but nah... you can be traveling the legal speed and people will find a way to almost buy you a new car at least once every 2-3 miles. People running red lights too, or turning when you're too close (I've skid my car between two actively turning cars in the rain at the speed limit when I had green at a traffic light; I did not play that much Frogger as a kid, I'm not trained for this).

It was somewhat unnerving when I started to bike ride. It was somewhat unnerving when I rid myself of the automatic transmission and got a stick shift (I have problems with automatics; it makes driving way too difficult since the car has discretion over what it actually does when I hit one of the two buttons marked "GO" or "STOP" and I am not zoning out while driving). Overall I find the number of drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists that are in my way mildly annoying, as I could get to my destination much quicker if they were all gone; however, I find the frequency with which drivers and cyclists put themselves in my way suddenly and with very little margin for error on my part appalling, which is why I want stricter traffic laws and better driver's education.

Pedestrians somehow don't usually jump in front of cars, though it's happened a few times, occasionally even while they're staring me down and don't hesitate to walk in front of my car; apparently some people believe that you'll stop by virtue of it being a Very Bad Thing if you murder them with your car... these people will learn one day that wet roads make such stops physically impossible, and inattentive drivers on cell phones are just stupid. Fortunately, when I see pedestrians, my focus shifts into "prepare to brake" mode, and I am consciously planning a sudden stop, even going so far as to reduce my speed to make such a stop feasible.

I can deal with traffic jams and slow drivers; I can also deal with frequently taking on the role of an amateur stunt car driver, but I sure as hell don't like it. The stuff I pull off in my car sometimes is truly awesome; the conditions that force me to do that stuff are not. If we could all agree to limit my vehicular ninjary to invisible patches of ice I would be much happier; unfortunately, people seem to want to die, otherwise they wouldn't try to gun their way through a turn when I'm right freaking there or run red lights at night on bicycles with dark clothing and no reflectors or lights.

I hear it's better in Europe.