You Are the Jury; No. 53; The Case of the Unexpected Car

fb ladies and gentlemen welcome to you are the jury and another case from the files of the michigan state university highway traffic safety center today in the case of the unexpected car sure i was out in the left lane passing when i started there was a man approaching current site i did everything i could to avoid an accident that was carol somerville one of the drivers involved we'll hear more of his account later i'm rob downey and my job is to bring out the facts in the case of the unexpected costs ms bleakley today you are the more important

you are the jury has presented fifty two traffic situation and has analyzed them thoroughly so that listeners might better be able to recognize that the dangers and to cope with the problems of modern day driving we hope you found them helpful when you're driving or walking into traffic you were the jury will continue to present i think situations for your decisions and analysis and today it's the case of the unexpected calm listen carefully to the details and find your own decision as a member of our listen and your clue is most responsible for the situation that you describe mr michael university highway traffic safety center now mr somerville we're ready for your complete ago i was driving north out little feel that's a two lane highway it was about eleven o'clock in the morning

and i came up behind three cars the first time the line was going about forty five the other two cars were following this was i could see were making no attempt pets they're each about one pilot the part i pulled out slightly so i could see down the road ahead rent was level and i could see a good mile and there were no approaching cars inside the speed limit on that section of roadway was sixty five well i saw no reason why shouldn't pass so i swung out in the left lane i sounded my horn the one the driver's ahead and proceeded to pass i was about even with the second car went up ahead a car swung out of the service station driveway without stopping and headed south since you were in the left lane passing and you're headed north this means the car that came under the highway was coming at you have none is that correct that's right ron i was in a tough spot i knew i could make it past another car ahead there was one more card to remember also i couldn't

just just how fast the car coming at me was traveling i had to do something real quick what'd you do well by this time i was just past the second car so i flipped on my right turn signal to let him know i wanted back in line he just started honking though i don't know whether he was afraid to slow down because of the car directly behind him whether he was just out there anyway i didn't get room to get back to the right so i swerve off the road to my left bounced over a little bit she went through a fence and turnover but i sure in the front and my car tell us mr somerville what speed did you reach what you are trying to pass the three cats would say about sixty i never did exceed the speed limit it that's what you're getting at oh everything would have been all right that far ahead and pull out of the service station drive and if i could've had room to get back in the line between the lead car in the second car one of the question did you know the service station was up ahead know i didn't run there were trees hiding i couldn't tell it was there when i

started to pass thank you mr somerville knowledge or a word about the driver the board out of the service station without stopping why did he do that is that driver to explain is tom mercer well it's not very complicated run as i pull away from the palms i looked to the north i was to my left on those know approaching traffic so i picked up speed to get out on the road and i looked to the self offer a second i couldn't see avocados trees and i could see the other cars it wasn't until i turned onto the road i realized that the current left lane was not going away from me i was passing and was headed toward that there was some eight hundred feet between us though so i expect to get plenty of time to get back in his online i guess there was something else i didn't realize what's that mr richard sommerville couldn't get back and his online he still another card or perhaps i'd already slowed down but by this time he was almost on

top of that i was getting ready to take to the date myself when he did the other cars went by bit his quick thinking sure say my ride and so our listeners we have the facts as we turned a microphone set up especially for our studio panel discussion today's case the case of the unexpected car has been selected for broadcast here at the start of you are the jury's second year because it illustrates several points all important factors to safety incorporated in previous broadcasts see if you can build these factors along with our studio panel members during their unrehearsed discussion see if you can spot the driving errors and a german whose mistakes of the main cause of the situation after our studio panel discussions you can match your ideas with the expert analysis made by staff members of the michigan state university highway traffic safety center now let's meet our panel members and my left is of those storms what is your work

that is going on the la la on man frozen river that's a year in lansing listeners will state university and panel member number two i'm gail writer your work is what has to write an hour in the purchasing department here at michigan state university so you're familiar with the number three you're cooking your name or cheering and specialize in any particular kind of cooking now and pretty athletic program lead singer to vacation closer to wonderful program well now let's get into this case a case of the unexpected card i think must stone will come back to you for your first opinion on this you think that the situation could have been avoided aria so certainly do on which led me to wall and the first voice of

iran all of this myself and my journals and i think the three cars to the north of the three cars and mr somerville well was trying to press our show when you were traveling alone fester course you know in the service of speed and so you have to go so first what they should be at forty five miles an hour they should be at least two car lengths between the cars and he would have been able to get in at any time it was necessary for him to do so and i think after he indicated that he wanted and with his blank second there are certainly shown to anyone you all police no blame on mercer our summer is that he was a victim of circumstances i know it sits on the seventy two or three times and it across women one that i thought of as some people it won't let me in one of the american literary want to blow

myself when i would try to pass three cars it wants and that you think so was wrong well on the seine was in an entirely wrong because they couldn't see mr mercer there's a scar ms steel mr mercer he didn't he come out there and he said he swung right out of the book to the north and he didn't make a stop on these poor are getting are stopping we look to me you're feeling sinister yes he said he came out of that stuff well yes i said dad stop was the it might be somebody passing but still i think is mr somerville they're a victim of circumstance but actually this had been for him to get

in mr stone no you're saying you won in a three car isn't a role are the two guys behind the first one anyway living too close together yes and verbal and the owners or not letting me in and i always put my brakes on that somebody in rather than cause nixon i think it's a good idea or ways to slow down when someone especially you were if you're trailing in a moderately rich cream and forty five miles an army that idea to slow up and they feel the governor while at least to get in the new novel that's threatening the verdict has gone now so if i'm a homeowner nineteen sixty one mitt romney's ties a scene like there will fall and clear and selena's global pastime even if he saw crying at why timing is mr cole right well i

do off of thing that is a very good thing and the highway eight and as thoroughly as you figure prior to control al plank has a hint that he certainly would know that there's three pairs of a lifetime here that was going on and when that band singing so he and fellow should've been going slow so that the havoc that would be able to slow down so that they can get things to sort of gotten some wires through one last carriage of a procession of freedom and another went to the no one because he did not have the criticism that we have a car that i feel awful from being a place for yourself so leaving her teeth thank you had widespread and dominoes of the opinions of our three studio panel members let's find out the analysis of experts of the michigan state university highway traffic safety center as expressed by de cristo center staff

members who have reviewed this case field that the key factor in analyzing the situation this time we must determine just one emergency was actually created here's how they view the situation step by step when somerville started to pass the three small cars he could see more than a mile down the highway he could attain speed twenty miles an hour faster than the three cars ahead what are going over the posted speed limit he did not know the service station on the left side of the road because the trees and the he might have questioned more seriously the advisability of passing three cars at once he believed the clear distance ahead would give him enough room to pass safely when mercer pulled out of the service station he made two errors he did not stop before entering the highway a violation and he thought that someone builds car in the left lane was headed away from him instead of toward him when he realized as the state he slowed down to allow some are really get back into his proper way when a circle under the highway his car and some of those were about eight hundred feet apart

which gave summer they'll ample time to return to his proper land and somerville found it could not and at this point the emergency developed the two cars following the first slow car were about one car length away from each other yet at a speed of forty five miles an hour they should have been at least five car lengths behind and i've been observing the safety rule of at least one common for each ten miles an hour of speed somerville it had plenty of room to return to his line and he could have passed these cars one of their time instead of having to pass all three at once the three cars traveling at a slower speed one right after the other created the hazard they should have traveled on to speak normally suited to the traffic pattern of the highway upon which they were traveling and they should have left the proper interval between their car and the car headed for their own safety and for the safety of others this has been another in that you want the jury says the entrance to a highway traffic safety center and the radio station and the

space agency listening again next week or the case of the uncertain stop meanwhile consider this sobering thought to drivers and today's case place themselves and another driver and a hazardous situation when you drive remember joe the room and make it safe for all this program originated on the campus of michigan state university my age airmen it's been