Emergency And Evasive Driving: Good To Know When Necessary

An uncommon way of driving, where some rules no longer apply...

So picture this, you’re driving down the road minding your own business, when some asshole starts break checking you, and trying to run you off the road, or maybe it could even be a carjacking attempt. The strange thing is, the person isn’t getting out of their car to yell at you or throw stuff at you, he’s trying to ram you and sideswipe you. This isn’t attempted homicide or anything like that, but it is an act of violence to be sure, so what do you do?

Well, this is where something that I’ve decided to call “Emergency And Evasive Driving” comes into play. The thing about road rage is, it often doesn’t go on for very long, most encounters last maybe 5 minutes, longer if an actual fistfight brakes out. Very rarely does it occur or result in a vehicular onslaught, though that’s what makes road rage dangerous in the first place, how fast it happens and ends, just as a quick burst of anger does.

For starters, you naturally want to get away from the person trying to ram you with their vehicle, though doing this requires knowing your car just a little bit more than it’s status from getting you from point A to B. How physically strong is your car? How fast can your car go? How well can it take a turn? Other questions that might be good to ask is: How far away is the nearest police station? How far away from home are you? Are you on a residential street or a major highway?

Whatever happens, try not to panic as it will affect your concentration, though it will be difficult to keep calm. Something else that I highly recommend is to stay in your vehicle unless absolutely necessary, only leave your vehicle if you manage to find an area that’s safe enough to do so. If you leave your vehicle in the middle of the road, they could easily attack you or damage your vehicle more than they already have, so try to keep moving. Remember to check to make sure that your car doors are locked from the inside.

Usually, the best case scenario would probably be to try and outrun them until you could find a police officer or a police station, but how to go about doing so? Just because your being chased by someone doesn’t mean that all traffic laws are forfeit, but not acting when needed won’t help you either. This is where you gotta really focus on driving, you’re gonna be speeding, making quick turns, and having to avoid traffic more consistently. Most modern cars handle relatively well, so you should be able to keep yourself from crashing into something while keeping ahead of your attacker.

If you can’t outrun the other driver, perhaps your vehicle is physically stronger or bigger than theirs. If this is the case you can try spinning them out or disabling their vehicle in another fashion without damaging your own, remember that you’re possibly in a life or death situation. Having a rambar or a large bumper guard will certainly help in this case if you have one equiped on your vehicle.

If you happened to be armed with a weapon, such as a gun, it may come to a point where you could try to give off a warning shot as to scare the attacker from harassing you any further. Most people don’t often want to attack someone who is carrying a loaded weapon, though knifes and blunt objects won’t work as well due to the fact that you have to get out of your vehicle to use them.

If your vehicle is too small to go on the offensive with and too slow to escape the attacker, try to find your way to a police station or a highly populated area, people are much less likely to do something wrong if they’re being watched (Though this isn’t always the case). Calling 911 will also likely be necessary in most cases, but you’ll still need to fight the attacker off while you’re on the phone and until the police reach you.

Of course, being chased down by anyone who’s trying to run you off the road is a scary experience, but it’s not the only scary experience that can require you to drive like hell. In a case of emergency or a trip to the hospital, you have to drive quickly too, but also safely. This involves you only pushing the boundaries of yourself and your car when it is safe to do so, you won’t do anyone any good crashing before you get there.

Thankfully with this scenario, you’re not running away from anyone, you’re just racing the clock. Thus, you can put all your focus into your driving in front of you and not what’s behind you (Police pending). This mostly involves great levels of speeding, but NOT running red lights or tailgating other drivers, though you can get away with rolling through stop signs as long as you make sure there are no cars at the intersection.

Always give yourself lots of room for error, while also being able to split through traffic at a good pace, making your lane changes far ahead of time (As the driver in the video above displays). This is NOT supposed to be like cutting up traffic, you keep your eyes centered on the road while watching for movement on the side. Basically, do what you’re already doing when you’re driving, but at a much faster rate.

Another case of why you might feel the need to drive this way is to chase someone for an important reason, such as a hit and run or a possible kidnapping, this requires you do all the same things mentioned above. However, you obviously need to keep the person you’re chasing in your sights, which can be challenging at times, just ask the police officers who do it.

But depending on the reason for the chase, it may not be worth putting your life or others at risk of a crash, especially for something small such as a fender bender or a small road rage incident. But if it is a reason of great importance, all the same rules as the other scenarios apply. But luckily for you, chances are the chase won’t last very long, due to how bad people drive when they are panic stricken. Though if the chase continues for any real lengh of time, call 911 and ask them for assistance, this is really more of the police’s type of job. Your goal is to now keep up with the person your chasing until the police show up.

Knowing how to drive during an emergency is very important, regardless if you’re being chased, racing the clock, or chasing someone. Unlike an emergency vehicle with a siren or flashing lights, you have neither, so you need to rely strictly on your focus and self control to speed through traffic without getting a single scratch on your car. It is possible, as shown in the videos I’ve provided in this article, to be a great driver in emergency situations.

OK, I need to make it clear that I’m NOT advocating for reckless behavior or driving. It’s likely you will never need to drive this way (Unless your a police officer or EMT driver), but I feel it’s still very important information that isn’t really discussed anywhere. A calm mind with good concentration plays a massive factor when driving, and it’s important to KEEP that mindset even during a stressful driving situation, regardless of what it might be.

I know that I haven’t really put anything out in a while, though I’ve been repeatedly been updating the “Classic Car Diary” this whole time so I haven’t been completely inactive. I guess I’ve just had a hard time finding something I want to write about, I have lots of ideas but I’m not very passionate about many of them. But hopefully, I’ll keep finding topics that I’m more invested in to write about.