Originally Posted by
CliffordK
Very sad day.
Information is a bit ambiguous. One really needs a reconstruction drawing of where all the participants were at the time of the accident.
It looks like the road has decent shoulders. This is one of the reasons that I advocate riding on the shoulders. Less swerving necessary to squeeze past.
Of course, it doesn't help that both vehicles were large cars, Mercedes & Caddy, taking up more space on the road.
Also note, those wearing seatbelts fared better than those without.
The Caddy could have more or less safely swerved off the road and avoided the collision. But, everything happens quickly.
I will almost certainly stick to the shoulder on a two-lane 55 mph road if possible, but even when I'm way over, some drivers drastically overcorrect into the oncoming lane to "avoid" me at full speed. I've even seen people do this and speed up while they're in the left lane, apparently in some misguided belief that cutting the time they're in that lane will reduce their chances of going head-on.
There's a "do anything but slow down" impulse among a lot of drivers that may have been in play here, but I agree the info is too sketchy. Given the charges, though, I'm guessing the prosecutor has some pretty good evidence this swerve was completely unreasonable.