Should I have been better prepared for this?

I think you handled the situation fine, you slowed down and once everything was fine you kept going. We just gotta watch out for these 4 wheelers. Have fun and be Safe

 

Hmmm, watched that a couple times. Kinda hard to make out the problem, especially with the upper right frame being upside down. Didn't see anybody get hit though?

In traffic your eyes must always be moving. The way I was taught was 3 seconds ahead, 3 seconds left mirror, 3 seconds ahead, 3 seconds right mirror. Anytime you get a "Where'd he come from?" moment, you're not paying enough attention. You need to anticipate entry ramps, exit ramps and any one of a hundred dumb things the "other driver" can and will do. It takes practice.... lots and lots of practice. Once you get it down it will become second nature to you.

Something us old timers knew about, but I seldom hear about it any more, is "tunnel vision". That's the loss of your peripheral vision... seeing from the sides of your eyes. Believe it or not, you can pick up motion quicker with your "side vision" than staring straight at an object. That's why it's hard to sneak up on an animal they don't have to be looking straight at you.

You can train yourself to utilize this. Adjust your mirrors and seating position. A flicker of movement and you can turn your eyes to see clearly.

If you're not being taught this, you're not being taught properly.

Close to 4 million miles talking here.

 

Kittyfoot you dont look at your side mirrors for 3 seconds straight do you ? Trying to understand what you are explaining...

 

Sounds like you get used to just staring ahead from what you are describing. You "see" what's happening in front of you, but you don't "get" what's happening in front of you.


See a lot of drivers look to be doing that. You go by and I follow my passes in the mirror as I have had a couple catch me in the side of their vision and they start to drift into you. They never even look to see what's passing them. Cars AND trucks.

 

While I can't speak for Kittyfoot, what he is saying (I believe) is check your mirrors every 3 seconds, always keep your head moving. It's easy to see whats ahead of you most times and if you keep constantly checking your mirrors you will know whats beside you also.

 

I'm glad someone else is constantly looking around.
Had a co driver at one time, when I was driving team years ago, that use to laugh at me. Said I looked like I had 'the palsey'.
But I'm 40 years and 4MM+ miles down the road...still no accidents/tickets.

 

It becomes a subroutine in your programming. Only 15 out of every 100 students are still driving after one year from getting their cdl

 

You handled it the best was u could.... if there had been a crash the gray honda would have been @ fault for in proper lane change & failing to yield right of way.... you did a great job of documenting what took place to protect yourself as well.... good job driver