if you were driving down a one-lane road at night...?

Question

maybe faster than you should, and around the corner came another right at you, totally unavoidable, and you can't see the roadside environment, would you swerve left or right? (politics aside)

Answer 1

I live in the US, and here our steering wheels are on the left side of the vehicle, so the right side of the road is the shoulder for us when going in a given direction.

I would swerve right, despite my political views. My reasoning for that is that I drive a Ford F-150 pickup, a full sized truck, with airbags, etc., and a really sturdy frame. The chances of something really large, like a tree being where I cannot see it off the side of the road is always a possibility, but because of where I am sitting, I think I have a better chance of surviving if I hit something off the side of the road with the right side of my truck than with the left--the passenger side of the vehicle will, with luck, take the brunt of the impact. Because of how my vehicle is built, for off road 4x4 use, the cab is fairly stable, and in theory, one half of it should be able to take a fairly good impact without encroaching too much on the other side. Additionally, if I am going to roll my truck, swerving that direction will make it roll clockwise, with the passenger side hitting the pavement/ravine/waterway first--I won't be taking the initial brunt of the roll--it will be impacting across the truck from me. That first part of the impact is the worst, so I would rather have the part not next to me hit first.

The final reason is simply because I have spent the last 23 years driving in the US--it's the only place I have ever driven. They teach you when you are driving to pull off the road to the right if you must pull over (though I have been known to pull off to the left more than once).

Additionally, since I am in the US, and since the person approaching me has been driving in the same environment as I have, the chances are better than average that he will swerve to MY left (his right) as well, allowing us to avoid one another.

Answer 2

I'd just slam on the breaks and say what I always say before I wreck my car- Goodbye cruel world!

Answer 3

Probably left as that's the way I was taught - from the UK.

Answer 4

Probably right

Answer 5

right.