chamberc wrote: ↑Thu Sep 03, 2020 12:59 pm
A 6000+ lbs. vehicle is a better weapon than a rifle in those situations.
Used to drive my wife nuts until she got used to it; occasional horn honks from the car behind never helped. When driving on surface streets I always stay to the right unless there's a really wide and open median; but never in middle lanes. This means I brake a lot for right-turners and make it to my destination a couple of minutes slower than otherwise.
And depending on the height and hood configuration of the vehicle I'm driving, I have certain benchmarks to determine how far back I come to a stop from the car ahead of me. Let's just say it's always a healthy distance and, if there's any open country to the right or left, that I can accelerate into it without hitting the guy in front of me. This is what can cause the honking, and sometimes an enterprising jack*** who sees it as an open invitation to nose-in, stopping across both lanes, and waiting for the guy in front of me to inch forward. Not a perfect solution (and certainly not in a full-sized RV) but seems logical to me. My SUV can take a curb with no problem, and I've never seen a reason
not to try leave myself some escape room when possible. As mentioned in another thread here, it's another reason I hate things like fast-food drive-throughs that have you so tightly hemmed in you can't even open a door.
Related: It's wild watching other people in their vehicles. It's gotta be like 99.9% have no situational awareness at all once they get behind the wheel...if they have any to start with. Stopped at any light at any busy intersection, you can count on one hand the number of drivers who
don't have their faces buried in their phones...and half of those are talking hands-free or to another passenger. After coming to a full stop, most drivers creep forward, and then another inch, constantly getting a little closer to that car in front as if it will get them to their destination faster once the light turns.
Very rarely as I look around when stopped like that, I'll catch someone else doing the same thing as me, checking out everything around me. Often we'll nod to each other. Probably one of you guys or an off-duty LEO.
Per the scenario, IIRC the very first case of use of deadly force under the then brand-new CHL law was a guy sitting in his car (maybe stopped in traffic on a freeway?) and he was assaulted through the driver's-side window by a large and physically powerful male. The CHL was acquitted. But very few what-if scenarios are clear-cut for me. You kick in my door at oh-dark-thirty (it's steel with a deep deadbolt; it's gonna take you a few tries), I'm not going to bother introducing myself and offering you a cup of coffee. I'll have some nice & shiny 75gr gifts for you that I got from Hornady. A woman starts taking a baseball bat to my vehicle? "Protestors" block my vehicle, climb up on it, and start jumping up and down? Dunno. I'd have to fire up the ol' OODA Loop and make what I thought the best decision at the time. I carry OC spray with me almost everywhere (and two Sudecon wipes!), and I'd think that if it were a solo crazy woman that broke through my driver's window she'd probably get a facefull of that while I figure out how to get out of there. If said crazy woman is accompanied by two big guys also with baseball bats, I have a very different problem.
Brings up a last point I've thought about but done nothing with. I have little video cameras fore and aft that will just keep recording until I turn them off, overwriting older "footage." I got nothing to the sides. If I'm stuck at a standstill you can approach me broadside while wearing a T-Rex costume and I'll never get it on camera.
