jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If you suspect you're going to die while driving, pull off the road. A local man had a "medical emergency" while driving, and he ran into five other cars. That driver died, and others were injured.

Years ago, we had two local men die at the wheel. In one case, his pacemaker failed, and he died as he drove past a local business. His car ran off the road and killed the teenage son of the business owners as he was mowing the lawn. The other man who died behind the wheel didn't take anyone else with him.

Life is full of unpleasant surprises. Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today.

sippyjug104 Loc: Missouri

I hope to die quickly and peacefully like my grandfather did. Not yelling and screaming like those who were in the back seat of the car he was driving. 😁

gastech1949 Loc: Imperial Beach, CA.

My brother had an acute a-fib attack while driving and talking to his wife, via bluetooth hands free, on the cell phone.
He told his wife he didn't feel good, stepped on the brake, passed out and crashed his car into a pole in front of a Fire Station. Was in a the hospital in a "coma" 6 days but survived due to paramedics at fire station giving almost immediate aid. Total time from "don't feel good to crash was less than 2 seconds. His wife heard the crash over the phone. Not enough time to pull over and stop even on a city street doing 35 mph.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

An oldie but a goodie. Fortunately, all of my relatives died peacefully. I'm hoping that runs in the family.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

That's awful - with a happy ending. So much of life is chance.

I have a dashcam video of a deer running into my son's car. It was less than two seconds from it appearing till the crash - at night. I've had two deer see my car approaching and running away. If only all of them would do that.

sjb3

As a young (22 years old) police officer in 1971, I responded to a call from an elderly widow reporting that a car had struck her front porch. When I pulled into her driveway she met me outside, saying "The poor old gentleman is dead". Turns out he'd had either a stroke or heart attack on the main drag at the height of rush hour, killing him instantly, yet miraculously he crossed 4 lanes of heavy traffic, bumped over the curb and on up the lady's front lawn into the porch unimpeded. Not a scratch on anyone or anything else.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Lucky - except for him.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Two things. How does a Tesla handle the driver dying when in self drive mode ? And secondly if you follow motoring articles they reckon there is little point in flicking your auto box into neutral when stopped at the lights and in fact it may even be detrimental to the box to do so. However I always do this because I hate to think what will happen when you stop at the lights and then have a medical event happen so your car then promptly wanders out into the middle of the intersection since it is still in gear. You might want to think about this if you are over 60.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I recently read an online article about putting the car into neutral at red lights. The recommendation was to leave it in gear. If the car is in neutral, and you are hit from behind, you will be pushed farther than if you are in Drive.

I don't like that answer. Would anyone really sit at a red light with his foot off the brake? Even a slight incline would cause the car to roll backward or forward. Having an auto trans in Drive isn't going to offer much resistance if a 3,000 pound car runs into it. I leave it in Drive. Shifting from N to D is going to take some time, and then the trans has to get itself into gear. Meanwhile, the car behind you starts honking.

As for dying in a Tesla, maybe they're working on a system to monitor the driver's health, and it will drive you to the hospital if it thinks that is appropriate. 😂

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Leaving aside issues like stopping on an incline etc most intersections are usually level. If inclined then by all means leave it in gear. Shifting from N to D does not take any time especially if you have been monitoring what the traffic around you has been doing. It is called being situationally aware. Nor does my car take long to actually go into gear. Once again it is called being situationally aware. If you have been situationally aware (and I hope like hell you have been otherwise you shouldn't be driving) then you don't get impatience people behind you honking.
I have had a stroke and your body is still functioning but you have no control over it. So if you are still in gear but you lose the ability to flick it out of gear, or do anything else, then your vehicle will either move into the car in front or propel you out into the intersection in the path of the 18 wheeler. No thanks.
As to Tesla being able to tell exactly what your body thinks it is doing forget it. And it would have difficulty in dragging itself AND the 18 wheeler to the hospital. It might manage to do that if you only collected a cyclist because he/she would also need to go.
If you have never had a stroke then you are lucky. If you have then think about things you can do to minimise possible affects on your own life and that of others.
I suspect if you looked at the odds of things happening to you that being rear ended is not high. I have never been rear ended but I have seen the odd car drifting out into intersections when they shouldn't have. If you did get rear ended and you were situationally aware then you have the option of applying your brakes in the same way you catch a cricket ball.
Oh and I apologise to those who don't (can't) get past the first 2 sentences of a posting because it looks like it might be too long for their comprehension skills.