Target Fixation

[CarrotNC]

Normally I like to hug the jersey barriers when scooting along the superslab, because they tend not to drift unannounced into my lane. Not sure what I'd think if I'd been first on this scene.

 

And I have to wonder what the excavator operator was looking at:

 

Full story here:

West Virginia: Excavator Topples onto I-81 Near Martinsburg

[Mister Tee]

I don't know, but I get REALLY NERVOUS when I'm on the freeway and I approach those. One careless swing with the bucket in the roadway and it's over.

[russell_bynum]

I almost never hug the barrier...there's absolutely nowhere to go if things go bad.

 

I'll be on the other side of the lane, close to the stripe. That's closer to the cars in the next lane, but it gives me a gap on the left that I can use (in addition to putting me in a position to split lanes)

 

Stuff doesn't come over the center divider very often, but it does happen, and that's another good reason not to hug the center.

[MattS]

I almost never hug the barrier...there's absolutely nowhere to go if things go bad.

 

I'll be on the other side of the lane, close to the stripe. That's closer to the cars in the next lane, but it gives me a gap on the left that I can use...

Also the side of the lane next to the barrier is going to be full of "the marbles" and all the other loose small crap in the road that will compromise traction in an emergency.

 

The only time I will ride the barrier like that is I'm passing someone who's already in the lane closest to the barrier, which is usually thrilling for me and shockingly upsetting for them. That'll teach you to go slow in the fast lane, booboo!