Did anyone hear about Brian Wood?

[Blorx]

The lead designer for Company of Heroes. He died when he and his pregnant wife almost had a head on collision with an SUV. Instead, he swerved and took the full impact, instantly killing him, but saving his wife and kid.

I feel bad for him and his family. It's truly terrible.

Where I read about it: http://kotaku.com/5631947/company-of-he ... e=true&s=i

[Renegade_Turner]

It's strange to think that he would have had the mental cognitive abilities to make a decision that fast. It was more likely an instinctive reaction.

It's a shame that people do shit like the young SUV driver did while behind the wheel of their car. I frequently do things like pick up my phone and change the radio or my MP3 while driving but that requires minimal effort, what the fuck were they thinking getting the passenger-side person to hold the wheel? It is a tragedy that 3 innocent men's lives were taken away by the stupidity of one driver.

Female drivers, eh?

[Freshbite]

They discovered evidence of drug use by the driver and the passengers in the car, and the occupants of the vehicle were known to police.

That they would get such a fricking stupid idea is of no surprise...

Female drivers, indeed.

[zoidberg rules]

At least his decision managed to save his pregnant wife and the unborn kid, that takes balls, knowing that you'll die, even if it will save your wife and baby.

Unless it was, as Ren said, just an instinctive reaction, in which case, that girl got very lucky.

[Blorx]

I'd like to believe it wasn't instinctive. Sometimes, you just know what you have to do, even on such short notice.

[Renegade_Turner]

I'm just being realistic. I doubt you've been behind the wheel of the car if that's the view you take. The human mind is designed to react on instinct in situations of distress or fear, when you're behind the wheel of a vehicle and something goes wrong, your mind won't weigh the pro's and con's of each decision and choose the best one, it will pick the first most basic one: survival.

I've experienced this first hand on more than one occasion. I've been in two different crashes in my time on the road, one not my fault in icy conditions, and another which was my fault. You don't get a choice. Your body makes the choice for you. That is unless you have a long time to think about something that's inevitably going to happen, but in car accident situations you don't.

His instinctive reaction, on the other hand, could somehow be to save his wife and child. But I suspect his reaction was to get the fuck out of the way of the other car. I'm sure he was trying to save his wife AND himself. You can't win them all.

[Assaultman67]

I agree with ren ...

I've had quite a few close calls and one particularly bad accident in which i had to rebuild my car from a "totaled" state.

In those situations, you don't have much time to think you just react.

When i wrecked my car I didn't even have time to get scared, and i was in an extremely dire situation (i lost control of the car and went off a steep embankment. If I had turned the steering wheel, I would probably have flipped the car and died)

The only thing that I thought of when crashing was "ah fuck ... this is gonna hurt"

You don't have time to think about who is in the car and which way you need to turn to save them ... you simply try to avoid crashing.

It is much more likely that he was offset closer to that side thus he turned that direction.

However, in situations like this, it's usually better to let his family continue to think he was trying to save them ... If they find comfort in that ... whatever, don't burst their bubble ...

[zoidberg rules]

...He says after posting something which is going to "burst their bubble" on a worldwide internet forum!

[Assaultman67]

I know ... but what are the odds that she finds this thread and reads it?

[zoidberg rules]

Ummmmm...

7?

Even if that isn't the answer, it's definitely more than 3!

EDIT: Points to whoever gets the reference.

[Renegade_Turner]

About 12.

Really though, it's a touching sentiment, a man's last sacrifice to save his wife and child, but this isn't a Hollywood blockbuster, this is real life and this guy was just one of the unlucky ones. No romanticism. Rest in peace.

[Gifted]

Don't you think it's possible he thought of the scenario prior to it happening? One day, he could've just been thinking 'what if I got in a head on collision, what would I do?' Then he came onto the conclusion that he would swerve and make sure he took the full impact.

That way it would be more instinctive.

[Assaultman67]

Why is it when probability is mentioned, everyone always blurts out a number other than one between 0 and 1 ...

Even if you reflected upon the incident ... Its very unlikely he could come to that conclusion that quickly ...

If he was given 10 seconds or so, maybe ... but its more likely he had more like 2 seconds tops ...

Accidents happen very very quickly ... you barely have time to react, and once you do, you are completely focused on trying to avoid the accident. You just don't have the time to think about "I cant stop, therefore, i need to make the best of the situation" let alone accept that conclusion.

Hypothetically, If you walked into a room full of 100 people (say like an office or wherever people of that number would be) with a machine gun and say "Im going to shoot you all!" then start counting down from 10, they still wouldn't react fast enough and come to the conclusion that they need to rush you and grab the gun. And if they do react, they will probably just run away rather than try to get the gun from you.

It's the same scenario when an accident occurs, you don't have enough time to think about the well being of everyone in the car, you just react, no matter how much you contemplate the situation. If it catches you off guard your first reaction is going to be "save yourself".

[Blorx]

Terrible analogy aside, I do get assaultman's point.

[Assaultman67]

It is a terrible analogy isnt it ...

I was hesitant about using it, but i couldn't think of anything that would be more pleasant to say, yet emphasize the dire situation people are suddenly and unexpectedly confronted with.