An inevitable diagonal trajectory lengthens the distance and time.  Without knowing more about why the vehicle entered and crossed the median, and it's angle of attack on the median, we only know this.  Under ideal test conditions, where the test subject is anticipating a signal, a driver's reaction time is about 1 second - 110' of doing NOTHING.  Real reaction times are longer, because the driver must recognize and process the emergency, then react.  It's likely that the driver reacted late then over-reacted to a situation.  Swerving could easily have put him at a fairly steep angle to the median.  CDOT STATED that the median was 75 to 90 feet wide in that area, so a 45 degree angle of attack would mean traveling a distance of less than 130 feet at most.  A shallower angle would increase the distance, but braking on grass is very ineffective, so the ONLY option to avoid entering oncoming traffic would be to steer to remain in the median. The driver had about 2 seconds to decide!

Labels: moderation: safe