About five years ago in early spring, I was on my way to work at about 6 a.m., so it was still dark. I came up behind a Corolla that was turning right at a green light (two-lane streets both ways) just as a 20-something female jogger was approaching the intersection from the right on the far-side sidewalk. I only had to lift off the throttle a bit to clear the turning Corolla and was doing about 30 mph as I entered the intersection at the same time the jogger did while still keeping her pace up. I saw her come off the curb and had little time to react, but was able to move over about 1/2 lane as I saw her rear backwards in horror as we connected. SMACK! I saw her hit the ground after I passed and I stopped immediately, but she got up and hurried away while holding her hand. Evidently, the noise had been her hand slapping the folding mirror up against the passenger window. The only damage to my car was to the paint on the mirror. I expect her hand got severely bruised, if not broken. As to the psychological impact on me, I had some good adrenaline going afterwards, but I have no worries or guilt about the incident.

Thankfully, this happened while I was driving my BMW 535i and there were no oncoming cars -- I would not have maneuvered abruptly like that if there had been oncoming cars or I'd been in my 300td (which I didn't have then anyhow). I used to have a Class C motorhome and made the decision that I would not have any realistic chance to avoid anything in that behemoth and my only choice would be to brake hard in a straight line, lest I roll it over on top of what I was trying to avoid.

One of my former squadron mates hit and severely injured a kid. In car vs. kid encounters, the driver seems to usually be considered at fault. However, the main factor that absolved him of responsibility was the fact that the police had been called twice that morning for kids playing "chicken" with cars -- and the kid who got hit was among those who'd already been admonished by the police. My buddy was sorry it happened, but he really didn't have any guilt about the incident because it wasn't his fault.