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there was traffic infront of me and I was fallowing the 1 second rule per 10 mph.
1 second per 10 mph at 65 mph is about 620 feet (since you claim to be an engineer, I'll let you do the math). How is that not enough room to see what's going on in the adjacent lane and adjust your speed accordingly?
BUT . . . that 1 second per 10 mph goes out the window when you suddenly merge at the higher speed into the low speed traffic, since you start out catching the slow traffic at a closing rate of at least 30 mph (your numbers suggest at least this much). Plan on adding one more second for each 10 mph of closing speed on top of the 6.5 seconds @ 65 for a total of 9.5 seconds if you're going to play that card.
Or just plan, period.
BTW, if you're on a Nimitz class CVN, a DLGN/CGN 36 or 38 class, or a 688-class boat, you're riding on/in things that I did some of the lead ship design on as well as some of the early uprates. Now that I've mentioned that, aren't you hoping that my judgment as a 20-something fresh out of engineering school was better than what you've described with respect to your part in this incident?
BTW#2, being an engineer of any sort, including Navy nuke, does not make one immune to making mistakes and errors in judgment, particularly when it comes to activities not related to the day job.