My freeway crash

[liveinxs]

the driver is still a A-Hole for not driving safely......

i have driving since i was 16, i am now 53, and have never had an accident, reason why, cause i pay attention, to what is going on around me....

there is no such thing as an "accident", it comes down to someone, not paying attention....

 

[DT MI]

the driver is still a A-Hole for not driving safely.........

If you're talking about the driver of the truck I couldn't agree more. (71 and driving since 16 - no 'accidents')

 

[liveinxs]

I think its quite clear from the video who is at fault...

 

[M---]

When my employer hired me in the 90s, they put me through a 2-day defensive driving course, as they used to do with all new hires. That's probably the single most-valuable course the company has put me through. The techniques I learned there have saved me from many "accidents".

Except for one, which was entirely due to my own stupidity (15 years ago, remote area, playing around in the rain with my new-to-me RX7, spun out, light contact with a tree)... Felt pretty stupid after that one.

Back on-topic, regardless of what could have happened a minute prior, the pickup's actions were not justifiable. If this had been a two-to-tango incident, and I was the lawyer for the pickup truck driver, I would ask for the prior footage-- not because it would provide a legal defense, but because I could try to shame the Subaru's driver into accepting partial liability. As slimy as that would be, it's part of a lawyer's job to watch out for the client's best interest. (no, I'm not a lawyer, but my uncle was one, and I deal with my company's lawyers several times a year in my current line of business-- they're actually quite nice people!).

 

[BlackBoxed.ca]

Good thing you had a dash cam! The other driver can't argue that wasn't his fault at all.

Kelvin

 

[Jax Dash Cams]

Nice capture! Sorry that happened. Without your video, he could've easily claimed that you were following too closely and caused the accident. The camera never lies!

 

[Hillbilly]

I'll be devils advocate here. It appears to me you were driving in the left lane but not passing anyone Is that not more or less forbidden.
My take is you were tooling along in the fast lane not going fast enough and p......d the guy off as you didnt pull over and let him past as most do in the USA.

He thought he would give you a wake up but misjudged it. Unfortunate.

You dont show any speeds with your camera or conveniently blocked it out with the music banner.

Would like to see previous 5 mins of video and hear his take on it.

No I wasnt there but have recently driven 8500 miles from Vancouver to Calgary and Toronto to Los Angeles via New York, Orlando and Tuscon and the overall impression I got was that drivers didn't haunt the fast lane unless passing and after they did pulled across out of it. There wasnt anything in front of you so why were you there.

Always two sides and a reason things happen.

 

[Hillbilly]

. The camera never lies!

The camera captured a few seconds of video that may or may not tell all the story.

Digital video can be made to lie. Dont ever think that in todays technology that still applies.

Not saying anything in regard to this event but your statement no longer is true

 

[Scruit]

I'll be devils advocate here. It appears to me you were driving in the left lane but not passing anyone Is that not more or less forbidden.

- He and I joined the left lane at the same time, about 7-8 seconds before this clip starts, and he was about 5 or 6 cars behind me. He was already travelling much faster than me and when he caught up he was only behind me for about two seconds then started to pass on the right. He never gave me a chance to move over. The traffic was flowing right at the speed limit. The prior part of the clip shows that I joined the left lane to pass a slower car in the right lane. When he cut into the right lane he changed lane directly in front of the slow car we both passed.
- This is the start of a 1 minute clip. Didn't seem worth stitching the prior 7-8 seconds on because it just shows me joining the lane from the slower right lane and then accelerating up to the traffic speed. If I had a rear cam you'd have seen him behind me in the right lane and join the left lane at the same time as me, the accelerate up to my back bumper.
- I don't have the speed or gps displayed. I've put the date time back on though since this accident.
- I first uploaded the video with sound to show I didn't "gun it to block him out right as he started a safe lane change" (his claim, according to the police) but youtube gave me a copyright notice so I deleted and I re-upped the video with no sound.
- 30 seconds prior to this video we were on different a freeway - we had just joined this freeway less than a minute before. Prior to me joining the left lane we were unaware of each other.

He just wanted to go faster than traffic and I was the one in front of him so I took the brunt of his impatience. He wanted to teach me a lesson about being too slow for him, but his lesson backfired. Had I not been there he'd have come up behind the next car in line and then what? If he was only behind that next person for 2 seconds then how could they have responded differently than I did?

 

[Hillbilly]

Not criticizing you but I would have had my right indicator on as soon as I passed the car to let him know you were getting out of the way.
Doesnt excuse his actions however.

 

[sludgeguts]

The camera captured a few seconds of video that may or may not tell all the story.

Digital video can be made to lie. Dont ever think that in todays technology that still applies.

Not saying anything in regard to this event but your statement no longer is true

When I have dropped video to disc for insurance, I give them the version that I upload to youtube (which generally includes snippets from the highway code etc), I also give them the raw footage which would be the complete segment containing the prang (or two if relevant) and I also include a word document (my statement) as well as a pdf.
Added to this, I might also drive the same route at a quieter time to get relevant roadsigns (or use google earth & streetview). I also add a hard copy of the word document along with hard copies of relevant photos.
And whilst digital video can be doctored, it can also be examined for evidence of doctoring.
How easy is it these days for your average driver to doctor video so well that the insurers would be fooled? Not sure my 6y/o pc running vista and a copy of PD12 would be that good.

 

[Hillbilly]

When I have dropped video to disc for insurance, I give them the version that I upload to youtube (which generally includes snippets from the highway code etc), I also give them the raw footage which would be the complete segment containing the prang (or two if relevant) and I also include a word document (my statement) as well as a pdf.
Added to this, I might also drive the same route at a quieter time to get relevant roadsigns (or use google earth & streetview). I also add a hard copy of the word document along with hard copies of relevant photos.
And whilst digital video can be doctored, it can also be examined for evidence of doctoring.
How easy is it these days for your average driver to doctor video so well that the insurers would be fooled? Not sure my 6y/o pc running vista and a copy of PD12 would be that good.

My remark was in answer to JAX DashCams remark that" the camera never lies"

Use to be with film but I knew a guy who could make a montage on film that experts never worked out how he did it.

Since digital cameras evolved the camera or an image made by it can be made to lie.

I didnt say it wouldnt be undiscoverable but never the less it can be done, thereby rendering the comment incorrect.

 

[Nigel]

How easy is it these days for your average driver to doctor video so well that the insurers would be fooled? Not sure my 6y/o pc running vista and a copy of PD12 would be that good.

Probably the easiest way at present is to submit genuine footage of a different accident. Nobody will detect that it has been doctored since it hasn't been and there is a good chance that the other party will never see it so nobody will realise that anything is wrong! Not advisable if it goes to court since if you are found out then it would be a jail sentence but while it is just in the hands of the insurance company...

Of course for most people it will not be worth the effort but it is certainly possible.

 

[Scruit]

Not criticizing you but I would have had my right indicator on as soon as I passed the car to let him know you were getting out of the way.
Doesnt excuse his actions however.

I guess my bed WAS a little too close to the wall.

 

[USDashCamera]

that would scare the crap out of me. good to see cams paying off.

btw the cop cant make you show the footage, although it can obviously help him write up a better report, your video is your property.

as an asshole, i would be tempted to not even say there is video, let the guy try to file a false claim, then get busted for insurance fraud in light of your evidence.

 

[M---]

i would be tempted to not even say there is video, let the guy try to file a false claim, then get busted for insurance fraud

As much as I'd love to see lying assholes get busted for making false statements, to take my selfish perspective, if this were my crash, here are my thoughts:
-I would want things to go my way.
-I want it done as quick as possible.
-Showing the video evidence to the attending officer immediately clears up any ambiguity around the stories.
-That gets it done as quickly as possible.

There might be some public benefit in having the lying scumbag charged for making false statements, but people will always lie, especially scumbags. Until scumbags assume there's a high likelihood that somebody has a dashcam, they'll continue to lie conveniently. The best way around that problem is to get dashcams in the hands of the public.

So continue to convince your friends/family/coworkers/strangers that they should have dashcams! And, of course, post your interesting footage on the internet, so that people can be reminded of the craziness that occurs on the roads.