Did some lookin' around and didn't see any posts like this, if there's one please let me know, delete the thread or whatever. 🙂
Anyway, I decided to start a thread detailing stories that don't have dash cam footage, perhaps things the finally pushed you to get a dash cam, etc. Accidents, near misses (or 'near hits' as the immortal Carlin would say) or just stupidity.
To start, here's a few of mine, and a couple things that combined to finally make me do some serious research and pull the trigger on a dash cam (just ordered some SG9665GCs Saturday!). The first few incidents involved my fiancée and my latest trip to Baltimore, and some of the sheer, unadulterated stupidity was disgusting. Also, sorry if my adding metric behind imperial, it's a habit I got into a long time ago, as quite a few other forums I have/do go to have international audiences.
We started our trip by visiting a couple close friends in MN. We were up in the Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul for those that don't know) and some douche rocket was drivin' back and fourth across traffic in front of us. It didn't twig my radar other than 'possible road rage' at the time, but he was sittin' behind vehicles for a moment, then moving on. Finally he settled behind me, for a bit longer, then pulled over and slowed down. A moment later, I heard his car's engine revving, he pulled up around the SUV next to me, cut across in front of the SUV and into my lane, and slammed on his brakes. Not break checked, but slowed down to well under 40 MPH (63 KPH). I checked and pulled out and around him, sped up to the flow of traffic, which was about 75 MPH (120 KPH) in the 'fast' lanes.
Less than thirty seconds later, he did it again, but came damn near to a full stop. I pulled around him again, and since it was close to my exit, went into the slower lanes. He tried to pull his **** again, but couldn't get over, and I saw him givin' me a dirty look as I pulled off and he had to continue on. It wasn't the angry, 'road rage' face, but the face of someone denied prey, so we figure he was pullin' some insurance fraud BS, as it made sense: WY plates in Minneapolis, means we were from out of state, and would be less likely to fight a legal battle over it. Also the way he was 'scouting' cars. Pissed me off, but, eh, what can ya do?
On the way to Baltimore was a drunk driver driving a big Taurus SHO along I-70, about 30 miles (~48 km) west of Breezewood; the guy was weaving all over, speeding up and slowing down, and every single time he went around a vehicle, he'd look over at them and drift towards them. The fourth time he did that with a semi (in which he missed both the trailer's rear tires and the tractor's tandems by less than six inches) I went around him and the idiot nearly hit us after staring over at us! I sped up a bit to try and put space between us, but decided to slow down when he was about quarter mile (around 400 m) behind us... And an observant cop sittin' for speeders busted the moron.
The way back to Minnesota (to drop our friends off at home), we had a couple really bad ones as well. The first major "WTF?" was A semi-tractor-trailer doin' a 'Chicago signal and turn' (three flashes for a lane change and moving over, whether there's someone there or not), while all traffic was going nearly 80 MPH. That resulted in his trailer sliding and almost hitting us and the AMG S65 Sedan (a car that starts out at US$225k...).
The worst on the way back was when I pulled over to refill my APV's atomizer (advanced personal vaporizer for those that don't know, essentially a high end e-cigarette). I was pulled off of the road, in fact, with the sudden paranoia that'd struck, I decided to pull mostly into the freshly cut grass next to the roadway. Lucky choice, a 90's era Dodge 3/4 ton or 1 ton pickup that had at least a 10" lift kit, towing a huge 5th wheel trailer (about 40'/12.1m long). We'd stopped along a slight curve in the road (very soft left hand turn), and this idiot was either distracted, not paying attention, or goin' way, way, way too fast for his load (I'm figuring the latter). He was movin' over 80MPH (128KPH). I glanced back and saw the headlights when I heard the screech of his tires. His front end missed my rear end by less than a car length, his trailer's rear end missed my driver's side mirror by less than 4" (10cm). Karma at least got him back, as he was pulled off the road about five miles further along, his big, expensive 'mudding' driver's side front tire shredded, leaving him stuck trying vainly to undo the lugnuts that weren't going to move for a while thanks to heat buildup.
All this brought me back to the first two accidents in my driving career. First one was on a slushy, icy Wyoming winter day, a dude in an old AMC Eagle sedan pulled out from the turning lane in front of me with less than 20' of clearance. I was found at fault, and he tried to claim damage that my little Chevrolet Cavalier couldn't have done at 20 MPH (32 KPH). Second was when I was driving down the driving lanes of a parking lot, and a gal floored it to get in front of me, forcing another accident. Since it was in a parking lot, the cops apparently couldn't declare who was at fault (the cop said it was WY law at the time), so it was left to the insurance companies to fight it out. The woman claimed I'd damaged parts of her car well away from where I'd struck, but luckily, it didn't damage my driving record, and didn't raise my rates.
All of that was pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back, as far as gettin' a dash cam. I never want myself or my fiancée to be without evidence if someone tries to screw me again, 'specially after those close calls.
So how 'bout it? Anyone else got some stories to share, 'specially 'bout what made ya decide to get a dash cam? 🙂
-Laters...!
kgs-wy
Anyway, I decided to start a thread detailing stories that don't have dash cam footage, perhaps things the finally pushed you to get a dash cam, etc. Accidents, near misses (or 'near hits' as the immortal Carlin would say) or just stupidity.
To start, here's a few of mine, and a couple things that combined to finally make me do some serious research and pull the trigger on a dash cam (just ordered some SG9665GCs Saturday!). The first few incidents involved my fiancée and my latest trip to Baltimore, and some of the sheer, unadulterated stupidity was disgusting. Also, sorry if my adding metric behind imperial, it's a habit I got into a long time ago, as quite a few other forums I have/do go to have international audiences.
We started our trip by visiting a couple close friends in MN. We were up in the Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul for those that don't know) and some douche rocket was drivin' back and fourth across traffic in front of us. It didn't twig my radar other than 'possible road rage' at the time, but he was sittin' behind vehicles for a moment, then moving on. Finally he settled behind me, for a bit longer, then pulled over and slowed down. A moment later, I heard his car's engine revving, he pulled up around the SUV next to me, cut across in front of the SUV and into my lane, and slammed on his brakes. Not break checked, but slowed down to well under 40 MPH (63 KPH). I checked and pulled out and around him, sped up to the flow of traffic, which was about 75 MPH (120 KPH) in the 'fast' lanes.
Less than thirty seconds later, he did it again, but came damn near to a full stop. I pulled around him again, and since it was close to my exit, went into the slower lanes. He tried to pull his **** again, but couldn't get over, and I saw him givin' me a dirty look as I pulled off and he had to continue on. It wasn't the angry, 'road rage' face, but the face of someone denied prey, so we figure he was pullin' some insurance fraud BS, as it made sense: WY plates in Minneapolis, means we were from out of state, and would be less likely to fight a legal battle over it. Also the way he was 'scouting' cars. Pissed me off, but, eh, what can ya do?
On the way to Baltimore was a drunk driver driving a big Taurus SHO along I-70, about 30 miles (~48 km) west of Breezewood; the guy was weaving all over, speeding up and slowing down, and every single time he went around a vehicle, he'd look over at them and drift towards them. The fourth time he did that with a semi (in which he missed both the trailer's rear tires and the tractor's tandems by less than six inches) I went around him and the idiot nearly hit us after staring over at us! I sped up a bit to try and put space between us, but decided to slow down when he was about quarter mile (around 400 m) behind us... And an observant cop sittin' for speeders busted the moron.
The way back to Minnesota (to drop our friends off at home), we had a couple really bad ones as well. The first major "WTF?" was A semi-tractor-trailer doin' a 'Chicago signal and turn' (three flashes for a lane change and moving over, whether there's someone there or not), while all traffic was going nearly 80 MPH. That resulted in his trailer sliding and almost hitting us and the AMG S65 Sedan (a car that starts out at US$225k...).
The worst on the way back was when I pulled over to refill my APV's atomizer (advanced personal vaporizer for those that don't know, essentially a high end e-cigarette). I was pulled off of the road, in fact, with the sudden paranoia that'd struck, I decided to pull mostly into the freshly cut grass next to the roadway. Lucky choice, a 90's era Dodge 3/4 ton or 1 ton pickup that had at least a 10" lift kit, towing a huge 5th wheel trailer (about 40'/12.1m long). We'd stopped along a slight curve in the road (very soft left hand turn), and this idiot was either distracted, not paying attention, or goin' way, way, way too fast for his load (I'm figuring the latter). He was movin' over 80MPH (128KPH). I glanced back and saw the headlights when I heard the screech of his tires. His front end missed my rear end by less than a car length, his trailer's rear end missed my driver's side mirror by less than 4" (10cm). Karma at least got him back, as he was pulled off the road about five miles further along, his big, expensive 'mudding' driver's side front tire shredded, leaving him stuck trying vainly to undo the lugnuts that weren't going to move for a while thanks to heat buildup.
All this brought me back to the first two accidents in my driving career. First one was on a slushy, icy Wyoming winter day, a dude in an old AMC Eagle sedan pulled out from the turning lane in front of me with less than 20' of clearance. I was found at fault, and he tried to claim damage that my little Chevrolet Cavalier couldn't have done at 20 MPH (32 KPH). Second was when I was driving down the driving lanes of a parking lot, and a gal floored it to get in front of me, forcing another accident. Since it was in a parking lot, the cops apparently couldn't declare who was at fault (the cop said it was WY law at the time), so it was left to the insurance companies to fight it out. The woman claimed I'd damaged parts of her car well away from where I'd struck, but luckily, it didn't damage my driving record, and didn't raise my rates.
All of that was pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back, as far as gettin' a dash cam. I never want myself or my fiancée to be without evidence if someone tries to screw me again, 'specially after those close calls.
So how 'bout it? Anyone else got some stories to share, 'specially 'bout what made ya decide to get a dash cam? 🙂
-Laters...!
kgs-wy