Prius rearends & inertia pit flips a minivan turning left

[Street Guardian USA]

 

[AllStrobedUp]

Wow, bad day.

 

[Gibson99]

Prius vs Previa. Both lose. Previa got it worst though... I hope it they find out the Prius driver was SMS/fb/twit/space, they put the screws to him/her extra hard.

 

[kandrey89]

Nice dashcam staging, next time pan to the left smoothly
When will we get panning dashcams?

 

[kamkar]

looks pretty much like the way i lost my first car, just replace Flipping car with Volvo 121 and Prius with VW LT35 and add a little more speed.

 

[Rajagra]

Prius vs Previa. Both lose. Previa got it worst though... I hope it they find out the Prius driver was SMS/fb/twit/space, they put the screws to him/her extra hard.

I dunno. Looks like the minivan driver made a last second decision to turn, moved left and braked heavily.
That may also be why it tipped over so easily - a lot of weight transferred to the front right wheel which was turned left, then an increase in speed from being hit from behind.

 

[kuoh]

That seems plausible and it didn't look like the turn indicators were activated either. Still it does appear the prius driver was too close and not paying attention, so maybe a 50/50 situation here.

KuoH

I dunno. Looks like the minivan driver made a last second decision to turn, moved left and braked heavily.

 

[dash riposki]

Yes, you have to leave space for idiots to make mistakes, or you become one.



One less Prius on the road? Will the earth survive?

 

[MiiHere]

Did the Previa indicate? I don't see it....

 

[erkme73]

Nope, no turn signal. That's called instant karma. Bet for the next 50 or so turns, that Previa driver will definitely signal...

 

[MiiHere]

I'd put the blame on the Previa. Without the turn signal they were stopping illegally in the road.

 

[Gibson99]

I'd put the blame on the Previa. Without the turn signal they were stopping illegally in the road.

I call bs on that one. Doesn't matter if the previa signaled as long as their brake lights were working (which should be checked - the light sockets on the previa were a common problem when I was a mechanic for Toyota).

The only thing that matters is that the Prius was following too close and couldn't stop in time. What if the previa wasn't turning and simply had to slam on brakes for a kid running out in the street or someone pulling out in front of him illegally? Or brake and swerve for some other idiot on the road or a hundred other things that you can't possibly signal for...

 

[MiiHere]

I call bs on that one. Doesn't matter if the previa signaled as long as their brake lights were working (which should be checked - the light sockets on the previa were a common problem when I was a mechanic for Toyota).

The only thing that matters is that the Prius was following too close and couldn't stop in time. What if the previa wasn't turning and simply had to slam on brakes for a kid running out in the street or someone pulling out in front of him illegally? Or brake and swerve for some other idiot on the road or a hundred other things that you can't possibly signal for...

Then it would be a legit stop. Video doesn't show any of that so in my eyes they were either brake checking (illegal) or stopping in the middle of an intersection (illegaly)

I don't think insurance companies would agree with me, but I wouldn't beat myself up if I was the Prius driver - except for the fact that they didn't try to use the shoulder. I think the accident could have been avoided if the Previa signaled the legal 100ft before the turn. Signal and then slow, not the other way around.

I have questions, that unfortunately can't be answered. For instance how long had the Previa been in front of the Prius or did they pull out just a bit before the frame.

In the end insurance will blame them both, but more so the Prius; 75/25 maybe. Both of their insurance premiums will go up - no one is a winner.

 

[Gibson99]

I agree that being able to see what happened even just one second before the video starts could shed a lot more light on it and completely change our opinions on what happened. Wish I could slow down the video on my phone but can't find the function. It kinda looked like the van had its left signal on at the beginning of the clip but hard to tell on my little phone screen. Then it happened so fast that you only saw that one blink of the blinker. As the van rolled, the sun lit up the van's lights so it washed out any potential blinking we might've seen. Plus when it flipped, the wheel probably spun around and cancelled them anyway.

 

[Gibson99]

Nice dashcam staging, next time pan to the left smoothly
When will we get panning dashcams?

We just need moar channels!!

 

[Nigel]

I don't see any indicators, I do see the front of the van dip under heavy braking, but the biggest factor is that they are driving straight into a low sun, the Prius driver probably would have had difficulty seeing turn indicators even if they were used, in those conditions you shouldn't make any sudden/unexpected moves.

It looks to me like the Previa driver caused the accident by braking too late and too heavily in conditions of poor visibility, but the Prius driver would have to pay for the damages since he hit the back of the Previa. In a UK courtroom, I think the Previa driver would be the one found guilty, but this is an insurance matter, it would never go to court unless someone died or was seriously injured requiring substantial damages.

 

[SawMaster]

It's Cali, where fault will be shared. But the one thing that truly matters the most is that you should never hit anything ahead of you, that is where your attention belongs. If you hit anything ahead of you then you were going too fast for conditions or you suffered a mechanical failure, the latter being the only acceptable excuse for such a crash. You can't trust brake lights to work- you're supposed to be watching the car not it's lights. No matter what the Previa did the Prius should not have hit them- you have to allow for people doing stupid or illegal things while you're driving. You can't stop someone from hitting you but you can keep from hitting them and you're supposed to.

Phil

 

[Deleted member 46308]

One less Prius on the road? Will the earth survive?

Probably not

 

[Module 79L]

Anyone alse noticed the sun's position and that in the still picture the Prius's driver has his face completely lit by the sunlight, which means he probably didn't have the sun visor down? I bet that's what caused him to "miss" the slowing down minivan.

 

[Nigel]

Anyone alse noticed the sun's position and that in the still picture the Prius's driver has his face completely lit by the sunlight, which means he probably didn't have the sun visor down? I bet that's what caused him to "miss" the slowing down minivan.

Yes, my main point in post #16, if you look at the shadow of the flying car in the still image, you can see the angle of the sun means that a sun visor wouldn't work even if it was down.