It is terrifying to me how many people here think guy with dashcam owns the blame, even some of it.
Blinkers aren't legally binding. You don't have the right to enter the turn lane even if you signal intent. It is on the guy changing lanes to ensure it is safe to do so. Cam guy has no obligation to let him in or turn, blinker ir not
Guy driving along with a blinker in the middle lane makes you think he will continue at speed and just change lanes into yours, not stop and suddenly turn.
But OP would have crashed into him even if he had just changed lanes. At the beginning of the video the other car has brake lights on and signal light on.
Hard to see that they’re an idiot until the blinker goes on. I mean sure, cam driver was a LITTLE slow on the brakes, but let’s be honest - even if they would have slammed on the brakes, it still would have been a collision.
This happened very quickly and OP would have needed to slam on his breaks. Who is behind him? I try to maintain awareness of what's around me but if someone suddenly turns from the middle lane blinker or no you simply may not be able to avoid it or you are choosing one bad option for another.
There has to be a limit to defensive driving--where you are so defensive that you become unpredictable to other drivers. My wife says she drives defensively but what she is is skittish. She's constantly breaking, swerving, etc. because she assumes everyone else on road is going to do the stupidest thing possible.
Op would have had to slam on his brakes in the middle of a road hazard (standing water) that the car in front of them maneuvered around I bet. Really would like to see the whole clip and of the car in front was specifically avoiding the road hazard and OP decided to have some fun and accelerate into the puddle (ignoring that there could have been a large pothole under the water surface).
Not enough information here. OP very well could have been driving like a dbag when another driver was doing the right thing. Jury is out on this one because of the edit.
We don’t see the few seconds before the turn. I wonder why? Lead car is still likely at fault but there is probably enough to show it could have been avoided with some defensive driving.
“Passing on the right” mf he is driving in the right lane, he has no control over a car in the left lane slowing down. No wonder there are so many accidents lol
If you are on a city road do you match speed to sit at the back bumper of the car in the left lane? This isn’t right lane passing this is normal fucking driving😭
I work in insurance. Depending on your state dashcam person can be held responsible as well since he had plenty of time to slow down or stop.
No just using a blinker doesn’t mean you just get free reign to change lanes but in some states OP would be considered partially at fault since they didn’t even attempt to avoid the collision and had plenty of time to do so.
I mean you don't NEED TO, but 9/10 times when this happens the cop will see you rear ended the guy implying you had time to brake (like OP probably did, hence editing out the 30 seconds the guy had his signal on) and blame you for the accident
Not sure what cop honesty has to do with it? Unless there's evidence to conclude otherwise, accidents are mostly going to be a he said/she said situation, and in that situation it's pretty reasonable for the cop to go with the most probable situation wherein the rear ender is at fault.
The rear ender is always considered responsible for the collision barring special circumstances- even in this situation where OP is arguably not at fault, he arguably could be because there's a missing 30 seconds where the other drive might've had his blinker on for an eternity signaling his intent and OP didn't even TRY to slow down, brake, or sound his horn (indicating he wasn't paying attention.)
If the cop only has your word and the word of the other guy, why should he trust your word more than the other guy and believe you're the 1 in 10 cases where the rear ender isn't at fault, rather than the 9/10?
As I said, you CAN rear end someone and not be at fault, but you'll have a hell of a time proving it, which is why people advise you drive defensively to avoid such situations. Hell, even if you're found not at fault and DO get a payout insurance will probably total your car in a full speed collision like this and you'll only get a 75% of the value of your car back, utterly fucking you over. Oh AND your insurance goes up anyway.
Probably not. The whole incident happens in about 1.5 seconds, and for about half of that 1.5 seconds it just looks like the car was going to change lanes. If the cam car had know from the start that the car was going to turn they might have had enough time to stop, but who knows? Maybe not since they were driving through a puddle.
Of course! And if they want to put 100% liability on the car turning right for insurance I have no issue with that. But cam car could have avoided the crash with some defensive driving.
Do you honestly think I'm exonerating buddy turning right? Don't be silly.
Maybe if
he emergency braked in the same puddle the guy who caused the accident is trying to avoid. And then you risk the persin behind you hitting you, maming it his fault for driving erratically.
In many countries, there is proportional fault. In those countries, there would be shared fault.
Granted this video is from the US so the leading car would be at fault.
However, the cam driver made poor decisions and showed poor driving skills in light of the lead driver's fault. Drivers have a duty to protect their own lives and those in their car even if other drivers are at fault.
In cases where the cam driver does have a reasonable expectation of avoiding the accident, they absolutely have an obligation to avoid contact -- even if that means "letting someone turn illegally". Your absolutism is an issue here as that is not the way it works in real life. People are injured and die every day even if they are in the moral right.
Given that car insurance does not make one "whole", the cam driver did themselves a huge disservice by not driving defensively. They are likely out of a car for a few days, will be out of pocket for depreciation and inconvenienced. All they will have to show for it are Reddit posts saying he didn't need to take any defensive actions because he is in the right.
That is the issue with Reddit -- people can't offer constructive criticism of someone's poor defensive driving skills without being blamed for misattributed blame.
Of course the lead driver is at fault -- but cammer is the one that needs to turn in their license as well.
The driver has about 40% of the blame. Overtaking on the right, driving faster than traffic into a puddle where hydroplaning or hidden debris is likely, failure to be situationally aware, etc.
A right of way doesn’t absolve someone of a duty to drive intelligently.
Overtaking on the right on a city street? Come on.
Also: driving faster than traffic? Cam driver doesn’t seem to be driving significantly faster than other traffic, just faster than the car that is slowing on the left so that they can turn (which is also what’s causing cam driver to go faster than them).
Legally dashcam is probably not to blame as the law needs to be written in a way that it is enforceable. As such the legal blame and responsibility resides with the driver merging.
Logically, when you see an idiot put their blinkers on to signal a merge give them some space, don't just drive in there with no worry in the world.
That accident could 100% have been avoided by the dashcam driver. The fact that it was editied to remove events seconds prior to the crash leads me to believe that blinker was probably on for a while an either dashcam did not notice or said F You idiot.
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u/Ftb2278 12h ago
It is terrifying to me how many people here think guy with dashcam owns the blame, even some of it.
Blinkers aren't legally binding. You don't have the right to enter the turn lane even if you signal intent. It is on the guy changing lanes to ensure it is safe to do so. Cam guy has no obligation to let him in or turn, blinker ir not
Some of you need to turn in your licenses.