Car crash video: tailgaters suck, but so do brake-checkers

[bjones1]

reaction time varies.

dashcams are incredibly useful in these situations.

[SamSam]

@gethoht

Tailgating on a highway is generally because there is someone in the passing (left) lane that is not passing but just hanging out because there is less traffic in that lane.

You must live in a fantasy state where there are no tailgaters who come right up behind you when you are currently passing a line of ten cars, already well above the speed limit, but the car behind you thinks you aren’t passing fast enough.

[IronEdithKidd]

I get kinda freaked out when I’m tailgated because I drive a car with electronic brake assist. It stops in a third the distance of the 1990’s shitboxes still floating around (ie - the car most likely to tailgate me, I don’t know why, but this is how it works). Fortunately, it almost never happens on the freeway, always around town when I’m already driving at the posted speed. I’m not taking a speeding ticket for anyone else. Period. So get off my ass or you can go slower.

[Mister44]

@Vert

@pesco

the brake-checker could indeed be liable.

In my state, if you rear-end someone, you are liable—period. If they braked too fast for you, it’s because you were following too close. (Of course, this oversimplification leads to other abuses, like the “swoop and squat.”)

This video positively radiates schadenfreude. I only feel sorry for any passengers involved.

Yep, the driver behind is responsible for keeping a safe distance. The 3 second rule, when I took drivers ed. I bet some states might have a “brake check” law, but who knows. With out dash cams like in Russia, its pretty hard to prove.

That was a horrible over correction. If you are going to drive like a race car driver, get some practice first.

Though, like asking if it is ok to feed an animal abuser to pigs, it probably isn’t a good thing to brake check someone, no matter how big of an asshole the other person is.

[IronEdithKidd]

psst…you can get a reasonable dash cam for $15.

[anotherone]

@gethoht

All states have laws that state that the left lane on a highway is for actively passing only

Not my state. If the left lane is intended for passing only there will be signs which state “Left Lane For Passing Only.” Under normal circumstances, the left lane is considered a fast lane.

[Mister44]

I am sure more and more people will start to do so. They are so popular in Russia because of the rampant fraud and insurance scams. I read somewhere about 5% of their GNP comes from youtube views.

[roomwithaview]

@neonflame

the person who ended up in the ditch deserved it.

It looks like they got close when the person in front didn’t move over after passing, which would have been a bad/dumb move because merging. Now if the person in front failed to move over after the merging area then at least it would have been understandable, (even if still inappropriate). So yeah, fuck 'em…

[roomwithaview]

@Scrub

Really everything would be fine if people who aren’t passing stay out of the passing lane.

Except the tailgate-ee was passing, responsibly, even, as they waited until the right lane was actually clear (no mergers) before moving back.

[Grey_Devil]

This is almost the entire reason why russian dashcams are so common there. They have a large number of people that try to get hit so they can defraud the insurance, so everyone keeps dashcams to cover their ass in case someone tries to cause an “accident”. Honestly people in the US should use them more often as well.

[roomwithaview]

@Scrub

Can’t wait for autonomous cars.

No kidding, then the rest of us can drive like fucktards so much easier!

[neonflame]

I kinda disagree. They looked stupidly close even when passing further back, earlier in the vid. So i agree with your sentiment of fuck em but they’d been tailgating for a lot longer than just those two seconds it took for the brake check

[MBrody]

Brake checking can sometimes have consequences.

[roomwithaview]

@bcsizemo

a lot of people buy tires that have shitty stopping ability

This is the number one cause of accidents. I tell my people they can buy the crappiest car they want, but they have to put the best possible tires on it.

[rhizome]

Hah, why did they even upload that? “Surely this’ll exonerate me!”

[roomwithaview]

@rhizome

Hah, why did they even upload that? “Surely this’ll exonerate me!”

Actually, yeah, it should, the motorcyclist was being an idiot.

[daneel]

Tailgaters tailgate even when there’s a completely open overtaking lane to their right.

They just want to go as fast as they can without ever having to change lanes. I have no sympathy at all for this idiot.

EDIT: not sure why I wrote right when I meant left, and anyway, I just meant a further overtaking lane, so removed for internationalism

[gethoht]

Tailgating is dumb, you shouldn’t do it, period. I’m not pro-tailgating. That being said I often see tailgaters doing that because they’re trying to make the person in front of them “go faster”. I’ve also seen people who hang out in the left lane being a speed nanny, sitting there just to force people to do the speed limit (or less). Hanging out in the passing lane is dangerous. Expressing your disapproval of someone’s driving is no excuse.

[rhizome]

Pretty sure it’s still illegal to run over people. And no, don’t try to pull a “well they didn’t get run over.”

[roomwithaview]

@rhizome

still illegal to run over people

No argument there, and I won’t counter with the obvious, but I believe this would qualify as a swoop’n’stoop in most states which actually would exonerate the car driver.