Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/08/24/who-is-wrong-here-the-tailgat.html
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2 Likes
Tailgater. Pure and simple.
70 Likes
Yes. .
21 Likes
Percentage of fault shared 50/50. Slow driver intentionally braked when he could have just moved over.
10 Likes
both.
the tailgater for tailgating, and the brake checker for driving away after witnessing a crash.
26 Likes
Were they driving too slowly in the passing lane? They were driving fast enough to pass the person filming
37 Likes
Tailgater. Don’t get me wrong, the break checker is a douche. But, if this would have been a legitimate breaking situation, the tailgater would have found themselves in the same situation. 3 Second rule people.
62 Likes
The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Both are at fault…
However…
The break checker 1) SHOULD have pulled over to let the other driver pass and 2) deliberately caused an unsafe driving condition that led to the accident. The driver’s job is not to make sure other people are following the rules, but to safely pilot their own vehicle.
The tailgater may have been an a-hole, but the instant the other driver brake-checked, he/she became an a-hole, too.
15 Likes
Tailgater. Tailgating is inherently dangerous, whereas driving slower than the speed limit is generally not. Even if driving slowly in the passing lane is discourteous or illegal (or both) depending on the state, it doesn’t justify the reckless disregard for safety which is tailgating at highway speeds. Brake-checking is probably not the best thing to do, but if a car is following at a safe distance, brake-checking (or actual braking in the event of a slow-down or safety issue) is not an issue (no one will brake-check a car following at a safe distance, and a car following at a safe distance will not be endangered if the car ahead of it suddenly brakes).
38 Likes
I don’t know, the tailgater wasn’t just plain old tailgating, that was some extremely aggressive tailgating. Not just close but right up on the other guy’s bumper. That’s that faking-ramming bs super aggressive tailgaters do when they don’t think someone is moving fast enough. Tailgater should have just gone around.
22 Likes
deja vu
11 Likes
I don’t brake-check people like this. I move over as soon as I can, if I can. I’ve had people tailgate me as I’m trying to get past three or four semis. I’m not moving in between two semis if I’m going 78 in the fast lane and you want to go 85, but I’ll clear the lane when I can.
If they do persist, I’ll hit the hazard lights instead and tap my brakes, maybe a slight swerve for effect. People back off in a hurry if they think it’s not personal.
14 Likes
If you are going to tail gate, maybe also know how to brake and steer with out severe over correcting.
36 Likes
The tailgater is at fault.
The front car was going faster than the right lane was; there was no “too slow” about it.
The rule of thumb I was taught was to leave a car-length of space for every 10 mph of speed.
38 Likes
Tailgater is, of course, at fault for tailgating. But brake checking, especially when it causes an accident, is driving your vehicle with reckless disregard for others and, IMHO, is just as bad or worse.
Sure if there had been a real obstacle in the way of the brake checker he wouldn’t be at fault. But there wasn’t. He put lives at risk instead of either speeding up or moving over.
10 Likes
There was a car entering the highway from the on ramp so the car in front couldn’t move right until getting passed them. The tailgater was already on his/her bumper at that point so was clearly the aggressor. Tapping the brakes is a douchy move but the tailgater is definitely in the wrong.
I also doubt that the driver in front was going below the speed limit. As mentioned below, both cars pass the driver filming the scene from the right lane.
39 Likes
Tailgater, of course. The brake-checker wasn’t going too slow in the fast lane at all–there were slower cars merging in the from the right, that he was passing at a decent clip. He had no opportunity to merge back into the right lane yet.
More evidence–after the accident, the brake-checker uses his turn signal when he merges back right–clearly, a safe driver…
31 Likes
Tailgater at fault.
Brake-checker was passing legally on the left of the filming car. Brake-checker made the safe decision not to merge into the right-hand lane where there is an on ramp (and a car entering the on-ramp). Tailgater made the unsafe decision to tailgate so closely.
21 Likes
The tailgater is definitely in the wrong. The “too slow” driver was driving fast enough to pass right lane traffic and was right to not move over while passing an entrance ramp with cars merging into traffic. I don’t personally agree with brake-checking, but the tailgater is ALWAYS the one that creates the risk and hazard by putting themselves in a position where they can’t react to unpredictable situations.
25 Likes
Absolutely the tailgater. There’s something of a hierarchy when it comes to road customs and rules. At the top of the heirarchy is stuff like “don’t drive drunk” and “get off your damn cell phone.” Close on the heels of that is “leave enough space between you and the other cars so that if the other car does something unexpected, you can safely react.”
The brake-checker didn’t even do anything wrong other than the brake-check. The merging car coming in from the right is an important thing to pay attention to (especially if you plan on merging back to the right lane because some jerk is coming up fast behind you). The brake-check is a small dick move, made to punish a MUCH BIGGER dick move.
15 Likes
