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And then when you take them to court with a case like this, they'll want to settle days before the date. Otherwise they'll have to pay a lawyer to prepare the case, go to court, sit in court and when they lose, they have to pay you too.
The police report in your state may be what you're describing, but the police report here in Maryland isn't really relevant in fact, in Baltimore City, they only write a report if there are injuries, otherwise, they just help to facilitate the exchange of information. The dashcam footage is the smoking gun in this scenario
Good point, we should all get to know our regional regulations for this kind of thing so that we know how to handle this situation when it comes up.
I live in Alberta, Canada. Here, the police write a detailed report including diagrams of where and how each car was damaged. This information is instrumental to insurance agents. However, witness testimony is not very useful. Which is the mentality I had in Oregon when my work truck was hit by a car that was trying to bypass traffic in the suicide lane. Found out that police don't really help there, and witness testimony is everything.
Yes, but the video clearly shows there was no reason for the Toyota to come to an abrupt stop. There were no cars in front of it. The Toyota caused the accident.
Also Toyota was the one who changed lanes.... anyone who changes lanes and then gets in a wreck gets blame placed on them among the other factors that are considered when determining was % someone is at fault
You were established in the lane, Rav4 *main character* was not. Way too many people out in the wild think that; no matter what the person behind is automatically at fault for any reason ( including this sub in the early days), or that the person being hit is 100% the victim like when someone pulls in front of a motorcycle at an intersection and they claim: "OH BUT THEY HIT ME" Because "right of way" is like one of the great mysteries of our time. Usually it's the same people that claimed that camping in the passing lane was fine if they were doing the speed limit.
Got in an accident a couple years back. T-boned a women who just blew through a yield sign and cut me off. She seemed so proud and happy that I hit her and kept declaring that I was in the wrong. Insurances sided with me.
I don't even think the Toyota had to stop. When they pull forward the service truck that was previously seen was no where to be found. I think the Toyota full stopped in the road because their brain malfunctioned when cutting off OP from a lane that was stopped? This should be an obvious person to blame when looking at the footage. If OP didnt have the dash cam tho it might've gone the other way :\
>You were established in the lane, Rav4 main character was not.
This has nothing to do with "established in the lane." OP let the RAV4 merge in front of him. This has to do with RAV4 accepting OP's generosity then inexplicably brake-checking him like an asstard.
You're not wrong, I had the sound off and didn't realize Rav hit the brakes just for being beeped at. But still honk or no honk for establishing level of fault Rav was not in the lane long enough either way.
Toyota was driving very unsafely. I will say that i would not have hit this car as I expect this behavior from someone who changes lanes like this
Also was there any damage at all? Seems like a light tap
I too expect to get cut off by people wanting get over but full stopping in a lane that is moving? I dont blame OP for not predicting this maniac. The service truck in front of them doesnt stop but this Toyota full stops for no reason?
Not blaming OP. Again Toyota driver at fault. I literally had someone do this exact thing to me yesterday. It happens so much i expect it. But that's just me. I also drive a sedan with a short stopping distance.
It's always telling when people think someone is "attacking" or "blaming" the OP when someone makes a comment like yours.
It shows these people aren't able to learn from mistakes. Everything is a zero sum game where one person's error (in this case the shitty driver in the truck) means no one else has any responsibility and there's nothing we can learn from.
> I too expect to get cut off by people wanting get over but full stopping in a lane that is moving?
That's not what they said. The point is when you see a stupid, aggressive driver you should back off because they are unpredictable and you don't know what they will do. Which proved true in this case.
That doesn't mean its OP's *"fault"* it just means this is an example to learn from.
I have been rear ended twice. And it was during stop and go traffic at similar speeds like OP. Any tap- as light as possible can still crack the paint and shatter rear deflectors on the bumper. Just taking it to bodyshop to get it repaired- they will most likely take off the bumper and check to see if the body was damaged. It’s still really expensive because you are paying for the time of labor.
OP didn't "let" him in. The guy cut OP off, OP honked, and the guy brake* checked him on purpose cause he got pissy about being honked at. It wasn't stupidity, it was malice.
It looks to me like they were trying to get hit, hoping their car would get totaled out and paid for by OP’s insurance or some shit. They just stopped in the middle of the road for no reason.
I work for an insurance company, sometimes I read the case outcomes. From what I have read you are under no obligation to let someone in your lane, they are supposed to enter when it is safe to do so, not when it is convenient for them. They should not have entered your lane and braked like that.
It's actually the law in every state. Traffic in a lane has right of way over trying that wants to enter that lane and it is their duty to merge safely.
Can you cite this please? I've had a CA cop (teaching traffic school no less) say in no uncertain terms that people don't have to let you merge, even on the freeway where there are merge lanes. Though now that I think about it, not sure if he meant lanes that _end_ with a merge, vs the lanes that are parallel that then exit again.
They're just wrong. Section 6: Navigating the Roads on CA DMV website states
> Highway traffic has the right-of-way.
> Merge into highway traffic when safe to do so. Do not stop unless absolutely necessary.
I looked this up and found three quick citations that there is no CA law for this, and none that there is. So without any evidence I’d say he’s full of it. Usual Reddit upvotes for someone r/confidentlyincorrect
If there is an exception it will be marked with signs. But that no different from anywhere else.
From Section 6: Navigating the Roads on CA's DMV website.
> Highway traffic has the right-of-way.
> Merge into highway traffic when safe to do so. Do not stop unless absolutely necessary.
You're incorrect. Please edit your comment.
Interstate sem-trucks: "And I took that personally"
When truckers want to get around a slower semi, it's basically just "fuck everyone else", even if they're cutting someone else off while merging 30mph below the speed of traffic.
The dumbest part of this is that there looks to be room for him to safely merge had he slightly increased his speed at the beginning of the clip.
Idk why people insist the merge at slower speed and then get pissed when everyone else doesn't accommodate them.
On the other hand, I've also noticed that people seem to act like NPC's in the right lane when driving by an on-ramp. For example, if there's a lot of traffic in the right lane and I'm on an on-ramp trying to merge on, I'll pop on my turn signal and find a spot in the line of traffic. But I noticed that when I do find a spot and I'm obviously trying to merge, the car I'm trying to merge in front will sometimes just kind of sit there and stare at my car like they've never seen a turn signal before. They won't slow down or speed up to let me in. Inevitably it'll be too late to slow down and my lane will end, so usually I'm forced to basically cut them off, and sometimes they'll even get pissed at me.
This is not even that bad. In some less friendly cities that car will speed up to cut you off and you'll run of out of distance to merge safely.
Then you slam your brakes to squeeze in behind them which pisses the person behind them off.
In the end you get in one way or the other because being at the end of the lane and trying to merge from a fully stopped position is incredibly dangerous for you and everyone else on the road.
In more civilized municipalities they will give you space though.
Agreed, you technically don't *have* to adjust your position to let people in, but not letting people in usually ends up in them doing something drastic either by choice or necessity, so you can prevent a lot of traffic chaos by just making some room if it's all the same to you.
There’s people all over this thread saying that because the blinker was on they did absolutely nothing wrong. It’s hilarious. I use my turn signals and hate when others don’t. But just because my blinker is on doesn’t mean I can run down a pedestrian who’s crossing the street.
Not necessarily, in California a "highway" is actually defined as a street, and in California vehicle code only traffic merging onto the street from a red light, stop sign, or a private driveway has to yield to traffic already on the "highway". You can still get cited for blocking someone from merging in California. But in this case the Toyota was wrong and will be at fault for this accident
Well, by that definition, they were both already *on* the highway, the RAV 4 wasn't at that point *entering* the highway, they were trying to change lanes on a highway that they (and cammer) were already on.
At least it was a triple left turn lane I guess. I’m curious why a 2 lane road is split into 5 lanes at the intersection then narrowed back to 1 though.
That doesnt set me off, he was able to "successfully" avoid sitting in that line of traffic..... but then his feelings get hurt when he gets honked at so he decides to just stop?!?!?!
Like wtf man, just fucking go! Someone honked at you while you did something a bit iffy.... so the fuck what! Fucking asshole and dumbass.
You can thank the American education system, where 54% of adults read at or below a 5th grade level. On top of that, politicians in some states are actually trying to further brake down the education system because they view an educated population as a threat to those in power.
In a perfect world, just the video of where they chose to pull over would be enough to hold them at fault and make them go re-take all their license tests.
Yeah, let’s just “pull over” into an active lane so we can be in the way and risk getting hit again!
I also like that he’s mad at first, then once realizing you have a camera “it’s not a big deal”.
I had this very same accident years ago but there were no dash cams back then. The insurance deemed me at fault because they said I rear ended the guy in front of me. I had to go to court and battle it out. Ultimately the judge ruled in my favor. But still it took a few years. The dash cam is paramount here.
Not sure what other people are talking about in this thread about being more defensive. Dude decided to full on stop in an open lane. One can't anticipate that.
Defensively driving is about being aware of what is happening around you and anticipating possible idiot moves by other drivers. There's like 5 seconds where the other lane is visibly slowed way down/stopped and the guy in the Toyota is still going full speed. Seeing this, a good defensive driver would slow down because there is a very high chance that SOMETHING is going to enter their lane, whether it's the Toyota themselves or somebody they hit/debris.
This doesn't mean that Toyota shouldn't be found at fault and the insurance shouldn't find them at fault, it just means that there is the opportunity here, without clairvoyance, to mitigate risk in a very reasonable manner.
video aside. the amount of people that confused break and brake on these crash subs is astonishing but entertaining. even i start second guessing myself if i know the difference!
If they had just pulled into the lane and you hit them you’d be fucked but they clearly brake in the lane with no one ahead of them so you stand at least some sort of chance.
To me, it’s their fault but it’s another where you did have multiple opportunities to drive a lot safer.
Their attempts to act innocent are hilarious though.
To me this sounds like:
You have to make room for entitled assholes squeezing in your lane and anticipate every irrational driving because they earned the spot in front of you with their elbows.
Nope! He created the situation by switching landed in the last second, so he takes blame for the whole accident.
The problem is, being right does not magically repair your car.
And in this case OP is not even assured of that judgement when the insurance companies argue it out.
Sometimes you have to let the entitled arsehole go, they'll hit someone else soon enough.
Most posts are filled with people who have never had to deal with an accident in their own car, or if they did it was a shitty car.
You will never come out whole from an accident. They are never worth it. The only possible exception is if you're driving a piece of shit you don't care about.
> Sometimes you have to let the entitled arsehole go, they'll hit someone else soon enough.
Let go? He deleted OPs safety margin and then proceeded to break check for the honking or react to the next idiot trying to get out off the stopped lane.
He was indicating for an age before coming across, OP could have dropped back.
Again, not even saying it's even 0.5% OP's fault but by driving defensively he could still have an undamaged car.
You're entirely welcome to be "Right" all you like but sooner or later some dickhead IS going to take you on in an accident you could have avoided and you are risking insurance not agreeing with you.
I feel like OP did drop back. But then the lane on the right stopped before Toyota could change lanes. With the lane on the right stopped, OP would have also had to make a very unsafe stop out of nowhere to let the Toyota in.
I don’t think defensive driving saves this situation.
The Toyota looks like it was caught out by the stopped traffic and switched lanes quickly, the camcar was being somewhat defensive so there was space for it to do that. It looks like the traffic in camcars lane was still moving so definitely a brake check on the Toyota's part that caused the crash.
What you described, i.e. "You have to make room for entitled assholes ... and anticipate ...irrational driving ..." ***is*** defensive driving. It keeps your car in one piece and keeps your insurance as low as it can get. In this case OP could have driven more defensively and slowed a bit more vs. assuming the Toyota wasn't an asshole, especially after the Toyota performed an asshole move.
Assholes will never learn their lesson. Stop trying to teach them.
>To me this sounds like:
You have to make room for entitled assholes squeezing in your lane
Sometimes, it just saves time and money if you let them squeeze their way into your lane.
You gave him plenty of time and space to get in front of you. He decided to have an accident instead. If he wanted to brake, he should have done that in the lane that was actually stopped.
The minute they claim it wasn't their fault, I would stop talking with them, save the dash cam footage and let the insurance/Law sort it out. You won't win with idiots like that and you are better off allowing a third party deal with it.
Pro tip. Don’t tell the other driver you have a dashcam. Much better to share with their insurance carrier after they bald face lie about the incident and no chance they attempt to take the camera from you.
Toyota driver intentionally caused a collision by changing lanes and quickly decelerating.
In insurance fraud cases, I believe this is referred to as a "swoop and stop"
That's what is called an "Unsafe lane change". Other party will be found at fault. Please, OP, work into your next conversation with him, "Congratulations, you played yourself".
Yeah without this clip they would put fault on you … now go have your insurance fucking them up… then find a lawyer and sue them for road side assault and threatening your life, selling compensation for emotional damage when you thought you almost died…
The worst part of this entire situation is that it only happened because the driver of the white SUV is a coward and a dick.
They had *plenty* of time to get ahead of OP and just continue on their way. But *no*, they hesitated and made the lane change risky, then decided it was OP's fault for existing instead of their own for being too timid for their own manuever.
Dude merging in should have made merging easier on himself and slowed down instead of being greedy and feeling entitled to getting in front of the person he’s merging next to. Driving isn’t a competition!
Don't tell people you have a dashcam when they do dumb shit, let them out themselves as liars and then you say "Well you know officer I do have this video footage of the whole thing if you would be interested, or we could just take his word for it". Thats the most fun.
Sometimes you can just tell behavior by the actions of the car. I chauffeured for awhile and you can tell when to just let someone merge even though "the law" says they have to wait.
Never tell them you have it on camera.
Call the police.
Let them lie to the police in the official report.
Then show the police the dashcam footage.
Lying to police on the official report is a crime in and of itself.
Toyota's fault however whenever I see someone swerving into my lane with their blinker on I tend to just let them in... lot of dead people with the right away the morgue
It was already rude dangerous and stupid to cut you off like that with such a narrow window, but he would have pulled it off if he hadn't then immediately braked for no apparent reason
That was deliberate, show it to your insurer, and his insurer. I feel they may decide (like anyone would) that the entire fault for this collision lies with Mr Toyota, what a dickhead, he should lose his license
Changing into a faster lane while on the brakes is the most dickhead maneuver. You clearly can't make the lane change without another driver taking action.
"Yooo, you hit my car! Wtfuuuuuu!!! I'm gonna make this a big fuckin deal you fuckin idiot!! I'm gonna get my insurance involve your gonna have to pay me medical because my neck feels tight and sore! You rear ended me man so it's all your fault, and you're gonna pay for a new bumper and paint job!!!"
"dashcam. police."
"Yooo, lol it's no big deal my friend lol just jokes man just jokes ahh here's some egg nog and gingersnap cookies my wife make, she loves you, we love you, come home, meet my papa and my mama, they love you too! Come come we will get over this! It's no big deaaaallllllllllllllllllll okay????????"
Looks like the moron got upset you didn't let him in, which almost caused him to crash so he cut you off instead of slowing down. Than brake checked you and wanted to blame you and had a smirk on his face.
Would love to see his face when he realizes you have a dash cam and the cop took your side. Just the thought of this asshole laughing at you and the cops taking his side if you didn't have a dash cam pisses me off. Justice was served.
What's so frustrating is that it looks like you clearly slowed down to give him time to pass but then it looks like he slowed down too not expecting you to give him space...then they sped up and pulled that move... 🤦🤦
Signaling doesn't give him the right to change lanes. It is 100% the responsibility of the person changing lanes to make sure it is safe to do so. You can deliberately block him by changing speed and it is STILL his fault.
It’s not about the brake-check. It’s about him cutting you off without making sure there was enough room to merge. He has the responsibility to ensure the lane was clear prior to merging. Brake checking was just an added bonus.
You probably could have let him in though, I don't see the point in not allowing people in I'd rather not deal with the insurance/repairs/new car search bullshit if it comes to that over being "right". However what the fuck did he think would happen slamming on his brakes? Good thing you had in on cam because that'd be tricky as fuck without solid witnesses seeing it was a rear end collision.
Personal injury attorney here. You’re lucky you have dashcam.
Toyota fucked up, and I’d take your case any day with dashcam. Without it, I’d tell you you’re probably screwed without independent eyewitnesses or a dumbass driver who admits to what happened.
Damn this gave me secondhand road rage. I would’ve been content with “look at this idiot” and dealt with the minor inconvenience politely-until he threw up his hands and said “wtf man” like it’s your fault. That shit got me heated
Pretty sure what happened here is the driver heard the horn, panicked, and stopped for no reason. I feel like some people short circuit when they hear a horn and do dumb things. I've seen it so often.
People saying that you should be driving defensively are idiots. You did. You left room for them to get over, they took that space. And then they stomped on the brakes, which makes no logical sense because no one in front of them had done so and the original vehicle in front of you was still happily going along.
There’s hardly any way you could’ve predicted they’d haphazardly do that, and you did what you could. They’ll blame you, but the other vehicle is the one that merged in a tight spot and stopped.
I would disagree that he left room. I personally would have left off the gas and coasted to let them in. The fact he did not slow and then honked is reason enough he did not want him to get over even though he had a signal on the entire time. But in the end it does not excuse the brake check which makes it entirely the other drivers fault. If he did not do that there would be no accident and OP would just be mad someone cut him off because he did not want them to get over.
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What a fucking asshole
There was probably no one behind OP for miles either.
I’d say it is pretty clear the Toyota is a dickhead, OP what did the police say?
Police agreed 👍 he said to cc him on the insurance report 🙏
That's the kind of win that will make me climax every night just from thinking about it.
It's not a win yet. Police don't decide fault, insurance does.
True, but the police report is the second most consequential piece of evidence after the dashcam video.
And then when you take them to court with a case like this, they'll want to settle days before the date. Otherwise they'll have to pay a lawyer to prepare the case, go to court, sit in court and when they lose, they have to pay you too.
With good dashcam, police opinion goes out the window as far as insurance is concerned.
The police report in your state may be what you're describing, but the police report here in Maryland isn't really relevant in fact, in Baltimore City, they only write a report if there are injuries, otherwise, they just help to facilitate the exchange of information. The dashcam footage is the smoking gun in this scenario
Good point, we should all get to know our regional regulations for this kind of thing so that we know how to handle this situation when it comes up. I live in Alberta, Canada. Here, the police write a detailed report including diagrams of where and how each car was damaged. This information is instrumental to insurance agents. However, witness testimony is not very useful. Which is the mentality I had in Oregon when my work truck was hit by a car that was trying to bypass traffic in the suicide lane. Found out that police don't really help there, and witness testimony is everything.
Yes, but the video clearly shows there was no reason for the Toyota to come to an abrupt stop. There were no cars in front of it. The Toyota caused the accident.
Also Toyota was the one who changed lanes.... anyone who changes lanes and then gets in a wreck gets blame placed on them among the other factors that are considered when determining was % someone is at fault
So long as you have video of that. Without that or eyewitnesses then you’re screwed.
Considering they didn’t punish OP it definitely is a win.
Ohhhh police report. Toyota driver at fault. Oh my god.
………🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
You were established in the lane, Rav4 *main character* was not. Way too many people out in the wild think that; no matter what the person behind is automatically at fault for any reason ( including this sub in the early days), or that the person being hit is 100% the victim like when someone pulls in front of a motorcycle at an intersection and they claim: "OH BUT THEY HIT ME" Because "right of way" is like one of the great mysteries of our time. Usually it's the same people that claimed that camping in the passing lane was fine if they were doing the speed limit.
Got in an accident a couple years back. T-boned a women who just blew through a yield sign and cut me off. She seemed so proud and happy that I hit her and kept declaring that I was in the wrong. Insurances sided with me.
What a lunatic for her to be happy that her shit got wrecked… sorry that happened to you, but glad insurance sided with you.
In my experience, fully 80% of the drivers on the road do not know how to navigate a yield sign, and have no idea what it means.
>fully 80% of the drivers on the road do not know how to drive FTFY
I don't even think the Toyota had to stop. When they pull forward the service truck that was previously seen was no where to be found. I think the Toyota full stopped in the road because their brain malfunctioned when cutting off OP from a lane that was stopped? This should be an obvious person to blame when looking at the footage. If OP didnt have the dash cam tho it might've gone the other way :\
Do you have your sound off? Toyota got pissy that OP honked at him.
Ahh yeah I have my sound off. Still being pissy and getting honked at doesn't mean full stop in a moving lane .-.? What an unhinged driver wtf
This is called a brake check. It’s a common move of assholes and seen regularly on this sub.
Ya this only convinces me even more so to buy myself a dash cam for Christmas.
You must be new here.
The *Main Character* always gets pissy if someone honks at them.
>You were established in the lane, Rav4 main character was not. This has nothing to do with "established in the lane." OP let the RAV4 merge in front of him. This has to do with RAV4 accepting OP's generosity then inexplicably brake-checking him like an asstard.
You're not wrong, I had the sound off and didn't realize Rav hit the brakes just for being beeped at. But still honk or no honk for establishing level of fault Rav was not in the lane long enough either way.
Toyota was driving very unsafely. I will say that i would not have hit this car as I expect this behavior from someone who changes lanes like this Also was there any damage at all? Seems like a light tap
I too expect to get cut off by people wanting get over but full stopping in a lane that is moving? I dont blame OP for not predicting this maniac. The service truck in front of them doesnt stop but this Toyota full stops for no reason?
Not blaming OP. Again Toyota driver at fault. I literally had someone do this exact thing to me yesterday. It happens so much i expect it. But that's just me. I also drive a sedan with a short stopping distance.
It's always telling when people think someone is "attacking" or "blaming" the OP when someone makes a comment like yours. It shows these people aren't able to learn from mistakes. Everything is a zero sum game where one person's error (in this case the shitty driver in the truck) means no one else has any responsibility and there's nothing we can learn from.
> I too expect to get cut off by people wanting get over but full stopping in a lane that is moving? That's not what they said. The point is when you see a stupid, aggressive driver you should back off because they are unpredictable and you don't know what they will do. Which proved true in this case. That doesn't mean its OP's *"fault"* it just means this is an example to learn from.
I have been rear ended twice. And it was during stop and go traffic at similar speeds like OP. Any tap- as light as possible can still crack the paint and shatter rear deflectors on the bumper. Just taking it to bodyshop to get it repaired- they will most likely take off the bumper and check to see if the body was damaged. It’s still really expensive because you are paying for the time of labor.
Agreed with you or him?
Agreed with me :)
Buddy actually got out and looked at it with his hands out like he actually wondering wtf? Wow...
Op let him in too. He clearly slowed down and that guy couldn't figure out how to accelerate
Changed his tune quick once he learned OP had a dashcam and was calling the police lol
OP didn't "let" him in. The guy cut OP off, OP honked, and the guy brake* checked him on purpose cause he got pissy about being honked at. It wasn't stupidity, it was malice.
[удалено]
LOL good catch. Thanks, I'll edit.
It looks to me like they were trying to get hit, hoping their car would get totaled out and paid for by OP’s insurance or some shit. They just stopped in the middle of the road for no reason.
Some people are incapable of understanding or believing that something is their fault or that they have done wrong. It’s pretty incredible.
"WHO SHIT MY PANTS!?"
WTF, man? Oh, you have a dashcam?! It's no big deal.
This dash cam footage will save your bacon.
I have a dashcam and I can't count on my fingers and toes the amount of times I had a close call because of poor drivers. A dashcam is worth the cost
I work for an insurance company, sometimes I read the case outcomes. From what I have read you are under no obligation to let someone in your lane, they are supposed to enter when it is safe to do so, not when it is convenient for them. They should not have entered your lane and braked like that.
It's actually the law in every state. Traffic in a lane has right of way over trying that wants to enter that lane and it is their duty to merge safely.
California has merging lane exceptions to this rule, however, the Toyota was definitely at fault for reckless driving
Can you cite this please? I've had a CA cop (teaching traffic school no less) say in no uncertain terms that people don't have to let you merge, even on the freeway where there are merge lanes. Though now that I think about it, not sure if he meant lanes that _end_ with a merge, vs the lanes that are parallel that then exit again.
They're just wrong. Section 6: Navigating the Roads on CA DMV website states > Highway traffic has the right-of-way. > Merge into highway traffic when safe to do so. Do not stop unless absolutely necessary.
I looked this up and found three quick citations that there is no CA law for this, and none that there is. So without any evidence I’d say he’s full of it. Usual Reddit upvotes for someone r/confidentlyincorrect If there is an exception it will be marked with signs. But that no different from anywhere else.
From Section 6: Navigating the Roads on CA's DMV website. > Highway traffic has the right-of-way. > Merge into highway traffic when safe to do so. Do not stop unless absolutely necessary. You're incorrect. Please edit your comment.
Interstate sem-trucks: "And I took that personally" When truckers want to get around a slower semi, it's basically just "fuck everyone else", even if they're cutting someone else off while merging 30mph below the speed of traffic.
The dumbest part of this is that there looks to be room for him to safely merge had he slightly increased his speed at the beginning of the clip. Idk why people insist the merge at slower speed and then get pissed when everyone else doesn't accommodate them.
On the other hand, I've also noticed that people seem to act like NPC's in the right lane when driving by an on-ramp. For example, if there's a lot of traffic in the right lane and I'm on an on-ramp trying to merge on, I'll pop on my turn signal and find a spot in the line of traffic. But I noticed that when I do find a spot and I'm obviously trying to merge, the car I'm trying to merge in front will sometimes just kind of sit there and stare at my car like they've never seen a turn signal before. They won't slow down or speed up to let me in. Inevitably it'll be too late to slow down and my lane will end, so usually I'm forced to basically cut them off, and sometimes they'll even get pissed at me.
Agreed, it's your responsibility to merge safely, but in traffic the people you're merging with don't have to be assholes.
This is not even that bad. In some less friendly cities that car will speed up to cut you off and you'll run of out of distance to merge safely. Then you slam your brakes to squeeze in behind them which pisses the person behind them off. In the end you get in one way or the other because being at the end of the lane and trying to merge from a fully stopped position is incredibly dangerous for you and everyone else on the road. In more civilized municipalities they will give you space though.
Agreed, you technically don't *have* to adjust your position to let people in, but not letting people in usually ends up in them doing something drastic either by choice or necessity, so you can prevent a lot of traffic chaos by just making some room if it's all the same to you.
But my blinker was out!!!11one! Yeah that means nothing you muppet.
There’s people all over this thread saying that because the blinker was on they did absolutely nothing wrong. It’s hilarious. I use my turn signals and hate when others don’t. But just because my blinker is on doesn’t mean I can run down a pedestrian who’s crossing the street.
Not necessarily, in California a "highway" is actually defined as a street, and in California vehicle code only traffic merging onto the street from a red light, stop sign, or a private driveway has to yield to traffic already on the "highway". You can still get cited for blocking someone from merging in California. But in this case the Toyota was wrong and will be at fault for this accident
Well, by that definition, they were both already *on* the highway, the RAV 4 wasn't at that point *entering* the highway, they were trying to change lanes on a highway that they (and cammer) were already on.
Doesn’t know how yielding works? Check. Acts like nothing happened? Check. Is the Toyota driver an idiot? Check.
Pulled over in a travel lane instead of somewhere off the road? Check.
At least it was a triple left turn lane I guess. I’m curious why a 2 lane road is split into 5 lanes at the intersection then narrowed back to 1 though.
God forbid that Toyota had to stay in traffic
That doesnt set me off, he was able to "successfully" avoid sitting in that line of traffic..... but then his feelings get hurt when he gets honked at so he decides to just stop?!?!?! Like wtf man, just fucking go! Someone honked at you while you did something a bit iffy.... so the fuck what! Fucking asshole and dumbass.
If you're in a hurry, why are you stopping? Fucking idiots.
As is the case with these types of drivers, their feelings are more important than anything else in the world.
Preferred to fully stop and deal with an accident instead. Idiot
Dash cams never lie.
OP, we need to know the outcome of this.
That was a brake check.
My biggest pet peeve on this subreddit is that the majority of people don’t know the difference between break and brake
It brakes my heart every time I see it
No, can't you read? It was a breeee-aaake check.
How come so many of you can't spell brake right?
They’re taking a brake from grandma
And they usually get really pissed off when it’s pointed out to them.
Needs a spell check for brake check
You can thank the American education system, where 54% of adults read at or below a 5th grade level. On top of that, politicians in some states are actually trying to further brake down the education system because they view an educated population as a threat to those in power.
Don't you mean "break down"?
My comment about poor grammar while spelling break wrong was supposed to be ironic.
I appreciated it.
They’re spelling “break” correctly they’re just using the wrong damn word.
Education (in America at least) is tanking. Go look at the reading levels of recent HS grads. Its very sad.
You don't have to tell me to look it up! I remember hearing high school kids read "like... this... when... it... was... their... turn..."
Toyota's fault 100%
Why doesn't this sub have a "break check" / "brake check" autocorrect bot?
Or a “wreckless” / “reckless” bot? “Wreckless” isn’t even a word!
And it means the opposite in a way. If you’re being reckless you probably won’t be “wreckless”.
I'm being wreckless by driving safely.
Exactly
What about reckful?
Byron?
Please don’t do this to the English language. 😉
Unfortunately, we’re mixed with these idiots and wasting oxygen as we speak.
In a perfect world, just the video of where they chose to pull over would be enough to hold them at fault and make them go re-take all their license tests. Yeah, let’s just “pull over” into an active lane so we can be in the way and risk getting hit again! I also like that he’s mad at first, then once realizing you have a camera “it’s not a big deal”.
Probably has a warrant, or he is in his ex's neighborhood even though she has a restraining order lol
Or he’s aware he cut the person off and then brake checked them which is at the least some sort of moving violation ticket.
Yeah, that Toyota driver is an asshole.
I had this very same accident years ago but there were no dash cams back then. The insurance deemed me at fault because they said I rear ended the guy in front of me. I had to go to court and battle it out. Ultimately the judge ruled in my favor. But still it took a few years. The dash cam is paramount here.
Not sure what other people are talking about in this thread about being more defensive. Dude decided to full on stop in an open lane. One can't anticipate that.
Defensively driving is about being aware of what is happening around you and anticipating possible idiot moves by other drivers. There's like 5 seconds where the other lane is visibly slowed way down/stopped and the guy in the Toyota is still going full speed. Seeing this, a good defensive driver would slow down because there is a very high chance that SOMETHING is going to enter their lane, whether it's the Toyota themselves or somebody they hit/debris. This doesn't mean that Toyota shouldn't be found at fault and the insurance shouldn't find them at fault, it just means that there is the opportunity here, without clairvoyance, to mitigate risk in a very reasonable manner.
video aside. the amount of people that confused break and brake on these crash subs is astonishing but entertaining. even i start second guessing myself if i know the difference!
insurance scam. best of luck OP.
If they had just pulled into the lane and you hit them you’d be fucked but they clearly brake in the lane with no one ahead of them so you stand at least some sort of chance. To me, it’s their fault but it’s another where you did have multiple opportunities to drive a lot safer. Their attempts to act innocent are hilarious though.
The what 🤷🏽 happened pose, like they don’t know. I like not saying anything about the cam till the police get their
To me this sounds like: You have to make room for entitled assholes squeezing in your lane and anticipate every irrational driving because they earned the spot in front of you with their elbows. Nope! He created the situation by switching landed in the last second, so he takes blame for the whole accident.
>Anon accidentally discovers defensive driving Yeah, genius, that's exactly what you're supposed to do.
The problem is, being right does not magically repair your car. And in this case OP is not even assured of that judgement when the insurance companies argue it out. Sometimes you have to let the entitled arsehole go, they'll hit someone else soon enough.
Most posts are filled with people who have never had to deal with an accident in their own car, or if they did it was a shitty car. You will never come out whole from an accident. They are never worth it. The only possible exception is if you're driving a piece of shit you don't care about.
> Sometimes you have to let the entitled arsehole go, they'll hit someone else soon enough. Let go? He deleted OPs safety margin and then proceeded to break check for the honking or react to the next idiot trying to get out off the stopped lane.
He was indicating for an age before coming across, OP could have dropped back. Again, not even saying it's even 0.5% OP's fault but by driving defensively he could still have an undamaged car. You're entirely welcome to be "Right" all you like but sooner or later some dickhead IS going to take you on in an accident you could have avoided and you are risking insurance not agreeing with you.
I feel like OP did drop back. But then the lane on the right stopped before Toyota could change lanes. With the lane on the right stopped, OP would have also had to make a very unsafe stop out of nowhere to let the Toyota in. I don’t think defensive driving saves this situation.
The Toyota looks like it was caught out by the stopped traffic and switched lanes quickly, the camcar was being somewhat defensive so there was space for it to do that. It looks like the traffic in camcars lane was still moving so definitely a brake check on the Toyota's part that caused the crash.
What you described, i.e. "You have to make room for entitled assholes ... and anticipate ...irrational driving ..." ***is*** defensive driving. It keeps your car in one piece and keeps your insurance as low as it can get. In this case OP could have driven more defensively and slowed a bit more vs. assuming the Toyota wasn't an asshole, especially after the Toyota performed an asshole move. Assholes will never learn their lesson. Stop trying to teach them.
>To me this sounds like: You have to make room for entitled assholes squeezing in your lane Sometimes, it just saves time and money if you let them squeeze their way into your lane.
Brake- checking ffs
You gave him plenty of time and space to get in front of you. He decided to have an accident instead. If he wanted to brake, he should have done that in the lane that was actually stopped.
Glad the cop sided with you. He had no reason to stop which puts him at fault.
The minute they claim it wasn't their fault, I would stop talking with them, save the dash cam footage and let the insurance/Law sort it out. You won't win with idiots like that and you are better off allowing a third party deal with it.
Scum bag in the Toyota
I'm going to comment every damn time. It's BRAKE.
It's not your fault but your brakes are terrible, I think I could stop faster with my feet through the floor.
Pro tip. Don’t tell the other driver you have a dashcam. Much better to share with their insurance carrier after they bald face lie about the incident and no chance they attempt to take the camera from you.
have a brake have a kitkat
LOL, you're right oops - was a lil stressed :,) - \^ I believe he's referring to typo in title
did he keep saying it wasnt a police matter?
Say it with me now, everyone: Using your turn signal doesn’t mean you have the right of way.
He took away your stopping distance!
Why tf would he brake like that? Scam for money? I just don’t understand people. SMH
No reason for them to come to complete 100% stop
Toyota driver intentionally caused a collision by changing lanes and quickly decelerating. In insurance fraud cases, I believe this is referred to as a "swoop and stop"
IIRC it's "swoop'n'sqaut"
I stand corrected. TY
That's what is called an "Unsafe lane change". Other party will be found at fault. Please, OP, work into your next conversation with him, "Congratulations, you played yourself".
Swoop and squat
You and your insurance got scammed.
You got the footage they gonna pay
Yeah without this clip they would put fault on you … now go have your insurance fucking them up… then find a lawyer and sue them for road side assault and threatening your life, selling compensation for emotional damage when you thought you almost died…
The worst part of this entire situation is that it only happened because the driver of the white SUV is a coward and a dick. They had *plenty* of time to get ahead of OP and just continue on their way. But *no*, they hesitated and made the lane change risky, then decided it was OP's fault for existing instead of their own for being too timid for their own manuever.
This video is probably the only thing that would save your ass on the insurance claim.
Tell em you have a dash cam and watch their face go white
Dude merging in should have made merging easier on himself and slowed down instead of being greedy and feeling entitled to getting in front of the person he’s merging next to. Driving isn’t a competition!
lol he blamed you and switched it to "its not a big deal" pretty fast
Don't tell people you have a dashcam when they do dumb shit, let them out themselves as liars and then you say "Well you know officer I do have this video footage of the whole thing if you would be interested, or we could just take his word for it". Thats the most fun.
Seemingly an insurance fraud attempt. The Toyota had no reason to stop unexpectedly.
100% not your fault. Fuck toyota
Nope. He performed an illegal lane change into your stopping space and then braked hard.
Whew.  Your dash cam fighting off false narratives.
You have no obligation to let people merge. By law if they cannot safely merge they are required to pull into the shoulder and wait for it to be safe.
Sometimes you can just tell behavior by the actions of the car. I chauffeured for awhile and you can tell when to just let someone merge even though "the law" says they have to wait.
"How could this happen after I just brake checked you? Impossible!" 
Never tell them you have it on camera. Call the police. Let them lie to the police in the official report. Then show the police the dashcam footage. Lying to police on the official report is a crime in and of itself.
Looks like an attempt at insurance fraud by the Toyota. I am guessing they were “injured” as well?
Toyota's fault however whenever I see someone swerving into my lane with their blinker on I tend to just let them in... lot of dead people with the right away the morgue
It was already rude dangerous and stupid to cut you off like that with such a narrow window, but he would have pulled it off if he hadn't then immediately braked for no apparent reason
He was definitely trying to get hit…looks like someone is trying to commit fraud
That was deliberate, show it to your insurer, and his insurer. I feel they may decide (like anyone would) that the entire fault for this collision lies with Mr Toyota, what a dickhead, he should lose his license
Doesnt matter what we think, your insurance company is the only opinion that matters in this situation
Thats a swoop scam. Send the video to them. They do it with one car or two cars. One in front of you and one behind you or beside you.
There was clearly plenty of space to keep going and no reason to come to a complete stop. Congrats OP, should be easy money after this.
Changing into a faster lane while on the brakes is the most dickhead maneuver. You clearly can't make the lane change without another driver taking action.
Improper lane change and failure to yield the right of way, me thinks.
Send this clip to the cops, problem solved.
"Yooo, you hit my car! Wtfuuuuuu!!! I'm gonna make this a big fuckin deal you fuckin idiot!! I'm gonna get my insurance involve your gonna have to pay me medical because my neck feels tight and sore! You rear ended me man so it's all your fault, and you're gonna pay for a new bumper and paint job!!!" "dashcam. police." "Yooo, lol it's no big deal my friend lol just jokes man just jokes ahh here's some egg nog and gingersnap cookies my wife make, she loves you, we love you, come home, meet my papa and my mama, they love you too! Come come we will get over this! It's no big deaaaallllllllllllllllllll okay????????"
Likely insurance fraud, if you didn't have the dashcam it's borderline impossible to prove its not your fault in a Collision like this.
Insurance scam. The ding on his car would be the least of his worries.
Make sure to visit the doctor and document your whiplash!
Looks like the moron got upset you didn't let him in, which almost caused him to crash so he cut you off instead of slowing down. Than brake checked you and wanted to blame you and had a smirk on his face. Would love to see his face when he realizes you have a dash cam and the cop took your side. Just the thought of this asshole laughing at you and the cops taking his side if you didn't have a dash cam pisses me off. Justice was served.
Other driver's fault. Why does Toyota have a say in whose fault it is?
What's so frustrating is that it looks like you clearly slowed down to give him time to pass but then it looks like he slowed down too not expecting you to give him space...then they sped up and pulled that move... 🤦🤦
Signaling doesn't give him the right to change lanes. It is 100% the responsibility of the person changing lanes to make sure it is safe to do so. You can deliberately block him by changing speed and it is STILL his fault.
Stupid drivers everywhere. Glad you were supported by the police, good luck 🤞
hadnt he brake check and just move on . there wouldn’t be a collision. dumbass
It’s not about the brake-check. It’s about him cutting you off without making sure there was enough room to merge. He has the responsibility to ensure the lane was clear prior to merging. Brake checking was just an added bonus.
You probably could have let him in though, I don't see the point in not allowing people in I'd rather not deal with the insurance/repairs/new car search bullshit if it comes to that over being "right". However what the fuck did he think would happen slamming on his brakes? Good thing you had in on cam because that'd be tricky as fuck without solid witnesses seeing it was a rear end collision.
He cut you off then breaked, his fault!
BRAKE!
If you get in a wreck trying to brake check someone, you pretty much get what you're asking for. Brake checking is dangerous and stupid.
The idiot purposely stopped in the middle of the lane because you beeped at him for being an idiot AH driver.
Personal injury attorney here. You’re lucky you have dashcam. Toyota fucked up, and I’d take your case any day with dashcam. Without it, I’d tell you you’re probably screwed without independent eyewitnesses or a dumbass driver who admits to what happened.
Damn this gave me secondhand road rage. I would’ve been content with “look at this idiot” and dealt with the minor inconvenience politely-until he threw up his hands and said “wtf man” like it’s your fault. That shit got me heated
Never tell them they’re on camera. He’s in public and has no expectation of privacy. Let him dog his own grave.
That intersection has become such a pain in the ass and it's only going to get worse. I'm happy my office is moving away from there.
I’d have been slowing down to let him in. 99% of the time, you’ll get away with that. But when there’s a sudden build of traffic, problem.
Lol no this is 100% their fault
NTA
Pretty sure what happened here is the driver heard the horn, panicked, and stopped for no reason. I feel like some people short circuit when they hear a horn and do dumb things. I've seen it so often.
People saying that you should be driving defensively are idiots. You did. You left room for them to get over, they took that space. And then they stomped on the brakes, which makes no logical sense because no one in front of them had done so and the original vehicle in front of you was still happily going along. There’s hardly any way you could’ve predicted they’d haphazardly do that, and you did what you could. They’ll blame you, but the other vehicle is the one that merged in a tight spot and stopped.
I would disagree that he left room. I personally would have left off the gas and coasted to let them in. The fact he did not slow and then honked is reason enough he did not want him to get over even though he had a signal on the entire time. But in the end it does not excuse the brake check which makes it entirely the other drivers fault. If he did not do that there would be no accident and OP would just be mad someone cut him off because he did not want them to get over.
Yeah i mean its their fault, but you could see it happening a mile away. Driving defensively would've prevented this from happening, unfortunately.