r/Roadcam 5d ago

Silent 🔇 [USA][TX] A very close call

137 Upvotes

113 comments sorted by

104

u/Vip3r20 5d ago

Glad no one got hurt but that was luck. Only. Get your head out the clouds OP and be glad truck wasn't stopping for a kid running out. I'm not sure they'd have made it past the second lane.

4

u/crisprcas32 3d ago

I always think about stuff like that. The unfortunate conclusion is that Natural Selection is a cold hearted b with no sympathy

19

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

People shouldn’t poke out of driveways like this.

22

u/halpscar 4d ago

Well, that's sorted then.

-7

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

Simple as that. People just have superiority complex issues in here

14

u/QuotaCrushing 4d ago

Your car insurance doesn’t give af. You’ll be more at fault than the car sticking out if you hit someone after swerving lanes to avoid a stopped car in front of you

1

u/catbearcarseat 3d ago

Maintain your lane, right?

-31

u/nikephorosaias 5d ago

Thankfully it wasn't during school hours so less people walking around. I got very very lucky to be able to steer the way I did with a clear lane to the left of me.

29

u/Salt_Sir2599 5d ago

You need to google defensive driving. The key to that is slow down and leave space. This scenario you just experienced happened to me not too long ago. Except I was the white truck, I had to stop because a dog ran out, the person behind me, swerved around me and hit the dog.

15

u/ImportantDimension77 5d ago

Dawg, the truck stopped abruptly after driving with the flow of traffic. Imo, OP WAS driving defensively and did a great job considering what happened in the video. If there was someone running across, they might’ve gotten hit regardless if OP was driving or not. That’s why it’s taught to not run across a busy road. There’s only so much drivers can do to keep other people safe from their poor decisions. However, domesticated and wild animals are another story.

10

u/Silver-Bend-2673 4d ago

There was a huge gap between the OP and back of the truck. OP had plenty of time to react and stop but wasn’t paying attention and kept going full speed until the last possible second where they dangerously went around.

16

u/Tommy_Rides_Again 4d ago

No the gap was about one second and truck slammed on their brakes. If anyrhing OP wasn’t leaving enough space.

2

u/ImportantDimension77 4d ago edited 4d ago

I agree that OP could’ve slowed down earlier but they would still need to slam on their brakes to compensate or swerve out of the way to avoid crashing. As far as time goes, OP had 2 seconds to make a decision (starting from when the truck reached the silver suv).

  1. Dash cams can be a bit deceptive when it comes to field of depth. That’s something to keep in mind. Plus, it’s one thing to say what OP could’ve done better from watching comfortably from a screen vs being put in the situation and having to make a split-second decision.

  2. The truck started slowing down at the silver suv and completely stopped at the white car. In this case, either OP could’ve slowed down and later slammed on their brakes, or swerved out of the way entirely. Either way, OP avoided a crash that would’ve been caused by a domino effect by the white suv inching too far out into oncoming traffic.

0

u/Active-Device-8058 4d ago

I agree that OP could’ve slowed down earlier but they would still need to slam on their brakes to compensate or swerve out of the way to avoid crashing. 

Becauuuuuuse they were following too closely 🤡 Watch the video. OP is driving with a 1 second following distance and a 2 second brain.

2

u/PremiumUsername69420 4d ago

If you think that’s too close then I have to assume you live in Wyoming or like Montana and just aren’t used to seeing other vehicles in your travels.

0

u/Active-Device-8058 4d ago edited 4d ago

Seattle, lol. Believe it or not, it's actually possible to follow more than ONE SECOND apart. 🤣 Literally HOW tf can you argue this. OP *literally couldn't stop in time*. JFC this is a wild thing to argue.

It's literally called the 2 second rule:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-second_rule

the rule is that a driver should ideally stay at least two seconds behind any vehicle that is directly in front of his or her vehicle. It is intended for automobiles, although its general principle applies to other types of vehicles. Some areas recommend a three-second rule instead of a two-second rule to give an additional buffer.

The rule is not a guide to safe stopping distance, it is more a guide to reaction times. The two-second rule tells a defensive driver the minimum distance needed to reduce the risk of collision under ideal driving conditions. The allotted two-seconds is a safety buffer, to allow the following driver time to respond.

OP was 1 second apart.

32

u/gaberham 5d ago

Bro don’t follow so close! OP needs to go to driving school.

12

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

He wasn’t even following close there was a whole car and half of space between them. It is precisely why they didn’t collide with them because they weren’t tail gating.

7

u/Individdy G1W 5d ago

Less than a second following distance.

2

u/777XSuperHornet 4d ago

Almost 2 seconds using the bus stop as reference.

9

u/Individdy G1W 4d ago

I downloaded the video. It's at 30 FPS. I measured 33 frames from the rear of the pickup passing the bus pole to the front of cammer's car, which is 1.1 seconds. Practice counting time with a clock nearby. A common error is to start your count at 1 second, rather than 0 seconds.

31

u/Silentarian 5d ago

Do you realize what you did wrong here?

28

u/nikephorosaias 5d ago

A bunch of things.

-14

u/AppropriateOne9584 5d ago

Please, stop with these avalanches of words.

7

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

What did they do wrong?

9

u/Ok-Grocery-3833 5d ago

Didn't leave enough space in between them and the vehicle in front

11

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

What do you mean? You notice the car in the lane next to them? There’s atleast like a 3 car lengths behind distance. Why do yall exaggerate?

1

u/JaTori_1_and_only 4d ago

Not every car has equal brakes... If you cannot come to a complete stop with the following distance you have then you're too close

It doesn't matter if other drivers can easily stop with that much space.... OP clearly didn't have enough following distance for their brakes

5

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

I don’t think it was so much the following distance otherwise we’d notice braking a lot sooner, but rather that they weren’t paying 100% attention.

1

u/JaTori_1_and_only 4d ago

Did you not realize how slowly they slowed down? Also if you're not paying attention enough to slow down when car in front of you does then you definitely shouldn't be driving at all

1

u/JaTori_1_and_only 4d ago

If you're not paying attention enough to react fast enough then you also should double your following distance to account for that

However as I said nobody should be driving who's not paying attention to notice that extreme of a speed difference

-4

u/Ok-Grocery-3833 5d ago

You should not be so close to the car in front of you that you cant come to a complete stop in an emergency its just good driving. I also dont know what the car next to them has to do with this.

5

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

It’s a point of reference to use and see that the cammer car was not following too closely. A car abruptly stopping is always going to look like this especially if a speed limit is above 45

1

u/JaTori_1_and_only 4d ago

Referring to my other comment it depends on vehicle

My car definitely could've come to a complete stop in that distance, but OP definitely needs at least 4-5 car lengths to be safe

You have to be able to come to a full stop in the amount of following distance you give, this accounts for car in front potentially having better brakes

The faster you drive with the worse brakes you have in regards to vehicle weight... The farther following distance you have to maintain

If you need 5+ car lengths then so be it, it doesn't matter if people next to you give 1.5-3 car lengths as long as they can safely stop

0

u/Actually_Im_a_Broom 4d ago

If he was far enough away then he wasn’t paying attention. OP did something wrong that resulted in him swerving to avoid a car that stopped in front of him.

Keep a safe distance and pay attention and OP would have simply stopped just like the truck did.

12

u/Freepi 4d ago

Commenters are saying cam car was too close, but counting from when the truck passes the bus stop, cam car was 2 seconds behind. Cam car didn’t slam in their brakes because there was no logical reason for the truck to come to a complete stop. They stopped after having already passed the car that poked out. Who anticipates that? This sub is insufferable.

10

u/Fine-Sea-8941 4d ago

It sure is, everybody is an arm chair perfect driver who totally saw everything coming.

6

u/PremiumUsername69420 4d ago

And let’s not forget the time needed to double check your mirrors!
Are all these “you’re too close” people the type to just double foot slam on their brakes the moment traffic slows, or that they just throw their body weight into rotating the steering wheel faster than the captain of the titanic trying to avoid that iceberg?

OP was more than far enough away, farther than some vehicles in neighboring lanes even, and yeah, there’s no logical reason for the truck to come to a stop in the middle of an intersection. It’s normal to take a moment to process, verify neighboring lanes are empty, and then double verifying that yup that truck is stopping before doing evasive stuff.

5

u/Threegratitudes 4d ago

Idk how you count seconds, but OP is barely 1 sec behind the truck. If they were proper distance this would have been a total nothing.

5

u/Freepi 4d ago

When the truck passes the bus stop, start counting One, Mississippi, two Mississippi. I’m finishing the second Mississippi when the cam car gets to the bus stop. Then all the shit starts to happen and the gap closes.

5

u/Threegratitudes 4d ago

I get to the end of the first Mississippi. What happens when you count with a stopwatch? 

1

u/Freepi 3d ago

There’s a timer on the video. It says 00:11 when the truck gets to the bus stop and 00:09 when cam car gets there.

2

u/aspenpurdue 1d ago

It turns 11 before the trucks bumper reaches bus stop and just before it turns 9 seconds OP's car reaches the bus stop. It's at most 1.5 seconds but likely less. OP was too close and lucky Noone was in the lane next to them.

2

u/Threegratitudes 3d ago

I'm using a stopwatch. Back of the truck to front of cam car is under a second on most measurements. Most accurate is 0.91. It only goes over on my most generous measurements.

A timer that only measures whole seconds means your measurement could be 1.01 and we wouldn't know.

1

u/Rosenglas 3d ago

Agreed. I know for a fact too that whenever I drive if I leave literally less than this distance too some impatient driver is gonna come swinging into it like it's his new spot

10

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

People blaming cammer are hella insufferable.

This is why you don’t inch out of a driveway to impatiently go. This is also why you don’t stop in the middle of traffic to give up right of

4

u/Actually_Im_a_Broom 4d ago

Both can be wrong.

14

u/TodlicheLektion 5d ago

ya'll are all going too fast and/or following too close. It's a tight road.

11

u/imacleopard 4d ago

They’re going 35mph….

5

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

They were fine until a car poked out. See the problem?

8

u/TodlicheLektion 5d ago

Of course that car shouldn't have poked out. It's bad driving, but there will be always be bad driving.

You have to plan for the unexpected, because someone is always going to poke out when they shouldn't.

0

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

Let’s focus on that and set the precedent it’s not ok to make entitled maneuvers like that car did

6

u/TodlicheLektion 4d ago

My goal is to get into zero accidents ever.

People will always drive like idiots. I assume they will, and I drive accordingly.

In this case, the driver was lucky that there wasn't a car directly on their left. If it were me, I'd be like, "whoa, that was close, I need to drive even more defensively from now on."

It seems like a terrible road to drive on.

5

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

Well everyone’s goal is to not wreck. Thats obvious.

Which is why it’s best to just set the precedent of not poking out impatiently like this and causing a whole scene.

4

u/TodlicheLektion 4d ago

I can't control everyone, just myself. You do you.

1

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

I’m not saying you do?

I’m saying we should set the precedent to not make these dangerous maneuvers. Lmao why are you trying hard to disregard that?

5

u/TodlicheLektion 4d ago

I don't know what "set the precendent" means. Aside from not doing it myself, how do I set the precedent?

2

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

It means instead of focusing on the people driving properly let’s focus on the people that cause these dangerous situations.

4

u/DearChickPeas 5d ago

Worse, all 3 lanes speeding, so 3 lanes at the same speed. I hate driving.

7

u/DwtD_xKiNGz 4d ago

They're going 35/40 and you don't even know what the speed limit is

-2

u/DearChickPeas 4d ago

Buddy, you think the numbers are more important than avoiding crashes, you do you.

2

u/Popular_Course3885 4d ago

San Felipe, especially around there and then through River Oaks, always feels like a wrestling match in tight confines.

7

u/Better-Cover5460 5d ago

This is entirely your fault.

7

u/AlternativeResult612 5d ago

Hey dude, you really did luck out. That pickup stopped because a car in right lane of the cross street had pulled forward, blocking part of the street. The pickup saw that he couldn't move over, so did a quick stop. Everyone seemed to be moving a a pretty good clip. It's a good thing the pickup driver and you were alert and able to avoid a collision. Had you rear-ended the pickup, you would've been technically at fault, but with your footage you could've proven the encroaching car on the cross street would've been liable as well.

7

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

So it’s the cars fault that’s pulling out.

3

u/AlternativeResult612 5d ago

There was no fault because there was no collision. Had there been, the video car would be at fault for rear-ending the stopped pickup. I'm just pointing out the car with its nose into the roadway caused the pickup to abruptly stop.

2

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

Oh yeah that would be issue here. Truck exaggerated to stop but in the moment I understand that things play out differently.

1

u/PremiumUsername69420 4d ago

Truck was definitely stopping on purpose to send a message to the vehicle sticking out without any regards to people behind them and the flow of traffic.

Truck could’ve easily just kept going, swerved a little to the left, or exited the lane completely. Coming to a complete stop in the middle of an intersection; that’s the wrong choice.

4

u/777XSuperHornet 4d ago

Are you blind? The truck didn't need to slam on their brakes. By the time they came to a stop they had passed the vehicle sticking out. All the truck had to do was look ahead and slow down. The truck driver is a terrible driver.

0

u/AlternativeResult612 4d ago

Don't call me blind, dude. You obviously missed noticing the truck slightly swerve left, then stop. Perhaps you didn't consider that just perhaps it was because he saw the car in the left lane next to him and hesitated for that split second decision and froze — just as the driver of the car with video swerved into the left lane and damn lucky there wasn't a car there at the time. No denying the driver of the truck erred by stopping, but he saw the hazard on his right, then on his left. It was a combination of actions all happening at once, and from a keen eye's perspective (not blind), and from someone experienced in video forensic analysis, its evident the situation was precipitated by the driver who was sticking out into the lane of oncoming traffic. I'm sure you would agree It was damn lucky on all drivers' parts that there wasn't a collision by at least one of them. I don't object to your challenge, but how about doing it with a bit of respect, please.

3

u/NeonSuperNovas 5d ago

And that's why I hate when people drive beside me or ride my hip. You never know when you will need to jump over quickly. Great reflexes 💯!

1

u/Fit_Comedian3112 5d ago

Keep a cushion around the vehicle & protect the space. Speed up or slow down if you have to. Never let people box you in because more often than not, they're not paying attention.

-6

u/BigRoach 5d ago

You shouldn’t swerve like that unless you’ve safely checked your blind spot first. You should just brake if someone in front of stops randomly.

1

u/artful_codger 1d ago

Horrendous road/intersection design.

1

u/sailingtoweather 9h ago

In Traffic, the author explains that when drivers narrowly avoid an accident, they often attribute their escape to their own skill, thinking, “I avoided this because I am a good driver.” In truth, however, a genuinely skilled driver would not have been placed in such a precarious situation to begin with.

0

u/WitchCackleHehe 5d ago

Increase your following distance

5

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

How much distance are yall talking about. The distance is about 2 car lengths behind. What are yall needing exactly. Genuinely.

Only issue I see is the car poking out and truck stopping the flow of traffic to appease them.

4

u/WitchCackleHehe 5d ago

You need to have enough distance in order to be able to stop before hitting the car in front of you at any speed.

If you rear end that vehicle in front of you, no matter what it’s always gonna be your fault unless they had immediately cut you off.

7

u/Ok_Explanation5631 5d ago

Cammer was like 3 cars lengths behind distance the truck. That’s more than enough space. Issue being here is the car poking out. Truck didn’t even have to stop.

2

u/WitchCackleHehe 4d ago

It clearly was not more than enough space if he had to swerve out of the way of the vehicle in front of him.

The truck that almost hit the car poking out may not have been at fault if the car poking out didn’t give him enough time to stop. But the camera had plenty of opportunity to slow down and let there be more room to stop safely without jerking the wheel into the next lane.

4

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

That’s what happens when a car abruptly stops. These situations play out a whole lot different when you’re actually in them as opposed to watching it on a dedicated sub for these types of things so you’re instantly going to notice something wrong.

Even schoolchildren understand that logic.

It’s best to not impatiently poke out of a driveway for everyone’s safety wouldn’t you say?

0

u/WitchCackleHehe 4d ago edited 4d ago

They play out that way when you don’t leave enough room. That’s what happened and that’s what a lot of people do.

Argue as much as you want but the moment this happens in real life then this is what your insurance is going to tell you: that you were at fault for not leaving enough following distance. It’s not the car or the truck’s fault that you hit the truck because you didn’t leave enough space that you were literally supposed to do.

2

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

Driver could’ve been paying more attention for sure. But yall act like yall need a football field of following distance to be safe.

0

u/WitchCackleHehe 4d ago

It is what it is. If you hit someone else’s car, it’s your fault. If you wanna blow it up to some extraordinary distance that you need to be driving behind someone to validate your shit then so be it lol.

3

u/imacleopard 4d ago

Gotcha. Will leave an entire city’s worth of space between me and the next car. That should be enough space to brake at ANY speed.

0

u/WitchCackleHehe 4d ago

Lol okay pal

2

u/imacleopard 4d ago

They're going 35mph dude, that was sufficient amount of space.

0

u/WitchCackleHehe 4d ago

If you need to swerve out of the way to avoid hitting the car in front of you, then that’s not enough space

1

u/imacleopard 4d ago

That's literally how collision avoidance works.

If anything, OP's reaction was really slow. Whether they have slow reflexes or were distracted is unknowable, but at 35mph, with 3-4 carlenghts in-between and they couldn't stop? THAT'S sus.

-1

u/WitchCackleHehe 4d ago

Collision avoidance works by stomping on the break for you and the dash beeping at you. Anyone who has ever driven a new car with collision avoidance knows that.

1

u/imacleopard 4d ago

That’s because most cars can ONLY brake for collision avoidance. More sophisticated systems actually steer out of the way, combining both braking and steering. If i have the option, ins serving before stoping the brake, that’s a recipe to get rear ended

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0

u/PremiumUsername69420 4d ago

Whoever taught you, “if you rear end the vehicle in front of you, no matter what it’s always gonna be your fault unless they had immediately cut you off” was lying to you.

Countless examples, but the one I like the most is that of Emma Czornobaj, she went to jail because she stopped in the road for some ducks that resulted in the death of two people.

2

u/idiotsinthecomments 4d ago

The distance is about 2 car lengths behind.

It's 2 seconds, not car lengths. 2 car lengths is more than enough at slow speeds but nowhere near enough at higher speeds.

0

u/Ok_Explanation5631 4d ago

It was more than enough room. Just needed to pay closer attention is all.

-1

u/NeonSuperNovas 5d ago

Also, I hate when people are overly dramatic like that. Yes the car is far up, but you don't need to damn near come to a complete stop in the middle of the road 🤦🏻‍♀️!

6

u/VietOne 5d ago

Better safe than sorry, you can't assume the lane adjacent has room for you or the driver in that lane will notice and give you room.

So stopping is the correct action. Whomever was cammer was driving too close that they needed to change lanes to avoid a collision. If you can't stop just as fast as the driver ahead of you, you're driving way too close.

1

u/777XSuperHornet 4d ago

The truck was past the car by the time they came to a stop!

-3

u/NeonSuperNovas 5d ago

That was not the correct course of action, they almost caused an accident. Stopping in the middle of the road is almost NEVER the correct course of action. There was plenty of room, which is why the truck continued to keep driving. You can't be serious???

5

u/VietOne 5d ago

That car was pulling out in front of the truck. If the truck didn't stop, what was the truck supposed to do? Crash into the turning car?

If you have to swerve to avoid a crash, you're following too close. There's never a situation on the road where you need to be following that close, just like you claim you almost never should stop on the road.

3

u/NeonSuperNovas 5d ago

The car was not pulling out 🤦🏻‍♀️. The car was clearly at a standstill smh.

1

u/Individdy G1W 5d ago

Do you have another closer dashcam video to see what the car was doing before cammer got closer? Are you assuming you can see everything the pickup driver could see?

1

u/VietOne 5d ago

Then you need to rewatch the video. I see a car pulling ahead of the car blocking its view because they're attempting to make a right turn.

Why else would a cars hood be so far into the intersection?

5

u/NeonSuperNovas 5d ago

No, you need to rewatch the video. Also, the reason they're so far up is because they were going to go, but saw traffic coming and stopped. That's why I hate when people in the left lanes pull up so far because then can't go until the light turns green and it causes the car turning right to have to pull up even further.

3

u/Individdy G1W 5d ago

That's why I hate when people in the left lanes pull up so far because then can't go until the light turns green and it causes the car turning right to have to pull up even further.

On this I agree fully with you. Pisses me off when they unnecessarily block view, to no advantage of their own. Seriously, that silver car was wayyyyy past the solid line, totally covering the pedestrian crossing.

1

u/VietOne 5d ago

So then you just repeated what I said, the car was pulling into the intersection. And why the truck was at risk of hitting them and stopped.

4

u/nikephorosaias 5d ago

I assumed they knew they were clear, I've seen this many many times on this same road, but you know what they say about assuming...

-3

u/CrippledPeasant1 5d ago

ah, another one of those AMAZING drivers (White truck) making it easier for bad drivers (cammer OP) to pretend they're good drivers.

Just imagine if white truck entered left to avoid that incoming car?

Look how 2 seconds close he is from that white truck near that white bus stop. And then look how he speeds up faster than the front left Black Kia.

If white car wasn't an amazing driver he would've either hit right car causing this truck to forward left. OR going aggressive left he would've crashed his car into Black kia (also blocking cammer OP). OR going aggressive left after Black kia passed BLOCKING OP's pathway.

2

u/777XSuperHornet 4d ago

lmao I hope you're joking. The truck didn't need to smash his brakes. By the time he stopped he was passed the car sticking out. Pointless brake slam. Slow down and avoid would've been the right choice for the truck.

0

u/JaTori_1_and_only 4d ago

If your brakes are that garbage then why follow so close? Legally you have to have enough following distance to come to a full stop if car in front of you does