In this dash cam clip, a car driver merges quickly onto the interstate and into the left lane in a move that forces another car driver into a serious crash with the dash cammer’s semi truck.
In the video, you can see that the dash cammer moves over from the right lane into the middle lane to allow several vehicles to merge onto the interstate. As the dash cammer does this, a car passing his truck in the left lane has to brake suddenly to avoid another car that sped over into the left lane immediately after entering the interstate. The dash cammer is unable to avoid crashing into the car that just passed him on the right. The “must get into the left lane” car driver sped away after the crash.
Dash Cam Clip Sparks Online Debate
Several Reddit users who saw the video assigned blame for the crash to the car driver who insisted on speeding over to the left lane. Others blame the dash cammer.
“[–]throwawaytiffany 11 points
is cammer blameless? he switches lanes with very little safety distance.”
“[–]A_Stan Devil’s advocate 2 points
I’d say that this is actually 100% on cammer, the sedan in front of him locked brakes to avoid a hazard ahead.”
“[–]sosatisfyiyiying 4 points
I agree. The truck does deserve to be at fault, but it also raises the question of how to safely change lanes on a crowded highway where everyone is tailgating. The only way to change lanes in these cases is to merge right behind the car in the next lane and then slow down to create a safe distance after the fact. The problem is that technically this is not a safe lane change because if the car in the next lane slows down immediately after you switch, you’re at a dangerous follow distance and could crash. In this case you would be at fault even though there was no other way to change lanes…
Yes, you could argue that you just need to wait until someone in the adjacent lane leaves a large enough follow gap for you to merge in, but at least where I live hardly anyone leaves as large a gap as they should.”
Who do you think is most at fault here? Share your thoughts in the comments below.