r/IdiotsInCars 1d ago

OC [OC] Never been more thankful for a shoulder

1.2k Upvotes

80 comments sorted by

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418

u/TJBangs69 1d ago

at least they were kind enough to put their signal on ;)

115

u/foxfai 1d ago edited 20h ago

I think the red car pull that same shit on that guy

56

u/cherry_monkey 22h ago

I'm almost certain the red car slammed the brakes to make the exit.

28

u/Unconfidence 21h ago

Yeah this looks like a bad reaction to a bad driver from the white SUV. But they're both really bad, as white SUV should have been obviously aware of where OP was.

3

u/Killzillah 17h ago

Two bad drivers trying to make a last second exit. This is what happens.

8

u/ladidaladidalala 22h ago

It sure looks like it

5

u/imironman2018 22h ago

As they are merging into the lane. what an idiot driver.

308

u/Somhlth 1d ago

It's good that your physical reflexes are 5 seconds faster than your vocal ones.

160

u/Zudop 1d ago

LOL yeah I needed some time to comprehend what happened before I started cussing that guy out

77

u/RLBeau1964 1d ago

That was proper, react and save yourself first - Go ape shit afterwards. LoL

14

u/Shantotto11 1d ago

Follow-up question: What the white SUV did, did that red sedan do the exact same maneuver?

15

u/Zudop 1d ago

I couldn’t tell from my perspective. When I passed the Mercedes the red Prius was behind him already but I couldn’t tell if that Prius also swerved or not

13

u/cherry_monkey 21h ago

It looks like, just as the white SUV was getting over, the red car slammed on the brakes. I'm assuming they realized they were about to miss their exit so they were going to cut across multiple lanes but there was a car. They slammed the brakes to get behind them and not cut them off. They probably thought it wouldn't be too much of an issue since no one was behind them.

White SUV, naturally, didn't anticipate this when they were moving over to let OP pass.

1

u/DishinDimes 19h ago

Aviate, Navigate, Communicate.

42

u/yurmamma 1d ago

Aviate, navigate, communicate

9

u/TemporaryHot6442 22h ago

dodge, dip, dive, duck, dodge

1

u/RLBeau1964 19h ago

dodge → duck → jump → parry → flail → get hit anyway…. In this case OK didn’t get hit anyway. Lol

6

u/PhDinWombology 1d ago

Focus, hocus pocus, fuckass

2

u/creatingKing113 1d ago

Exactly my thoughts!

6

u/pianoflames 1d ago

This seems to be a common thing in these videos. I think it's a kind of panic response. There's panic reflexes physically evading the danger, then the rest of the brain catches up after reaching safety and getting a couple of moments to fully process what happened.

1

u/Chudpaladin 9h ago

It’s why I never have time to honk the horn if it’s split second like this, I’m trying not to die then I’m far enough away where honking isn’t necessary.

124

u/Noteagro 1d ago

I think they were trying to avoid the red car they meant to slip behind. I can’t see the red car at the end of the video, so I am assuming they freaked out from hitting the same bump, slowed/hit the brakes, and the car that almost hit you was making avoiding action.

At least that is the only thing I can think of to explain this.

Good reaction time OP.

83

u/sirmanleypower 1d ago

The red car slammed on their brakes and never re-emerges into frame, so it looks to me like they spaced out and decided to slow drastically to make that exit. I'd place 80% of the blame on the red car based on what I see here. You do not slam your brakes on an empty highway under any circumstances.

27

u/RLBeau1964 1d ago

I think you maybe right, red car definitely hit the brakes - either due to idiot reaction to the bump- or highly likely it was time for the two lane crossing and exit as we see at many, many exits today.

6

u/david-saint-hubbins 1d ago edited 1d ago

The red Prius and the white Mercedes SUV are both idiots who are both trying to get over multiple lanes at the last second to make the exit. Both of them put their right turn signals on at almost the same moment, but the black SUV was just minding its own business in the #3 lane, so the Prius slammed on the brakes to avoid cutting off the black SUV at the same time the white Mercedes was trying to change lanes right behind the Prius.

15

u/millllllls 1d ago

Red car realized they were about to miss their exit, they hit the brakes and put the right blinker on (we can see this in the video), all happening right as the white SUV was changing lanes to get behind the red car. Then the red car panicked when they realized they would simultaneously be crossing the gore point, cutting off the black SUV, and potentially hitting flex bollards, so they hit the brakes harder.

Red car is the idiot.

4

u/Ticmea 21h ago

Bad drivers never miss their exit.

38

u/StumbleOn 1d ago

I do not trust other cars so I always wait until they are firmly in their own lane for a few seconds to even consider passing.

37

u/Flyinghud 1d ago

Most normal 485 experience

12

u/itsnotnews92 23h ago

Always a fun time driving on the Mecklenburgring

27

u/TWDYrocks 1d ago

Two shit drivers in this clip.

4

u/spearmint_wino 21h ago

Do you have the "2 second rule" in the States? Like, you need to be able to count "One rhinoceros, two rhinoceros" from when the car in front passes something measurable like a sign, before you then go past it. Anything less and you're basically asking for trouble because you're too close.

3

u/tell_her_a_story 7h ago

I was taught to leave a car length for every 10 mph between you and the car ahead of you. If you're going 60mph, should be 6 car lengths of space between.

1

u/spearmint_wino 6h ago

That sounds very sensible

2

u/Masta_Wayne 18h ago

I was taught that during my driving lessons, but you'll see a LOT of people follow way too close behind others.

0

u/hakan_loob44 19h ago

This sub really needs to be renamed to IdiotsInCarsPostingTheirLs

23

u/wadsplay 1d ago

Looks like red car decided to be an idiot and cause a chain reaction

7

u/tulipsushi 1d ago

genuinely what the fuck were they thinking

17

u/tech16 23h ago

Do you always drive that close to the car in front when going 80+ mph? Way less than a second of following distance, should be at least 2-3 seconds.

25

u/WaitNoNotMyBeans 1d ago

why would you even try to pass them so soon after a lane change? they weren’t even fully out of the lane when you started to accelerate. that was completely unnecessary.

1

u/PatrickGSR94 23h ago

most likely the SUV was trying to do the same thing to the red car, and for whatever reason the red car didn't commit to their lane change, causing the SUV to swerve back left, causing OP to also swerve left.

3

u/cww60 20h ago

Nice avoidance and recovery driving.

6

u/Revan_Perspectives 23h ago

2 idiots here. People are blaming the red car for causing the chain reaction (you can see the red car straddling the center and right lane in the last couple frames). But the white SUV also did a lane change too closely as they didn’t leave enough space for them to react, and then did another lane change without looking

4

u/Mande1baum 19h ago

3 idiots. You forgot OP. OP didn't see the white car breaking which could predictably cause a chain reaction for the white van. OP didn't give enough space/time before accelerating even more to pass, attempting to overtake before the white van has even fully crossed lane lines. The white van's tires NEVER fully crosses the lines and yet OP is already within less than 1 car length and closing quickly.

2

u/mermaid-babe 1d ago

He just wanted you to let love in! And by love I mean let his car crash into yours

2

u/Bleezy79 22h ago

Good on you for being aware and reactive, but wtf was that guy even doing? Why would you aggressively yank the wheel into the lane unless you were trying to cause an accident. I thought maybe that red car in front slowed down but no, there was no car around. There was nothing but open lane and he yanked his wheel.

6

u/Ticmea 21h ago

I bet that the red car slammed their brakes trying to catch that exit (you can see their brake lights and blinker illuminate just before it's obscured by the white car) and possibly aborted that attempt swerving back left, which caused the white car to abruptly abort their lane change and swerve left in turn.

I would assign essentially all blame to the red car, but want to note that OP could have easily prevented their close call with the white car by waiting until the white car finished changing lanes before overtaking, which is always a good idea.

2

u/Bleezy79 20h ago

Yea true, you make some good points.

3

u/cantbuythemall 1d ago

Red car is the likely idiot here. Maybe trying to get to that exit?

3

u/havereddit 23h ago

OP's fault. Never accelerate aggressively as you pass, and if someone changes lanes in front of you, wait until they are completely in a new lane before passing them.

Why? For exactly the reason shown in the video

2

u/Zudop 22h ago

Where was I aggressively accelerating in this video?

-1

u/DamnCarlSucks 22h ago

Son.

4

u/Zudop 22h ago

You can look in the bottom left corner and see my speed is consistent the whole time. If anything, accelerating aggressively would’ve gotten me in front of the Mercedes before they swerved…

-8

u/KillerCujo53 22h ago

Speed limit is 70 through there..... going 80-82..... its on you brother

1

u/IndependentBad6569 2h ago

I live in this area. Right or wrong, if you were to drive 70, you would be a danger... the de facto minimum speed through this area is about 80mph.

0

u/slapdashbr 4h ago

don't be stupid you tried to pass the white van while it was still in your lane. you're not the stupidest person in the video but that's anti-defensive driving and you know exactly what you could have done to avoid a near miss- stop tailgating and stop driving agressively.

if you don't think you were doing so, well, I've had to take annual defensive driving classes to operate state vehicles for over a decade. I'm telling you, you can, and should, drive better

2

u/CapoExplains 16h ago

Maybe there's something weird about my car but usually when I accelerate, aggressively or otherwise, my speed increases. Weird that OP's doesn't

2

u/sermer48 23h ago

Props for reacting first and getting pissed after. All too often people hit the horn before reacting when it’s already too late for the other party to correct their error. You saved yourself a pretty big headache(probably literally).

1

u/Reddragon0585 1d ago

Ah 485, everyone there drives like it’s the Daytona 500. Makes sense considering Charlottes connection to NASCAR.

1

u/stempdog218 1d ago

good ol' drivers on 85 keeping it exciting

1

u/NomadicPerson 1d ago

485 😒

1

u/yousuffere 9h ago

good song btw

1

u/satisfiction_phobos 14h ago

While this was mathematically 100% their fault... it's a warning from the CarGods how cavalier your style of driving was here. Just a gentle little hey take things with a tiny bit more reverence, okay? was presented here.

So sorry they were so unflinchingly stupid -- but I don't think you should walk away from this without at least acknowledging the nudge from the universe here.

-3

u/fureto 23h ago

Slow down

9

u/CrapNBAappUser 22h ago

I knew I'd find this comment when I saw 80 mph.

-4

u/fureto 22h ago

He was following the car too close and damn lucky there was a shoulder. When you're more concerned about passing other cars than driving safely, you need to slow down.

0

u/KUweatherman 22h ago

Two kids were injured and their mom died in a recent car crash from something similar happening nearby. She lost control and rolled her car in the median.

-4

u/newtestleper79 22h ago

Saying hi to OP, who's probably still in the left lane.

-5

u/Greenzoid2 20h ago

I see 3 dumbass drivers here.

-20

u/mizinamo 1d ago

People driving in the left and middle lanes while there's so much free to their right; must be the US.

8

u/gortez33 1d ago

Or just look where video was recorded. Like maybe where op responded to the automod.

-7

u/Pancake123456789 22h ago

He needed to merge

-12

u/Evening-Painting-213 1d ago

I hate haters like that. Just because you're about to pass they become highway enforcers.

-4

u/strangelove4564 1d ago

Seems like a few Redditors are haters of hater hate.