Yeah So This Happened Today On The Road......

Nice disaster avoidance there Guy.

Did the camera factor into the accident investigation?

Most idiots are still smart enough to see $$ signs when involved in an accident with a commercial vehicle. I'm assuming that the other driver got the citation?

Dash Cams can be a smart call for "self-defense" in situations like this. I'm sure seeing a mini-van stuffed with kids made your heart skip a couple of beats.

Good save there…

Rick

The officer asked her what happened first and she said what happened and admitting fault on the spot. He went to wright the report since anything I had to say would be a repeat of what she had to say. I told him I had the accident on video but he did he did not need to see it since it was pretty open and close?

Glad nobody was hurt. Most of all, VERY impressive Guy. You really did know what she was going to do before she did, most impressive sir !

Glad nobody was hurt. Most of all, VERY impressive Guy. You really did know what she was going to do before she did, most impressive sir !

The only thing I can figure is the pattern she was creating did not match the big picture or bigger pattern. In the video everyone BUT her was stopping or slowing down very fast. She was the only one out of place and she was not doing anything that she was supposed to be do. Logic dictates she should be slowly down and stop with everyone else but she wasn't and it caught my attention.

I just went back and watched the video again. Going by my actions I noticed her roughly at about 29.5 second mark. I started to move at the 30 second mark and it was done about the 34.5 second mark at the point of contact. So basically the entire encounter was 6 second long.

I bring this up because in that 6 seconds a million things were going on. They say while driving you are processing a few million pieces of data every second subconsciously and only the 15 to 20 most relevant items are brought to your attention as worth further investigation.

And this video proves once again that things happen so very fast out here on the road. That's why they preach speed and space management. I had my space cushion around me which is why I was about to change lanes. Though in my opinion I did everything right to try and avoid any accidents but the deciding factor was out of my hands so at that point I was left with only one option....try to limit the amount of damage or injuries that were about to be the out coming of someone else's bad decision.

I realized that I had not remembered everything exactly right until after I review the video which was later that day after I talked to safety. I told safety that it was a 4 lane highway there. And that is how I still remember it but looking at the video you can certainly see its a 3 lane road. Somehow in my mind I turned that on ramp she came on to the highway on into the 4th lane. Why? Not sure. For a very short time it was an extra lane. Far as I know that is the only thing I got wrong in my statement to safety but I can guarantee you that little misremembered piece of info should not be held against me at all but I have a feeling something might be said about it. Just a hunch.

I wouldn't think so, Guy. The brain "imprints" images that are not always factually correct, especially when elevated stress is involved. A common example of such are eyewitnesses to aircraft accidents. Invariably almost all of them, in their post event descriptions, say that the aircraft was on fire before impact. In reality, the brain goes into "overload" with the trauma of seeing the accident and jumbles the sequence. What they are seeing, in most cases, is a post impact fire and/or smoke plume. It's completely understandable that in retrospect your mind would recall four lanes, especially given that there had been a merge ramp shortly before. In any case, I'd say that if the Safety rep has any questions, a review of this video should clear them up. I know you are not comfortable with compliments based on some of your responses in other threads, but I'd just like to say that was some very professional driving. Well done.

That's a serious bummer but you're smart as h*ll for having that dash cam.

I highly encourage anyone that can afford one to have one. It's impossible to put a number on how many times it comes down to your word against theirs. In this situation, a tractor trailer ran into another vehicle. 99% of Americans are certainly going to assume it was the truck driver's fault without that video. Now maybe the lady involved was honest anyhow. Maybe there were several witness in this case. But what if there weren't? What if they lady tried lying? Can you imagine how difficult it would be to convince people that the truck was not to blame at all in this case without that camera?

Far as I know that is the only thing I got wrong in my statement to safety but I can guarantee you that little misremembered piece of info should not be held against me at all but I have a feeling something might be said about it. Just a hunch

They're not going to care about that. Like Freightdog said - people have horrible memories when it comes to recalling details from stressful situations. That's an everyday thing for investigators to deal with and they know that often times people aren't trying to lie. They just genuinely remember something being different than it was.

I also embedded that video at the beginning of this thread. I currently don't have it setup to allow people to embed videos. That's on my list of things I never seem to get to.

I just went back and watched the video again. Going by my actions I noticed her roughly at about 29.5 second mark. I started to move at the 30 second mark and it was done about the 34.5 second mark at the point of contact. So basically the entire encounter was 6 second long.

I bring this up because in that 6 seconds a million things were going on. They say while driving you are processing a few million pieces of data every second subconsciously and only the 15 to 20 most relevant items are brought to your attention as worth further investigation.

And this video proves once again that things happen so very fast out here on the road. That's why they preach speed and space management. I had my space cushion around me which is why I was about to change lanes. Though in my opinion I did everything right to try and avoid any accidents but the deciding factor was out of my hands so at that point I was left with only one option....try to limit the amount of damage or injuries that were about to be the out coming of someone else's bad decision.

I realized that I had not remembered everything exactly right until after I review the video which was later that day after I talked to safety. I told safety that it was a 4 lane highway there. And that is how I still remember it but looking at the video you can certainly see its a 3 lane road. Somehow in my mind I turned that on ramp she came on to the highway on into the 4th lane. Why? Not sure. For a very short time it was an extra lane. Far as I know that is the only thing I got wrong in my statement to safety but I can guarantee you that little misremembered piece of info should not be held against me at all but I have a feeling something might be said about it. Just a hunch.

Been there, bro. I've had an inexperienced motorcyclist bounce off my left front bumper (operator's license, not commercial). You did everything right. You saved lives with your reflexes.

Holy cow. I'm glad everyone is pretty much alright.

Guy,

My instructor at school wanted me to thank you for posting this video! I showed it to him on a break from class, and he immediately called the other 3 guys in the class over and put it on the overhead screen. He was very impressed with your space management, Guy. And he saved it to his favorites list to show future classes. His assessment of how you reacted, was spot on with what you said:

Going by my actions I noticed her roughly at about 29.5 second mark. I started to move at the 30 second mark and it was done about the 34.5 second mark at the point of contact. So basically the entire encounter was 6 second long.

I bring this up because in that 6 seconds a million things were going on. They say while driving you are processing a few million pieces of data every second subconsciously and only the 15 to 20 most relevant items are brought to your attention as worth further investigation.

And this video proves once again that things happen so very fast out here on the road. That's why they preach speed and space management. I had my space cushion around me which is why I was about to change lanes. Though in my opinion I did everything right to try and avoid any accidents but the deciding factor was out of my hands so at that point I was left with only one option....try to limit the amount of damage or injuries that were about to be the out coming of someone else's bad decision.

Just one more reason why I love this site! Teaching from experience!

So, from my instructor, my classmates, and myself...

Thank you, Guy!

Tarren

Guy, glad you're ok.