It's amazing that all dashcam compilations basically consist of people sending in clips of other people fucking it up and then still end up at at least 30% of being entirely avoidable situations if the driver with the camera just wasn't also hugely carbrained. Most common issue seems to be some sort of my right of way shall not be infringed, my steel steed shall make it so or figuring looking at the road and / or being able to stop your car within the distance you can see is for chumps.

I'll go through it clip by clip for Idiots in Cars Nr. 367, posted a day ago at time of writing. To be clear, I'm not saying it's the dashcam drivers fault primarily in the examples down below but isn't this supposed to showcase other people fucking it up entirely?

At 00:32 you can clearly see the red car, cutting across the lines, no indicator ain't exactly on a vector for the right lane, time to stay the course and not brake

At 01:36 you can quite clearly see, in broad daylight, the bump ahead that the person wrecks on and that's with the shitty dashcam quality

01:59 I don't even think I have to point out how fucking carbrained it is to swerve blindly into the opposing lane of traffic because you couldn't be bothered to just brake a bit and wait all of 3 seconds

At 04:13 you can clearly see the red car from the right moving with literally no possible place to go instead of right infront of the driver, time to acclerate straight at it (HOOOOOOOOONK)

At 08:14 like the person in the white SUV is an asshole but like what did you think would happen here when they overtook you on the blocked lane?

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[–] Belly_Beanis@hexbear.net 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Nor defensive driving. It's taught in driver's ed classes, the DMV emphasizes it in every pamphlet/driving manual/permit test, insurance company sources, and so on. The #1 rule: graveyards are full of people who were legally in the right.

If someone tries to cut you off, put your ego aside and let them merge over. Yes, they're an asshole. Yes, they probably broke a few laws. Yes, they probably do this because they know they can get away with it. But it absolutely is not worth your life, the lives of the people in your car, nor the lives of other people nearby because you want to get into a pissing match with another driver.

You cannot control how other people drive, only your response to their shitty behavior. You see a lot of dashcam footage where the driver reacts to a dangerous situation by deciding to play bumper cars instead of trying to avoid an accident.

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 15 points 1 week ago

back in the late 2000s, i started prioritizing live-work situations where i could drive less. less miles, less frequency, etc. easy to say, hard to implement, but i was committed.

this was legit like 20 years ago, and it took quite some time to actually start making a difference. i remember once spending an entire afternoon exploring this oddly sprawled area with weird residential zoned fragments of homes to find the shittiest rental unit ever that i could walk all my daily shit from. it was gross (fleas), i got burgled twice, once by a crew of three raccoons, and it used to be where the local dealer lived so rando characters would drop by. there were also the occasional shouting contests among drunks at midnight. my situation has improved so i'm not at that place anymore, but i was there for like 3 and a half years lmao. and the value of being able to work/school and get grub without starting my car was huge. i could never go back.

but one of the things i noticed is that now that i drive infrequently, i am significantly more of a defensive driver than i was. if it's a place where there's potential pedestrians or cyclists, i am always a little under the limit and i'm watching like a hawk, audio turned down. i'm predictable, i do things slow and deliberately, i know my route and alternates ahead of time. and i have everything adjusted/gps/phone all set up before i put it in gear. if i miss a turn, i take the long way round nice and easy. because, really, who gives a shit about an extra 15-20 minutes? i mean, besides from everybody else on the road jockeying ruthlessly for an extra 4 seconds.

when i ride with people who drive all the time, they are noticeably more cavalier and routinely distracted.

also, as a daily pedestrian, every day i see drivers doing dangerous shit and probably once a week i get to have a close call with an oblivious one who can't see the giant human in bright colors walking across the downtown ped crossing with flashing lights and just blows through with a panicked look on their face.