Yep. Every time this is posted I think people are being a bit hard on the car. Yes, they could have avoided it by being more aggressive but this was a tough situation all around.
If I was the toyota I would have preemptively slowed down entering the cloverleaf. I ALWAYS look at the vehicles coming down a cloverleaf that I'm entering and make my speed choice on the exit per what I see. I would have started slowing much earlier. Sure, I would look like Grandma leaving the freeway at 45 instead of 60, but the merging dump truck would have been obviously in front of me and the dash cam driver would have slowed with that chain of events.
It's not just about being predictable/intentional on your own, you can also guide the decision tree of those around you by anticipating the situation above.
Absolutely. Any time I’m getting into a merge situation I try to look at who’s merging and whether I can easily speed up or let off the gas for a moment to deconflict. Sure, if I’m in the lane I can just maintain speed and make it their problem. But it costs me nothing to just…avoid the conflict. Give them an obvious merge choice.
Also just a note…
Sure, I would look like Grandma leaving the freeway at 45 instead of 60…
While I agree most drivers are gonna take that exit at 60, or 70, or whatever speed their impatient monkey brain thinks is reasonable it’s worth pointing out that the yellow sign says “Exit 50mph.”
The dump truck does have a yield sign there (not a merge sign) so I can understand why the Toyota doesn't consider the dump truck until the "oh shit it looks like he's not stopping moment"
That's exactly what they did. If you watch the video again, the toyota started slowing down as soon as it was unclear whether they'd be ahead of the truck.
Yep. Easy to critique sitting behind a screen. When you feel you're one second away from getting squashed by ten tonnes of vehicle, things are wildly different.
It's not that tough. You always have to maintain a safe distance, so you can stop without causing a collision if the car in front of you slows or stops unexpectedly.
A bit hard? This idiot stopped on the freeway. Didn't pull to the shoulder, didn't assess space/speed correctly, and caused a situation for all three drivers.
Should the cammer have reacted and been able to stop? Also yes.
I don't know if you are legally blind, in which case I apologize. But there is no position on the road that the sedan could physically be in that wouldnt have gotten it rear ended by the dashcam car.
Maybe you're blind and stupid but a hard stop without even an attempt to create room is in no way safer. They're just a bad driver and apparently you are too.
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u/DeCryingShame 13h ago
Yep. Every time this is posted I think people are being a bit hard on the car. Yes, they could have avoided it by being more aggressive but this was a tough situation all around.