Rammed off road by HGV, who then drove off
Discussion
Zoobeef said:
SVTRick said:
And you were on the phone at the time 
It looks from the footage that you also left your braking a little late
Were following a bit to close for the conditions.
What's your point? They haven't banned that yet.It looks from the footage that you also left your braking a little late
Were following a bit to close for the conditions.
2 cars hit each other a couple of cars ahead and I stopped without hitting any one, locking up, or even braking really hard. I think my distance was OK.
Sadly when too many people follow too closely like you were, the concertina effect will soon result in a bump.
It is ultimately the driver behind who was at fault, but if you left more space between yourself and the car ahead you could have slowed down in a more controlled manner and not been rear ended.
Edited by Driver101 on Friday 22 August 07:37
Yeah and if i had left my car in the garage then nothing would have happened at all.
The gap is fine, it looks closer than it is on the camera as it looks like I was push into the car in front when in fact I remember the gap between me and the guy in front after being hit not being anywhere near close.
The guy behind stopped with a clear gap too.
I left enough room to stop, anyone else I don't car about, a nice cheque for the £750 damage to the tow bar covers the next 3 years insurance also.
The gap is fine, it looks closer than it is on the camera as it looks like I was push into the car in front when in fact I remember the gap between me and the guy in front after being hit not being anywhere near close.
The guy behind stopped with a clear gap too.
I left enough room to stop, anyone else I don't car about, a nice cheque for the £750 damage to the tow bar covers the next 3 years insurance also.
SVTRick said:
Zoobeef said:
This was me being rear ended last January. Only a forward facing camera but made things with insurance go smoother.
Only put the camera in 2 weeks before.
Rear ended on the A34: http://youtu.be/vF8OqtbvJNg
And you were on the phone at the time Only put the camera in 2 weeks before.
Rear ended on the A34: http://youtu.be/vF8OqtbvJNg
It looks from the footage that you also left your braking a little late
Were following a bit to close for the conditions.
Bill said:
Christ alive! You don't need to defend yourself. You pulled up with space, as did the car behind, the car behind that is the one at fault and we have no idea what they were doing. 
Absolutely.This reminds me of an old thread on PH where somebody was following a car that made a late decision to stop at a red light. The PHer (in a Mini iirc) behind stopped without making contact, and then got absolutely slated for driving too close when they mentioned it on PH.
You always expect self-righteous posters on internet forums but sometimes they are truly bizarre.
This thread has made me consider a dashcam though.
EskimoArapaho said:
Absolute and totally illogical rubbish. How, if ZB was following too close and had also left his braking too late, could he possibly have stopped in time to avoid hitting the guy in front? Bizarre!
Think about it. Had ZB left a larger gap, he'd have been able to slow more gradually, and that means those behind him would have slowed gradually too.You can see that ZB had to brake harder than the car in front of him, (because of reaction times). If the driver following ZB had an identical gap to ZB's then he would have to brake even harder than ZB, and the car behind that driver has to brake harder again. Keep going back one car at a time and very soon the gap isn't big enough.
The gap in front of ZB was fine for ZB to stop in, but possibly should have been larger to deal with the fact that the cars behind didn't have a big enough gap to deal with ZB's braking. Or put another way, if the gap in front of you is small enough that you have to brake harder than the car infront, and the gap behind you is small enough that the car behind has to brake harder than you, then the gap in front of you is too small.
Of course you can never leave a big enough gap to deal with the guy whose driving is tertiary to eating a tuna sarnie and texting his Mum.
An of course as far as the law goes, it's the driver behind who is at fault.
Edited by mikeveal on Friday 22 August 14:54
I knew people would struggle with this, it's an advanced concept.
You're right, technically it's not his responsibility. However by leaving a larger gap in front of him to deal with the fact that drivers behind him were travelling too close together, he may have been able to prevent that accident (I'm not suggesting the accident is ZB's fault).
Many people on the roads are idiots, if you can see that they're driving badly give them plenty of warning of what you're doing and plenty of space to react. That includes increasing the gap in front of you if the cars behind are too close.
You're right, technically it's not his responsibility. However by leaving a larger gap in front of him to deal with the fact that drivers behind him were travelling too close together, he may have been able to prevent that accident (I'm not suggesting the accident is ZB's fault).
Many people on the roads are idiots, if you can see that they're driving badly give them plenty of warning of what you're doing and plenty of space to react. That includes increasing the gap in front of you if the cars behind are too close.
mikeveal said:
Think about it. Had ZB left a larger gap, he'd have been able to slow more gradually, and that means those behind him would have slowed gradually too.
You can see that ZB had to break harder than the car in front of him, (because of reaction times). If the driver following ZB had an identical gap to ZB's then he would have to brake even harder than ZB, and the car behind that driver has to brake harder again. Keep going back one car at a time and very soon the gap isn't big enough.
The gap in front of ZB was fine for ZB to stop in, but possibly should have been larger to deal with the fact that the cars behind didn't have a big enough gap to deal with ZB's braking. Or put another way, if the gap in front of you is small enough that you have to brake harder than the car infront, and the gap behind you is small enough that the car behind has to brake harder than you, then the gap in front of you is too small.
Of course you can never leave a big enough gap to deal with the guy whose driving is tertiary to eating a tuna sarnie and texting his Mum.
An of course as far as the law goes, it's the driver behind who is at fault.
Pretty much as I see it.You can see that ZB had to break harder than the car in front of him, (because of reaction times). If the driver following ZB had an identical gap to ZB's then he would have to brake even harder than ZB, and the car behind that driver has to brake harder again. Keep going back one car at a time and very soon the gap isn't big enough.
The gap in front of ZB was fine for ZB to stop in, but possibly should have been larger to deal with the fact that the cars behind didn't have a big enough gap to deal with ZB's braking. Or put another way, if the gap in front of you is small enough that you have to brake harder than the car infront, and the gap behind you is small enough that the car behind has to brake harder than you, then the gap in front of you is too small.
Of course you can never leave a big enough gap to deal with the guy whose driving is tertiary to eating a tuna sarnie and texting his Mum.
An of course as far as the law goes, it's the driver behind who is at fault.
I'm not sure why some people are throwing in self righteous comments when people forward an opinion with a lot of common sense.
He is following pretty closely for that type of road in busy, dark and wet conditions. His braking is hard and the Audi driver ahead must have been concerned as they even flashed their hazard lights.
I'm not convinced the camera is out of focus either. It seems clear to me and the reason there was a larger gap after the accident was because the A2 moved away once the accident had stopped.
You see this type of accident nearly every day and it is exactly the same circumstances. A chain of cars all following too closely to each other, one brakes and then the chain reaction is the queue of cars has to progressively brake harder down the line until someone can't react fast enough and brake hard enough.
That's exactly what has happened here.
If you sit further off the car in front you can slow at a more gradual rate and reduce any chance of a car rear ending you.
Follow closely and brake hard in difficult conditions, like the video posted, there is a good chance of being rear ended.
100% the blame will always be pinned on the car behind. However the driver in front can often control the situation a better and not get caught up in a who's got the best brakes competition. That is the case here in my opinion.
If people can't see that, I'd feel they are far more likely to be involved in a rear end shunt.
It seems loads of people have dashcams these days and I've now seem loads of videos. What does strike me is everyone has they to make sure they cover themselves and have evidence to blame the other driver.
Nobody ever seems to use them to see what mistakes they have made or watch the video and think what they could have done better in the circumstances.
It's always just a clear that wasn't my fault, let's move on to the next video I've got. Half the time you see the same driver finding themselves in the same position over and over. Often they need to look at themselves.
Edited by Driver101 on Friday 22 August 15:11
Driver101 said:
Pretty much as I see it.
I've once seen a driver brake deliberately harder and faster (hazards on) than he needed to because he knew the driver behind wasn't paying attention. The driver behind reacted slowly then broke very hard. In the last few seconds, the front driver moved forwards into the extra space he'd left, allowing the driver behind room to pull up. If he hadn't done this the driver behind would probably have rear ended us.I'm not as sure of this as I am of the tactic of leaving a bigger gap. The bigger gap seems more sensible.
mikeveal said:
I knew people would struggle with this, it's an advanced concept.
You're right, technically it's not his responsibility. However by leaving a larger gap in front of him to deal with the fact that drivers behind him were travelling too close together, he may have been able to prevent that accident (I'm not suggesting the accident is ZB's fault).
Many people on the roads are idiots, if you can see that they're driving badly give them plenty of warning of what you're doing and plenty of space to react. That includes increasing the gap in front of you if the cars behind are too close.
I think you know we all understand that. I'm not here to babysit people that can't look after themselves though. That's part of a PC world I don't want to be in.You're right, technically it's not his responsibility. However by leaving a larger gap in front of him to deal with the fact that drivers behind him were travelling too close together, he may have been able to prevent that accident (I'm not suggesting the accident is ZB's fault).
Many people on the roads are idiots, if you can see that they're driving badly give them plenty of warning of what you're doing and plenty of space to react. That includes increasing the gap in front of you if the cars behind are too close.
They are quite welcome to stuff themselves into the back of my car, it's their own fault.
Zoobeef said:
mikeveal said:
I knew people would struggle with this, it's an advanced concept.
You're right, technically it's not his responsibility. However by leaving a larger gap in front of him to deal with the fact that drivers behind him were travelling too close together, he may have been able to prevent that accident (I'm not suggesting the accident is ZB's fault).
Many people on the roads are idiots, if you can see that they're driving badly give them plenty of warning of what you're doing and plenty of space to react. That includes increasing the gap in front of you if the cars behind are too close.
I think you know we all understand that. I'm not here to babysit people that can't look after themselves though. That's part of a PC world I don't want to be in.You're right, technically it's not his responsibility. However by leaving a larger gap in front of him to deal with the fact that drivers behind him were travelling too close together, he may have been able to prevent that accident (I'm not suggesting the accident is ZB's fault).
Many people on the roads are idiots, if you can see that they're driving badly give them plenty of warning of what you're doing and plenty of space to react. That includes increasing the gap in front of you if the cars behind are too close.
They are quite welcome to stuff themselves into the back of my car, it's their own fault.
I can't help but notice that you're another one who likes to post youtube videos of other drivers making mistakes.
Why do you feel the need to do that?
You say you don't want to babysit, so why are you so concerned what other drivers are doing and want to pull them up for their mistakes?
You seem to be able to point others mistakes, but can't take little pointers of common sense back.
Usually drivers want to avoid other cars hitting them.
I guess if you're happy with that, carry on. A very odd view of driving.
Driver101 said:
He is following pretty closely for that type of road in busy, dark and wet conditions. His braking is hard and the Audi driver ahead must have been concerned as they even flashed their hazard lights.
I think 99.9% of drivers would consider that adequate distance to leave.
Driver101 said:
I can't help but notice that you're another one who likes to post youtube videos of other drivers making mistakes.
Why do you feel the need to do that?
You say you don't want to babysit, so why are you so concerned what other drivers are doing and want to pull them up for their mistakes?
You seem to be able to point others mistakes, but can't take little pointers of common sense back.
Usually drivers want to avoid other cars hitting them.
I guess if you're happy with that, carry on. A very odd view of driving.
I can take common sense but sitting there repeatedly saying I was driving too close starts to piss me off. Should I leave my cars at home incase someone else can't drive today? You don't work for BRAKE do you?
Obviously it'll delay my drive home but I'm not going to go out my way to make sure someone else drives safely, how about I look after myself and they do the same. Or my 2 bolts will snap on my towbar while they get their front end caved in again.
Zoobeef said:
mikeveal said:
I knew people would struggle with this, it's an advanced concept.
You're right, technically it's not his responsibility. However by leaving a larger gap in front of him to deal with the fact that drivers behind him were travelling too close together, he may have been able to prevent that accident (I'm not suggesting the accident is ZB's fault).
Many people on the roads are idiots, if you can see that they're driving badly give them plenty of warning of what you're doing and plenty of space to react. That includes increasing the gap in front of you if the cars behind are too close.
I think you know we all understand that. I'm not here to babysit people that can't look after themselves though. That's part of a PC world I don't want to be in.You're right, technically it's not his responsibility. However by leaving a larger gap in front of him to deal with the fact that drivers behind him were travelling too close together, he may have been able to prevent that accident (I'm not suggesting the accident is ZB's fault).
Many people on the roads are idiots, if you can see that they're driving badly give them plenty of warning of what you're doing and plenty of space to react. That includes increasing the gap in front of you if the cars behind are too close.
They are quite welcome to stuff themselves into the back of my car, it's their own fault.
Peace ZB, I'm being very careful not to say that you were too close, or that you caused the accident.I'm merely saying that a larger gap would have compensated for the poor driving of the cars behind and may have meant there was no accident.
And to be honest, no I don't think we all understand that. There are clearly posters here that think if the gap in front of them is sufficient for them, then there is nothing more that they could do...
It's the difference between making sure you're safe with and without regard to the driving standards of those around you.
mikeveal said:
Peace ZB, I'm being very careful not to say that you were too close, or that you caused the accident.I'm merely saying that a larger gap would have compensated for the poor driving of the cars behind and may have meant there was no accident.
And to be honest, no I don't think we all understand that. There are clearly posters here that think if the gap in front of them is sufficient for them, then there is nothing more that they could do...
It's the difference between making sure you're safe with and without regard to the driving standards of those around you.
rscott said:
So you're saying we should be analysing the behaviour of the driver behind (and the one behind them) to see if they're leaving an adequate gap and, if not, increase the gap in front of us and be continually calculating how to brake as gently as possible yet still not hit the car in front should they stop suddenly.
Yeah. I'm saying if you notice that the driver behind is too close, leaving extra space in front of you is a good self defence mechanism. It's something you can easily do to enhance your own safety. I'm not saying it's something you MUST continually monitor, but if you spot an aggressive tailgater one or two cars behind, it's a good ploy. Letting the twerp go past is better, but hey ho.As for pulling up in the distance available, anyone who can't consistently do that shouldn't be on the road.
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