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Almost got in a car accident last night on the freeway. Did I do the right thing?

J

jinduy

Diamond Member
So it's 11PM and I'm on a 4 lane freeway going about 70 in the 3rd lane. A car to my left (4th lane) signals for about .25 seconds and decides to switch lane right into me. I made a knee jerk reaction and swerved into the 2nd lane with no time to check if the 2nd lane was clear. If it wasn't clear, I would have initiated an accident with a car to my right...

What is the right thing to do for my best interest?

If I let the car hit me, I wouldn't be liable. But I can risk my car spinning or causing severe injury to myself.

If I had changed lane AND hit a car, I would probably be held liable while the car that started the whole thing changes lane successfully and goes free into the night.

I've seen such an example where this prick was changing lanes and cutting people off like 5 times a minute and caused an accident while he drove off into the night.
 
You reacted quickly to avoid an obvious accident. Only change I would consider is scanning your mirrors more to know what is around you. On a busy freeway it sometimes isn't a sure thing with cars shifts lanes in your blind spots but it helps.
 
JS80 said:
You never thought to hit the break, put on your high beam and hold down your horn?
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i did honk the horn. as i was swerving. like i said, the dude signaled for a quarter of a second and did a quick lane change into my lane. the horn did help i suppose... he went back into his lane after half his car was in my lane. high beam wouldn't have done anything. braking would involve me slamming them down; he was right next to me.
 
JS80 said:
You never thought to hit the break, put on your high beam and hold down your horn?
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Just brake. If the douchebag doesn't brake with you, just tapping the brake at highway speeds for a second can put a car length between you in very little time.

And meh, that's nothing. I deliberately shot a gap that was just wide enough for my car, and did what the douchebag did, completely cut off an SUV. On purpose and sober, incredibly stupid.
 
jinduy said:
i did honk the horn. as i was swerving. like i said, the dude signaled for a quarter of a second and did a quick lane change into my lane. the horn did help i suppose... he went back into his lane after half his car was in my lane. high beam wouldn't have done anything. braking would involve me slamming them down; he was right next to me.
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So you would've made the same mistake he did, is that what you're saying?
 
You took your chances and avoided an accident, you did the right thing. You saved your life by switching lane, it could not be avoided and had you collided with another car beside you, it would not have been your fault moraly.

It would be completely stupid to get into an accident under the pretext it was the other guy's fault especially doing 70 mph on the highway.
 
I think you should be constantly aware of what is around your car. I constantly scan my mirrors to know what is beside and behind me. That way, in the event of a situation, I actually have information to make a smart decision.

You could have very easily killed a motorcycle rider or caused an even worse accident than would have happened to you.
 
If he was right beside you, then I guess the only lesson is to stagger your car in the future more?

Don't worry about it regardless. Most people do retarded things on the road now and then.

If you want to play with what ifs, then who's to say if you swerved over, the person to your right wouldn't have either swerved right or braked hard, and everyone goes home pissed but safe.
 
I had a teenage girl do this to me, except I couldn't swerve because next to the right lane was a wall. I slammed on my breaks as I saw her coming and she literally ran over the front of my car(she's driving an suv and I'm driving a compact). After we pull over and she jumps out of her car and tells me she thought I saw her. No shit I saw her, I saw her run right over my car. But me being a nice person and raised to be a gentlemen I don't give her shit. She then proceeds to tell me that at least her car wasn't damaged and asked whether she could leave. Bad idea for her, my girlfriend was in the passenger seat and now she was out of the car and she had no qualms about giving this girl hell. There was smoke coming out of her ears at this point. She proceeded to berate this girl until she started sobbing, telling her what a spoiled brat she was and how stupid she was etc. After my gf's tirade we got back in the car to wait for the cops and we could here her sobbing into her cell phone telling her mommy how mean this lady was to her and how none of this was her fault.

yeah right.
 
Switching lanes without looking is NEVER the right thing to do. You just did the same thing as the guy who almost hit you. You just got lucky that no one happened to be next to you. Hitting the horn and brakes is the correct answer.
 
There are very few valid reasons to use your breaks on the free way. This scenario demonstrated one of them...

Never blindly change lanes!
 
you would have been at fault for anything other than running into the back of the car that just merged into your lane.
 
BudAshes said:
I had a teenage girl do this to me, except I couldn't swerve because next to the right lane was a wall. I slammed on my breaks as I saw her coming and she literally ran over the front of my car(she's driving an suv and I'm driving a compact). After we pull over and she jumps out of her car and tells me she thought I saw her. No shit I saw her, I saw her run right over my car. But me being a nice person and raised to be a gentlemen I don't give her shit. She then proceeds to tell me that at least her car wasn't damaged and asked whether she could leave. Bad idea for her, my girlfriend was in the passenger seat and now she was out of the car and she had no qualms about giving this girl hell. There was smoke coming out of her ears at this point. She proceeded to berate this girl until she started sobbing, telling her what a spoiled brat she was and how stupid she was etc. After my gf's tirade we got back in the car to wait for the cops and we could here her sobbing into her cell phone telling her mommy how mean this lady was to her and how none of this was her fault.

yeah right.
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:thumbsup: to your GF
 
How did you manage to get alongside someone in the 4th lane? Wouldn't the 4th lane normally be going faster? Were you overtaking him in his blind spot when he switched lanes? Did you previously switch from the 2nd to the 3rd along side him, in his blind spot? Or, did he almost finish passing you and forgot he was passing you?

:thumbsup: to Budashes's girlfriend too.
 
In the future, scan your mirrors frequently, keep an idea of what else is on the highway and where. Otherwise, unless the asshole from the 4th stopped (he wouldn't), you'd end up losing out in an accident caused by swerving to the 2nd.

Brakes would work well too, especially at highway speeds. Most certainly you don't want him hitting you on the rear quarter.
 
You did the wrong thing.

Never change lanes without checking your blind spot first. The right thing would be to slow down or change lanes after checking. If you hit another car by changing lanes you would be at fault even if you were trying to avoid another vehicle.

Traveling at 70mph even a tap on the breaks would of increased your distance from the car going into your lane quite rapidly.
 
People don't scan their mirrors enough.

Have enough situational awareness to know where traffic is located around you.
 
Leros said:
I think you should be constantly aware of what is around your car. I constantly scan my mirrors to know what is beside and behind me. That way, in the event of a situation, I actually have information to make a smart decision.

You could have very easily killed a motorcycle rider or caused an even worse accident than would have happened to you.
Click to expand...
all of this. everyone needs to pay attention all around them when driving.
 
BudAshes said:
I had a teenage girl do this to me, except I couldn't swerve because next to the right lane was a wall. I slammed on my breaks as I saw her coming and she literally ran over the front of my car(she's driving an suv and I'm driving a compact). After we pull over and she jumps out of her car and tells me she thought I saw her. No shit I saw her, I saw her run right over my car. But me being a nice person and raised to be a gentlemen I don't give her shit. She then proceeds to tell me that at least her car wasn't damaged and asked whether she could leave. Bad idea for her, my girlfriend was in the passenger seat and now she was out of the car and she had no qualms about giving this girl hell. There was smoke coming out of her ears at this point. She proceeded to berate this girl until she started sobbing, telling her what a spoiled brat she was and how stupid she was etc. After my gf's tirade we got back in the car to wait for the cops and we could here her sobbing into her cell phone telling her mommy how mean this lady was to her and how none of this was her fault.

yeah right.
Click to expand...

Moral of the story, DON'T MESS WITH Budashes's GIRLFRIEND.

Obligatory pic request.
 
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