So I was in a car accident ... don't be like me

[W@P]

Glad you are ok as well as the pedestrian.

The problem is, and this is what I have noticed, that pedestrians have this entitlement about them when they cross a road.
Like, "Crash into me, I dare you". They don't give a flying fsck about oncoming traffic. As if they want you to hit them so they can claim damages, if they survive. They never look both ways. Never speed up if they see oncoming traffic. They just keep walking.
As if that piece of tar road is their safe space.

Not all of them are like that. But the majority are. That's my experience anyway.

 

[Claymore]

Think it's this one:
DrivePro 250 Dashcam With 32GB MicroSD Memory Card - Black

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Now I want to upgrade to a Viofo 2-channel system.

The annoying thing about dashcams like that is that they hang so low. If I put the mount right at the top, the dashcam is bang in the middle of the windscreen.

 

[Foxhound5366]

The annoying thing about dashcams like that is that they hang so low. If I put the mount right at the top, the dashcam is bang in the middle of the windscreen.

It's not too bad. Tuck it in by your rearview mirror and it fades into the visual bulk of that, and your brain tunes it out after a while. I definitely wasn't noticing it anymore, but whenever I did I used the opportunity to ensure it was straight and still working correctly.

 

[Nerfherder]

I've been in two car accidents before: one distracted driver turned into my car at low speed, and another drove into the back of my car in a traffic jam. Neither was fun, but there were no injuries and only required insurance claims and a visit to the panelbeaters.

Last week Friday night was different. I was driving with my family in the car, going to a night market. Literally a corner away from our home I turned into a main road, went through a traffic light, dodged one pedestrian crossing the road ... hooted at the second distracted pedestrian on her phone crossing the road and started braking ... and she didn't do what I expected. She didn't stop. She dove forward in a split second, and my windscreen shattered but held. The pedestrian rolled off the car and was lying very still on the road next to my car. I put on my emergency lights, my family got out to put up an emergency triangle behind our car, and ... what now???

I tried phoning 112. They put me through to the ambulance service, which never answered. I then phoned 082911, who answered but said they can't dispatch an ambulance for anyone who doesn't have medical aid. I asked the despatcher if she could at least notify the state ambulance service of the accident, and she said she can't. At that point, JMPD arrived. And thank God for them: the female officers were friendly and professional, they called the ambulance service and controlled traffic ... and did their job basically.

I got "lucky" in that the ambulance service arrived and evaluated the pedestrian, who was talking and moving around at this stage. They declared it a minor injury: so minor they released her at the scene without hospitalisation, and JMPD said I could leave.

Aah man, you know why I'm sharing this? For one reason only: please people, I thought I was a safe driver and maybe because I was, that pedestrian was so lightly injured. But if I had been even safer, I would have come to a complete stop before her, or swerved around her. But she did the one thing I just didn't expect at all in that moment. I have kicked myself over this ever since.

Yes I had a dashcam and downloaded the video right at the accident scene. Yes my family wasn't injured (my car's airbags didn't even go off). The accident damage to my car is literally only a windscreen replacement. BUT .. this is still a punch to the gut because it could have been so much worse, even should have been.

I hope I remember this lesson. And I hope you learn it from me, without having to go through it. We all know pedestrians weave through traffic and we get desensitised to them running past our vehicles. But we shouldn't. Even if it is their fault, any incident has so many ramifications which could have been avoided with only a few extra seconds.

I'm going to try buy myself those seconds going forward. I hope you do too.

Had the same happen to me, luckily the person I hit also lived. I was shocked at how little response we got when trying to get an ambulance.

The guy was an idiot and was drunk, and walked backwards Infront of my car. I still feel for the guy and it was horrific to hear that thud as he kissed the pillar of the car. Then the even worse feeling that you have killed someone, its changed the way I drive. i give pedestrians way more space now. Once the guy was awake and talking I was so relieved...

 

[airborne]

Glad you are ok as well as the pedestrian.

The problem is, and this is what I have noticed, that pedestrians have this entitlement about them when they cross a road.
Like, "Crash into me, I dare you". They don't give a flying fsck about oncoming traffic. As if they want you to hit them so they can claim damages, if they survive. They never look both ways. Never speed up if they see oncoming traffic. They just keep walking.
As if that piece of tar road is their safe space.

Not all of them are like that. But the majority are. That's my experience anyway.

I've often witnessed the same thing, it’s bizarre, who plays chicken with a 1-2 ton hunk of steel??!
If you see pedestrians dawdling, often it’s even after it's gone green for the cars and only then they'll casually start strolling across the road, you just start hooting wildly and watch them run like mofos. Most modern car horns are not unlike fog horns so it’s quite a shocking and unpleasant experience if you are in the direct path of the sound.

 

[icantchooseone]

When I was in my twenties I hit a guy with my car, put him in the hospital with a shattered leg. Wasn’t my fault, it was super windy and his hat blew off his head and he instinctively ran to catch it, right into the road in front of me.

Was quite the ordeal. I felt terrible but didn’t blame myself as there wasn’t anything I could have done differently in that split second and I hadn’t been speeding or anything. Still sucks though.

pizza delivery guy reversed at a high speed and knocked my elderly dad over

shattered his knee

had to have a knee replacement .

 

[killerbyte]

Think it's this one:
DrivePro 250 Dashcam With 32GB MicroSD Memory Card - Black

Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store

South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.

www.takealot.com

Now I want to upgrade to a Viofo 2-channel system.

The Viofo is good. Will never bash it. But have a look at 70mai. I am on my 3rd model (sold the first one, sold the second one with the car when I immigrated, and installed the 3rd in the wife's car here).
I have this model with the 4G and the hardwire kit: https://uk.70mai.store/products/4k-a810s
Just seen they have dropped the new A900 which does 4K front and rear.

 

[airborne]

The Viofo is good. Will never bash it. But have a look at 70mai. I am on my 3rd model (sold the first one, sold the second one with the car when I immigrated, and installed the 3rd in the wife's car here).
I have this model with the 4G and the hardwire kit: https://uk.70mai.store/products/4k-a810s
Just seen they have dropped the new A900 which does 4K front and rear.

4k recording must severely limit the recording time and make the device heat up?

 

[killerbyte]

4k recording must severely limit the recording time and make the device heat up?

My wife's dashcam does 4K from the front camera and it has never overheated. Its been a solid camera since I bought it.

 

[Claymore]

It's not too bad. Tuck it in by your rearview mirror and it fades into the visual bulk of that, and your brain tunes it out after a while. I definitely wasn't noticing it anymore, but whenever I did I used the opportunity to ensure it was straight and still working correctly.

The rear view mirror is in a unit with all the road sensors, nowhere to put it there. Windscreen slopes a lot, so it really hands low. I got a cylindrical one that mounts right at the top.

 

[Foxhound5366]

The rear view mirror is in a unit with all the road sensors, nowhere to put it there. Windscreen slopes a lot, so it really hands low. I got a cylindrical one that mounts right at the top.

Hey, I'll never judge a man for enjoying playing with his cylinder rather than a box. You do you.

 

[airborne]

My wife's dashcam does 4K from the front camera and it has never overheated. Its been a solid camera since I bought it.

But the file size must be huge, if I recall correctly with equal compression it’s 4 x FHD?

 

[Pax]

I cannot but feel the OP sort of blames himself to some extent. I, on the other hand, being a BM driver and thus a psyco, feels nothing for such pedestrian. As they said in the army..."as jy dom is moet jy suffer", and that is the pedestrian's reward for being stupid. If you want to challenge a car and lose, don't come crying. You've been stupid. In fact, you'll likely suffer additional injuries if my car got damaged.

 

[longboy]

Reminds me of the time when a dude hopped from the overhead brige on to the freeway. I ploughed through him and his backpack at >108km/h. The Rover is not like a standard vehicle - he got struck from his groin to his upper chest.

Burst aorta, broken spine at the neck/head connection, smashed and pulped liver and spleen, collapsed lungs from broken protruding ribs, his right arm tore off from the secondary side impact as well. My vehicle had a dent on the bullbarm and some undercarriage damage from him dragging underneath it after the initial impact.

360 Dashcam luckily, so I was cleared by Metro Police on the scene and I helped them by putting on some surgical gloves and used some heavy plastic bin bags to dignify the man's death until the coroner got there.

It took days for me to get all the bits of embedded bone and hair out the vehicles front and undercarriage after it was repaired and serviced.

Human blood never really comes off too, after the panelbeating and repairs I sold that Land Rover. A MyBB member bought if off me for 'cheap'.

 

[Foxhound5366]

I cannot but feel the OP sort of blames himself to some extent. I, on the other hand, being a BM driver and thus a psyco, feels nothing for such pedestrian. As they said in the army..."as jy dom is moet jy suffer", and that is the pedestrian's reward for being stupid. If you want to challenge a car and lose, don't come crying. You've been stupid. In fact, you'll likely suffer additional injuries if my car got damaged.

We have a duty of care towards our fellow human beings. If you want to be treated like it's Army bootcamp and every error can result in immediate death, that's not how society is set up: we have "slippery when wet" and "beware the stairs" signboards, guardrails and handrails, crush-proof electric windows ... and all sorts of other niceties which acknowledge that sometimes we don't pay the best attention and still deserve to be relatively safe.

Everyone knows that crossing the road without paying attention is dangerous, but that's not to say that crossing the road while distracted should be an immediate death sentence because the other drivers have zero obligation towards us. Imagine if everyone had your attitude.

 

[Pax]

We have a duty of care towards our fellow human beings. If you want to be treated like it's Army bootcamp and every error can result in immediate death, that's not how society is set up: we have "slippery when wet" and "beware the stairs" signboards, guardrails and handrails, crush-proof electric windows ... and all sorts of other niceties which acknowledge that sometimes we don't pay the best attention and still deserve to be relatively safe.

Everyone knows that crossing the road without paying attention is dangerous, but that's not to say that crossing the road while distracted should be an immediate death sentence because the other drivers have zero obligation towards us. Imagine if everyone had your attitude.

That is my understanding of wokeness. Consequences of your own bad behaviour must be projected somewhere else.

 

[ToxicBunny]

I cannot but feel the OP sort of blames himself to some extent. I, on the other hand, being a BM driver and thus a psyco, feels nothing for such pedestrian. As they said in the army..."as jy dom is moet jy suffer", and that is the pedestrian's reward for being stupid. If you want to challenge a car and lose, don't come crying. You've been stupid. In fact, you'll likely suffer additional injuries if my car got damaged.

Problem with this approach is you become liable for some level of stuff, and you can expect legal problems to occur regularly in your life.

You have a duty of care when it comes to pedestrians in the road (this does not mean they have right of way) and if it can be show that you didn't exhibit any of the duty of care, you might not like the end result for you.

Also do you really want to deal with all the crap of a damaged/written off car that could have been avoided by just slowing down or avoiding that daft pedestrian?

 

[Foxhound5366]

That is my understanding of wokeness. Consequences of your own bad behaviour must be projected somewhere else.

Don't be so anti-woke that you embrace being a callous, uncaring old fart. Having empathy and enough forethought to prevent crises and even just enhance understanding (intuitive design is an example of this) is just being human-centric, rather than doing whatever you want mindlessly and screw everyone else.

 

[Craig_]

When I was in my twenties I hit a guy with my car, put him in the hospital with a shattered leg. Wasn’t my fault, it was super windy and his hat blew off his head and he instinctively ran to catch it, right into the road in front of me.

Was quite the ordeal. I felt terrible but didn’t blame myself as there wasn’t anything I could have done differently in that split second and I hadn’t been speeding or anything. Still sucks though.

I also hit a drunk guy on the N1 about 20 years ago, at night, even still today I slow down on that stretch of road. I'm also very wary of pedestrians, especially at night. That isn't something you ever really forget.

 

[Pax]

Problem with this approach is you become liable for some level of stuff, and you can expect legal problems to occur regularly in your life.

You have a duty of care when it comes to pedestrians in the road (this does not mean they have right of way) and if it can be show that you didn't exhibit any of the duty of care, you might not like the end result for you.

Also do you really want to deal with all the crap of a damaged/written off car that could have been avoided by just slowing down or avoiding that daft pedestrian?

Lots of ifs.....and being a lawyer.....good luck with you negligence ...in fact recklessness endangering me and others and now get bitten by your actions. You'll pay dearly after recuperating/ healing for both my actual damages and my mental distress. Sorry woke ones. I'm a different breed fully accountable for my actions. I measure you to the same principles. Wokeness is unfortunately not yet a defence in law. You'll be accountable for your stupidity. The "reasonable man" is still the test, not the "woke man". Enough education for one day.....