Bad Driving thread

ToxicBunny said:
How about this... I have a dashcam in my car... if I happen to come up behind you and you do your little brake game... and it causes an accident you would have my insurance company after you and more than likely the police as well...

You are not there to enforce the law....
Click to expand...

To be fair I think you'd be at fault.

One has to at all times keep a safe distance. There is no telling what the car in front of you might do. Stroke, heart attack, burnt cigarette, sudden obstruction in the road, mechanical failure etc... etc... etc... If his insurance company asks you what you did to prevent the accident and the cause was determined to be that you failed to keep safe distance to the vehicle in front of you I think you'd get burned. It's easy for him to just say he applied brakes because he panic'd or was placed under undue stress. It is much harder to argue why you collided with an obstruction in front of you no matter in what shape or form that obstruction came about.
 
Bobbin said:
To be fair I think you'd be at fault.

One has to at all times keep a safe distance. There is no telling what the car in front of you might do. Stroke, heart attack, burnt cigarette, sudden obstruction in the road, mechanical failure etc... etc... etc... If his insurance company asks you what you did to prevent the accident and the cause was determined to be that you failed to keep safe distance to the vehicle in front of you I think you'd get burned. It's easy for him to just say he applied brakes because he panic'd or was placed under undue stress. It is much harder to argue why you collided with an obstruction in front of you no matter in what shape or form that obstruction came about.
Click to expand...

Nope, negligent driving and intentionally stopping without need thus causing the accident would make it the drivers fault who brake tested.
 
j4ck455 said:
Brake-checking once would be accidental but brake-checking multiple times on camera would be a clear pattern of bad behaviour.
Click to expand...

Not only that, but if you brake check someone and they have an accident and die then one is potentially liable for culpable homicide. That's why dashcams are such key evidence.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Nope, negligent driving and intentionally stopping without need thus causing the accident would make it the drivers fault who brake tested.
Click to expand...

Is there precendent to back this up?

I would imagine that the driver could just claim that he thought there was an obstruction in the road and acted accordingly.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Nope, negligent driving and intentionally stopping without need thus causing the accident would make it the drivers fault who brake tested.
Click to expand...
Sure but there are too many variables and the other driver has the advantage. Even negligent driving itself is mitigated by a safe following distance. Negligent driving is subjective but distance is not :)

Not saying you are wrong only that it is much more difficult to defend.

I've even heard of people put at fault for damages to the front most vehicle when someone goes into the back of them and they then hit the car in front. Again safe distance was the cause.
 
Last edited:
ToxicBunny said:
Nope, negligent driving and intentionally stopping without need thus causing the accident would make it the drivers fault who brake tested.
Click to expand...

Absolutely not.

You hit the car in front, it's your fault, regardless of why they stopped. End of story.
 
Unfortunately it is difficult to keep safe distance as other drivers blatantly take advantage every chance they get to squeeze into these gaps. Ultimately they place themselves at risk. I've grown to realise as long as I'm en route and in motion I'm making progress towards destination. Doesn't matter if that's 80kph constantly slowing down for everyone else or 120kph. I've got audiobooks, podcasts, radio, music etc... to pass the time productively.
 
Last edited:
Sinbad said:
Absolutely not.

You hit the car in front, it's your fault, regardless of why they stopped. End of story.
Click to expand...
Which is why I was very surprised at that story where that lady who stopped on a highway due to some ducks on the road or something got life when a motorbike went into the back of her car and the driver was killed. This happened overseas somewhere. I questioned why that bike failed to see the obstruction and stop safely in the first place. Anyway each case will have its nuances I suppose.
 
Sinbad said:
Absolutely not.

You hit the car in front, it's your fault, regardless of why they stopped. End of story.
Click to expand...

No, its not automatically your fault...

If I can prove that the person in front of me was driving negligent or recklessly, it becomes their fault.
 
Last edited:
Bobbin said:
Which is why I was very surprised at that story where that lady who stopped on a highway due to some ducks on the road or something got life when a motorbike went into the back of her car and the driver was killed. This happened overseas somewhere. I questioned why that bike failed to see the obstruction and stop safely in the first place. Anyway each case will have its nuances I suppose.
Click to expand...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/12/17/canada-ducklings-highway-fatal-court/20513845/

The woman who stopped her car in the left lane of a Montreal area highway to herd ducklings to safety, which led to the death of a motorcyclist and his teen daughter, will not spend the rest of her life in prison, Canadian media outlets report.

Emma Czornobaj, 26, was sentenced Thursday to 90 days in jail, no driving for 10 years and 240 hours of community service. She will report to jail on Jan. 10, serving out her sentence on the weekends, the Montreal Gazette, CTV News and CBC News report.

On June 20, almost four years to the day of the fatal accident, a Canadian jury found Czornobaj guilty of two counts of criminal negligence causing death, which carries a maximum life sentence, and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle leading to death, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
Click to expand...
 
ToxicBunny said:
No, its not automatically your fault...

If I can prove that the person in front of me was driving negligent or recklessly, it becomes their fault.
Click to expand...

The law would probably apportion blame to you both, circumstances would apportion the percentage blame.
 
ToxicBunny said:
Like any normal accident pretty much.
Click to expand...

Yup - you can never simply assign blame to one party in an accident. The person in the back may usually be at fault but it's not a hard and fast rule.
 
Fazda said:
NEVLIN - GP - Black E Class Merc, currently on holiday in KZN, you are a feeble minded CHOP!

Idiot was in the fast lane in front of me last night, and as I came up behind him and flashed him to pass, he slammed on brakes, came to a complete stop so that he could turn into the little concrete strip joining North and South bound freeway near Ultra City on the South Coast.

Had I not been in a car with top rate brakes and ABS, we would both be in hospital right now.

Bloody Cretin from HELL! :mad:
Click to expand...

How fast were you going at the time? Were you going within the speed limit?
Just to confirm:- this was not a German autobahn you were on.
Were you operating an emergency or police vehicle?

It's your responsibility to keep a safe following distance. You at the end of the day have to make sure the distance you keep is enough to make a complete and sudden stop.

This guy may have been a chop for slamming his brakes but it usually takes two to tango and it's never a good idea to communicate with people by honking, showing signs or flashing unless absolutely necessary.
 
Another thing that is very annoying on the roads are people the brake unnecessarily.

I'm of the opinion that this unnecessary braking is one of the main reasons for snarl-ups on the highways in and around Joburg during rush hour.
 
Necropolis said:
Another thing that is very annoying on the roads are people the brake unnecessarily.

I'm of the opinion that this unnecessary braking is one of the main reasons for snarl-ups on the highways in and around Joburg during rush hour.
Click to expand...

[video=youtube;Suugn-p5C1M]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suugn-p5C1M[/video]
 
For a complete education, go watch any road fail video on youtube, make notes, and learn from that.

This helped me by avoiding an accident once as I was prepared for it.
 
The_Librarian said:
And the main cause of it is self-entitled ijits trying to push into the "faster" lane, causing the people behind to slow down, leading to a concertina effect....
Click to expand...

What is also bad is at the offramps where people are not in the correct lane but try to push in further down where they have to slow to a crawl to squeeze in and cause an entire lane to stop for them :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X