www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-northamptonshire-44088926/a14-dashcam-captures-sleeping-driver-crash
I could not believe that the ' witness' who filmed the event was prepared to publicly show his own lack of situational awareness. Whilst he did manage to stop in time, I think that he showed very poor judgement in not backing off much earlier.
Would you have felt happy sitting in the passenger seat?
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Me neither. The developing danger was fairly obvious.
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>>The developing danger was fairly obvious.
One needs to remember that it is of the utmost importance to capture the events as there might be 15 mins of fame and a cash reward :-(
>>Me neither.
I too would back off and let them go up the road and hopefully restore things to normality.
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Without the benefit of hindsight I don't think he did that badly, although I like to think I would have observed from a bit further away.
To begin with it just looked like indecisiveness by the van driver and for a moment there seemed a probability that he would either get out of the way or scoot off.
Dashcam-man was already on, or covering, the brake when van-man hit the lorry.
Judging by the lurch after the camera car had stopped, someone further back was less alert. And indeed dashcam-man might well have been trying to modulate his braking if he had a tailgater.
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>> Judging by the lurch after the camera car had stopped, someone further back was less
>> alert. And indeed dashcam-man might well have been trying to modulate his braking if he
>> had a tailgater.
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It didn't look like dashcam man had done any braking, or indeed easing of the throttle till the situation changed from alert to critical. If he had done he'd have given more warning to the following vehicle.
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The verdict so far is that the driving of dashcamman falls below the standard expected of a competent driver; so should he have been prosecuted for driving without due care and attention ?
He could have regretted posting the video.
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I'd like to think that if it were me behind the dash cam, by the time the incident unfolded, I would have been a long way back, so far that the video would have been a mere spec.
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>> I'd like to think that if it were me behind the dash cam, by the
>> time the incident unfolded, I would have been a long way back, so far that
>> the video would have been a mere spec.
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Same here. He seemed to be more interested in watching events than in avoiding them.
The clip made me think of those films of aircraft dogfights. The pursuer is so intent on pouring shot into the plane ahead he forgets if it blows up he'll be hitting the bits himself a second later.
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>> Without the benefit of hindsight I don't think he did that badly, although I like
>> to think I would have observed from a bit further away.
I think I'm largely with you.
The problem with these films is that they raise your level of anticipation, and the "highlighting" of the van from the start of the clip increases that effect.
There isn't much indication of any issue until around the 9-10 second mark, when the van stops positioning for overtake and starts to drift slowly left again. To that point, it simply looks like a "lazy" overtake.
I'd like to think that I would, at or just before that point, scrubbed my speed off a bit even without anticipating any issue (simply to reduce the closing speed), *but* ultimately, the filming driver's actions need to be judged in the context of him ultimately being able to stop successfully in the space available, without losing control (and it must be said, without evidence of violent braking).
I'm not sure the "bump" at the end isn't the effect of someone leaping out of an opened door and slamming it ;-)
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>> There isn't much indication of any issue until around the 9-10 second mark, when the
>> van stops positioning for overtake and starts to drift slowly left again. To that point,
>> it simply looks like a "lazy" overtake.
At around the three second mark the van begins to change lane, and as dash-cam man was already closing on him at this point that is when he should have lifted off. I think it is typical of how some people drive on motorways, poor appreciation of closing speeds or stopping distances and chugging along on autopilot for mile after mile.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sun 13 May 18 at 19:36
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I'm judging him by average standards. He did OK. I think a fair proportion of people would have managed to hit something there. Some would have been pushing past when he hit the lorry.
"Nearly hit something" = missed. In those circumstances, I imagine he thought that was a result.
I'm paranoid, I would have been 50 yards back.
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A van was driving along, not really causing any suspicions to be raised except with hindsight. It then had an accident, stopped pretty close to immediately and the following [filming] driver also stopped calmly and safely seemingly without any extreme braking or being in any particular danger.
Which bit was the problem?
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Dashcam man (agressively?) continues to approach the van for about 4-5 seconds whilst the the van was straddling the white line . The majority on here would have backed off - surprising that you see it differently?
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Aggressively? Kind of overstating it, surely.
Putting myself in his position there was little, without hindsight, to indicate it was going to go wrong and as far as I could see when it did go wrong he didn't brake particularly hard and stopped in plenty of time.
I genuinely don't see any bit issue.
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From the video its clear that something is amiss from 12 seconds in, collision occurs at 16 seconds.
During those 4 seconds dashcam man is not backing off, some of those 4 seconds is pushing to tailgate levels so could be classed as aggressive. Any brake covering is not safety minded - but only because sleepy van man is in the way.
Of course its all with hindsight, any discussion about a video can only be hindsight, but as I said I would like to think in those 4 seconds I would have gained a fair degree of safety yardage
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>> Of course its all with hindsight, any discussion about a video can only be hindsight,
>> but as I said I would like to think in those 4 seconds I would
>> have gained a fair degree of safety yardage
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My feelings too.
I have a dashcam and from time to time I'll play a couple of clips with a view to a critical assessment of my driving. If one of mine had shown that footage I would not have been happy with my performance.
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Accidents are made of this...... - MD
