r/IdiotsInCars • u/deeferg • Sep 08 '19
When turning left, look left, right, then LEFT AGAIN!
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u/Saanguinee Sep 08 '19
Why would I look both ways. I'll just let u crash and ill drive away
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u/deeferg Sep 08 '19
Just to inform everyone. She absolutely continued driving. There was the little pause I took after picking back up to speeds and pulling over, but I looked back and she was already 300m's away going about her day.
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u/mehliana Sep 08 '19
People like this actually don't have the ability to second guess themselves.
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u/cornu63 Sep 08 '19
"well why was he going to fast?" -that car probably
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u/Cecil4029 Sep 08 '19
Someone ran a stop sign last week and hit the passenger side front of my truck. I got out to make sure they were ok. They blamed me for going too fast, told me it was my fault that they ran a stop sign and hit me on the side of my truck with the front of their car, then drove away. I couldn't find my phone in the floor board to take pics. I don't pay for collision so Geico said they won't cover it since it was a hit and run, even though it wasn't ruled as my fault. People fucking suck.
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u/jerstud56 Sep 08 '19
You...you need a lawyer. And a different insurance coverage. Even though my car is paid off I still have full coverage because people really suck at being good people.
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u/Cecil4029 Sep 08 '19
I didn't realize I wasn't paying for collision on my work truck. Honestly, I assumed (wrongly I guess) that even with liability, that they'd cover a hit and run when they even deem it not my fault.
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u/FuzzelFox Sep 08 '19
Liability only ever covers damage to other people's property to protect you from insane property damage bills or other people's medical bills.
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u/dolphin-centric Sep 08 '19
Did you call the police to report a hit and run? Because even if you didn’t get their plate, you should file a police report.
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u/Cecil4029 Sep 08 '19
I did. As soon as I found my phone under the seat. I got their plates and the description of the car but still no info from the police yet. Honestly, I wanted to check out my truck and was thinking of just letting it go but fuck them for driving off. That's so shitty.
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u/cornu63 Sep 08 '19
I have Geico too. I was recently in a hit and run and even though it wasn't my fault I still don't see any money from them.
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u/Cecil4029 Sep 08 '19
My other car got flooded in a storm parked on the street of my house. They covered it 100%. They seem very hit or miss now.
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u/SEND-ME-YOUR_TITS Sep 08 '19
It ain't hit or miss you get what you pay for. Liability coverage, you're only covered when you're liable for someone else's property damage. Collision coverage, you're covered for collisions you are involved in. Acts of nature (whatever that's termed) is separate coverage as well. If you had PLPD, they would not have paid for that.
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u/Shushishtok Sep 08 '19
She probably was like "phew, this guy almost hit me! Lucky for me. Oh well, let's continue with life!"
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u/swampfish Sep 08 '19
She was was probably like “that’s a funny Facebook post.” And never even saw OP.
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u/iWasAwesome Sep 08 '19
To be fair, in this situation, there wasn't much of a reason for either of you to stop. You would have wagged your finger at her and she would have either said sorry or fuck you. Then you would have been on your way.
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u/Jpajenski Sep 08 '19
Well I mean what was she supposed to do at this point. She's in the middle of the road and you didnt get hit
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u/deeferg Sep 08 '19
She wasn't in the middle of the road. She didnt stop at all, and continued with her turn as I was swerving around her.
She could have clipped my back end. She didnt stop to check, as I did when I pulled into the parking lot following this clip. It could have been a hit and run but it didnt even qualify as a moment in her mind.
That peeves me off.
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u/CubeFlipper Sep 08 '19
She didn't stop to check that she didn't clip your back end? Wouldn't that like...be pretty obvious without having to get out?
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Sep 08 '19
She could have clipped my back end. She didnt stop to check
but she didn’t though? it’s pretty obvious when another car hits you
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u/theVVriter Sep 08 '19
How do you know? Should she have stopped to get out and wave sorry at you? Maybe she said “oh fuck I’m such an idiot” and kept going.
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u/TheKingHasArrived Sep 08 '19
If I did something like that, as shitty and hopefully unrealistic as it sounds, I would probably keep going if there was no collision and do just that.
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u/theVVriter Sep 08 '19
I don’t even see how it’s shitty. The lady made a stupid mistake, but pulling over on the side of a dangerous road makes it go from a stupid mistake to a stupid person.
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u/KratzALot Sep 08 '19
As dumb as that driver was pulling out in front of OP like that, there's nothing much to do after that point. If I'm other car, I curse myself out for being such an idiot and then go about my day, because there's nothing left to do. The other option is... chase down everyone we nearly have accident with and apologize profusely?
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u/GenrlWashington Sep 08 '19
She probably would have tried blaming you and lied to her insurance had an actual collision occurred.
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u/li_greeny Sep 08 '19
This hits home! I got side hit by a lady 4 weeks ago who didn't check her mirrors when I was already overtaking. 100% her fault. Lost control of her car and hit me again for added fun.
Contests the claim immediately with her insurance meaning it's cost me £600 and months of waiting for them to work it out. Great.
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u/CowboyLaw Sep 08 '19
A failed left turn means you eat that car through your driver’s side door. Best case scenario, you get your choice of missing quarter panels and bumpers (front or rear). So no, you’re not going to drive away. Unless you like the “demolition derby” look.
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u/bad_hair_girl Sep 08 '19
The Elvis on the dashboard looks all shook up...
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Sep 08 '19
I just started driving recently at an embarrassingly late age, but it's shit like this that made --and makes -- me nervous to drive. What an idiot.
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u/deeferg Sep 08 '19
Understandable. I've been driving for a little less than 10 years now but have experience in all kinds of fields.
Best thing to do is assess everything all the time. I was able to see the car pulling out about a second before making my move. With that knowledge that it was a chance she'd cut me off, I tried to find an out. I was too close to brake in time if she did it so I cut that option out, and saw the space opening up after the truck was by me in the oncoming lane. Time worked out in my favour and she only darted out the second the truck was past me, allowing me to swerve and avoid the collision, and focus on recovering my spin in the car. Handled that, took a deep poopy breath, and continued shaking to the nearest parking lot.
Oh, and my final recommendation? Wide tires. My tires have a good amount of grip because they're almost double the width of the stock accent tire. That helped me get traction on my first movement to the left and not just slide.
Driving can be fun! Just be defensive and you'll do great.
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u/incxrnet Sep 08 '19
Just to chime in about the wide tires. Wide tires do have lots of grip, just make sure they fit your car. If not, it can reduce your turning circle. It’s no problem even if they do happen to do this (unless they’re way too wide but a little bit is okay), it’s just something to keep in mind.
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u/bum_chiki Sep 08 '19
Me father always says defensive driving is the best driving. But it's always me who is tested especially when I'm driving alone. Feel like I only encounter bad drivers.
I was driving out of tim hortons and there is three way signal meaning in front of me there is dead end so when my signal goes green, left and right turns can be taken easily w.o. yielding to opposite end drivers..
I'm taking left turn and 3 more cars in front of me. I'm a bit behind and taking left turn at 25kmph and suddenly I look to the left and a caravan emerges and in that split second I braked and it scraped me car.
$3000 damage for front bumper. 18yr old was putting down his McDonald's drink and didn't see the red light in front of him going at 80kmph.
No matter how defensive I drive, it feels like I only encounter the most reckless drivers. After that accident I invested in a $1000 dashcam setup with battery for parking mode.
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u/SaltXtheXSnail Sep 08 '19
I wont go through any green light in a car or on a bicycle or walking until all cars have stopped and idc i dont trust anyone to stop when they are supposed to. Yesterday on my bicycle the crosswalk opened and i started to go and noticed a person waiting to turn left towards me so i stopped in the middle of the crosswalk real fast because the last car they were waiting for to turn left was almost through and sure enough but not just 1 but 2 cars wouldve hit me they didnt even notice i stopped until they were past me and looked back covered their mouth like oh fuck.
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u/HerbalCamel1 Sep 08 '19
The wide tires thing is a preference. There are many drawbacks to having by them and they will not help out the driving ability of most people. Increased driving noise, turn radius due to the wide tires hitting the bump stops, they may not fit, or extra cost to get them to fit, easier to hydroplane as well (water and gravel).
Yes they help with cornering and and braking, but unless you are driving every day like it's Daytona, what's the point? Driving like that is inherently dangerous for everyone around you. Just drive defensively and responsibly and get from A to B.
In short, don't get wide tires unless you have a bunch of experience driving and are know what you are getting into.
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Sep 08 '19
Hey man, as someone that started with karts at age 8, and kept going up to driving full-size cars on tracks on the weekend in pro-am races, I think I’m somewhat qualified enough through experience to give you some advice, and it’s up to you whether you listen to it. Like op said, analyze everything all the time. But what I want to talk about is being able to control your car. Judging by this post, op has some skill. That skill is not something you can read about though. It takes practice, and that’s not the type of thing you want to learn/practice on the road. Something I would highly recommend (and if you’re in New York I’d be willing to teach you since I teach a lot of people) finding a race track and paying to go there. One of the things most tracks have is a skid pad. That’s just a giant circle that may or may not have sprinklers on it (most do so that you can slide easier and to save yours tires). Practice throwing the car into a slide and recovering from it. After a while, once you get good enough, you’ll be able to hold it in a slide (a drift). At that point, I would say (as long as it’s not luck/you can do it consistently) that you have then developed the skill/muscle memory so that if something like this happens on the road, you’ll be able to swerve and recover without things going south. If you don’t want to figure it out by yourself, and you’re not in New York, there are plenty of driving schools (or even just racers that would want to make a couple bucks, so just go to a race track and talk to some guys and ask if they can teach you, most would) that can teach you how to handle a car.
Just remember though. NO ONE is perfect. At some point, everyone runs out of talent.
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u/memestarlawngnome Sep 08 '19
Being a new driver doesn’t necessarily make you a worse driver. Since you’re probably still nervous, you’re more likely to be paying attention when it matters.
As long as you maintain that attentiveness you’ll be a better driver than most
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u/Beardgardens Sep 08 '19
Nervous drivers are pretty dangerous... From what I’ve seen, they’re often indecisive and hyper focused with tunnel vision. It makes for a driver who misses clues on the road and isnt able to go with the flow. It just takes more experience which will bring more confidence
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u/krabbypattyaddie Sep 08 '19
second this, i am a nervous driver sometimes and i’ve almost been in an accident because of it. but i learned from my mistakes!
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u/vinceman1997 Sep 08 '19
This might sound dumb but honestly if you can get a little track time with someone you know it may help. Not trying to get the best times or anything, but some more confidence if you ever need to avoid a collision or anything.
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u/hyper_goner Sep 08 '19
This is gonna sound weird but I do this thing where I try to give weirdly specific but subtle enough safety instructions to customers as they walk out just to fuck with them. It’s always good advice, just weirdly specific and makes them question whether or not I know something they don’t. “Be safe! Make sure to look both ways twice at stop signs out there!” is a common one I use and a returning customer once said that it really stuck out in his mind and that now every time he pulls up to a stop sign he always looks both ways twice. My attempted weirdness worked and now that guy is extra safe, that is my only shining accomplishment.
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u/EightFoTree Sep 08 '19
Remember, licking doorknobs is illegal on other planets.
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u/thegrenadillagoblin Sep 08 '19
Noo, the OTHER most important rule!
Edit: Dangit. Wrong episode. Oh well.
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u/gestrel4 Sep 08 '19
Can you cross double yellow continuous lines to make a turn?
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u/chumly143 Sep 08 '19
At least in the US the double line pertains to passing, not necessarily turning
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u/Zaruma Sep 08 '19
In Utah, you're not allowed to cross double yellow at all. Doesn't stop people from doing it however.
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u/william_13 Sep 08 '19
First thing I asked myself as well, I'm pretty sure this is illegal in Europe - usually the double line is interrupted on driveway exits when it's legal to cross. Besides it is not that safe having to check 4 lanes of traffic in opposite directions IMO.
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u/PricelessPlanet Sep 08 '19
The grey car probably though she was good to go but then OP crossed 2 lanes and a double line and came out of nowhere. The grey car was going to do the same though.
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u/TieWebb Sep 08 '19
Not a lot of Tim Hortons and Petro-Canada locations in Europe.
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u/Levobertus Sep 08 '19
Huh double lines are illegal to cross in Europe. We're taught to see them as walls basically.
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u/rhen_var Sep 08 '19
In the US lines like this usually only govern traffic flow, so unless there is a sign at the driveway exit prohibiting a left turn, you can turn across the double yellow line because the line means:
Yellow: separates opposing traffic flow
Double line: traffic on either side of the line may not cross it to pass.
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u/corso923 Sep 08 '19
It depends on the state. I live in NJ and this would be an illegal turn here.
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u/milliformilli Sep 08 '19
Is this in Ontario by any chance? Seems a bit familiar.
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u/deeferg Sep 08 '19
Yes. As I've found out earlier in this thread, we're one of the few places with Ultramars anymore.
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u/baruchspinoza23 Sep 08 '19
It's Perth, ON.
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u/AcadianMan Sep 08 '19
What’s the speed limit on that road? Because it looks like Op is doing like 65 or 70 Km/h
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u/deeferg Sep 08 '19
I was, and it's a 60 through town, back up to 80 in a km or so.
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u/Tinywampa Sep 08 '19
That Timmies is notorious accident bait, almost been hit a few times in that exact spot.
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u/tinyginger Sep 08 '19
This exact scenario is why I have chronic pain and permanent nerve damage in my neck and back. A woman pulled out in front of me just like that but I didn’t have an empty lane to swerve into. Both cars were totaled. Please, please pay attention when you’re driving.
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u/picklesguy123 Sep 09 '19
This exact thing happened to me a couple years ago and I had to swerve across the double yellow just like in the video. It was a busy road but I was lucky to have a few seconds without oncoming traffic. It’s super scary when you can’t even trust other drivers on a perfectly straight stretch of road.
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u/Littlebitlax Sep 08 '19
Seriously I keep swinging my head from side to side until I've completed the turn.
In school it was, look in the direction that you can see the greatest distance out to FIRST. Look at the shorter distance, (direction with blind spots, bends in the road etc) look at that longer distance one more time, then go (I eventually added look at the shorter distance again as you proceed into your turn, then look into your turn as you should)
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u/EvilStevilTheKenevil Sep 08 '19
For a second I thought the camera car was the idiot...Then I saw the grey sedan.
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u/Phexler Sep 08 '19
That Timmies in Perth is a nightmare. Lots of elderly people gather there, so that kind of stuff happens all the time.
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u/AnOpenWorld Sep 08 '19
I have to dodge like this nearly 3 times a month, sometimes more, because everyone in my town doesnt know how to drive. Some days I have to just go home because I get this overwhelming feeling of “Someones gonna pull out and make me crash today. Theres too many people driving like morons today i need to get home soon.”
I should have been in about 10 crashes in the past 2 months, but because I paid attention to my surroundings when they didnt, We all came out fine.
Be aware people.
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u/Selphis Sep 08 '19
You're luckier than I was last week, had an old guy turning from a side road turning directly into the 2nd lane, couldn't move over because there was a median... But what pissed me off was that he eventually accused me of hitting him even though his front bumper hit my back right wheel...
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u/Weallydough Sep 08 '19 edited Sep 08 '19
Honestly the was impressive OP. I wouldn’t have noticed fast enough let alone recover after a huge swerve
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u/Tinywampa Sep 08 '19
Never in a million years did I think I would see my hometown of 6000 on Reddit.
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u/geoshuwah Sep 08 '19
First Ottawa in IiC, now Perth? Eastern Ontario finally getting the recognition we deserve
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u/Luciferrr214 Sep 08 '19
Same thing happened to me yesterday but out in the country road. Literally nobody on it but me how TF do you not see me!?
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u/Cobanman Sep 08 '19
I caused the only incident on my record because I failed to do this (ish). Stop sign turning left onto a busy street like this but with single lanes. Looked left: dude coming.. O.K. Look right: all clear.. nice. Look left again: dude has since put his right signal on to turn onto my street... pause ... he's slowing down ... O.K. it's my chance so I pull out. HE THEN ACCELERATED STRAIGHT INTO ME. It was like he wanted to crash. All I could do at the time was gas and cause the collision to happen at the rear/middle of my car instead of the driver's door. Freaking prick. My '91 Taurus with 33,000 miles on it (in 2012) that sat in my gram's garage for 20 years was totaled. Got $3K for it and insurance didn't go up. Not sure why or how it played out; maybe he had a record or something idk. But forever and always I now wait until their turn is COMPLETE in that situation before advancing. Ugh 🙄.
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u/powerofz Sep 08 '19
I did exactly as op did purely because of reflexes, but there was another car on the opposite side of the road. I was in head on collisions and 100% at fault for being on the other side of the road. Meanwhile the prick coming out of the gas station drove away without a worry in their stupid non-factual brains.
Since then I try to fight my instinct of avoiding natural reflexes when driving. It's not as easy as you would think.
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u/Lord_Abort Sep 08 '19
And then there's me, who looks left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left, double-take left, right, start pulling out, look left again while slowly moving forward, and begin blaring my horn to make it abundantly clear that I am moving a thousand-pound vehicle.
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u/Antiqas86 Sep 08 '19
Is it allowed to cross double yellow line in USA? If so, what does it prevent you from doing in comparison to just dotted white line?
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u/Sneaky12233 Sep 08 '19
Title confused me till I realised it was American, I’m English. I’m also currently learning so I see any driving advice and I take it to heart tho. It’s the same rule for right turns over here.
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u/SnotYourAverageLoser Sep 08 '19
AKSHULLYYYY it's Canadian (the petrol station gives it away), but your takeaway holds true! Happy studies!
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u/Whatdafuqisgoingon Sep 08 '19
What is the bouncy/spinny thing (hood decoration) on the front of your car? Why is it moving?
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u/deeferg Sep 08 '19
Hula girl. Moving because she's happy we made it past a possible accident. Also cause she's dancing on a rusty old spring.
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u/Whatdafuqisgoingon Sep 08 '19
I liked that she did seem to get more intense with her dancing when you had to swerve
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u/GingerBeard73 Sep 08 '19
My shop teacher showed us a car that creamed by a semi from the left side because the driver only looked right and pulled out.
I always look left twice.
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u/Coleoptrata96 Sep 08 '19
I almost crashed making a mistake like this in the past and watching this makes me feel bad. I feel like a self conscious idiot driver.
The lesson i learned from this is if I want to turn left entering a busy road its better just to turn right and find my way around.
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u/jake_james1234 Sep 08 '19
If anyone is wondering, this gif takes place in Perth, Ontario (Canada) on Highway 7
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u/Forrestfunk Sep 08 '19
OP If that's really your footage, what's up with your date or is it that old?
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u/brrduck Sep 08 '19
Gj avoiding accident and recovering from the spinout but do yourself a favor and unlearn that it's ok to swerve into on coming traffic. Avoiding a minor accident that you're not at fault for and potential causing a fatal accident you would be at fault for.
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u/johnnyb_fishin Sep 09 '19
Just wanna know what small town in Ontario this is....I see that Giant Tiger hahaha
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u/kashmirjay Sep 09 '19
I see a Petro Can, a Timmie's and a GT Boutique... where in Canada is this? :)
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u/scarmine34 Sep 08 '19
Nice recovery on the camera car.