I was browsing social media the other day, when I came across a brilliant video that can teach us all how not to drive. And, surprise, surprise, the villain of the piece is driving a Dodge Charger. It was ever thus! Let’s dive in and learn why we should never speed and try and pass people on the shoulder, hmm?
The dashcam video in question was posted by TopDog Law on Twitter. It shows a young woman with a passenger driving on the highway, and rather wonderfully, it gives us vision in both the forward and rearward directions. The woman is driving straight, and attempts to switch from the leftmost lane to the one immediately right. As she does, the car’s blindspot monitor can be heard triggering, and she abandons the lane change as her vehicle is approximately halfway over the lane line. At this point, all hell breaks loose.
As she returns to the original lane, she is suddenly passed by a Dodge Charger approaching from the rear at enormous speed. The Charger veers onto the shoulder, with the driver of that vehicle slamming on the brakes. Even while braking, with massive tire squeal, the Charger is travelling so fast it still overtakes the woman’s car, before slamming into a barrier. The Dodge then ricochets off the barrier, and into the front of the woman’s vehicle, which is then sent spiraling off into the grass. Crucially, the two female passengers are unharmed, though we don’t see what happened to the driver of the Dodge.
Who’s at fault??? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/j8U3pF79is
— TopDog Law (@TopDogLaw) December 29, 2023
The problem here is that the driver of the Charger was closing at very high speed as visible through the rear window (repeating in the GIF below) and appears to have assumed the lane would be empty when the woman in the video began her lane change. Yet, at no point was the lane clear for the Charger to pass. When the lane change was abandoned—an entirely valid thing to do, given the traffic in the other lane—the Charger owner suddenly was left with few options due to their poor choices. They could slam directly into the back of the woman’s car, or they could try their luck on the shoulder. They chose the latter. They turned onto the shoulder, and then immediately had to slam on the brakes because there was a barrier dead ahead. Despite the woman recognizing the developing situation in a split second and making some room, the Charger was simply going too fast and thus couldn’t stop, nor maneuver back into the lane ahead of the woman’s car, and the crash happened.
Here’s the thing—you shouldn’t ever be driving on a busy public highway at those speeds. Nor should you be going so fast that when you slam on the brakes, you’re still overtaking other traffic. It’s perhaps the first time I’ve ever seen an obvious rear-end crash turn into something like this, all flipped around. Indeed, without a dashcam, it would have appeared that the woman was responsible, hitting the Dodge Charger from behind and pushing it into the barrier. Instead, the video shows the true state of affairs, with the Charger bouncing off the barrier and into the front of the woman’s car—truly an astounding turn of events.
Of course, the Twitter replies are full of people criticizing the woman for her decision to abandon her lane change half-way through. Let me be straight with you here—this is total bullshit. If someone is changing lanes in front of you, you have all the time in the world to let them finish that maneuver. You should not be building up so much speed that if they switch back, you’re going to crash. Indeed, the way the Charger was driving, anyone switching into the fast lane would have put them in a similar situation. They were coming up too fast for other traffic to safely change lanes anyway.
Astute attendees of Cars and Coffee will get this video, innately. The vast majority of Charger owners are likely fine drivers, but cheap and accessible speed in the hands of a few bad seeds has given the model such a bad rap that it’s actively been banned by some events because of poor behavior.
As an aside, a tip of the hat to the woman’s passenger, who stayed very calm in a minor crisis. She was able to calm her friend and advise her to stay safely in her car, rather than running out onto the road in a panic, and called the proper authorities for help.
Anyway, it’s a sage lesson to learn. Out on the road, you need to drive to the conditions. You shouldn’t be traveling so fast that you don’t have time to safely react to changes in traffic, especially perfectly legal ones. We can all be better than that, and we can teach others to be better, too. Rant over.
Image credits: TopGun Law via Twitter Screenshot
When you have Big Altima Energy and have a Credit Score above room temperature
This is why we can’t have nice things. A+ to the passenger, too. Ice in her veins.
Calm head in a crisis always pays off!
I see stupid shit like this on nearly a weekly basis. But they never crash. It’s almost always mopar. Except this weekend when it was oddly two Chevy Malibu(s?) racing. But, mostly chargers and challengers. What’s with these?
It used to be Infiniti G35, typically two doors. I guess natural selection whittled those down.
Yeah, my first week working in Melbourne I saw a guy pull shit like this doing 150 km/h on a 100 km/h highway at 5AM in the morning. Just horrifying stuff.
Chrysler has been selling cheap power, and lots of it for over decade.
Who else sold sedans and coupes with a strong V6 as the minimum, and loads of rip-snortin’ V8s as options?
Hard to believe that there are bigger jerks than Jeep jerks, but Charger jerks are “more bigger.”
The supreme irony is that she aborted her lane change because she saw the Charger charging up so fast. If that asshat hadn’t been doing that in the first place the lane would have been free. I might have done the same as her.
How many way can you be at fault for the same incident? This was entirely the Charger driver’s fault times ten.
That passenger should become a fighter pilot or SOG team leader. Talk about cool as a cucumber.
I wonder if the kid driving is very new to driving and/or on a learner’s permit and the passenger is her older sister who was behaving as an instructor.
That was pretty nifty tbh.
Driving fast sucks when you can’t pay attention…. which is virtually everyone who does it on the highway.
If I was that girl, I’d whip out my laser law saber and sic my finest of ambulance chasers on the gashole that is the charger driver. This is pretty clear cut that mopar dork was going far too fast for a construction zone, crashed his own car and then had his car fly into the path of the girl’s car.
Can a totalled Mopar be part of the settlement?
I had a dude pass in the exit lane this morning, on the right of the right. Due to traffic timing, I organically passed him about 1/2 mile later. No chance I’m letting that a-hole in.
Always the correct answer here. Stupid people deserve to be trapped in traffic.
I have to admit in the distant past, I have read traffic and expedited this type of situation by non-passive driving. We used to call it stuffing the turkey.
We have a bridge with an enter-exit lane. The exit part has a 100 degree turn to exit and a speed limit of 20mph. The guard rail on that exit rarely lasts 3 weeks before becoming a crumpled, origami mess. Yes, I see people pass in that lane.
That is the most amazing real world example of Surprised Pikachu I have ever seen.
I haven’t had too many “memorable” near-misses, and I’m still without any moving collisions (knock on wood), but two near-misses do come to mind.
Both were driving up I-81 north of Harrisburg in Pennsylvania, in my ’97 Ford Econoline conversion van.
A line of cars in the right lane. Crowded, but moving. I’m in the left lane, going a little faster than the right lane. In my rear-view, I catch a semi-tractor (no trailer…is “semi-tractor” a clear way to refer to it in isolation? I never got the terminology straight) coming up fast. I quickly sped up briefly to 85 and am-scrayed to an opening in right lane. That might be the only time I’ve been passed, while myself going north of 70, by a margin of 15 or more mph by a tractor. So that was a bit surreal. (I do think he could’ve slowed down in time if I couldn’t have moved over, but I wasn’t about to find out.)
The other time was probably one of my closest brushes with death. Tractor trailer in the right lane; I’m gradually (but not glacially) passing in the left lane. Suddenly (and for seemingly no reason because there was plenty of space in front of him, I believe), his left turn signal comes on and he immediately begins moving into my lane.
Traffic was fairly crowded so I couldn’t just slam the brakes. I ended up moving all the way onto to the left shoulder. I think I slowed to 55 or so, and my left tires were on the grass. I was lucky it didn’t lose control. Once he was forward I got back on and got back up to speed, cursing them the whole time. No way I was in a blind spot. I could see the mirrors the whole time.
I still try to be courteous to truckers when possible, but that was Not a Good Day.
I’ve had that situation happen a couple of time on my motorcycle…people in giant SUVs trying to merge into me. I get that many drivers aren’t accustomed to seeing motorcycles, but these days, most vehicles have blind spot monitors that illuminate on their wing mirrors, so it’s clear they weren’t even using those.
But my closest brush with catastrophe was also followed by a moment of solidarity – a guy in a WRX behind me saw this all happen, and took off after the clueless person who did it. I came up on them at a light and saw the guy leaning out his window shouting at them.
While I don’t condone road rage, I was (in my shaky, adrenaline-drained state) grateful that somebody cared that I could have been killed.
I truly pity the people who decide certain vehicle safety standards.
“So thicker A- and B-pillars mean fewer people die in accidents and rollovers…but more accidents happen because of bigger blind spots?”
What a decision to have to make. I’d be interested in trying out motorcycles someday, but…yeah. That’s terrifying.
Back in the late 80s, being young, dumb, and 4&1/2hours from home on a Friday, I was coming down a steep grade w/no traffic or room for cops (and deer fence: the whole 9) in a crew cab longbed Ford absolutely pinned at 85 when a tractor trailer blew past us. The bow wave pushed me toward the rail, then the wake sucked me into the left lane: he had to have been going 40 or more faster than we were.
A couple weeks later I saw sobering footage of a semi which went through two large houses and much of the remains were sticking out of the third. Voiceover estimated 80+. I wondered what the truck that passed me at maybe 130 would have done.
Ah yes, the “bobtail” semi tractor. All that torque with nothing to do except build ridiculous speed. They scare me.
And, somewhat counterintuitively, bobtails have really lousy braking characteristics. All the braking is on the back two axles and hardly any on the “steering“ wheels because when the fifth wheel is attached, there’s plenty of weight on those two axles. Running bobtail, there’s not much weight there at all.
Most of my near-misses over the years have also been on I-81, but in Virginia rather than Pennsylvania. Had one shoulder-passing incident this past weekend, fortunately without a crash – that one was a newer Ram of some sort, the one that kind of competes with the Raptor – Rebel, I think?. Was tailgating me in the right lane, the car on the left was sort of matching my speed and camping out off my left fender, so the Ram guy veered across the left lane and onto the shoulder, shot ahead of that other car, then almost immediately slammed on the brakes for one of elephant racing semis that was causing traffic to slow in the first place
Jeezus. You have to drive slow in a bobtail, they can’t stop for crap because there’s no weight over the rear axles where the primary braking is.
Yes, that is true. But according to the new breed of automatic steering wheel holders, ya gotta go fast everywhere except the open highway
Yeah, driving a bobtail in slick/icy conditions is probably the most terrifying thing about driving heavy trucks, for me, anyway. Braking is theoretical at best.
It was a similar situation that totaled my ’91 Thunderbird SC. I was in the shoulder lane (which was open as a lane during rush hour), going the speed limit, knowing that traffic was going to come to a stop ahead of me. As I started to slow down for it, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a Mercedes SUV coming at me too fast. I let off the brake a bit to try and at least make the collision less intense (which worked), but the speeder still managed to veer away from me into traffic and spin out another car, which clipped a couple more in the process.
Then the speeder tried to blame it all on the car she spun out. Meanwhile, multiple cars were totaled, people were traumatized (no one was seriously hurt, thankfully), and the crash is still being “investigated”.
Things like that are why I have a dashcam, and also why whenever I witness an accident, I make sure to give a statement to the police. Jerks who drive like this are the same jerks who will try anything to get out of their responsibilities.
The amount of innocent people and law enforcement that have been killed by this sort of retarded shit is heartbreaking. And there is no excuse for it.
Just another great example of self entitled turds showing us why we can’t have nice things anymore.
I hope this asshole learned a lesson. But my guess is that after then insurance paid out, they bought a Mustang or Challenger to replace the Charger.
Too bad we can’t use the Jewish Space Lasers to take these idiots out.
Happy 2024 friends. Time for the shit show to begin anew.
Between Charger/Challenger/Mustang/Altima drivers and the goddamned Kia Boys up here stealing cars to do smash and grabs (and raising EVERYONE’S insurance rates as a result, regardless of car make/model), it’s a super frustrating time right now.
Don’t forget catalytic converter theft!
A few years ago I had the cruise control set at 72mph in the middle of three lanes on the New Jersey turnpike. A fairly light traffic day for that highway, 65 mph speed limit. A flash of movement in the rear view mirror caught my attention and I had enough time to say “oh, shit” before getting rear ended by a 23 year old driving…his mother’s Dodge Charger. Fortunately, mom had good insurance.
I was in the far right lane of I-80 in NJ heading to work yesterday morning, also cruising at 72 (I do not see the point of speeding to work, especially). Thankfully, the flash I saw in my rear view mirror was a BMW 3 series, two lanes over, flying past me pushing 100mph.
Next thing I know, he’s braking hard and moving over to the middle lane, eventually pulling up alongside my car. The kid in the passenger seat rolls his window down, encouraging me to race (did I mention I was heading to work, on New Years Day, when I would’ve rather been in bed?).
I glanced at him with the same look of disdain I use towards left lane campers (of which there are many) and then declined. They tried again about two miles down the road. He eventually gave up and sped off, once again well above the posted limit.
Give that car back to Daddy, you little fucking spoiled shit. Just because he didn’t cause a crash with me doesn’t mean he won’t with someone else. Eventually.
When I learned to drive, passing on the right was mostly illegal and – believe it or not – in most states it still remains so. And keeping right except to pass was the norm. Following these common sense directives tends to minimize the amount concurrent risks inherent in high speed travel, especially in passing situations.
Multi lane highways (and left lane squatters) have relegated these examples of lane discipline to the junk heap of history, but you can still get ticketed for passing on the right. Passing on the shoulder is never legal unless directed by police.
I lived in Germany for three years and never saw native drivers passing on the right. It just wasn’t done and you seldom drove in the far left lane unless passing. You also knew to get your ass over to the right if you saw flickering headlights in your mirrors because that meant someone was coming up on you fast.
Maybe all these lane-keeping and blind spot warnings systems should be set to keep you in the right lane except for overtaking. You know, something to replace the common sense/courtesy that drivers used to follow.
I drive a tall van for work and stay right except when passing. It helps keep me alert to what’s behind me—plus no one wants to be stuck behind it
You are the tall van driver I want I the road, thank you for driving in the correct lane, instead of squatting in the left like many of your brethren.
I know: I ride with coworkers that squat & I always have to say something. ‘E’rybody jest tryin’ to get thru their day’ is my motto, so I let others by.
My Theory to this is that you never know what is going on in other drivers lives. What if they have an emergency, they are on the way to say goodbye to a loved one that has moments to live. It just seems like people are so inconsiderate of the others more and more every year. 🙁
Yes, if you are in a hurry, there are very clear ways to alert the person in front of you that you are in said hurry. In tall van driver’s defense, sometimes it’s hard to see behind them??? It’s also why I sit to the left of the lane so at least one headlight in in the side view mirror. Not a valid excuse, IMHO.
Most of them are just inconsiderate a-holes though.
Way true. Both my personal cars are low, so I always try to edge to right in traffic so driver behind can see I’m not just being an ass. My 4wd van also pushes 10k lbs in-season with the water tank, so I give an honest 3-4second following distance. I don’t claim to be a saint, but my little conscientious games also help keep me alert while eating miles—and truckers certainly notice and often give me leeway 🙂
So everyone should enable the illegal and dangerous behavior of 999,999 casual speeders because that one in a million might be having a bad day. Got it.
Enabling speeders like that only encourages more such behavior. If someone is truly responding to an emergency they should be making is VERY clear by mimicking an emergency vehicle as much as possible. Honking their horn, emergency flashers going, flashing brights doing whatever they can to get other drivers to call 911 and get the attention of a LEO who can help clear the way, because if it indeed such a dire emergency as you describe that is the safest way to get them where they need to be.
The driver was in the process of passing the white Prius, so her presence in the left lane is normal and fine. She seems to have aborted the turn due to both her closure rate with the Prius (2-3 MPH differential?), and possible competition for the center lane on her right.
Maybe it is time to lay off of the German driving superiority. I routinely drive in the left lane in AZ because it is safer and healthier for my suspension. The right lane is too often rutted, pot-holed, and cracked frim heavy vehicles like Semi trucks and bloated snowbird RVs.
Or maybe it’s just time to fix the God damned bad pavement.
True, or maybe saving the left lane for assholes driving at excessive speed is the problem. AZ speed limit on highways is generally 75 MPH. That is fast enough.
In our state the left lane is for passing. As in most other places.
And can get you a big ass ticket if the wrong cop sees you camped out in it, and screwing up traffic. Maybe the answer is just follow the fucking rules.
Passing on the right and driving on the left are both legal in AZ, so I shall continue to follow the f@^&$ng rules. Know your local laws.
BFD. And have a nice day.
So I am wondering. Does your comment mean that you pass on the shoulders rather than the actual lanes? Because that IS the point of the article. Don’t do stupid or illegal and unsafe shit..
And seriously, have a good day.
Left-lane camping magnifies the likelihood of a multi-vehicle pileup.
If you’re not passing, move over to the right. All you are doing is gating all the traffic – much of which *wants* to go faster than 75MPH – behind you, with the net result that your own safety is substantially more compromised as the probability of any individual car setting off a chain reaction accident behind you goes up.
I’ve driven on plenty of Arizona/Utah/Colorado highways/freeways in a BMW and it’s not like the right-hand lane is particularly bad in most (or any) of them.
Incidentally, in Arizona, you are required to stay in the right-most lane except passing. See Section B.
I recently drove from CA to Tucson Via Phx, the 10 is awful going south to Tucson. I tried driving in the right lane but it was bruising my kidneys and I think it knocked a filling out lol.
But then my taxes will go up! /s
Maintaining public roadways is socialism!!! We don’t do that here!!!!1!!1!1!11
Germans aren’t necessarily superior drivers; they are generally better at following rules than Americans and not just with driving. A cultural thing I guess. They do have a much more rigorous process to get a license, so they may be better trained. Those things taken together do make it easier to predict what other drivers are going to do there, which helps with safety, but it’s not a perfect system either. And even the autobahns these days are choked with cars and beginning to disappear because of rising traffic problems.
So you’re one of those guys that I have to pass on the right when on the way to Flagstaff. Also, please see this: 28-721 – Driving on right side of roadway; driving on shoulder; exceptions; education (azleg.gov)
imagine if that Prius had been in the right lane, where they are supposed to be, instead of being in the middle lane and being passed on both sides.
I just was in Germany for 2 weeks last month and drove approx. 1000 miles on the autobahn. The difference is driver discipline/manners and courtesy vs the US is astonishing.
That was my experience, too, but I’ll admit my direct experience is a bit dated. Good to hear things haven’t changed too much there.
Funny thing, I’d been there two years and some relatives came to visit. I picked them up at the airport and drove back to my place. One remarked that she’d always heard Germans drove crazy fast, and she was surprised because everything seemed so calm. I told her to look at the speedometer. We were moving about 115 mph. She nearly wet herself. Wanted me to slow down to American speed. I told her that I’d be a road hazard if I did that.
She never did make the mental adjustment, but she also never asked to drive either.
Australia does okay with people not hogging the fast lane but really only on rural highways. City ones, people kinda… suck at it.
I spent a couple of weeks in Port Hedland years ago. My first encounter with a road train convinced me I never wanted to be a traffic impediment anywhere in rural Oz.
> courtesy
Don’t be so sure. Disney’s Motor Mania came out 73 years ago.
https://laist.com/news/disneys-1950-motor-mania-short-is-still-so-relevant
The most important lesson you can ever learn while riding a motorcycle on a freeway is that cars frequently abort lane changes and snap back into their previous position. They tell you to assume that the other driver can’t see you but I say that’s bullshit. I assume the CAN see me and are just trying to lure me into their “blindspot” so they can strike. This Charger driver should ride on 2 wheels for a while to learn how to anticipate what other drivers might do instead of what you assume they’ll do.
Overtaking at a speed differential their car couldn’t handle, occupying a lane before it was available, ignoring however many orange barrels were on that shoulder… This is 1000% the Charger’s fault.
How about “the charger driver should have their license suspended for several years at a minimum”
DL suspension should be automatic whenever you register a Charger.
Or a Challenger! And don’t forget anything VQ-powered and car shaped.
I wonder how the Charger driver would ride a crotch rocket?
In shorts, flipflops, and no helmet most likely.
Nailed it!
And they’d be passing people on the shoulder at 150 mph.
And respond to an emergency situation by putting their feet out like outriggers and using nothing but a fistful of front brake.
Good one!
So many people just don’t understand physics, and what pavement can do to their skin at 15 mph, let alone 75 mph…
They usually have no idea what degloving means, either. 🙂
In the ICU, scrotal degloving is awesome to watch.
Does that come with ice pack? Because DAMN. (Not for the patient–it’s for any man who thinks about the term “scrotal degloving”.)
Dude
I always remember something pointed out to me early in my riding career – “ever trip and end up shredding a hole in the knee of your jeans? That’s what happens while you were walking…”
Heh. Reminds me of a guy I used to know, who had a previous career as a motorcycle road racer before a disastrous accident ended his racing career. When people would ask him why he quit racing, he would hold up one hand in sort of a karate chop and say, “Y’see how the edge of that hand looks like it was run across a planer?” – that hand had a very unnatural 45° angle down the pinky side from knuckle to wrist – “welp, this one time…”
As someone who has locked up the front tire before, I don’t recommend it 😉
I’m always amazed at how many riders refuse to use the rear brake at all.
I’ve done a little flat track and experienced what the rear on its own can contribute to things. But I’ve gotten into arguments with road racers at these same events who refuse to countenance that there’s any reason for bikes to have these other than MSF courses.
Reminds of the meme “bicyclists assume everyone on the road is looking out for them and will yield. Motorcyclists assume everyone on the road is an assassin actively looking to kill them.”
Can confirm – lived in Portland.
Bicyclists, by and large, ride as though they are ten feet tall and bulletproof, and carried along on angels’ wings.
Nah, they’re probably riding to make themselves as visible as possible. People on motorcycles don’t have to worry about right/left hooks the same way that people on bicycles do, so they behave differently.
Tell me you’ve never driven in Portland without telling me you’ve never driven in Portland. Cyclists not only ride like they’re the only vehicles on the street, they have the gall to get mad at YOU when they endanger their own lives, or suggest that they bear any responsibility for their own safety. Like when they whinge so much about how Northeast 28th Avenue is so dangerous for cyclists, and how something needs to change.
Well, something does need to change: your path needs to change by one block east or west. Both NE 27th and NE 29th are quiet, uncrowded, tree-lined residential streets, while 28th is a tight, heavily traveled two-lane through street with parallel parking on both sides for several blocks. Yes, it is a cyclist’s worst nightmare, no doubt. You’re absolutely right. Also, you would have to be a suicidal moron to ride a bicycle on it during peak traffic hours. Please do not make suggestions that require extra infrastructure funding by which my tax dollars might be used to protect you from your terrible judgment, when choosing not to be a suicidal moron doesn’t cost anyone a dime.
Well blame the victim much? 😉 -lived in portland for half a decade.
What, the same way cyclists often blamed me for their mistakes in traffic? Such as the chucklehead who was a half a block behind me in the bike lane as I was entering a right turn lane with my signal on; passed me on the right and almost wiped himself out right in the blindest part of my blind spot; didn’t die after all because I was keeping a close eye on my mirrors, because my wife didn’t nickname Portland cyclists “urban deer” for nothing; then continued on around me on the right while letting out what I can only describe as a “Braveheart scream” at me through my passenger window as though I had done something wrong? With no helmet on?
Yeah, I suppose I do.
I’m not even reading that anecdote because everyone has a story like that about a bike/car/truck/scooter/ped. There’s assholes everywhere using all kinds of transportation technology.
And thousands and thousands of them live in Portland and commute by bike every day.
If everyone you meet is an asshole maybe they’re not the problem.
I live about 30 mins from where that coal-rolling teenager ran over a gaggle of bikers. I’m just as cautious when I’m pedaling as when I’m motoring.
I imagine so. But then, I’m thinking of Fred Armisen shrieking “BICYCLE RIGHTS!” in “Portlandia,” which is definitely a documentary series.
I do cycling and motorcycling, but the only time I’ve ever been called a fa**** (on two wheels, anyway), had a boot thrown at me by the passenger in opposing traffic, had someone throw a cup full of ice at me, roll coal on me, try to clip me with their mirrors, startle me by honking right before or during passing is on a bicycle.
Sage advice. Motorcycle riding will teach you a lot about collision avoidance.
I was once on a trip to Cape Cod with my wife and we were on a four-lane highway. We were in the slow lane when we were being passed by people on the shoulder. I thought “hey what a jackass”. Well, it kept happening “is everyone here this rude?” No, I was the jackass for not reading the road signs. It’s allowed during certain times. I still didn’t do it because knowing me I’d wreck like this Charger driver.
That is the fast lane when in use. They have that on Rt 3 heading to the Cape (south of the Braintree split, starting at the Hingham exit). Used to be the same situation on sections of I-95 South (maybe N as well?) until they finally finished the road / bridge widening project 20+ years after they started. 95 S from the Mass Pike down through at least Needham was a very fast ride, in the break down lane. Both were / are open during specific commute times.
I don’t know if the available evidence supports that conclusion.
Most Chargers on the road are cop cars, and cops receive special training.
I’m going to need to see some sourcing that police departments and agencies spend money on effective training, good enough that some people fail it, and then periodically pay money to sustain that training over time.
From my observations, said special training is the instruction: “You are above the law, do WTF you want”.
As a metro Detroit resident, I can confirm that the vast majority of Charger (and Challenger) owners are not fine drivers
I won’t say I never went stupid fast on public roads, but more & more my Mom’s calm voice rings in my head as I edge towards the top of 3rd:
“At anything over 80, you’re just aiming the thing.”
Mine’s advice was “Over 90 I’d prefer you keep both hands on the wheel.”
And what was she driving??
In the early 70s Mom had a Cutlass that her father had ‘tuned up’. I know it had large dual pipes (I always loved the throbbing when she opened up the secondaries getting on the interstate), and I was under pain of pain to never tell her parents or sister what time we left Iowa City on the way to Omaha 😉
At that point she was driving a Conquest TSi.
“It’s okay. Don’t call mom yet.”
My favorite part. Don’t call mom until you calm down!
I know, right? Nerves of steel on that one.
We need a follow up article comparing dashcams project farm style. I’ve been considering one, but am now prompted to take action. Need to know the pros/cons of what’s available. And not some worthless sponsored buyers guide like other sites have.
I’ll second this idea. I’ve wanted to get some for our vehicles for a while but the proliferation of junk out there makes it hard to tell what’s worthwhile.
I bought one off Amazon that was a rear view mirror with a built in screen and the dash cams…. It worked about 2 weeks and then died, so don’t buy that one.
Same here. Whenever I look on Amazon I immediately just go naw this is chaos I’m out. I do need one though.
I have had very good luck with Viofo, specifically with the A119 series. It is a basic model, so only one forward view. I’m sure they make models that would have more bells and whistles. Regardless of the brand you choose, get a brand-name memory card. It also helps to check a dash cam forum and get feedback from members as to which brand memory cards work well with the brand of camera you choose. (Yes, there are some combinations that do not work well and others that work great, so research you options before committing.) I also recommend getting a 64GB (minimum) OR whatever is compatible.
The A119 v3 is really solid. It’s 1440p at 60fps. None of the 4K dashcams I’ve found go above 30fps.
The A119 also has no WiFi feature, which just makes me feel assured it won’t ever need a firmware or security update or similar.
The only “weakness” I can think of is that if someone broke in while it was parked, they can easily steal the microSD card and render them useless in the context of that break-in. (Or if a cop stole them for the footage…)
Of course, while the vehicle moving is the bigger point anyway, but fact remains it’d be nice to have footage while parked, too. Not a good all-around solution for that that I’ve found.
My Ram truck has a dedicated USB port that remains on for 15 minutes after shutting off the ignition, which I use to power the dash cam. It also powers up immediately when you hit the remote to unlock, if it has switched off. It seems like this was designed with a dash cam in mind. This makes the installation so simple, just plug and play. Kudos to FCA!
“Kudos to FCA!” – brand new sentence
(I kid…I’m just a Toyota guy and wary of anything “American” after growing up in a Ford house. I broadly understand pickups are basically a separate market compared to everything else.)
That does make sense. I wanted to leave my USB and power ports unencumbered for phone chargers and the like, so I did the hassle of running wires to the fuse box with add-a-fuses. Plus, in warmer weather the passive parking mode lasts hours, way longer than 15 minutes. Still, 15 minutes of power is way better than nothing.
Like Michael said, the Viofo A119 (or A129 if you want rear camera) are the best bang for your buck option out there. I cannot for the life of me remember who made the comparison video, but in a ~6 way test, the Viofo came out on top, and I have an A119 in my car that works great. The gist is there’s only a few actual sensors on the market for dash cams, but every company does their own software and tuning, and even compared to other companies that use the same sensors as the Viofo, the clarity especially at night is not as good as the A119.
Also pro tip, if your car has an auto-dimming or homelink rear view mirror, you can typically find a splitter online that gives you dash cam power that is ignition switched (no battery drain when car is off) that saves you the hassle of running a long power wire or tapping into a fuse panel. I did this with my CX-30 and it’s perfect, easy install, no annoying wires and entirely reversible.
I can vouch for the A119 v3 myself. I have two running separately in my 2012 Prius v (since that’s the only way for my to get 1440p 60fs front and back). According to Viofo support, read/write speeds just aren’t good enough yet to do 1440p (or higher) at 60fps front & back on a combined device, despite how much nicer that would make the footage.
One thing that sucks for me, especially with the Prius’s smaller 12v battery, is the parking mode. It only records for 60 seconds after significant motion, or shock sensed, etc. But I have the voltage cutoff set at the highest setting (12.5 volts) and it doesn’t work for long.
I’d love if it just passively recorded at all times, but even if I bought an auxiliary 12v battery setup from BlackBoxMyCar or similar, it appears those only last for 1-2 days. I often have my car sitting for a week between uses and there just doesn’t seem to be any solution for that, and I certainly don’t drive long enough that it could recharge that quantity in between.
Linus Tech Tips did a fantastic comparison.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D4AnyhHl3_tE&sa=U&ved=2ahUKEwjIgrT89r6DAxUMvokEHX3WBCAQtwJ6BAgFEAE&usg=AOvVaw1RBWbyZbO4651ejK-RZC-U
BlackBoxMyCar on YouTube does side-by-side comparisons of multiple models. He’s always got somewhere around a half dozen he’s testing at any given time, and they’re all installed at the same time, gathering the exact same footage, so you get a really great side by side comparison.
(Also, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread: Viofo A119 V3 if you’re looking for a forward-only model. That’s what I have in all my cam-equipped cars.)
Some websites do a lot of this for the referral link income.
I think it’s really personal preference a lot of the time. What image quality do you need? How hard is the install? Does it have removable storage, etc. etc. etc.
As someone who owns 15, 18, 23-ish vehicles but not a single dash cam, I like this idea! Let me talk with the team.
Yes please very excited about this future article.
Occasionally while traveling 70mph on the highway a fast car or sportbike will go blasting past at 100mph plus, often on the right. Those closing speeds are way outside the expected window so even if you check your mirror, the gap closes too fast.
These drivers/riders are one lane change away from being a red speck. Can’t they understand that?
“Nah, that can’t/won’t/never happen to me! I’m too cool/skilled/dumb/asshole.”
I was just driving up I-95 (east coast North to South route) after the holidays, and similar happened to me. I was getting ready to pass someone on the left in a nice orderly fashion. But keeping an eye on the rearview, I noticed a small dot moving unexpectedly and fairly erratically. I pulled back, and sure enough, a second or so later, a jackass rocketed past at well over 100.
What really gets me is how these drivers seem to completely underestimate the stability they have at these speeds. It’s why police PITT maneuvers are so effective, as at even lower speeds, a slight abrupt directional change is all it takes to lose control.
In Chicago, guys on sportbikes will lane split through ~10 mph traffic at 100 mph. Don’t check local laws, we still don’t allow lane-splitting. So, it’s always wise to check between cars before making a lane change because you just don’t know when you’ll encounter someone on their way to meet Charles Darwin.
A while back, I was on the highway, about to pop into an HOV lane as the lane opened up. I neglected to check my mirrors, as I was entering a lane that should’ve had no one in it, right (still signaled, mind you, just didn’t check). A red blur zipped by my driver’s side with inches to spare. Good reminder to *always* check, but my mistake wouldn’t have left me dead, which I’m not sure I can say for the other person.
Speed differentials are a killer.
Villain in a charger, eh? Was going faster than a Bullitt trying to make its Great Escape, after that collision might be a Damaged Crown Affair, I give it a Magnificent 7 out of 10.
I anoint you mcQueen for a day.
Funny the things you remember…I can hear my sainted driver’s ed teacher Mitch (in his ’70s Dodge Dart, nerves of steel and calm of voice) intoning “always leave yourself an out.”
And I don’t mean the victims, I mean junior spy hunter in the Charger. But I guess that’s the point…people who think through their driving aren’t the type to do things like pass at a big speed differential on the left shoulder. That impact served him well.
I agree, great job by the passenger to keep her cool!
Yeah, talk about a good rally car navigator.
“Straight, abort lane change, Challenger approaching at speed… brace… three right on to grass…”