r/IdiotsInCars • u/realDonaldBalls • 7h ago
OC [OC] Person lost control merging on the highway. Probably on their phone.
800
520
u/realDonaldBalls 7h ago
Somehow managed to get out of this without any injury or even damage to my vehicle. I've never experienced anything like this before.
179
u/dechets-de-mariage 7h ago
If you could have planned for it I don’t think you could’ve pulled it off. Well done.
103
u/MrStealurGirllll 7h ago
I’m like 99% sure you are advised NOT to do what you did. BUUUT I woulda done the same fuckin thing. Swift move
80
u/realDonaldBalls 7h ago
I think so. To me, it's safer to hit a vehicle going at a similar speed as me than to hit one that isn't. But I didn't have much time to think anyways.
63
u/ChipsNCookies 6h ago
If the car in the middle lane didn’t brake you would’ve hit them. Nice save though scary stuff 😬
3
1
u/arcadiangenesis 6h ago
What are you advised to do?
58
u/wasntit 6h ago
Brake and try to minimize impact while staying in your lane. Sounds dumb I know. Luckily, they made it through, but imagine he pushed the car beside him into the next lane of traffic etc. Or if he fishtailed himself on the car next to him. It could have ended way worse.
29
u/Tunafishsam 5h ago
Yep. If red car had braked a bit slower, OP could have PITed himself and spun out and possibly flipped.
Hitting the idiot car is bad, but cars are made for front on collisions. Your first instinct when seeing cars moving erratically should be to get on the brakes. That reduces impact speed and resulting damage significantly. Kinetic energy grows as the square of velocity, so even a little braking goes a long way to reducing the severity of accidents. Unfortunately, most people only come off the accelerator while they try and figure out what's going on. Then they try and maneuver away rather than just stopping in their lane.
That's a higher variance move. OP got the luckiest result in his case, but simple straight line braking is the best overall response.
9
u/somedude456 4h ago
Known vs unknown. Say a deer runs onto the highway. Known: brake hard and hope for the best. Unknown: swerve, sideswipe a SUV causing them to lose control, roll and 2 kids are ejected and killed on impact, but congrats you didn't hit the deer.
2
u/frank26080115 2h ago
The problem is that these "advice" are meant so that you can come up with one advice that works for literally everybody
The same advice is not the most optimal advice for... say... a dog fighting jet pilot or some superhuman aware person like that
1
u/SummertimeThrowaway2 2h ago
Why wouldn’t that be advised? If OP knows the lane is clear, then that was a perfect manuever. Braking doesn’t always solve every problem.
0
u/Starfire013 52m ago
Because if you dodge one car and hit another car, it becomes your fault that you hit that other car. Of course, if you know it's clear, that's fine. But in this situation, if the other car hadn't braked, OP would be on the hook for any damage he caused to the other car.
8
8
u/Several_Razzmatazz51 4h ago
It’s a good thing the people to your right anticipated earlier than you and slammed on their brakes or you would have had nowhere to go.
3
u/I_am_not_baldy 6h ago
I have but on the right side of a fast road (not a highway). A girl swerved to the right, crossed my path, and overturned her car. She had no visible injuries but was visibly drunk.
1
u/SummertimeThrowaway2 2h ago
Good job focusing and not panicking. It was one of those cases where braking wasn’t enough. This near crash will be engrained in your muscle memory forever.
-29
u/Moebs000 7h ago
You never experienced getting out of situations without injuries or damage to your vehicle?
173
u/JZSlider 7h ago
Brake lights only come on after they hit the wall... Like, they know they're driving, right?
33
12
19
15
3
u/SummertimeThrowaway2 2h ago
To be fair it’s a bad idea to slam the brakes in the middle of a slide. It pushes all the car’s weight to the front which makes the rear more unstable.
134
24
u/feardabear 7h ago
That’s Grand Rapids!
12
1
1
13
u/desolation_crow 7h ago
This is how I drive when I’m in a dream and can’t control my arms or legs well
6
9
9
5
u/Pabloracer1 7h ago
that was one HELL of a save my guy, glad you and your car made it out of it unscathed, i'm pretty sure at that moment adrenaline kicked in real hard and saw the world moving at slowmo, didn't it? hahah
6
u/broncophil 4h ago
You are soooo lucky middle lane car hit their brakes, but awesome save man.. glad you are safe
3
5
8
12
u/WombatAnnihilator 7h ago
Because you honking at them is going to help them as they’re entirely out of control, slamming into the barricade.
5
u/cake_boner 5h ago
Dude's not the worst driver, but he's damn lucky the red minivan is a better one. beeeeeeeeeep!
1
7
u/crazysurferdude15 6h ago
Yo but like.... What was honking gunna do?? Lmao.
Great dodge though. Really nice driving. Passing in the left lane and then attentive enough to dodge a missile.
3
u/theatrenearyou 4h ago
Ive heard STEER to where you see the car because it wont be there by the time you get there vs. steering away often mistaken because you steer into it misjudging
No idea about which is accurate
2
u/Attygalle 56m ago
Totally irrelevant but I wished I thought of that last year when I was cycling downhill in the middle of nowhere in France and hit a fucking marmot. It was sitting in the middle of the road and I steered right of it but the marmot decided to go that exact way. Got me some bruises and open wounds, nothing too serious because I was lucky. Poor fellow ran into the woods shrieking, hope he wasn't hurt too badly.
1
u/the_eluder 2h ago
I would kinda agree with that. A lot of times people try to get ahead of the car and think they will pass in front, but if you try to go behind you'll frequently miss, and even if you hit it damage to the people inside will be greatly reduced.
5
u/Loring 7h ago
Whoa that was close also what on are God's gray earth are you listening to?
15
u/realDonaldBalls 7h ago
Search Engine! My favorite podcast. Specifically, the episode "The Cuddly Killer."
2
u/BirdsCatsandLesbians 6h ago
One of the many horrible entrance ramps in Grand Rapids. This one in particular is super short and overall really dangerous, but I have never seen anyone overshoot it that badly before. Definitely either distracted driving or the driver flooring it to beat the cars on the right or a combination of the two. Just another example of why 131 in GR is a hot mess.
4
3
3
2
1
u/Boss0054 3h ago
lol…. Bro dodged that car like the Matrix!!… he is tapped in with his real self…..🤣
1
1
2
1
1
1
0
0
u/aidan4105 5h ago
looks like they hit the grass while they were on the on ramp. either drunk, medical emergency, or distracted.
-18
u/91Jammers 7h ago
What indicates they were on their phone?
19
u/idiotsinthecomments 7h ago
It's a guess my man.
-19
u/91Jammers 7h ago
Based on what though?
6
u/aroc91 7h ago
The fact that every time I go out for a drive, I see countless morons staring down at their phone while maneuvering multi-ton metal contraptions.
3
u/RMMacFru 6h ago
And if that moron was, there's an extra law about not using hands-free phones in Michigan while driving.
12
-29
u/Shantotto11 7h ago
What were YOU paying attention to that you didn’t slow down like the other two vehicles?
22
u/idiotsinthecomments 7h ago
You mean the two vehicles obstructing his view of the idiot who lost control?
Fuck off.
0
u/apcolleen 5h ago
Agreed. If I see two lanes of traffic hit their brakes at the same time I am slowing down too BECAUSE I can't see what's in front of them. The person behind this guy might not have time to react but I hope they saw the other people hit their brakes.
•
u/AutoModerator 7h ago
Hello /u/realDonaldBalls! Please reply to this comment with the following information to confirm the content is OC
What country or state did this take place in?
What was the date of the incident?
Please reconfirm that this is original content
If you are unable to reply directly to this comment, please leave a standalone comment in your thread with the requested information.
If you fail to answer these questions, your post will be removed.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.