Reckless driver, Model 3 prevents accident…

[Hour123]

My M3 spared me from a kinda similar crash, but no one’s fault but my own.

Driving in center lane of I95 at highway speed, no cruise or Autosteer. Emergency lane departure active assist engaged. I did not see a rapidly approaching car in the right lane as I signaled to move into that lane. My M3 quickly and forcefully moved me away from that lane and back into my own as the car whizzed by me.

Two notables: My signaling the lane change should have overridden any lane departure alert or resistance, even if Autosteer had been engaged. The car ignored my signal and shoved me over to the left. It definitely saw the lane was not open and responded perfectly. Second, my knee-jerk reaction was to wrestle control from the car to continue moving right. Corner of my eye caught the car passing by and let the M3 steer me straight.

I have not pulled video yet but did save.

I really do love this magical car.

Good to know its watching out quite well. My assist was OFF. Overriding your signal inputs to keep you safe is amazing.

Watching the videos was very enlightening, Made me appreciate the safety tech even more.

 

[Hour123]

Few are the problems that cannot be solved by the proper application of a high explosive projectile.
Unfortunately, the collateral damage would prevent that in this case.

I drove a 24-foot truck for 30 years in the Denver metro area and had my share of dealing with people like that. I haven't had a restraining order pulled on me since I retired.
Poetic to see the white car jump in front of him...

Yep! I noticed it... may be they are friends

 

[C141medic]

How to discourage? Start taking away people's license to drive.

Unfortunately it’s these type of idiots where that won’t make one bit of difference because they’ll still drive with a suspended/revoked license.

 

[Hour123]

Well, history offers a number of effective counter-measures. Aggressive driving was a problem even back in ancient Rome:



You could expect this to negatively impact your range so you might want to consider something more modern like the button activated (retractable) wheel blades on James Bond Aston Martin DB5:



This car had a number of other useful features to deal with aggressive drivers:



There are remotely activated machine guns behind fold-down tail lights, a retractable bullet-proof shield (useful if they start firing back at you), a rotating license plate to confuse law enforcement and extendable bumpers capable of deploying traction robbing oil to assist with successful get-aways. Even in dire circumstances, I recommend avoiding the use of the ejection seat as I don't think it was ever satisfactorily perfected.

If these modifications are more involved than what you had in mind, there are other less expensive and more popular solutions (although, ultimately, they are not as effective):



But don't totally discount their effectiveness:



Until the roads are populated 100% by autonomous vehicles aggressive drivers will be a reality of driving on public roads.

Oh Boy! that's a lot of options. Scary damage!

 

[Hour123]

Similar things happened to me. No good solution to this. And thats why autonomous mode will not work till every car is in that mode I guess. .. what I figured out (or adapted to ) was to not leave a big gap (3+ car distance) in front of me when AP is on. I have noticed that drivers behind me seem to get frustrated that I am not following the car ahead much closer. So they try to either come into that space or use that space to cut through to other lanes. And whenever they do that M3 brakes suddenly endangering me from the other guy who is tailgating me.. either +1 distance or a more peaceful : let all those in a hurry pass by and then catch up with the last car with a +5 setting ( which the M3 does in a couple of seconds anyways ) I can swear to the safety in a M3. This weekend it saved us when the traffic came to a sudden stop from 80+ on I95. The last time this happened, I rear-ended the car in front of me. Love the car.

Similar experience with folks pulling in before me when I tried AP the first few days in Houston traffic. I customize the distance or hit the accelerator pedal.

 

[Hour123]

Actually, with multiple cameras being constantly "aware" of vehicles encroaching from any direction and the ability to react instantly, autonomous vehicles will be able to avoid this kind of accident with much higher success than human drivers who are often not aware of what is happening (or where all the other cars are) until it's too late.

Yep!

 

[Feathermerchan]

So when Musk says Autopilot drives better than the average person, we know who that is.

 

[ReddykwRun]

Exactly why I do no miss driving in Houston, New Orleans or Tampa, in my USCG years that was my plight with too many morons trying to use public roads as their own personal racetrack and trying to get there "yesterday". Love living in the country now. My biggest threat is hitting a hog or dear at night. Big problem here. I wonder how the MS would look with some brush guards on the front? Could the "pedestrian" avoidance system react in time to prevent an animal strike? Anyone been down that road?

 

[MacGreiner]

Can you get the plate details on the uncompressed footage?

 

[Rothgarr]

Can you get the plate details on the uncompressed footage?

I wish there were some audio. With my old dash cams, when I saw some stupid driving behavior I would say out loud the license plate number and it would be recorded along with the video.

 

[Nuclear Fusion]

How do we discourage this reckless behavior?

Answer: Refer the white car that moved into the left lane in front of him & held him up!

 

[rdskill]

fun fact: If you would have turned into the pickup in the left lane, his insurance company would have been all over you and you would probably been cited for driving into the side of him. It's better to let a car coming into your lane hit you for legal and insurance reasons.

So you owe you M3 a huge thank you lol.

I like the way the white car ahead of you cut him off and then paced the truck to hold him back just to ruin his plans.

 

[MoHazee4]

Just curious - were you driving slow? You are driving in the middle lane - not the far right.

 

[davewill]

fun fact: If you would have turned into the pickup in the left lane, his insurance company would have been all over you and you would probably been cited for driving into the side of him. It's better to let a car coming into your lane hit you for legal and insurance reasons.

So you owe you M3 a huge thank you lol.

I like the way the white car ahead of you cut him off and then paced the truck to hold him back just to ruin his plans.

Probably better to say that avoiding a collision is not an excuse for hitting someone else. If you don't know that the next lane is clear, you shouldn't swerve into it. However, it's very cool that the car kept the OP from making that mistake.

 

[Hour123]

Just curious - were you driving slow? You are driving in the middle lane - not the far right.

Keeping up with traffic

 

[patrick80132]

I thought that was "Mad Max" mode he or she was using.

 

[plee1024]

Just assume stupidity when driving in Houston. I've seen people stop in the left lane just to exit rather than going to the next exit and reverse backwards in the emergency lane to exit. Looked like there was a race between the white car and the (Alpha) black car.

 

[Archduke]

Before reviewing the footage, I felt like road rage towards the Model 3 since it was a Giulia (TMC and Reddit influence I guess)...

Is there some Tesla Model 3/Maserati Giulia rivalry of which I'm unaware? Because if Maserati drivers think they're in the same league as those of us in Teslas, well....Coffee Lol GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

 

[mswlogo]

Just curious - were you driving slow? You are driving in the middle lane - not the far right.

There is no "Passing Lane" in conditions like that, IMHO.

I was not on AP.

Short before the incident, there was a stretch of the freeway where lanes are tightly packed with the road curving. So was driving myself.

Lane Departure Avoidance - OFF.

There are many spots where lane marking disappear/merge/expand. I am not ready to test/learn how M3 handles them. Had the car for about a week only.

Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance - ON
Blind spot collision warning chime - ON
Automatic emergency braking - ON
Obstacle-aware acceleration - ON

I think its the Emergency lane departure avoidance that kept me from slapping into the F150.

Hmmm, I really thought it was Lane Departure Avoidance (with Assist) that kicked in, not Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance, interesting.

I've had both LDA and ELDA on since release and have yet to have it do anything really bad and a few better safe than sorry moves. No huges saves like that one.

Thanks for sharing Video and Settings.

Your gradually building up confidence in what the car can and can't do it very smart. Kudo's

 

[SO16]

Actually, with multiple cameras being constantly "aware" of vehicles encroaching from any direction and the ability to react instantly, autonomous vehicles will be able to avoid this kind of accident with much higher success than human drivers who are often not aware of what is happening (or where all the other cars are) until it's too late.

Exactly. We can’t wait for autonomous to be perfect and in every car. Bad things will still happen. People have to get out of the mindset that if there is a “chance” of an accident, they don’t want to use it.