Reckless driver, Model 3 prevents accident…

[Hour123]

On I-45 North near beltway 8 in Houston, reckless Giulia driver cuts into my lane from right and almost hit my car. Instinctively applied breaks and turned steering wheel to the left – Ford pick-up was on the left lane at the same time. Model 3 kept me in the lane, yanked me back to the right, again kept me in the lane pulling the car into the center.

At that speed (60 – 65 MPH to begin with), ping ponging in the lane felt very different and unsettling. Within few seconds the car, drive etc was as if nothing happened… I hit the TeslaCam button.

I think it’s the emergency lane departure avoidance that kept me in the lane and avoided an accident.

Thanks Tesla!

Before reviewing the footage, I felt like road rage towards the Model 3 since it was a Giulia (TMC and Reddit influence I guess), however, after looking at the footage, the Giulia driver was cutting other vehicles off as well.



Skip to 25 sec for the event

Front:

Left Repeater:

Right Repeater:

How do we discourage this reckless behavior?

 

[gaswalla]

Wow.. Impressive maneuvers by the car to keep you in lane. Glad no one hurt.

 

[jerry33]

How do we discourage this reckless behavior?

This worked fine for the Prius:

 

[ReddyLeaf]

Wow.. Impressive maneuvers by the car to keep you in lane. Glad no one hurt.

Agreed! @Hour123 I always watch these videos to see what went wrong and how to predict better before something happens. I think this is the clearest case proving that AP has prevented accidents.

 

[ChunkAhoy]

Thats incredible.
The car really tool care of you on this one. I hope i dont get to experience this as it’s kind of scary but it’s good to know this might save me from a crash eventually.

 

[MrMassTransit]

How do we discourage this reckless behavior?

Sorry that happened to you and glad everything worked out okay. The only way to discourage this behavior is to change the law and allow police departments to accept camera footage along with a sworn statement from a citizen as the basis to investigate and/or mail a ticket. Some European countries, as well as Australia/NZ allow this. In DC, we are moving to allow this as a pilot for non-moving violations this fall, but not for moving violations yet.

In the slightly longer term, advances in AI vision will allow for more advanced traffic cameras to monitor conditions and issue tickets by mail. The stumbling block will not be the technology but the willingness of citizens to allow this. Texas just outlawed all traffic cameras, IIRC.

Here in DC, we have some the highest density of traffic cameras in the nation, and the population of the city continues to support the camera program. In part, that's because it's implemented in a way that has avoided the stumbles of other programs (such as not giving a private company an incentive to issue tickets, not allowing hidden cameras (all locations are signed/labeled) and allowing reasonable variances from the law +10 MPH of the speed limit before a ticket issued). However, almost of half of DC households do not own a car and nearly everyone here is a pedestrian part of the time.

I'm a large proponent of increased enforcement to cut down on dangerous behavior, but many drivers (and organization such as AAA) oppose any increase of enforcement. Substantial amounts of research shows that certainty of consequences, not the severity of them, is what deters undesirable behavior. The law needs to be changed to allow avenues to increase certainty of enforcement and unless there's a willingness to spend immense sums of public dollars on additional police, accepting video evidence (or generating it through camera enforcement) is the only way to substantially increase the chance of getting caught.

 

[KenC]

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

 

[HopeToGolf]

Based on your description, is it safe to say you were not on AP? What lane departure avoidance settings are on? Pretty impressive if the car pulled you back over and was not in AP.

 

[Bill Foster]

You would have smashed into that F150 if not for Tesla saving your bacon . I’m impressed

 

[run-the-joules]

Lol. Of course it was a Beamer.

That's an Alfa Romeo…

 

[sreams]

Lol. Of course it was a Beamer.

Nope. Alfa.

 

[chronopc]

That's an Alfa Romeo…

You're right. I guess I was just projecting a Beamer lol.

 

[MMBTUS]

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.

 

[Tron 3]

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...

 

[StealthP3D]

How do we discourage this reckless behavior?

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.

 

[pk44FG]

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.

 

[StealthP3D]

No good solution to this. And thats why autonomous mode will not work till every car is in that mode I guess.

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.

 

[Hour123]

Wow.. Impressive maneuvers by the car to keep you in lane. Glad no one hurt.

Indeed! It happened fast.. I was like: Did I hear any scratching or crunching sounds, was there contact? Non of the others seem to react - may be the F150 driver sped up seeing my car's snake like movement, still keeping me in my lane.

 

[Hour123]

Agreed! @Hour123 I always watch these videos to see what went wrong and how to predict better before something happens. I think this is the clearest case proving that AP has prevented accidents.

Agree, I do not know if this could be prevented by any other manufacturer. I was not on AP, "emergency lane departure avoidance" was toggled "on". It was enough to keep the car in the lane.

 

[Hour123]

Based on your description, is it safe to say you were not on AP? What lane departure avoidance settings are on? Pretty impressive if the car pulled you back over and was not in AP.

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.