Crazy. Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad you are OK. This really is a compelling example of having a dash cam installed.
Amazing. Hope you'll be compensated. No drivers licence. Stupid. He probably lost control over the car.
Wow, that video was absolutely scary. A meter to the left and it would have been a probably fatal frontal crash. Good to see you get away unscathed!
What I don't get if why someone was just suicidal why they wouldn't just drive it into a pole. Why take out an innocent driver? I seriously think that the older I get, the less I understand this world.
< Off topic> It's actually not that much of a problem. You'd be surprised how quickly your brain can adapt. I had a 2 week vacation in the USA (was still living in the UK) and on my journey back I had a moment when I thought the bus I was turning the wrong way. You might occasionally get it wrong when you turn onto another road, but the oncoming traffic will remind you. My father did that when we returned from living in Germany. The reminder was a truck. For people traveling to a "wrong-side" country, also be careful as a pedestrian. You have an instinctive connection between travel direction and near/far lane and it will be wrong. On vacation in Portugal from the UK I was trying to cross a road that was fairly busy and nearly stepped into the path of a car coming from my left, because my instinct told me that it would be in the far lane and I could start crossing as it passed. Lesson: intersections are the key problem, so just take particular care as you approach. Note that traffic circles should not be a problem for wrong way driving, because the layout directs you the right way. <On topic> Clearly that driver had a problem. It looks the other driver had come out of a curve, but, for some reason, they didn't complete it. I hope the OP and other driver are both OK. EDIT: OK, I read more. That other driver had multiple problems. EDIT: OK, I think I found the section of road on street view. Coming the other way there's a fairly sharp turn (as seen on one of the photos), and there's a warning sign with an S and speed 35mph. I could see that could have gone wrong. Right place, right time, wrong other people.
Wow, crazy video, first off so glad you're OK and a shame such a nice car is totaled, he should have used a tree if he wanted to take himself out. That dash cam video was so helpful in this situation and has now moved to top priority to get one installed.
I was a pedestrian struck by a car following a verbal altercation. (Guy was a jerk, trying to start something.) I took the high ground and walked away from his taunts. He responded by jumping in his car and running me down with it. I was faced with the decision of pushing for criminal charges, which probably would have happened if I and my lawyer(s) had made a stink but doing so would have immediately absolved his insurance company from responsibility. I elected to sue instead, to help cover the grief that accompanied two surgeries and months of physical therapy. As the judge commented after one of our pre-trial hearings, that was totally the right call. They let far more violent criminals off with a slap on the wrist, he observed, especially when it's so easy for him to claim negligence in his criminal trial, and he would probably have gotten a suspended sentence and probation, at the worst, which would have done me very little good. So, the guy who hit you was negligent. Period. Don't do him and his insurance company the incredible favor of making claims that his actions were intentional.
Ok, I’ve been anti-dash cam for a while now since there doesn’t seem to be any model that will encrypt the video for my legal protection. However, this video has me shopping for one this morning. I am so glad you are ok. As mentioned by many, your attitude is amazing. Thank you for sharing this story and your reaction. I hope your new Model 3 finds it’s way to you quickly.
I think it's safe to say if this was a Tesla on autopilot it would've been avoided. I think? But let's say you have full Autopilot but it's not switched on - will it still engage and veer to avoid this type of collision on its own? I hope so!
So, so glad you walked away, apparently unharmed!! Many people, in the moment, freeze, with a much more disastrous outcome than that - very nice to see this outcome! With the new suite of sensors in new Tesla’s, would that crash be caught in some form without a dash cam? Would Tesla release that info if requested? Your dash cam video answers many questions typically seen in crashes... just wondering out loud, now that we know both of you essentially walked away from that crash.
The OP wrote that the other driver doesn't have insurance. Unless they did a runner, it's a criminal case and a suit. I can't wait for cheap autonomy.
Yeah, we hadn’t installed our other dash cam in my husbands car yet. That is very high on the priority list now.
First, I am happy you are here to tell the tale. Just incredible! Rest easy because you are likely to feel the physical aftermath in the days to come. Eggnog with a little brandy and rum in it will do wonders! Your new, red model 3 should also help ease the pain. A few year ago, our car, a MBZ, was totaled by an uninsured, suspended license motorist while sitting out in front of our house at the curb (she was on drugs). The limits on our uninsured motorist coverage would only pay $3000. Our attorney contacted the owner of the car (the father of the miscreant) and had a "heart to heart" talk with him indicating pay up or lawsuit. The owner of the car made us whole immediately based on KBB value out of his pocket. You have several ways to pursue this, but best to contact your attorney first. A suicidal person does not think logically, that's why they are suicidal.
I believe autopilot is designed not to leave the travel lanes. Emergency braking would possibly kick in though (per the Phoenix? wrong way crash report). Now if the other driver had autopilot...
<off topic> In the USA murder-suicides are only about 0.06% of the total. People suffering from depression are over 50% of the total, but far from all suicidal people are depressed and acting illogically, let alone a danger to others.
Looks like a classic texting drift. The phone records would confirm it. Glad you were in such a safe car. Robin
As odd as it is, I hope this is correct. After sleeping on it, he could have been reaching down into the passenger seat or something too. He wasn’t real clear on what happened after the accident. It’s much easier to think he just made a dumb mistake than to contemplate the idea that he was intentionally trying to hit me.