Regardless of legal fault, it just appeared to me from the video that the accident may have been avoidable. Sad that a new LC was crunched, but luckily it was not worse, such as someone being "dead right".
The crash that killed Dusty
- Thread starter Proyota
- Start date
I just saw that Toyota of Tacoma has a heritage blue with gray scale and black interior still up for grabs. One of the best tools to use is the inventory button on the Toyota website when your building a LC.
- Jul 23, 2023
- 12
- 11
It's a Tacoma fault. When he/she sees the truck merge into his lane, he should slow down his speed and drive behind the truck. The problem is he kept his speed and moved the left lane. Not sure he had looked behind before he moved or he just looked in the mirror then moving to left lane. Bad luck OP was at the right time, right moment when he moved. I don't blame the truck because it was ahead of Tacoma. Tacoma should slow down to drive behind the truck, and wait for OP to pass over then move into left lane.
Hi, I am new there but always "interested" in accidents sotries, only cause each of us can always take away some experience on his own. Thank you for sharing.
Additional comments, I don't think it was mentioned before:
-do I see correct that the pick-up is changing line with NO turning signals on ? This adds to his fault, emergency situation for him or not.
-I have the feeling, but can be wrong cause of the short video sequence, that both you at the LC wheel, and also the pick-up, were driving on "cruise control" until when things start to go wild. Its high-stop-light flashes quickly, exactly like someone hits the brake to switch off the cruise-control (CC).Am I correct to assume so ? Dont get me wrong, it is not intended to point peoples' responsibility (as the insurance anyway made thta clearly), but to share and learn, including for myself. Cruise-control is great, I use it all the time, even into the city (speed cameras everywhere in Switzerland) but on the highway, they tend to make us react later than when we keep the foot on the pedal. I am not saying "too late" but "later". As we see things from far, we naturally & instinctively would realease the accelerator foot, reducing speed. Using the CC makes things go at speed up to a moment... I mean, nothing that puts anybody at fault, but it is for me something I learnt for myself. When the highway is free of trafic, I am using the CC. But as soon as I feel a bit tight driving into trafic, I am switching to "speed limit". Then keep my foot down to maintain speed, as with a CC, but as soon as you have an instinct of something hapening, you tend to lift your foot, slowing down the vehicle. I feel safer doing so. It is not about "responsibility" but about "reducing" risks.
It breaks my heart to see a brand new LC being hit that way... but it is good to know that nobody was hurt.
Additional comments, I don't think it was mentioned before:
-do I see correct that the pick-up is changing line with NO turning signals on ? This adds to his fault, emergency situation for him or not.
-I have the feeling, but can be wrong cause of the short video sequence, that both you at the LC wheel, and also the pick-up, were driving on "cruise control" until when things start to go wild. Its high-stop-light flashes quickly, exactly like someone hits the brake to switch off the cruise-control (CC).Am I correct to assume so ? Dont get me wrong, it is not intended to point peoples' responsibility (as the insurance anyway made thta clearly), but to share and learn, including for myself. Cruise-control is great, I use it all the time, even into the city (speed cameras everywhere in Switzerland) but on the highway, they tend to make us react later than when we keep the foot on the pedal. I am not saying "too late" but "later". As we see things from far, we naturally & instinctively would realease the accelerator foot, reducing speed. Using the CC makes things go at speed up to a moment... I mean, nothing that puts anybody at fault, but it is for me something I learnt for myself. When the highway is free of trafic, I am using the CC. But as soon as I feel a bit tight driving into trafic, I am switching to "speed limit". Then keep my foot down to maintain speed, as with a CC, but as soon as you have an instinct of something hapening, you tend to lift your foot, slowing down the vehicle. I feel safer doing so. It is not about "responsibility" but about "reducing" risks.
It breaks my heart to see a brand new LC being hit that way... but it is good to know that nobody was hurt.
Glad you escaped unscathed. While it may have technically been avoidable, that would require a heightened sense of awareness like that required for staying alive on a motorcycle. Not the way most of us go down the highway for sure.
Dusty was in the Tacoma’s blind spot. The Tacoma changed lanes to avoid the semi and didn’t look to see if anyone was in the left lane. Understandable given the urgency of the need to avoid the semi, but hitting Dusty was still the Tacoma’s fault.
Really the better solution would have been for the Tacoma to brake hard and let the semi into his lane. That would not have required him to move into space possibly owned by another driver.
Slowing down to avoid a hazard is always the advantage of the driver who slows down, others in that space are required to yield. Anyone hitting him from behind would have been at fault.
IMO and IME.
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Glad everyone was safe. Just curious, what insurance provider do you have that considered the LC totaled? Damage doesn't look anywhere close to that.
Thanks for posting your mishap Proyota. You forced me to quit procrastinating and place the order.
I just ordered a Garmin X310 for a forward facing Dash Cam, the Mini 3 for a rearward facing cam, and the OBD power adapter. Looks like I will be busy early next week.
I just ordered a Garmin X310 for a forward facing Dash Cam, the Mini 3 for a rearward facing cam, and the OBD power adapter. Looks like I will be busy early next week.
The only issue I have with the obd adapter, is if you ever want to run a scan gauge like I do. Thankfully if your ever in that situation, there is the dongar power adapters. I'm waiting for them to come back into stock.
Glad you got out of that. Could have been way worse. Now I have to figure out how the dashcam works. It was installed when I bought it but I haven't bothered to figure it out.
Speaking as a career insurance guy, this is far from cut and dried. I doubt if the different companies involved will want to go to court over it unless there were injuries.
It is 100% the fault of the pickup. But...wouldn't you want to avoid the accident if you could? Not only for the complete hassle of the car but also for your safety? And again, it's not the OP's fault, but the OP could've of tried to avoid the accident. From the video, it seems like he didn't try. I would've tried hard to avoid the accident for personal safety and for the monstrous hassle of dealing with police, insurance, etc.
OP already stated it happened so fast he couldn’t avoid it. Sheesh. Seriously, people. Stop blaming the victim. He was driving in his lane and has the right to do that. The pick-up driver isn’t the victim, I’d love to know how far back the merge sign was. It’s perfectly possible the pick-up driver missed the merge sign since he was inside of the semi, but why is no one blaming that guy? He clearly sped up to get in front of the OP and then attempted to bully his way into the lane and lost.
Defensive driving is one thing, but you shouldn’t have to spend all your time driving swiveling your head and slamming on your brakes to make sure aggressive drivers get their way. Failing to yield the right of way is getting out of hand. I don’t even want to get into people pulling out onto the highway in front of a car traveling at highway speeds.
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To be clear, we, the drivers of the cars, are not judge nor jury. We can decide all day whose fault the accident is but it doesn't matter.
If the LC has $10k in damage, no insurance company is going to spend $15k suing someone else to recoup that $10k. You don't want them to. They're spending your premium dollars doing this so it makes sense for them to just pay you your $10k.
Read your policy.
I don't care if some clown gets his way, I care about protecting myself and my car. We all have that responsibility to ourselves. You have to assume everyone is an idiot and look out for yourself, ask anyone who rides a bike.
Could they have done better in a perfect world? Yes.
Could any of us have done better in the real world in that very moment? Probably not. Lets hope we never have to find out.
The big question I have and which should be relevant to all of us is: Proyota, were you using cruise control? Did any of the safety features PSC/whatever kick in? Was it active?
They angle they came from makes me think PSC might have missed them entirely.
- Jul 7, 2025
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Late to the party with a cautionary tale regarding dash cams and insurance.
I have been running dash cams since 2012, and 2 channel systems since 2018. Started and abandoned many regional "worst drivers of..." fb pages as the Navy threw me all across the country for the last half of my career. I've been saved by those cameras more than once, and I've had plenty of clips to share with friends and acquaintances. One thing I learned early: Everyone has an opinion, some people are just naturally contrary, and most people have no business on the road haha.
Now, the cautionary tale: In 2022 I was involved in an accident while driving my 100 mile/day, gas-sipping Honda. Two left turn lanes designed to increase volume throughput at a light. About 1/8 mile after said light, the two lanes merged into one after a sharp bend right with a serious guardrail on the right side. People unzip into these lanes, and the idea is that you zip back together on the other side of the light. I was in the outermost (right) left turn lane, and a late model Ford 150 was in the innermost (left) left turn lane. When we got the arrow we were adjacent, and since he was resting at the light ahead of me I intended to allow him to take the lead. However, he immediately starting veering into my lane (half of his truck at the apex of the turn) and I was immediately adjacent to him with a guardrail preventing me moving right. Given the distance to the rail and his slower merging into my lane (which would be ending in less than 1/8 mile), as well as me knowing that my car was FWD, I decided to gun it to get around him. My logic was that I could get around him, and if he was to continue squeezing me, a side impact on a solid rear axle was better than the front where my engine and drive were located. Unfortunately, he saw me speeding up and just sideswiped me into the guardrail.
When we stopped, I stepped out and he asked why I came into his lane. He was an older gentleman wearing an eyepatch after a recent surgery. He was upset that he was going to miss a follow-up appointment. Ironically, I was on my way to a consultation for a back procedure myself. I let him rant, and then informed him of my dash cams before calling the police. The officer showed up shortly after and I showed him the video. The rear camera clearly shows him just taking me out and me evading him. HOWEVER, I COULD have stopped before the rail, or I could have just let him hit me from the front.
In the end, the officer assigned fault to the other driver. I notified my insurance and they filed the claim against his. He had State Farm, and I (at the time) had Geico. I submitted the video evidence of him moving completely into my lane. State Farm appealed it, it went to arbitration, and I lost. The reason: I sped up. It didn't matter my reasoning, or that he was going to hit me either way short of me coming to a complete stop.
Moral of the story: Some insurance companies are bullies, and some are very, very weak. Your video is only as good as the person viewing it and what they see. In this thread alone we saw multiple interpretations of the same video, and hot takes happen without the ability to appeal. My advice is to look at it from all angles and fully consider whether or not the video hurts or helps your case before submitting it to any insurance company.
I have been running dash cams since 2012, and 2 channel systems since 2018. Started and abandoned many regional "worst drivers of..." fb pages as the Navy threw me all across the country for the last half of my career. I've been saved by those cameras more than once, and I've had plenty of clips to share with friends and acquaintances. One thing I learned early: Everyone has an opinion, some people are just naturally contrary, and most people have no business on the road haha.
Now, the cautionary tale: In 2022 I was involved in an accident while driving my 100 mile/day, gas-sipping Honda. Two left turn lanes designed to increase volume throughput at a light. About 1/8 mile after said light, the two lanes merged into one after a sharp bend right with a serious guardrail on the right side. People unzip into these lanes, and the idea is that you zip back together on the other side of the light. I was in the outermost (right) left turn lane, and a late model Ford 150 was in the innermost (left) left turn lane. When we got the arrow we were adjacent, and since he was resting at the light ahead of me I intended to allow him to take the lead. However, he immediately starting veering into my lane (half of his truck at the apex of the turn) and I was immediately adjacent to him with a guardrail preventing me moving right. Given the distance to the rail and his slower merging into my lane (which would be ending in less than 1/8 mile), as well as me knowing that my car was FWD, I decided to gun it to get around him. My logic was that I could get around him, and if he was to continue squeezing me, a side impact on a solid rear axle was better than the front where my engine and drive were located. Unfortunately, he saw me speeding up and just sideswiped me into the guardrail.
When we stopped, I stepped out and he asked why I came into his lane. He was an older gentleman wearing an eyepatch after a recent surgery. He was upset that he was going to miss a follow-up appointment. Ironically, I was on my way to a consultation for a back procedure myself. I let him rant, and then informed him of my dash cams before calling the police. The officer showed up shortly after and I showed him the video. The rear camera clearly shows him just taking me out and me evading him. HOWEVER, I COULD have stopped before the rail, or I could have just let him hit me from the front.
In the end, the officer assigned fault to the other driver. I notified my insurance and they filed the claim against his. He had State Farm, and I (at the time) had Geico. I submitted the video evidence of him moving completely into my lane. State Farm appealed it, it went to arbitration, and I lost. The reason: I sped up. It didn't matter my reasoning, or that he was going to hit me either way short of me coming to a complete stop.
Moral of the story: Some insurance companies are bullies, and some are very, very weak. Your video is only as good as the person viewing it and what they see. In this thread alone we saw multiple interpretations of the same video, and hot takes happen without the ability to appeal. My advice is to look at it from all angles and fully consider whether or not the video hurts or helps your case before submitting it to any insurance company.
Seen as the LC was the furthest vehicle back at beginning of this event, the LC should have been aware of the left lane ending and stayed neutral as far as advancing. Basically LC set themselves up for this one! Sorry, I have been a racing instructor for 20 years and have spent countless hours teaching "situational awareness". Glad no one got hurt but learn from it. BTW to be a bit more fair, the pickup next to you should have lifted and yielded. They were oblivious and you got caught up in something you could have avoided with a little better awareness. Truck waited as long as possible but ran out of road because the pickup didn't do the right thing either.
On a gfood note, may research a dashcam because all the younger punks out their think every drive is a need for speed game. It has at least doubled post covid. Fn video games don't teach you what an impact can feel like!!!
On a gfood note, may research a dashcam because all the younger punks out their think every drive is a need for speed game. It has at least doubled post covid. Fn video games don't teach you what an impact can feel like!!!
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