brake Checked!

[Akagi]

I WANT VIDEO

Dark A road with a single lane each way seperated by chevrons.

Two cars ahead in the distance.

Cars ahead begin to slow, lorry driver doesnt slow to keep the gap, gets right up behind the car in front and flashes his lights. Maybe 2 car lengths.

Car at the front indicates to turn left, they and the car in front of the lorry begin to slow, lorry is still far too close and moves onto the chevrons as though to overtake, then pulls back in, flashes lights at the car in front again. Gets to about 1 car length.

Car in front then brakes firmly, lorry driver doesn't react particularly quickly (noticable pause) then brakes, but slams into the car in front, almost causing the car to veer into oncoming traffic before steering left again and coming to a stop.

Driver of car gets out and approaches the cab, video ends.

No sound.

 

[Semple]

If you google brake check , it's not going to take long (for the brake checker) to find this thread - lol - not really surprising he took it down.

Amongst those of us that saw the video thought the concensus was 50:50

people have been prosecuted for brake checking, like, if you emergency stopped for a pheasant suddenly flying across the road, say.
or, the mercedes auto braking stopping for a metallised bag of crisps.
the bmw driver wasn't innocent.

50:50?? Not sure how you worked that one out. Only a few people said the car should perhaps be prosecuted as well, but I don't think a single person said the lorry driver wasn't at fault.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

I don't think most people really posted about it in full frankly, just backed up that the lorry driver wasn't driving well

Look at the start of the actual incident.
Car pulls off and then suddenly brakes, what happened before this was just filler in regards the actual incident.

If the car hadn't jumped on the brakes for no reason then no incident would have happened.
Was that reasonable behavior, no, it was dangerous driving plain and simple.
NO matter what other drivers have done you don't have the right to drive dangerously, good drivers don't take this action, ever.
The solution to poor driving around you is not to do the same.

Was the lorry driver driving to the standard expected, again clearly no. He was driving too close after initially driving at a safe distance.
This caught him out and he triggered the car driver. Many car drivers (hell most probably) would have sworn about the lorry driver and got away from his asap

 

[Bazzards]

Unless you were driving the car that got hit, how do you know it was for "no reason"?

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Ok well no apparent reason,
There were clearly no people etc there

Its always possible there was something that triggered him to do an emergency stop, its just there is no apparent evidence in the video
There is plenty of evidence he was (rightly) probably shocked at how close the HGV came to hitting him on the initial stop

Dont forget the car driver who got hit wasn't driving well himself, He was clearly driving too close behind the car who was originally at the front. So there was already evidence of him being a poor driver.
Evidence tends to present he just decided to brake check, however your right thats not certain, just apparent.

Do you honestly think its more likely that he just happened to have some incident that required an emergency stop at that precise moment or that he was annoyed and thought he would get his own back on the lorry driver by brake testing him?

 

[Basher]

... So there was already evidence of him being a poor driver.

Yeah good point. All the more reason for the truck driven to give them some more room. Instead, though they let their emotions control them and ultimately hit the car in front.

100% the fault of the truck driver IMO.

 

[Bazzards]

Im not going to make assumptions for the reason why the car braked. I am just go by what can been seen in the video, he braked for an unknown reason and the lorry hit him because he was too close to stop in time. 100% lorry drivers fault.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Yeah good point. All the more reason for the truck driven to give them some more room. Instead, though they let their emotions control them and ultimately hit the car in front.

100% the fault of the truck driver IMO.

I agree, the truck driver was being silly

It still doesnt matter you should not perform emergency stops unless needed, as Jpaul points out this can be and has been prosecuted

You still come back to the basic simple fact, a good driver will not lower their driving standards because of someone elses poor driving.

It was 100% caused by the car driver. It could 100% have been avoided by the truck driver

 

[Rroff]

Nearly brake checked someone by accident a few days back - to avoid a massively long post - basically poorly laid out roadworks (which I believe caused a crash a day later) my driving with consideration for someone who was late reacting to a poorly sighted temporary speed limit change was returned by them driving inconsiderately for me changing lanes as the left hand lane closed for the roadworks and when I sped up a bit to get out in front of them (after slowing down and indicating out) I then ended up slowing down quicker than I'd anticipated directly in front of them, due to a number of factors, to keep to the speed limit with them nearly going into the back of me. (All their own fault for driving like a **** though).

A day later this happened at the same spot: https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/18822619.two-taken-hospital-vehicle-overturns-a30-crash/ pretty sure caused by the absolute brain dead layout for the road works with poor signage (in terms of alerting you to what was ahead before you saw it) and poor placement of the change in speed limit - it was a pretty hairy scenario for coming down from 70MPH to 40MPH due to the lack of visibility of the change and being on a fairly steep downhill if you cared about the speed limit never mind the inevitable people doing well above 70.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Im not going to make assumptions for the reason why the car braked. I am just go by what can been seen in the video, he braked for an unknown reason and the lorry hit him because he was too close to stop in time. 100% lorry drivers fault.

What could be seen in the video was there was no apparent reason to perform an emergency stop.

The truck driver could 100% have avoided this happening. The cause was the car driver, had the car driver not stopped no collision could have occured.
They both displayed poor driving, and when one poor driver hits another it tends to be the one that actually collides from behind who gets the blame.

Lets not get dumb here, the vast majority of people pulling away from a set of traffic lights would hit the car in front if it set off and then suddenly stopped dead with no apparent reason why.
Generally the driver behind is made to take the blame, the law assumes a reasonable driver will not emergency brake for no reason. When it can be proven that they did then it tends to flip round and the person performing the emergency stop will be the one who picks up the blame, its the whole crash for cash situation literally. Good evidence of an unwarranted emergency stop will now see the opposite action by insurance companies as they are the ones who pick up the bill.

The very nature of the term, emergency stop tells you all you need to know. It should be a reaction to a bad situation where the best course of action is to completely stop. Those situations tend to be a kid in the road or something similar.
By default an emergency stop is a dangerous situation. The key is if the driver is reacting to a dangerous situation or causing one, hell all the driving websites say that a good driver should normally have already predicted and avoided needing to do an emergency stop.

The lorry driver could have avoided the incident thats 100% clear no one can disagree. IF he had ensured he maintained distance and had allowed the car to move off a decent distance before setting off (as I mentioned something most of us dont do) then no matter what the car did the lorry driver would have been able to avoid the incident.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Nearly brake checked someone by accident a few days back - to avoid a massively long post - basically poorly laid out roadworks (which I believe caused a crash a day later) my driving with consideration for someone who was late reacting to a poorly sighted temporary speed limit change was returned by them driving inconsiderately for me changing lanes as the left hand lane closed for the roadworks and when I sped up a bit to get out in front of them (after slowing down and indicating out) I then ended up slowing down quicker than I'd anticipated directly in front of them, due to a number of factors, to keep to the speed limit with them nearly going into the back of me. (All their own fault for driving like a **** though).

A day later this happened at the same spot: https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/18822619.two-taken-hospital-vehicle-overturns-a30-crash/ pretty sure caused by the absolute brain dead layout for the road works with poor signage and poor placement of the change in speed limit - it was a pretty hairy scenario for coming down from 70MPH to 40MPH due to the lack of visibility of the change and being on a fairly steep downhill if you cared about the speed limit never mind the inevitable people doing well above 70.

Yeah roadworks are often poorly laid out, and a risk area. Again its one of those things that immediately trigger a good/experienced driver to be alert not just to the hazard of the roadworks themselves, but also other drivers making poor decisions.

Doesnt even need to be roadworks though I mean how often do you go to overtake a car thats been pootling along behind a lorry or something who suddenly just as your approaching realises they now need to pull over and hadnt considered to make the maneuver until the last second, so they either pull over causing you to brake or brake themselves behind the lorry.
What do you do? I tend to slow a bit so I am not gaining on them too much and speed back up as I pass, which then often triggers someone following me to get closer to try to speed me back up as they havent seen or wouldnt take the same action to the hazard I see ahead.

If roads were less busy and more drivers less aggressive it wouldnt be so bad. Both seemingly get worse every year.

 

[Rroff]

If roads were less busy and more drivers less aggressive it wouldnt be so bad. Both seemingly get worse every year.

Yeah

I hate to say it but I liked the last lockdown because (as an essential worker) I often had the roads to myself and it was bliss. Doesn't look like this lockdown is going to reduce traffic levels as much though.

how often do you go to overtake a car thats been pootling along behind a lorry or something who suddenly just as your approaching realises they now need to pull over and hadnt considered to make the maneuver until the last second, so they either pull over causing you to brake or brake themselves behind the lorry.

Had similar at the same spot as above - couple of times I instinctively knew someone who was pootling along in the soon to be closing left hand lane would either just pull over at the last second without a care or react badly and so was ready to react to them doing that.

I won't pretend to be a great driver but I do at least try.

 

[Scania]

I think a lot are missing the point that just because it looks like the car driver stopped for no reason it doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.

I had to my shame an incident similar to this a few years back, a car suddenly stopped in front of me for no obvious reason, I got a bit annoyed and honked my horn only to then get out of the cab and realise the car had come across a cyclist lying dead in the road. :/

I always try to remember now that just because something seems to be going on for no reason doesn’t mean there isn’t a damn good one....

@dsb Any update on this yet? - or just wishing you’d never asked....

 

[wolfie138]

there would be no such thing as brake checking if people kept the required/suggsted distance from the car in front.

 

[geekman]

What could be seen in the video was there was no apparent reason to perform an emergency stop.

The truck driver could 100% have avoided this happening. The cause was the car driver, had the car driver not stopped no collision could have occured.
They both displayed poor driving, and when one poor driver hits another it tends to be the one that actually collides from behind who gets the blame.

Lets not get dumb here, the vast majority of people pulling away from a set of traffic lights would hit the car in front if it set off and then suddenly stopped dead with no apparent reason why.
Generally the driver behind is made to take the blame, the law assumes a reasonable driver will not emergency brake for no reason. When it can be proven that they did then it tends to flip round and the person performing the emergency stop will be the one who picks up the blame, its the whole crash for cash situation literally. Good evidence of an unwarranted emergency stop will now see the opposite action by insurance companies as they are the ones who pick up the bill.

The very nature of the term, emergency stop tells you all you need to know. It should be a reaction to a bad situation where the best course of action is to completely stop. Those situations tend to be a kid in the road or something similar.
By default an emergency stop is a dangerous situation. The key is if the driver is reacting to a dangerous situation or causing one, hell all the driving websites say that a good driver should normally have already predicted and avoided needing to do an emergency stop.

The lorry driver could have avoided the incident thats 100% clear no one can disagree. IF he had ensured he maintained distance and had allowed the car to move off a decent distance before setting off (as I mentioned something most of us dont do) then no matter what the car did the lorry driver would have been able to avoid the incident.

100% this.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

I think a lot are missing the point that just because it looks like the car driver stopped for no reason it doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.

I had to my shame an incident similar to this a few years back, a car suddenly stopped in front of me for no obvious reason, I got a bit annoyed and honked my horn only to then get out of the cab and realise the car had come across a cyclist lying dead in the road. :/

I always try to remember now that just because something seems to be going on for no reason doesn’t mean there isn’t a damn good one....

@dsb Any update on this yet? - or just wishing you’d never asked....

Assume the OP would have used a different thread title under that sort of circumstance
Always two sides to a story but going by the thread title leads to the car driver emergency stopping for no reason

Granted the OP may not have the full story but you would expect the lorry driver would have mentioned if for example the car driver said "you moron didnt you see me emergency stop for that deer" for example

 

[wolfie138]

@dsb Any update on this yet? - or just wishing you’d never asked....

the fact the youtube vid is now "private" may be a clue

 

[Scania]

Assume the OP would have used a different thread title under that sort of circumstance
Always two sides to a story but going by the thread title leads to the car driver emergency stopping for no reason

Granted the OP may not have the full story but you would expect the lorry driver would have mentioned if for example the car driver said "you moron didnt you see me emergency stop for that deer" for example

Maybe, but the OP's silence is rather loud to my mind.....

the fact the youtube vid is now "private" may be a clue

Quite.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Maybe, but the OP's silence is rather loud to my mind.....

Quite.

If the OP had postde just the last 10 seconds or so he probably would have received a pretty different response. (its the reason Police ask for more than a clip)
BUT, we all saw the previous 4-5 minutes and how poor the driving from the Ops driver became.

Its why I am convinced he was brake tested as the car he nearly hit was probably seriously ****** off after having been followed closely by and then nearly hit when stopping by Ops driver.

Maybe the OP is proceeding with a disciplinary or somethign and as such he cant afford to have a seemingly prejudiced position on the internet.
Or maybe in a plot twist the OP was in fact the driver and wanted to see a reaction from others, so many possible reasons to not have it on the internet.

BUt generally I dont think the OP got the response he was looking for about how bad his drivers driving was in the lead up to the first narrow avoidance of the first potential collision.

 

[tom_e]

Assume the OP would have used a different thread title under that sort of circumstance
Always two sides to a story but going by the thread title leads to the car driver emergency stopping for no reason

Granted the OP may not have the full story but you would expect the lorry driver would have mentioned if for example the car driver said "you moron didnt you see me emergency stop for that deer" for example

Not really the lorry driver wants it to look like it was someone else's fault so that's exactly the sort of information they'd "forget" to mention.