quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:

If someone decides to break check a person multiple times and the final result is an accident, if the person being brake checked has a dash camera of the incident, who is at fault

Multiple break [sic] checks? After the first one, a safe drive would stay far away from the brake checking vehicle, so there really shouldn't be multiple instances.

V-Tail - Sorry, I should have explained better in my earlier post. This all happened so quick. He quickly returned to our lane and within one second of him being back in our lane he hit his brakes twice - the first one was a quick tap and the second one he reduced his speed significantly- the second one is where I had to swerve to miss the rear of his car.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

break check a person multiple times

The person who runs into the back of the other car is at fault in my opinion, if they hit them the first time, I'd say my maybe the break checker.

There's a crazy strategy I've developed which I'm willing to share for free. If you get tangled up with someone in road rage, disengage. Whatever justification you have for continuing the back and forth, you're wrong. Slow down; pull off the road; take an unplanned turn/exit; do whatever is necessary to remove yourself from the situation as fast as possible.

It sucks, but you are correct. I’ve had it happen where the dude kept following me, and in the past I’d handle it. But with age, you learn it’s not worth it. I took an exit, started speeding my ass off, right into the Police station parking lot. Got out of the car and waved at the mother fucker. The look on his face was priceless. He got out of there, stat man.

Also - Dash camera is now working - Had to get a new memory card. It is only a front mounted unit (VIOFO A119) but it is hard wired and provides good resolution and angle.

With this occurrence I will be looking to upgrade my unit to a front and rear camera unit (we have the front and rear camera unit in the wife’s vehicle).

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:

V-Tail - Sorry, I should have explained better in my earlier post. This all happened so quick. He quickly returned to our lane and within one second of him being back in our lane he hit his brakes twice - the first one was a quick tap and the second one he reduced his speed significantly- the second one is where I had to swerve to miss the rear of his car.

Yes sir, you explained it in your second post, which I overlooked. I was replying to the original post; I should have caught your second post. My fault.

I got rear ended on interstate due to a slowdown of traffic. Guy cut in behind me from the passing lane just as I slowed for traffic. The officer wouldn't cite either one of us because the guy behind me kept stating that I brake checked him. He told me to let the insurance companies decide. He wrote up the accident report in a way that made me look like I was at fault, I didn't see the report until weeks later. I ended up taking my dash cam video to the station and he recanted his report. Actually he didn't change the report he just added another page that stated my dashcam footage and found the guy behind me at fault. This is the 2nd time I have been hit and dash cam video saved me both times. Guy hit me head on and claimed I didn't have my headlights on and went into his lane. Total lie. Can't recommend them enough.

If you follow at a safe distance and pay attention then it won't matter what the car in front of you does . I had this argument with my wife who hit another vehicle from behind . She claimed that the other driver " slammed on her brakes for no reason " ! My response was " So what ? Still your fault " . She never would accept blame . The insurance company did it for her .

It is purely determined by your state laws. In NC, regardless of circumstances, if you rear end someone, you are at fault.

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Originally posted by selogic:
If you follow at a safe distance and pay attention then it won't matter what the car in front of you does . I had this argument with my wife who hit another vehicle from behind . She claimed that the other driver " slammed on her brakes for no reason " ! My response was " So what ? Still your fault " . She never would accept blame . The insurance company did it for her .

That scenario is not the same as OP's. He was ahead, the other guy overtook him, got right in front and *boom* brake checked him.

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Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
If you follow at a safe distance and pay attention then it won't matter what the car in front of you does . I had this argument with my wife who hit another vehicle from behind . She claimed that the other driver " slammed on her brakes for no reason " ! My response was " So what ? Still your fault " . She never would accept blame . The insurance company did it for her .

That scenario is not the same as OP's. He was ahead, the other guy overtook him, got right in front and *boom* brake checked him.

Brake checked him twice . After the first one he should have opened up the distance . That's what the insurance company would probably say .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Brake checked him twice . After the first one he should have opened up the distance . That's what the insurance company would probably say .

sigarmsp226 wrote in his second post of this thread, "I slam on my brakes and he then does it a second time. I swerve right to the side of the road to keep from hitting him and he speeds off."

The jerk brake checked him. OP had to slam on the brake, before he got brake checked again. What do you think the purpose of him slamming on the brake was for? Again, he was not following this jerk. He got suddenly cut off. Completely different scenario from your wife's.

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Brake checked him twice . After the first one he should have opened up the distance . That's what the insurance company would probably say .

I had to re-read sigarms' follow-up post, to understand that the aggressive driver brake-checked him twice, second instance immediately after the first, with no useful time interval between the two brake-checks. No time to "open up the distance."

If you have to "check" the conditions of your brakes at highway speeds, your car is a piece of shit.
Or you're too stupid to maintain it.
The ONLY vehicle I've ever checked brakes while rolling is an aircraft.


Any other vehicle is aggressive driving.

This is similar, if not identical, to your situation, now that I have a better understanding of what happened.

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Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:

The ONLY vehicle I've ever checked brakes while rolling is an aircraft.

Yup. And we do that as the very first thing when we start to roll, before there's any speed built up, so that if there's a brake problem detected, we can just shut the engine(s) down and coast to a stop.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Brake checked him twice . After the first one he should have opened up the distance . That's what the insurance company would probably say .

I had to re-read sigarms' follow-up post, to understand that the aggressive driver brake-checked him twice, second instance immediately after the first, with no useful time interval between the two brake-checks. No time to "open up the distance."

I didn't see anything about it being immediately . Did I miss it ?

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Originally posted by bionic218:
I'm old, my insurance is cheap, and my car is worth maybe $800...so brake check me or do whatever it is you gotta do, but know this, I'll kill us both.

Nice.. For the win !!

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:

If someone decides to break check a person multiple times and the final result is an accident, if the person being brake checked has a dash camera of the incident, who is at fault

Multiple break [sic] checks? After the first one, a safe drive would stay far away from the brake checking vehicle, so there really shouldn't be multiple instances.

Vtail, you haven't had direct experience with a Road Rager. I have and the cause was because I Tooted my horn to get him moving and then changed lanes at a red light that had gone green and passed him perfectly legally. For the next mile he was dead set of trying to force me into an accident. When I was stopped by a red light after that mile of harassment he went into the oncoming traffic lean in a constructions zone to pass me and then block me. The man was in a psychopathic rage.

Once he had me stopped this fat slob gets out of his car raging and coming towards my car at which point I yelled out that 911 had been called and was on the line with me. So he looks around at all the witnesses and gets in his car and runs the red light at the next intersection to get away.

BTW after this happened I drove directly to the local PD about 2 miles down the road and showed the desk officer the video with this idiot running that traffic light in the middle of the construction zone and his following actions which clearly revealed the license plate. He made a call to the PD for this idiots residence and explained what had taken place. The response from that PD was that they would send a team to his residence and "have a talk with him about his driving".

BTW, I've thought about installing a rear camera but my Fiesta ST only has two USB ports in the console up front with one dedicated to my phone and the other to my front camera.

I mean if you rear-end someone. You're at fault.

I think with rare exceptions if someone swerves in front and slams on brakes.

If they hit brakes and you can't stop in time. You either aren't paying attention or are following to closely.

Everybody saying rear end crash = at fault is wrong. If somebody cuts in front of you, then immediately brake checks, then they are at fault. If they do it multiple times, they are in double trouble.

I had a woman break check me ten times or so. After getting down to about five mph, I just started pushing her a bit (Kenworth vs Kia). I told the officer that I wasn’t going to be forced to stop on a busy freeway by a rager, and I didn’t know the rager’s intentions. She got the tickets, and I got an apology.


This scenario has happened thrice in my career, once each in CA, CO, and UT. Every time I was not bothered by the police. They know I can do nothing if someone swerves in front of me and brakes. Also, somebody rear ending a stopped semi on a fast-moving freeway is usually fatal.

Having a camera may show the person ahead put on their brakes for no real reason, but having the film is just evidence, and doesn't make it an automatic decision for either side. And yes, the film is admissible evidence assuming it can be properly authenticated, which isn't hard.

It is generally not the absolute rule that the person hitting another car from behind is at fault. As a practical matter, it is usually hard to take fault off the rear-ending driver. I think all states have some form of a proportionate responsibility statute, so if you can show the driver in front had some proportion of the fault in causing the accident (as in sigcrazy7's scenario above), you may be able to diminish the rear-ending drivers share of the fault.