Let’s have a thought experiment:
Who is at fault here for the collision?
If you’re saying it’s the pickup, sorry, but you’re not correct. The dashcam owner is at fault for the collision and would be entirely liable for it. The pickup wouldn’t be liable in the least.
Take a few moments to ponder why before I get into this…
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Road rage is little different from bullying, and bullying tends to be more about asserting dominance. So if someone engages with you in some type of bullying behavior, the onus is on YOU to attempt to disengage.
Note the phrasing: attempt to disengage. Obviously you may not be able to depending on circumstance. And while the dashcam owner, herein “DCO”, did attempt to disengage, he went about it the wrong way.
When an opposing driver, herein “OD”, is being hostile and is in front of us, our natural inclination seems to be to accelerate around and away from them, more or less trying to “run away” from a threat. You should instead brake.
In the above dashcam recording, the moment to attempt to disengage was when the OD swerved into the left lane in front of the DCO. Continuing to move forward, with the OD in front of the DCO, only played into OD’s trap.
NEVER try to swerve around a hostile OD who is in front of you. Brake or let off your accelerator and pull to the shoulder instead.
Had the DCO gone into the back of the truck instead, the DCO would’ve been mostly blameless. And I say “mostly” because, again, the DCO should’ve braked and pulled to the lefthand shoulder when the OD pulled into the lefthand lane in front of the DCO. That the DCO swerved shows situational awareness enough to react. But since brake checking is universally illegal, and the dashcam would’ve easily shown the entirety of the road rage incident, it would’ve come across that the truck was brake checking and put him legally entirely in the wrong.
But the OD being legally in the wrong doesn’t mean the DCO could’ve made a better decision. A better decision that could’ve avoided a collision and the handicaps that come with it.
In the above footage, though, the OD is legally in the wrong for how they were driving, but they are not legally or financially responsible for the collision. That falls entirely on the DCO.
