The guilty driver on the Trans-Canada Highway looked up at the very last moment but, by then, it was already too late.
British Columbia resident and Redditor /u/DustyDave1971 shared dashcam footage from Nanaimo, BC to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing the shocking moment a distracted driver on her phone slammed into the rear of his buddies truck, taking another car, too.
Check out /u/DustyDave1971’s thread and video posted below.
[oc] Front view of a texter taking out my buddies truck and the car in front of him….
byu/DustyDave1971 inIdiotsInCars
Here’s the rear shot, too.
[oc] if you pause at the right time you can see the texter look up from her phone in horror….. wrecked a couple cars and my buddies back….
byu/DustyDave1971 inIdiotsInCars
As mentioned, this happened in Nanaimo at the intersection of the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1) and Morden Rd (exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
In the dashcam video, we see OP’s buddy and a passenger in their truck stopped at the aforementioned intersection.
It’s worth postinng a bird eye view of the Trans Canada Highway leading up to this intersection, it’s a long, relatively straight piece of highway that arguably invites drivers to tune out, especially if they have some type of cruise control on.
In the rear shot, we see a driver in a blue, ’90s era Ford Explorer approaching OP’s buddy truck at full speed with no signs of slowing.
The speed limit in this area is 90 KMH (56 MPH.)
At the last moment, the Explorer driver looks up but, by that point, it’s too late.
In this screenshot, you can see the look of horror on her face milliseconds before collision.
She slams in the back of the truck at full speed, pushing and crashing into the Honda CR-V in front of them, too.
We hear the sickening sounds of his friend’s passenger groaning in pain as he complains about his back.
“”OH, my back!” Is the exact line you want to be saying and repeating in this situation. That guy has waited for this his entire life and is about to get paid,” /u/ISpeakForWinston commented.
“It’s well past time to treat distracted driving the same as driving intoxicated. It’s far more prevalent and just as deadly,” /u/powerdeamon added.
Despite the clear-cut and dry nature of the crash, as far as liability is concerned, OP’s buddy might be found partially at fault.
“The way it was explained to me is that the car in the middle can technically be held liable for the front car, however the middle car is able to sue the rear car for the damages to the front car. It’s stupid and overly complicated. I can imagine suing the rear car can be out of the question for many, and that is assuming you can even collect,” /u/DependentFluid8282 explained.
Despite education and horrifying news about accidents linked to distracted driving, the amount of distracted driving accidents and people who admit to the horrible habit are still on the rise.
According to a recent post from Travelers, Investors Relations,
“The data (from a 2023 risk survey) revealed that Canadians engage in risky behaviors behind the wheel despite recognizing the associated risks, with nearly one-quarter of respondents acknowledge that multitasking while driving was dangerous but did so anyway.”
Similar posts and statistics can be found for other countries as of late, too.
Not only is this a gigantic insurance mess that will play out over several months until all parties are brought legally and financially whole, who knows what injuries they sustained.
If this isn’t a good reminder to not drive distracted, I don’t know what is?
