A not so uncommon instance of brake technology saving a driver from what would otherwise be a nasty collision.
Presumed Dallas resident and Redditor /u/HypeSpud shared dashcam footage to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing the heart pumping moment when ABS helped him stop his car from T-boning a truck towing a trailer.
Check out /u/HypeSpud’s thread and footage linked below.
[OC] ???? Turning now good luck everyone else ????
byu/hypespud inIdiotsInCars
The incident took place near the intersection of North Hampton Rd. and Remond Dr. (Exact location on Google Maps linked here, with a screenshot of the bird’s eye view below.)
We can see in the dashcam, OP is speeding, accelerating from 36 MPH to a maximum of 53 MPH right before slamming on his brakes.
The speed limit in the area is actually 35 MPH.
As he approaches the aforementioned intersection, just out of the corner of his eye, a truck with trailer begins to make a left turn into,
“…oncoming traffic with zero visibility past an opposite facing car on a hill,” OP describes.
“To be fair to the truck visibility, due to the curvature of the road since I could not see his windshield at all, he likely couldn’t see me just as I could not see him.”
It’s worth noting that OP’s comment was downvoted because he didn’t acknowledge his speed.
OP slams on his brakes, hard.
Without ABS (Anti-locking brakes) his tires would’ve locked up, and he would’ve slammed into the side of that trailer, for sure.
“Just happy my brakes and ABS were working, or it would have been a very bad day .”
“I don’t think he (the driver in the truck) noticed any of us three oncoming cars in the cross traffic even after their turn! Both cars to the left of the camera car had to come to complete stops.”
Another Redditor points the mirror back at OP, and rightfully so.
“If you had not been going 15 over the limit, you would not have had to slam on your brakes so hard. Truck was an idiot, but you almost made his dumb move worse,” /u/Al_Tilly_the_BUM replied.
The majority of the comments did criticize that truck driver for his bone head move.
“People downvoting for speeding but the f****r with the trailer still pulled out in front of three f*****g cars,” /u/KronosX3TR
It was overall not an ideal situation for all drivers involved.
While OP says the curvature of the road is partly to blame for the driver in the truck not seeing them, Google Maps and several viewpoints (linked here) says otherwise, so, I’m not buying that excuse.
The driver in the truck had plenty of visibility and was just impatient.
It didn’t help that OP was speeding, either.
Slow down and drive defensively, folks.
ABS can be a lifesaver, literally, but we shouldn’t be relying on it by any means.
