The guilty party first blamed the dashcam owner, then admitted to falling asleep. The sun glare didn’t help.
Presumed Salem resident and Redditor /u/UNwantedNUKE shared shocking dashcam footage from Salem, OR to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing a driver with the sun in their eyes headed straight for him as he waited to turn left.
With nowhere to go, /u/UNwantedNUKE got hit head-on, his car totaled as a result.
Check out the short but surprising video below.
Hit head on while waiting to turn left. [oc]
byu/UNwantedNUKE inIdiotsInCars
The crash took place at the intersection of Hawthorne Ave and Center St. NE in Salem, Ore (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the video shows, we can see OP waiting to turn left onto Hawthorne Ave.
All of a sudden, a driver in what looks like a V.W. Jetta veers right into where OP is.
With nowhere to go, OP could do nothing but brace for impact.
It doesn’t take much to total a car and, as the crash and OP’s comment confirms, the damage was bad enough that it wasn’t feasibly repairable.
“This happened a few years ago while I was headed to the grocery store. Airbags deployed, and I had bruises on my chest and a sprained wrist. I got transported to the hospital as a precaution since the airbag hit my face pretty hard.”
“It was scary seeing him coming, and I had nowhere to go. It was awhile ago so I’m okay, but I do miss my car.”
At first, the driver in the Jetta had the gall to shift blame to OP.
“The driver was trying to tell the insurance, I pulled out in front of him.”
According to the dashcam footage, that’s clearly not the case.
He intentionally lied to insurance.
The other driver did tell the police another, more truthful story.
“He said he fell asleep, but I think the sun was blinding him. It was 8 in the morning, very sunny that day. Also, my car was white and very shiny as I washed it that day. You can see water dripping down the windshield.”
“The police officer was not thrilled with his explanation, that was for sure.”
Those in the comments offered kind words to OP.
“Nothing worse than something you can do absolutely nothing about. Damn, I hope you’re okay. That’s just…some s***,” /u/LunacyFringe commented.
“The way people just think lane lines are a suggestion is so wild” /u/Pizza99Pizza99 replied.
“That driver was careless driving like that with the sun in his eyes literally driving blind! Idc how slow I’m going I’m driving safely until I can see what the hell is in front of me again,” /u/ThePinkSkitty added.
While there are times you can’t avoid driving with the sun in your eyes, you can’t just not do anything.
According to this blog post by AAA Insurance, the least you can do is to slow down, use your visor, and get some polarized shades.
With all the preventative measures, if you really can’t see anything, pull over and wait for the sun to set. Like all sunsets and sunrises, the blinding glare will eventually pass.
To be proactive, adjust your driving times if you feasibly can.
Driving into the sun is no joke!
If you can avoid it, do so. If you can’t slow down and take preventative measures.
