Fellow Redditors helped to ID the car in question.
Presumed San Diego County resident and Redditor /u/RobotJones11 posted up dashcam footage from Vista, CA showing the reckless moment a driver, in what fellow Redditors determined was a red Honda Civic Coupe, blatantly ran a red light and got T-boned, causing a major collision.
Check out the dashcam footage below.
Dumbass that pulled out in front of me 2 nights ago [OC]
byu/RobotJones11 inIdiotsInCars
The accident happened at the intersection of Arcadia Ave. and E. Vista Way in Vista, CA (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As you can see in OP’s video, they’re driving towards Arcadia Ave, a green light and the right of way clearly showing.
I put myself in OP’s shoes and, while I could see the offending driver on E. Vista Way, I could see myself giving them the benefit of the doubt that they really aren’t going to encroach into the intersection.
But that’s not how defensive driving, and life, works.
The average human reaction time before an accident is 1.5 seconds and, by the time OP probably realized, yes, indeed this imbecile is headed into his direction of travel, it’s too little too late.
OP slams on her brakes to slow as best she can, but ends up T-boning the red light runner pretty hard, probably totaling both cars.
A handful of commenters blamed OP for not slowing, which there were some thoughtful answers re-iterating what I just said and adding insightful commentary, too.
“For the first 3 seconds OP and any other reasonably experienced driver would not assume he’s gonna completely blow the red into an oncoming car, then that left him 2 seconds to register that he was, in fact, blowing the red, have his brain tell his leg to hit the brakes, actually hit the brakes, then begin to slow the car down completely outside of his control,” /u/DrillTheThirdHole replied.
“If you had taken any of the courses on reaction time that all CDL drivers in america are, (or paid attention in your own drivers ed) you’d know that OP actually reacted about as fast as you could expect someone to in a situation like this.”
Thankfully, OP and her passenger got out of this incident relatively unharmed.
“We’re both completely fine aside from a few bruises,” OP commented.
Unfortunately, this idiot committed hit-and-run, fleeing from the scene of the accident.
It sounds like OP reported the accident to the local Sherriff’s department which, they should be following up with OP pending a thorough investigation.
As mentioned, several Redditors helped OP figure out the exact make and model of the car.
“(It’s a) 7th gen Civic Coupe DX or Value Package judging by the six spoke hubcaps and black door handles, they used that hub cap after the facelift for 2004/5.,” /u/DMason212 helpfully commented, the top comment of the thread.
Hopefully that bit of info will go a long way in ID’ing the guilty party.
Seeing how OP commented they’re only slightly bruised, in California, with no injuries (or death,) this is arguably classified as a misdemeanor hit-and-run, which carries penalties including jail time, at least a $1,000 fine, and points on your insurance.
Judging the speed of the white lines in the dash cam-I don’t see defensive driving, or attempt to avoid red Honda. I ride a motorcycle. Ride like all other drivers are out to kill you is my mantra. Can apply to driving, too. You can still have the right of way and be just as dead. Sorry this happened to you, and your passenger. Bad experiences can be a treasure if we learn from them.