Although the truck towing the trailer might’ve been exiting up ahead, they were ultimately responsible for this accident.

Presumed Missourian and Redditor /u/npatel0713 shared shocking dashcam footage from earlier this month from I-635 in Riverside showing the harebrained moment a driver in a truck pulling a trailer actively blocked another car from changing lane, resulting in both getting into an accident.

Check out his video below.

Whose fault is this? [oc] I cut the video because I turned off the car shorty after to check the front for projectile damage.
byu/npatel0713 inIdiotsInCars

The incident happened on I-635 just after Exit 9 onto Horizons Pkwy Argosy Casino Pkwy (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)

As we can see in OP’s video, he’s driving in Lane #2.

We can see a driver in a truck towing a trailer with what looks like lawn equipment in Lane #1.

A driver in a white Mercedes comes up behind the truck, changes lanes into lane #2, and tries to get in front of the truck still in the fast lane.

It’s worth noting for context that, as the signs they pass show, there’s a left lane exit more than a mile ahead, so, that truck might be justified camping in that lane if they were preparing to exit.

Drivers in Lane #1 at this particular stretch of I-635 might be preparing to exit left.

Regardless, the driver in the white Mercedes made it abundantly clear they were trying to change lanes.

The driver in the truck accelerates, blocking the Mercedes from passing.

Taking a big risk, the driver in the Mercedes attempts to change lanes with little room to safely do so, no thanks to the driver in the truck, and gets into a side-by-side collision.

The video cuts off abruptly, but it looks an awful lot like the trailer just about jackknifed around the truck.

He prevented the Mercedes from “one-upping” him and changing lanes in front of him, but at what cost?

“Why was the truck with the load still in the passing lane when being passed by vehicles on the right? At some point you need to drop your ego, slow up, and move over,” /u/lordskulldragon commented.

“Truck driver towing s*** in the left lane who intentionally wouldn’t let somebody in front of him after they clearly showed intention. Why do people have such fragile egos? Now you got a fragile truck dummy, feel better than that guy you wouldn’t let pass you?,” /u/BoozyMcBoozehound added.

“Hard to judge speeds, but it looks to me like the white car was fully in the left lane, and maintaining a constant speed when the truck tried to accelerate around him. I’d argue the white car made a risky decision, but both legally and ethically the truck caused the accident,” /u/SunTzuSayz replied.

Whether we’re in the right or wrong of what lane we’re supposed to be in, if a car is signaling to change lanes in front of you, it’s ultimately up to the driver changing lanes to judge if there’s enough space to safely do so.

Regardless, actively closing the safe space they have by abruptly accelerating is just plain reckless.

Now, both have an insurance headache on their hands, not to mention months of back and forth, paperwork, and repairs in their future.

Flexing your ego in such a manner rarely pays off, yet, in the heat of the moment, we still do it.

As they say, it’s worth checking yourself before you wreck yourself.

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