Failure to change lanes promptly almost ended in disaster for this driver in a United Rentals truck.
If you frequent the Highway 71 and 183 interchange in Austin, this video might have you driving a tad more defensively in that area.
Austinite and Redditor /u/Money_Telephone8065 shared dashcam footage from earlier in July (July 11, 2024) showing the harebrained moment a driver in a United Rentals truck took a last-minute lane change a little too late without properly looking in his blindspots, almost getting into a side-swipe collision with another car changing lanes at the same time.
Check out the dashcam footage for yourself below.
[OC] Missing an exit? Not on his watch!
byu/Money_Telephone8065 inIdiotsInCars
As mentioned, the incident happened on Southbound Highway 183 just before the interchange with Highway 71 and Ben White Blvd and Riverside Dr. Exit. (The exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the dashcam footage shows, OP is in the lane for 183 South towards Lockhart.
In front of him, what looks like a driver in a dark-colored Chevrolet Impala begins to signal from Lane 3 headed toward Lane #1.
Our “hero”, the driver in the United Rentals truck, wasn’t paying attention and it did not register for him that the driver in the Impala would soon cross paths with him.
Suddenly, the United Rentals truck driver makes an abrupt lane change in the gore point as traffic splits between 71 East and 183 South.
They barely miss each other, the Impala driver with the presence of mind to jerk his steering wheel to get out of the way.
Of course, the driver in the United Rentals truck makes sure he doesn’t just re-route, and instead, makes his exit.
It’s unclear if they made contact, but they come close.
“Too difficult to get in the appropriate lanes 30 seconds earlier,” _jump_yossarian sarcastically comments.
“I was surprised the car continued to the airport. Then the phrase “drive it like a rental” came to mind,” /u/Ekimyst added.
“The car safely got into the correct land before it split. The truck cut across them with no blinker through a solid line and then through another solid line into the lane they wanted. Easily the truck’s fault almost fully. The car could have seen them getting over and slammed on the breaks but honestly, I wouldn’t expect them to when it happens in under a second,” /u/TacticianA explains.
I get it, interchanges can be confusing.
But, it would behoove you to be doubly sure you’re in the right lane before it gets dicey.
If you must change lanes, check your blind spots.
And, it’s OK to miss your exit.
If you have decent GPS, it’ll re-route you.
