This driver stubbornly refused to yield to traffic with the right of way going in the opposite direction.
So Cal resident and Redditor /u/DNguyen2195 shared head-shaking dashcam footage to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit from earlier last week (Sept 5, 2024) from a West Covina neighborhood showing a stubborn driver in a Kia Sorento failing to yield to traffic with the right of way after her plan to go around a garbage truck backfired.
Check out what turns into a standoff between two vehicles below.
[OC] Idiot refuses to back up even though driver had room. While taking my son to school, garbage truck was stopped in the opposing lane. Driver thinks she has right of way even though she had room to back up.
byu/dnguyen2195 inIdiotsInCars
The incident happened in the 1600 block of E Autumn Dr in West Covina, CA (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As OP’s dashcam footage shows, he’s driving with his son through this West Covina neighborhood.
With cars lined up here and there on both sides of the street, it’s a tight squeeze for traffic going both directions.
A garbage truck can be seen stopped, picking up trash on one side of the road.
As OP squeezes past the garbage truck, a driver in a Kia Sorento comes around the corner, against traffic, and tries to get around both the garbage truck and OP.
In 2019, California passed a “Slow Down to Get Around Law” that advises motorists to do what the name of the law says, to slow down while going around garbage trucks, collection vehicles, and the like.
While drivers can go around trash trucks, even in tight neighborhood streets, they must slow down and drive around said vehicles cautiously, yielding their right of way to traffic going the other way.
Another Redditor also pointed out that, by being in the wrong lane/going the wrong way, what that Kia did is an enforceable case of obstruction of traffic (CA Veh Code § 22400)
Refusing to move, the Karen waves her finger at OP in a gesture for him to move despite being in the wrong.
“What got to me was that she was gesturing with her finger like I did something wrong,” OP commented.
Eventually, the garbage truck moves giving the Karen enough room to go around OP in her direction of travel.
Another car behind the Kia fed up waiting for this standoff to conclude, goes around them both.
Eventually, with his son to drop off and a job to get to, OP scoots to the left a bit, giving the Karen enough room to get around him.
“I would’ve stayed there longer but I wouldn’t have anyone to cover me at my job and frankly staying home with my kid, I wouldn’t be able to get anything done. I would just hang out with him all day. Not a bad thing, but there’s always something to be done at home,” OP explained.
“I can never understand why people think YOU need to yield to THEM when their side of the street is blocked and they drive on your side. “Oh, my lane is blocked. Guess YOU are going to have to wait,” /u/MonsterBearMan commented.
If you drive around neighborhoods long enough, you’re eventually going to come up on a trash vehicle blocking your way.
What this Kia did is the exact opposite of what you’re supposed to do.
If you can’t wait, you can go around them, but only if it’s safe to do so.
But, mistakes happen and the right thing to do in this situation, if you’re the Kia driver, is to put it into reverse and let other traffic go by first.
