Everyone was in unanimous agreement, according to Hawaii Vehicle Code, this dashcam owner would not be at fault had he hit the pedestrian.

Honolulu-based Uber driver and Redditor /u/ArronH1230 shared headshaking dashcam footage to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit from earlier last weekend (Dec 27, 2024) showing a pedestrian, not paying attention, stepping off the sidewalk and into the path of OP’s approaching car.

Had OP not been paying attention, the pedestrian easily could’ve been hit!

Check out the dashcam footage embedded below with the original Reddit thread linked here.

OP also provided the rear view footage of how it went down, too.

The incident happened along the 900 block of Kapahulu Ave in Honolulu (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)

As OP’s dashcam footage shows, he’s driving along Kapahulu Ave when a pedestrian can be seen stepping off the sidewalk (not in a crosswalk, mind you) and into the path of OP’s car.

OP slams on his brakes in time and swerves to the left, narrowly avoiding a collision.

The pedestrian realizes their mistake and near miss with what would’ve been one gnarly collision.

” I was driving an Uber passenger and they witnessed the whole thing. They were literally shocked at how fast I reacted.”

“I honestly wasn’t even expecting him to cross. Looks like he was going to continue walking straight, but instead, he turns left trying to cross. It’s a good thing that speed limits are low, here.”

The speed limit appears to be just 25 MPH.

OP originally asked, “Would I be at fault if I were to hit this pedestrian?”

To which, many Redditors pointed out he wouldn’t.

Redditor /u/NotMyUsualLogin pointed out this piece of the Hawaii VC.

“Hawaii code §291C-72 subsection (b) Pedestrians’ right-of-way in crosswalks.”

    (b)  No pedestrian shall suddenly leave a curb or other place of safety and walk or run into the path of a vehicle which is so close that it is impossible for the driver to yield.

“Think you’d have been fine!”

“You appear to have been driving at or below the posted speed limit and pedestrian stepped into the street without checking for oncoming traffic, so I am inclined to say no,” /u/karmathesequel concurred.

And, as /u/Bovestrian8061 added.

“He wasn’t even at the crosswalk yet was he?”

Had OP not been paying attention, this could’ve ended up a lot worse.

Thankfully, OP was “on his toes” so to speak, and was able to react with lightning-quick reflexes.

You never know exactly what other cars and pedestrians are going to do around you but you can always be 100 percent driving defensively, setting yourself up for driving success.