Without dashcam evidence, insurance would’ve assigned no liability to the other driver.
Minnesota commuter and Redditor /u/ptowndude shared frustrating dashcam footage from Plymouth from earlier last week (Jan 21, 2025) showing a driver in a black Ford Explorer pull a careless lane change, causing /u/ptowndude to swerve out of the way to avoid a collision and taking a sign down in the process.
Check out his video and Reddit thread embedded below.
[OC] Truck vs. Street Sign
byu/ptowndude inIdiotsInCars
The incident happened on a 494 overpass on Rockford Rd (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As /u/ptowndude’d dashcam footage shows, he’s driving in the left turn-only lane of this 494 overpass.
Suddenly, a driver in a Ford Explorer quickly signals and changes lanes in front of him without yielding properly.
In Minnesota, it’s not illegal to change lanes over a solid white line, but it’s discouraged (case in point.)
OP takes evasive maneuvers and swerves onto the center median, taking out a traffic sign.
Thankfully, he’s able to gain control and, besides the sign and his damaged front, no one else was involved.
OP gets out of his vehicle and approaches the other driver to make sure they trade information.
“When I approached her window I asked her to pull over by the light and she nodded. What I didn’t know at the time was that she didn’t speak English. When I called 911 I reported it as a hit and run and they told me not to follow her. I knew she wasn’t dangerous so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and she did pull off at the next exit. Police showed up and watched the dash cam video and made a pretty quick conclusion.”
Since there was no collision with the other driver, OP credits his dashcam for saving him from what would’ve turned out to be an insurance liability decision not in his favor.
“…in this case the dash cam video saved me. Before watching the video, the adjuster told me that there would likely be no liability assigned to the other driver since there was no collision between the vehicles (i.e. it would be viewed that I lost control of my vehicle). But after watching the video, the adjuster assigned 100% fault to her. Again, this is why EVERYONE should have a dash cam.”
“…this is the second time my dashcam has saved me from partial responsibility.”
“I know that road too well, she had so much time to get into the turn lane if she wanted to without causing a collision. Glad everything was resolved smoothly,” /u/horsesforfraublucher commented.
“I tell people that get new cars that a dash cam should be a top 3 purchase. Usually PPF, tint, and a dash cam lol,” /u/cousindeagle recommended.
OP clarified he has a Vantrue E2.
