Regardless of how much of an idiot the merger was for stopping in a merge lane, OP was found 100 percent at fault.
Meridan commuter and Redditor /u/lpmq9 shared dashcam footage from earlier last year (June 16, 2024) to the /u/MildlyBadDrivers subreddit showing the mistake he made looking left while merging onto I-84, oblivious to the idiot in front of him in a Camry who botched their merge attempt by stopping for no good reason.
Check out what happened in the dashcam video embedded below with the original Reddit thread linked here.
As mentioned, the incident happened on an I-84 on-ramp at the intersection with S Ten Mile Rd (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the dashcam footage shows, OP exits S Ten Mile Rd towards an I-84 on-ramp.
As this birds-eye view of the on-ramp shows, this on-ramp isn’t like most as it combines two streams of traffic coming from both sides of S Ten Mile Rd.
Regardless, traffic engineers give mergers ample amounts of room to merge into the larger merge lanes.
OP follows a driver in a Toyota Camry into the pre-merge lane of sorts and admits to looking left instead of totally paying attention to traffic in front of him.
The driver in the Camry, apprehensive of other merging traffic to their left, comes to a stop.
As the above birds eye view shows, where that Camry driver stopped, there’s nearly 300 more feet or 90 meters of dedicated merge lane into the main merge lane left.
In other words, that Camry driver had no good reason to stop.
OP, not fully paying attention, slams into the Camry.
We later found out he essentially totaled it and was found to be 100 percent at fault.
“I did send my insurance the footage, but it didn’t matter; they still ruled it completely my fault. I don’t think they were scamming… I mean, I’d think that they would make a medical claim if they were, and I haven’t heard anything since after I got my truck repaired.”
“Yep. That drivers will see an entire empty lane ahead of them and still decide to sit stock still and wait for traffic to part like the Red Sea,” one of the top comments from /u/appa-ate-momo reads.
“I get that OP needed to be more aware of the vehicle in front of them, but the white sedan’s behavior is equally bad, and downright infuriating. If you’re that timid, just call a damn taxi.”
“Happened to me too. Always pay attention to the moron in front of you, not the traffic you’re merging in to!,” /u/SilverRobotProphet commiserated and suggested.
While there’s no specific rule saying you can’t stop on an on-ramp, it’s only recommended to stop if it’s absolutely necessary.
We’re talking emergency situations, necessary.
With plenty of room left to merge in front of that Camry driver, it clearly was not.
