A Redditor’s dashcam video warns motorists of the danger of waving across drivers over a lane where approaching drivers can’t see them in time.
Mechanicsville commuter and Redditor /u/The-Friendly-Squid shared a frustrating dashcam video from earlier last week (June 4, 2025) to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing a driver waving across a right turner over two active lanes of traffic, only for OP to emergency stop to avoid t-boning the turner.
Check out the dashcam video embedded below with the original Reddit thread linked here.
The incident happened just after the intersection of S Central Ave and South St. in Mechanicville (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As OP’s dashcam footage shows, the traffic he’s a part of on S Central Ave has the right of way.
Suddenly, traffic in the left lane comes to a stop as a driver in a GMC Envoy attempts to be helpful by waving across a left-turner who wants to turn into a Stewarts Shops gas station across the street.
Yes, it’s legal to turn left over double solid yellow lines, however, you have to be able to see traffic coming from the other direction to do so safely, something that’s obscured, ironically, by the one waving turners across.
Courts and insurance typically say: “You can’t rely solely on someone else’s signal if you can’t see clearly.”
OP, not seeing the turner, almost t-bones them, as they have the right of way.
“I thought they (the driver in the GMC Envoy) may have been turning left, but I see now, looking back at the video, that there is no turn there,” OP clarified to a commenter asking if OP even thought about the situation and why there was someone stopped.
“Also, coming home from work, had a long day, and was focused on getting home. It is a good thing I reacted quickly and hit the brakes.”
Thankfully, OP reacts fast enough and has adequate braking power to avoid a collision.
“Ahh yes….the wave of death. Many people I assigned liability to when they said someone else waved at them to turn,” the top comment from /u/Negative_Pepper_3203 reads.
“I feel this just sets up SO many people to fail. The person turning and the oncoming traffic.
I’ve been witness, front and center, to a few of these that even though I’m stopped too, the turning person (usually, though not always) just ASSUMES, “oh hey two people stopped and I cannot see if cars are coming for the next lane, might as well just go!” instead of AT LEAST creeping up to peek out and then go…,” /u/iEugene72 added.
“Right of way is not transferable,” /u/funnyusername-123 aptly puts it.
In New York, making an improper turn that results in an accident can lead to several legal and financial consequences.
