This driver had ample time and space to look over his shoulder, but he couldn’t be bothered.
SoCal commuter and Redditor /u/Possible_Dig_3307 shared headshaking dashcam footage from earlier last week (August 18, 2025) to the /r/OrangeCounty subreddit showing this Ford Excursion driver displaying the absolute worst driving behaviour by merging onto the 55 from the 73 without the slightest effort to check their blind spots.
Check out his dashcam footage embedded below with the original Reddit thread linked here.
The incident happened on CA-55 in Costa Mesa just as drivers approached Exit 4 onto Mesa Dr. (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the dashcam footage shows, OP is driving along in Lane #2 of the 55, minding his own business.
As he passes underneath the 73 overpass, he approaches a part of the freeway where traffic from the 73 merges with the 55.
From the right corner, we can see a driver in a Ford Excursion merging onto the 55 from the 73, seemingly obeying the rules of the road (not going over the gore point and driving at a reasonable speed.)
Suddenly, it seems the Excursion driver has their sights set on Lane #1, and they begin drifting over to do so.
To their credit, at least their blinkers were on.
Regardless, the onus is on the lane changer to make sure it’s safe to execute a lane change.
That means looking at all your mirrors and blind spots, something this driver didn’t do.
The Excursion driver slowly drifts towards OP, and he absolutely would’ve slammed into him if OP had not taken evasive action and jumped into the next lane over to avoid a collision.
Thankfully, OP successfully avoids the careless Excursion driver and carries on.
“I dunno, but I woulda stayed away from the white SUV based on seeing him on the onramp. He was already driving like he thinks he owns the road. 😬,” the top comment from /u/morbidobsession6958 reads.
“That exit to get to OC fair is always a mess this time of the year,” local /u/Goosemoura added.
“Is anyone else noticing there’s more to this than the white SUV driving like a dumba**?,” /u/hyeehyeeb points out.
“There’s the black Civic at the front that brake checks the black SUV behind it, probably causing the black SUV to merge over and maybe influencing the white SUV to continue merging over without slowing down or checking its blind spots.”
In California, an unsafe lane change is a ticketable offense that warrants the driver, if observed by a police officer, a $238 fine before all the fees and one point on their driving record.
