Dash cam owner puts on a masterclass in the importance of safe following distances.
Berkeley County commuter and Redditor /u/TheGoodestofBois22 shared an instance of defensive driving practices turning potentially life/accident saving from earlier last week (Oct 15, 2025) to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing how following a camper trailer at a safe-ish distance enabled him to stop in time to avoid running a red, which, in another instance, could’ve been ripe for an accident.
Check out the dashcam footage of his save below with the original Reddit thread linked here.
The incident happened at the intersection of US-11 and Hatchery Rd. (exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As his dashcam shows, he’s driving along US-11 at around 2 in the afternoon, following a Class B Camper Van.
Since the camper van is taller than a normal-sized vehicle, he can’t really see much in front of him.
For that reason, and probably because he’s naturally a good driver, he’s following the oversized vehicle at a safe 2-second gap.
It’s worth noting that a 3-second gap is often the standard for defensive driving; however, 2 seconds is significantly better than what some drivers achieve.
As he approaches the aforementioned intersection, it appears the camper van either enters said intersection on a yellow or they run a red.
Not being able to see the lights in front of him, OP sees them as actually red about 150 feet from the white limit line.
However, since he was following from a safe enough distance, he had enough time to react and emergency brake.
He screeches to a brake-smoking stop but avoids running the red.
And yes, as confirmed by other commenters, that screech-screech-screech sound from his brakes you hear are his anti-lock brakes activating, working as intended.
Fortunately, there were no cars in front of him, behind him, or entering the intersection.
However, if there was a car turning with the right of way and OP wasn’t following from a safe distance, they would’ve been hit hard.
“You didn’t hit anyone. Nobody hit you. You’re good, bro.,” the top comment from /u/FrecciRosa reads in response to OP’s title if he was the idiot.
“You were decent distance. If anything, I would say overall speed for that road is a little high for all traffic, but just bad luck for you. Camper may have cut it close to have run it, but can’t confirm. You did well,” /u/Wings-N-Beer added.
“Great reaction time. Appropriate swearing. Would watch again! 10/10,” /u/Pied67 concluded.
For that Camper Van and in West. Virginia, if they did run a red, fines typically come out to be around $150 before all the fees and 3 points on your driving record.
