This distracted parent in their Toyota Sienna came in hot at Union Hill & Avondale. It certainly looked like they’d slam into backed-up traffic at full speed, that is, until a last-second maneuver saved their a**.
King County-area driver and Redditor /u/MrCanis shared headshaking dashcam footage from earlier last year (Oct 25, 2025) to the /r/Dashcam subreddit showing what looks like a distracted parent running a yellow at this busy intersection, almost slamming into backed-up traffic, if it wasn’t for their last-second maneuver.
Check out the dashcam footage below with the original Reddit thread linked here.
As mentioned, the incident happened at the intersection of NE Union Hill Rd. and Avondale Rd., blocks from Redmond Elementary and Sammamish Montessori School (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As the dashcam shows, OP is headed eastbound on NE 80th St. towards the aforementioned intersection.
Up ahead, traffic is backed up to the limit line past the intersection.
Suddenly, as seen in OP’s rear view, a driver, likely a parent, in their Toyota Sienna, comes flying by OP at full speed, unaware that even though they’d beat the red, they’re accelerating towards backed up traffic.
The Sienna runs the yellow, beating the red, and is just about to slam into traffic, that is, until a last-second swerve into oncoming traffic that transitions into a left turn saves them from causing what would’ve been one disastrous pile-up.
“Extremely lucky there are no injured folks in this clip. I wonder what occasion would spark one to drive so erratically,” one of the top comments from /u/_-_-__-_-_-_-__-_-_ reads.
“(They were) probably late getting the kids to school,” /u/roknir replied.
The dashcam time shows 4 PM, so perhaps they just picked up their kids or were late getting the kids from school.
“Oh man, I can’t be the only one who was clenching themselves with that. I was expecting a huge pile up,” /u/ChkaosRandomness added, saying what we were all thinking.
In Washington State, there’s no specific law for “accelerating through a yellow,” but if it’s treated as unsafe driving or a red-light violation, fines typically range from about $124 to $250+ after fees.
If the maneuver is instead cited as negligent or reckless driving (especially if it involved swerving into traffic), penalties can jump much higher and may include court costs and possible misdemeanor charges.
Washington doesn’t use a standard points system, but the violation can still hit your record and lead to higher insurance rates or administrative action from the Washington State Department of Licensing.
