I really enjoy watching car crash YouTube channels such as: DashcamLessons, WhamBaamDashcam and WhamBaamTeslacam.
I see them as both an entertainment and an educational experience as well as a way to compare my own driving to what I see in these videos.
When I drive, I think I subconsciously assign a risk percentage to every other car on the road. That is, what is the chance that each car within my range of perception is likely to crash into my car? That not only includes the cars ahead of me and behind me, but also all cars that I can see that are approaching an intersection that I'm about to cross, as well as cars coming up freeway entrance ramps.
For most cars, I subconsciously assign a probability of close to zero of their risk of crashing into me. But if that car is doing anything that raises that probability much above zero, I start monitoring that vehicle's behavior closely.
I love Tesla Autopilot as it takes care of keeping me in my lane, slows down and speeds up, and even stops and starts my car to keep me a safe distance from the car in front of me. That relieves me of those petty functions and frees me up to pay more attention to the road ahead of me, any construction or road obstructions, and what other cars around me are doing. Autopilot is not an excuse to skip paying attention to the road, but rather frees up your attention to be more observant of what is going on ahead and around you.
So, let's go over some of the most common crashes on these YouTube channels that I believe I would totally avoid with my practice of driving.
First is when a car in the next lane appears to be slowly drifting into your lane. As I see a car in the lane next to me slowly drift towards the lane that I'm driving in, my ranking of the chances of that car entering my lane and crashing into me goes through the roof. When I see that, I slowly apply the brake and back off leaving room for that car to come into my lane. I don't slam on the brake as that may result in the car behind me crashing into me. Quite often it does turn out that car will wander right into my lane. By just a minor application of my brake pedal, I have slowed down and allowe that car to wander into my lane without hitting my car.
On these YouTube Crash Videos, the drivers seem to have a different attitude. Their attitude seems to be that "This is my lane and you have no right to enter my lane." They obviously have zero training in defensive driving. They just remain driving parallel to the car wandering into their lane and then act totally surprised and angry when the lane wandering car runs into their own car. That is a collision that was totally avoidable by defensive driving. But naturally the wandering car is determined by the police and the insurance company to be totally at fault, which it was, and that driver or their insurance company has to pay for all repairs. But I don't believe there was any need for the collision to take place at all if the driver had just backed away from the car wandering into his lane.
Then there is a version of this that is even worse. That is when the lane wandering car has their turn signal on indicating they intend to enter your lane. That is an extreme collision signal to me. If someone puts on their turn signal to enter my lane, I'm definitely going to back off as I have no idea how soon or how fast they are going to enter my lane. On the crash videos, drivers seem to have the attitude: "This is my lane. I HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY. Your turn signal means nothing to me. You are not allowed to enter my lane until there is a safe space for you to enter it." And again, the driver is totally shocked and angry when the car with the turn signal enters their lane anyway and crashes into them. Yes, that car with the turn signal was in the wrong and they will get the police citation and their insurance will have to pay for the repairs. But couldn't you just have backed off and countered their terrible driving habits, avoiding the collision?
Keep in mind, my method of driving is to avoid collisions, not to prove who has the right of way even if that requires a collision.
I guess I grew up under older driving rules in the 1960s. At that time, in the state I got my first driving license, passing on the right was ALWAYS illegal. That law was on the books because it was assumed that other drivers would not expect you to pass them on the right and thus was very dangerous. Well, I don't think passing on the right is illegal anywhere anymore, but it is still VERY DANGEROUS. Drivers still have less expectation that someone is going to pass them on the right than on the left. Drivers also seem to have less visibility and awareness of the blind spot on their right than on their left.
On the YouTube crash videos, many crashes take place because of a long line of stopped cars in the left lane. Someone will drive rapidly up the open right lane only to crash into a car in the left lane that suddenly switches to the empty right lane. It often happens that someone stuck in the left lane will get frustrated and decide to switch to the right lane without realizing someone might be racing up that right lane. Whenever I drive up the right lane passing a line of stopped cars in the left lane, I do so very cautiously. I know that any one of those cars in the left lane might suddenly switch to my lane without looking. In the YouTube video, many drivers just race by all the cars stopped in the left lane without taking this into consideration and end up crashing into that car.
But there is more to this. As you drive up the open right lane passing cars in the left lane, you will often find that someone in the left lane has left a gap. This is a HUGE warning sign. I always want to know why they left a gap. They might not be paying attention and just didn't move up when the car ahead of them moved up. But more often than not, they left a gap because they are allowing a car to drive across the stopped line of cars to get into a driveway. A LOT of the crash videos show someone leaving a gap to be polite to someone cross the line to get into a driveway. And then, a car racing up the open right lane crashes into the car cutting through the stopped left lane of cars. The commentator on the YouTube video says leaving a gap is unsafe and you should always "close the gap." Maybe, maybe not. I think the fault is with the person racing up the empty right lane and not watching for gaps in the stopped left lane of cars. My policy is to proceed carefully when passing a line of cars stopped in the left lane even when you have an open clear right lane. I would NEVER crash into any car cutting through a line of stopped cars in the left lane.
Something related is I was once driving down a road with two lanes in each direction. In the direction I was traveling, a line of cars was stopped in the left lane for what appeared to be no reason. There was no stop sign. There was no stop light. They were just stopped there for what appeared no reason. I was in the totally open and clear right lane. Since I didn't know why the left lane was stopped, I figure I should approach with caution and stop parallel to the cars stopped in the left lane to figure out why they were stopped. It turned out to be a family of ducks crossing the street. If I had just gone right through on my clear right lane, I might have killed the mother duck along with a family of baby ducks.
When I got my driver license in the mid-1960s, highways were not as busy as they are today. At that time, we were taught that on 3 lane highways, the right lane was only for entering and exiting, the middle lane was for traveling, and the left lane was only for passing other cars. Today, it seems people use every lane for whatever they want. They drive in the left lane even if not passing anyone. The drive and pass others in the right lane even if not entering or exiting.
Most problematic though, is cars driving or passing in the right lane, no longer believe they should yield to cars that are entering or exiting the highway. This often creates conflicts between cars driving in the right lane and those trying to enter the highway. Drivers in the right lane believe they have the "right of way" and any cars entering the highway should always enter behind them. Little do they realize there are just more cars behind them and it may be very difficult to find a safe gap to enter the highway. Often a driver in the right lane will refuse to provide a space to a car entering the highway. On these YouTube videos, that will often result in a collision between a car traveling in the right lane and a car trying to enter the highway. Again, this usually ends with a police citation and insurance blame on the person entering the highway as they entered a lane that was not clear of traffic. But couldn't the car traveling in the right lane have slowed down and yielded some space to help the driver trying to enter the highway? Again, a totally unnecessary collision.
I generally travel in the center lane of a 3 lane highway unless passing, in which case I try to do so on the left rather than the right. When I am driving in the right lane, I assume that cars trying to enter or leave the highway take priority since that was the original purpose of the right lane. If a car is coming up the highway entrance, I try to coordinate with them and let them onto the highway, even if they haven't yet gotten up to highway speed. Also, if a car has come into the right lane to exit, I don't get upset with them if they have slowed down to exit speed before actually exiting the highway. Also, I don't pass cars in the right lane near exists, cutting off others who are trying to get into the right lane in preparing to exit which I see others doing quite often. All of these inconsiderate and dangerous maneuvers end up with collisions documented on these YouTube channels.
Whenever I'm the lead car stopped at a red light or a stop sign, I always look right and left expecting that another vehicle approaching the red light or stop sign might run it without stopping. There have been many times that I was right and that other car did run the red light or stop sign. I avoided a collision because I waited until that car ran through the stop sign. I also don't treat a red light turning green like a starting signal at a drag race. Before moving forward, I look left and right to see if there is any car approaching from either side that is obviously going to run their red light. That has actually saved me from numerous collisions. Sometimes the car behind me will honk because I didn't jam down the accelerator as soon as the light turned green. But I don't care. I rather take a second to confirm that everyone is stopping at their red light than get T-boned by someone running their red light at high speed. In the YouTube Crash Video Channels, many people do treat the green light as the start signal at a drag race and naturally get hit by the red light runner. Also, many of the crash videos are of drivers who seem totally oblivous of other cars approaching their stop sign or red light at high speed. In the video, it is obvious these cars are going to run their red light or stop sign. But the video submitter seems totally oblivious of the approaching collision, and just proceed forward anyway.
Drivers OFTEN get this one wrong. When there are 2 lanes that turn left, or 2 lanes that turn right, drivers often turn into the wrong lane. I expect this and make my turn cautiously knowing there is a high probability the car in the other turn lane will wrongly turn into my lane. By being prepared for this mistake by the other driver, there is NEVER any chance that we will collide. But drivers in these crash videos seem to never take this into account. They are always colliding with the car that goes into the wrong lane. If they just made these 2 lane turns cautiously, they could ALWAYS avoid another driver who turns into the wrong lane. As usual, it is always the other driver who gets the police citation and whose insurance has to pay for the repairs. But with just a little expectation of this common mistake by drivers, there is no reason these collisions ever need to happen.
A lot of drivers do not understand "Round-Abouts" and get this one wrong. Throughout the United States, the car that is already in the "Round About" has the "right of way" and the cars entering the "Round About" has to yield to the cars already in the Round About. But many drivers are not aware of this, even though there are "Yield" signs at the entrance of every Round About. To compound the problem, many Round Abouts have 2 or 3 lanes going all the way around the Round About. If you just remain cautious throughout the Round About, it is highly unlikely that you will collide with any other car, even when they violate the rules of the Round About. I always expect cars to enter the Round About even though they have "Yield" signs, and always expect drivers to change lanes as well as enter and exit from Rount Abouts in the wrong lanes. If you are cautious and expect drivers to behave badly in Round Abouts, you should never end up in a collision in a Round About, even when you are in the right and the other driver is in the wrong.
I'm often amazed by who submits these videos to these YouTube Video Crash Channels. I'm sure they all think they were "in the right" and are documenting other idiot drivers who were in the wrong. Maybe. But in a huge percentage of these cases, the person submitting the video could have avoided the collision by being a bit more considerate or by exercising just a little defensive driving.
Yes, I have been in collisions, but I seem to have more problems with inanimate object than other cars. In one case I cut a corner too close when entering a road leading to the highway and struck the curb. That blew out my driver side rear tire. A repair truck came to my rescue and replaced the tire. No damage to my Tesla, no collision with any other car, and no insurance claim. Just the cost to repair the tire.
Another time I was leaving the parking lot of a restaurant I had never been to before. A parked box truck was blocking a sign that said "Right Turn Only." I turned left. I had barely gone ten feet when I noticed a traffic signal about 100 feet away with 3 lanes of cars with all of their headlights pointing in my direction. That was when I realized I was on the wrong side of a 3 lane road with all the one-way traffic heading in my direction. It was a dark and stormy night, as Snoopy would say. Rain was pouring down and visibility was very low. In the process of trying to quickly make a U-turn, I hit the curb with the front of my Tesla Model S. I managed to finish the U-turn and headed home. But on the way home, every warning and trouble light lit up on my dash board. I managed to limp home. But in the morning I had to have my Tesla towed to a repair center. Evidently from hitting the curb, I had ripped out a whole lot of electronics and other cooling system components. The repairs came to almost $13,000 mostly paid for by my insurance. But again, I did not hit any vehicle. It was just my panic to quickly turn my car around, and the low visibility, to not realize the curb was there.
Another time a car hit the back of my Tesla Model S. I was just stilling at a red traffic signal waiting for it to turn green. Evidently as she approached my car, she hit the gas instead of the brake and ran into the back of my Tesla. The damage to my Tesla Model S looked extremely minor, but it turned out the lift gate, rear bumper, tail lights, electric harness, and some other panels needed to be replaced. I think the final cost came to around $18,000. The insurance of the person that hit me paid all costs as well as for a rental car for the several weeks it took to get my car repaired. I do feel bad about those in the YouTube Crash Videos that get rear ended. That is one type of collision that is almost impossible to avoid. When stopped at a red light or a stop sign, I do try to leave enough room in front of me so that if I do get rear ended, I won't be pushed into the car in front of me.
But still, I have not been involved in any of the types of collisions shown in these YouTube Crash Videos beyond being rear ended. And, I have been in many of the same circumstances shown in these crash videos. I just believe it is my own driving habits that have kept me from being in the collisions shown in these videos.
