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I think this accident could've been entirely avoided had the small pink hatchback been a Tesla. My read on what happened here is that the pink car was making a

I think this accident could've been entirely avoided had the small pink hatchback been a Tesla. My read on what happened here is that the pink car was making a passing maneuver, and just as the pink car driver checked their right-side mirror/blind-spot and hit the right turn signal to get out of the passing lane, the car ahead abruptly stopped. That explains why the pink car drifted so slowly to the right - it wasn't an avoidance maneuver, it was a simple lane change while unaware of the stopped car ahead. Presumably an autopilot in the pink car would've been able to see the stopped traffic ahead and hit the brakes even while the driver was looking to the right to change lanes.

drm237 10y ago
Autopilot isn't even necessary. Any car with Forward-Collision Warning With Braking would likely have not gotten in an accident, or at least one not nearly as severe. Fortunately, many major manufacturers have committed to eventually making this technology standard.
so_serious 10y ago
That's not what I got from watching the video. It looks like traffic was slow/stopped in the passing lane. You can see brake lights in front of the pink car, especially in the slowed down clip. The driver of the pink car seemed to be in the process of passing, but didn't pay attention to traffic ahead of them, and thus crashed into the SUV.
notheguyouthink 10y ago
A safer following distance is crucial too, fwiw. It honestly feels like 90% of the vehicles on the highway travel at insanely close distances to each other.
- badwolf 10y ago
  My mom got in an accident due to driving too close to the car in front of her. It caused me to really take heart to my Driver's Ed teachers word of wisdom to always leave enough space in front of you to be able to safely brake to prevent that. I wish everyone would do that. It also makes driving in traffic less stop-and-go
  - thesimpsons1022 10y ago
    yeah i try to do that but then other cars just merge in between the space i leave in front of me and force me to be on their tail. meanwhile the guy behind me never leaves enough distance either. safe driving doesn't mean anything when others drive recklessly
    - pilom 10y ago
      Other peoples poor driving shouldn't make you drive worse. In the Drivers Ed classes I've taken, the recommended advice is that if someone is tailgating behind you, you should leave EVEN MORE space in front of you so that if you need to hit the brakes, you won't have to hit them as hard and thus won't be as likely to be rear ended.
      - geocar 10y ago
        and then pushed into the car in front of you. Same reason to use the handbrake at a crosswalk/zebra crossing: You don't want someone reckless behind you to make you cream some poor folks.
        loeg 10y ago
        That's not a reason to use the handbrake over the brake pedal. Typically the brake pedal is more effective (all wheels, ABS) than the hand brake (sometimes 2 wheels, probably no ABS). The handbrake is just for emergencies and parking.
        geocar 10y ago
        When I learned to drive in the US (Washington state) I received advice similar to that, however when I took lessons in the UK, I was advised that when you are rear ended, you will have a hard time keeping pressure on the break pedal so you should do both.
        loeg 10y ago
amalcon 10y ago
It's kind of hard to tell with the low camera and no depth perception, but it looked to me like the hatchback did between one and three unsafe things there. An autopilot would presumably just not do these things, thereby avoiding the accident. A good driver would do the same, though. 1) Approaching the SUV too closely (can't be sure of this one, it's possible that the SUV moved into the left lane just prior to the start of the video). Even at the beginning of the video, the hatchback was too close to the SUV. 2) Attempting a lane change while too close to the vehicle in front and the vehicle to the right. Lane changes are the most dangerous maneuvers in highway driving, because they divide your attention and may not be anticipated by other motorists. You want more space than you would normally need both in front and to the side you're merging toward. 3) Accelerating during to the lane change. I'm not sure that this is what happened; it's difficult to tell without stereoscopic depth perception. What I think happened is that the driver of the red hatchback accelerated during the lane change, approaching the speed they wanted once they were in the clear lane. This is very commonly done, but it trades away a lot of safety in exchange for a little time. In any significant traffic, you should complete the lane change first, then accelerate to the desired speed for the new lane.

drm237 10y ago

Autopilot isn't even necessary. Any car with Forward-Collision Warning With Braking would likely have not gotten in an accident, or at least one not nearly as severe. Fortunately, many major manufacturers have committed to eventually making this technology standard.

so_serious 10y ago

That's not what I got from watching the video. It looks like traffic was slow/stopped in the passing lane. You can see brake lights in front of the pink car, especially in the slowed down clip. The driver of the pink car seemed to be in the process of passing, but didn't pay attention to traffic ahead of them, and thus crashed into the SUV.

notheguyouthink 10y ago

A safer following distance is crucial too, fwiw. It honestly feels like 90% of the vehicles on the highway travel at insanely close distances to each other.

badwolf 10y ago
My mom got in an accident due to driving too close to the car in front of her. It caused me to really take heart to my Driver's Ed teachers word of wisdom to always leave enough space in front of you to be able to safely brake to prevent that. I wish everyone would do that. It also makes driving in traffic less stop-and-go
- thesimpsons1022 10y ago
  yeah i try to do that but then other cars just merge in between the space i leave in front of me and force me to be on their tail. meanwhile the guy behind me never leaves enough distance either. safe driving doesn't mean anything when others drive recklessly
  - pilom 10y ago
    Other peoples poor driving shouldn't make you drive worse. In the Drivers Ed classes I've taken, the recommended advice is that if someone is tailgating behind you, you should leave EVEN MORE space in front of you so that if you need to hit the brakes, you won't have to hit them as hard and thus won't be as likely to be rear ended.
    - geocar 10y ago
      and then pushed into the car in front of you. Same reason to use the handbrake at a crosswalk/zebra crossing: You don't want someone reckless behind you to make you cream some poor folks.
      - loeg 10y ago
        That's not a reason to use the handbrake over the brake pedal. Typically the brake pedal is more effective (all wheels, ABS) than the hand brake (sometimes 2 wheels, probably no ABS). The handbrake is just for emergencies and parking.
        geocar 10y ago
        When I learned to drive in the US (Washington state) I received advice similar to that, however when I took lessons in the UK, I was advised that when you are rear ended, you will have a hard time keeping pressure on the break pedal so you should do both.
        loeg 10y ago

amalcon 10y ago

It's kind of hard to tell with the low camera and no depth perception, but it looked to me like the hatchback did between one and three unsafe things there. An autopilot would presumably just not do these things, thereby avoiding the accident. A good driver would do the same, though. 1) Approaching the SUV too closely (can't be sure of this one, it's possible that the SUV moved into the left lane just prior to the start of the video). Even at the beginning of the video, the hatchback was too close to the SUV. 2) Attempting a lane change while too close to the vehicle in front and the vehicle to the right. Lane changes are the most dangerous maneuvers in highway driving, because they divide your attention and may not be anticipated by other motorists. You want more space than you would normally need both in front and to the side you're merging toward. 3) Accelerating during to the lane change. I'm not sure that this is what happened; it's difficult to tell without stereoscopic depth perception. What I think happened is that the driver of the red hatchback accelerated during the lane change, approaching the speed they wanted once they were in the clear lane. This is very commonly done, but it trades away a lot of safety in exchange for a little time. In any significant traffic, you should complete the lane change first, then accelerate to the desired speed for the new lane.