First ever accident...in my new Tacoma. Ugh.

I like that robotrucker convoys are exempt…

 

the right on red, illegal or not, was made, finished, completed, over then…

OP rear ended a guy stopped in the road.

Two separate things which, clearly, the dash cam will show.

 

^^^ This and if the car turning did a California stop, as I once heard a AZ police officer call it, then that is the nail in the coffin. Are we forgetting the responding officer cited the turning vehicle and he saw the video that no one else has seen? Maybe the OP is lying? Maybe the cop is stupid? Who knows?

 

This tells me you had time to avoid the accident.

 

You mean the dash cam video that the cop watched and cited the turning driver?

 

Define "yield." Maybe the guy stopped before entering oncoming traffic. Maybe the guy thought he had enough space? Apparently he had enough space to make it fully into traffic right? My point, hitting someone in the ass usually means it's your fault 99% of the time. That's all.

 

I love how with absolutely no video of this event, everybody has become an expert witness.

 

guess it depends on the amount of time too: that happened to couple of friends - one was going way too fast and rear-ended someone who made the right turn with plenty of time if friend was driving safely. the other the right turning car sped up to make the turn and be hit in their rear. when the cop was there, the right turning driver commented "well it must be his fault since he rear-ended me. if he had hit me on the side then would have been my fault" dash cam in my friend's truck shows the other driver not yielding or stopping on his red, my friends green light

 

Two things I've learned.

One is human nature. Even if a person knows they are in the wrong, if you ask them like a dick, 90% will double down on their wrongness rather than admit it. Tailgating and/or high-beaming is asking like a dick. Following at a respectful distance is asking nicely.


Two, I'm not in such a hurry that going 10mph slower is going to ruin my day. Perspective. (I like my truck and I like driving it. Why would I want to get to work sooner?)

 

Do we know the speed of the road? Speed is most definitely a factor. Also, when there are intersections and turns are involved more questions come into play.

 

Glad you're alright, brother! And glad the dashcam saved your butt!

I live 45 minutes North of our new manufacturing facility, and I bought a dashcam right away. There's a HUGE difference in driver's behavior around here when you switch from the rural highway to the interstate.

 

again, we don’t now what he was cited for…

maybe he was only cited for the right on red.

 

That sucks. I am happy about the dash cam coming to the rescue! I don't know what's up with folks these days road raging over a honk. It's becoming more and more common. Had a similar incident a few weeks back. Told the psycho he was on camera, and he immediately stopped and drove away. I think the DMV may need to incorporate an emotional stability test for drivers these days.

 

As for the legality of the brake check, it is commonly illegal to stop a vehicle on a roadway (unless necessary to avoid other traffic, etc.).

Bottom line, if you slam on your brakes for no reason and get hit, you can be at fault.

Also for the OP to note, the police accident report is technically hearsay and not admissible in a civil trial. The OP absolutely needs to keep that dashcam footage and send a copy of it to his insurance company in the event the other driver sues him.

The OP’s insurance will defend him in the event of a suit, but the accident report can not be admitted. That dashcam footage will be gold.

One sneaky tactic would be for the other driver to sue the OP for some nominal amount ($1,000 or similar). In this case, the OP’s insurance provider will likely just settle as the defense cost is more than the suit value. Insurance companies can and will do this.

The reason the other driver might do this is to later use the successful civil suit as a justification for lower premium increases, claiming his civil suit win proves he was actually not at fault for the accident.

 

@Vmax540 x2. Everyone has got problems. Doesn't excuse actions. Especially knowing/willfully disregarding the safety of others. Driving is a privilege, not a right.

 

The guy could of be cited for window tint for all we know. Ops word and no video posted. Sounds to me like they both are morons. Doesn’t matter if someone brake checks you. If you hit them you can almost guarantee your insurance and their will find you at fault for hitting them. Or in some states where they use percentages you may not be 100% at fault but will still carry some of the liability. Pics don’t seem too bad, and I’m going to say it was more than likely avoidable. Hopefully both come away with lessons learned.


I’d love to see the footage posted up

 

Sorry to hear about your Tacoma but good to hear everyone is Okay, no serious injuries.
Getting a dash cam is excellent advice. I've had one for over 3 years. I had it in my old Jeep and got in to a minor accident just days before my Tacoma came in. Unfortunately the dash cam didn't help prove the other driver ran a 4 way stop sign.... sigh.

So I'm going to offer another bit of advice. If you have a dash cam check it every so often make sure it's still recording footage of your trips. I did not and mine was having an intermittent power supply issue I wasn't aware of. As a result the footage of the accident wasn't captured.
So check your cameras operating and recording to the SD card. Those memory cards can go bad too.

I have my dash cam hard wired to come on with the engine now and been checking the SD card every month or so to be sure it's working properly.

 

Really?

At 30mph you are traveling 44 feet per second.

If you have a 50’ gap between you and the vehicle in front of you, and they suddenly and unexpectedly stop, you have about 1 second to react.

As I mentioned earlier, stopping in a travel lane of a roadway for no reason is illegal and that was probably the citation written by the responding officer.