“Obnoxious, inconsiderate, and dangerous behavior” is how a Washington state bill describes the act of driving too slow in the left lane. And while we believe that to be true, committing an act of road rage resulting in an accident is worse. And that’s what the driver of a fifth-gen Camaro did on a New York interstate highway.
Of course, as fate would have it, a witness with a dash cam captured the entire incident.
You can argue that the pick-up driver is partly to blame, since he is blocking the left lane and not moving past the semi truck in the right. Impeding traffic like that is illegal in some states, even if the Camaro driver was driving like there’s a tornado behind him (there wasn’t).
We’re not sure what the indicated speeds were, but it stopped mattering when the pickup driver in the left lane ran parallel with a semi truck in the right lane, and stayed there to prohibit the Camaro from advancing. It’s an action that’s also incredibly provoking, as anybody that has ever experienced such a thing can attest. However, we’re not about to condone what happened next.
After a few seconds of tense tailgating, the Camaro driver decided to pass the pickup in the left lane on the shoulder of the road. In the attempt, the Camaro’s rear wheels clipped some dirt, in turn breaking traction and careening into both the pickup truck and the semi.
Nobody was killed, and we can’t help to think that this accident could have been avoided if both drivers had cooler heads. Or if the Camaro driver, who was also charged with impaired driving on top of causing the accident, was sober. We’ve all experienced the frustrations of the Camaro driver, though we have never attempted such a reckless maneuver, and will never condone road rage. But we’re not about to give a nod to the pickup driver either, who fueled the fire of an angry driver. From here, we invite you all to discuss in the comment section below.
Comments
It’s obvious the pickup driver in the left lane was intentionally aggrevating the camaro driver in the passing lane by staying at the same speed as the semi truck and not allowing him to pass. The pick up driver should have passed the semi truck and gotten over to the right lane. But he didn’t and basically stayed in the left passing lane to piss off the Camaro driver by not allowing him to pass. The pickup driver is the primary cause of the accident and should be ticketed. Obviously what the Camaro driver did wasn’t too smart, but it is the slow drivers in the left lane that cause many of the road rage incidents and they should be ticketed (although I bet there hasn’t been one ticket handed out). If you aren’t passing- and there are drivers behind you going faster than you, you should get out of the passing lane or you might just find yourself in a dangerous road rage incident.
Well the Camaro should have never passed on the right. The truck was going buy slower than he liked but he should not have tried to pass on the right and then cut him off.
Then the truck should not have boxed him in. He was already pissed and then got stupid trying to pass on the grass with out being Dale Earnhardt.
The case here is two idiots and one poor truck driver just trying to make a living and not get killed in the process.
This was a case of two wrongs make it only a bigger wrong.
I don’t know if I would call the truck driver an idiot for stopping a crime (speeding). Maybe he saved the Camaro guys life, for all we know he would have sped up to 220km/h and got into an even more fatal crash down the road.
Sorry he is not the law and does not enforce the speed limits.
In some places he may have had a shot put through his window for his efforts as I have seen that on the news many times.
In this case his vigilante like justice nearly killed 3 people. If someone had dies he would have face Vehicular manslaughter.
Life is not made up of what if’s and if some idiot wants to speeds and you have no badge or lights you are best to let them go. Generally the life they take if you keep out of the way is their own.
The best thing to do here is if you have an issue with the Camaro call 911 and let him go.
The bottom line here is a pissing match like this can generally not end well and the guy in the truck broke laws in what he did too. In most states the left lane is for passing only. To block traffic as he did he also broke the law and created a situation that was not safe and did lead to an accident.
Even in NASCAR you get a black flag for blocking.
I wouldn’t compare this to Nascar. There is a time and place for Speeding and driving under the influence and that good sir is not on a public road. That tells me allot about what your getting at.
Here you have a speeding drunk whom cut off a truck, not the other way around.
Tell me, where in your so called ‘law’ does it say you have to let people cut you off in traffic. I don’t think his intention was to enforce the law but he was FOLLOWING the law. You can’t speed up to let someone pass in a fast lane – tell me where it says that in your so called driving book. I don’t think this is the Autobahn MR Scott3.
Bench for your nascar driver all you want. Sure everyone may think speeding is fun and we all want to be like the fast and the furious but the guy did nothing wrong in the truck – he actually did everything he was supposed to.
Again, all I see is a truck following the law – whom you say is the Vigilante in this video (lol?). You can message me kindly when this vigilante get’s charged for everything he did wrong… I expect to never hear back.
Thank you so kindly.
Following the law is to drive right, pass left. That means if you aren’t passing, you have no business in the left lane. It’s illegal here in PA. Watching the video, it’s pretty clear that the pickup driver was trying to invoke the Camaro driver. Notice that he was passing the semi right up to the point where he could have pulled over to let the Camaro pass. He’s just as much to blame as the idiot in the Camaro.
Alls’ im sayin is tell that to the judge. I think it could have been handled differently but in the end the entirety of fault is towards the Camaro.
Unlicensed, speeding and under the influence.
We’ll the guy probobly what of moved over if the Camaro wasn’t swirving like a moron. If some ones being Di&@ then I’ll be one right back. He probobly would of kept speeding while impaired possibly hitting a family on vacation. I like how the driver with the dash cam is just listening to sports. Lol I would be straight up talking to myself like “this guys ?&@$ing nuts!”
Plain and simple camaro was cited and its driver needs help. Impaired drivers kill.
Do the laws in other States say you must speed greater to let a even faster speeding person go. That’s dumb.
Had two 18 wheelers do that to my family with my wife driving, we waited for many miles before we caught a gap between the trucks to get through. One of the trucks was awarded a full 32 oz. Big Gulp smashing to the middle of his windshield for his efforts. I was sorry it came to that, but it infuriates you when it’s happening to you. The pick-up driver in this video incited road rage, it’s not worth it. The Camaro driver should not drive impaired which even made it worse.
You’ve forgotten that the Camaro driver nearly ran the guy off the road to begin the whole thing.
Slow down, let the idiots go by. Stretch your legs or something. You’ll likely pass their accident scene in a little while, is my motto these days. The bigger, smarter man just stays out of crap like this.
If I was driving the semi, I would have let the Camaro by too.
I agree that both the driver of the Camaro (Kiran Thapa) and the driver of the pick-up share some culpability in the accident, but the lion share of the blame definitely goes to the one who was:
a. Drunk (.19 BAC)
b. Passing on the shoulder
c. Following too closely
d. Speeding (both at the early part of the video and presumably during the illegal pass.
e. Improperly/recklessly changing lanes
f. Driving without a license
As aggravating as the person in the pick-up was, this is still a lesson that we are to share the road with others.
Even more important, we should practice patience and be courteous to others even when they aren’t courteous to us.
Can’t speak for anything but FL driving laws but here, the Camaro driver would go to jail.
Aside from unwritten customs of courtesy,There is nothing that says you can’t drive the speed limit in the left lane. That merge attempt was insane.The Camaro was tailgating. He then did an illegal pass in the brake down lane. When he lost control he took out two other vehicles. That’s jail time with a suspended license , and rightfully so.
To all the people defending the Camaro driver, you need to reread driving laws before you get yourselves in legal trouble.
Both drivers are to blame here (but mostly the Camaro driver). It reminds me of an incident that happened last month to me (wish I had a dashcam and got video of it). Part of my daily travels to and from work are on a 2 lane road with 3 long flat stretches for passing. I pass quickly to keep some yahoo from trying to prevent from passing before the passing lanes end. Well, this guy did just that and at the same time drifted in to the opposite lane, which I was in, creating a precarious situation for both of us. He did this apparently to avoid a parked pickup that was sticking out in his lane (it wasn’t). He got beside me at the light up the road and proceeded to cuss me out cause I put his son’s life in danger. I politely told him sorry, but he came in to the opposite lane. More cussing and then…he proceeds to make an illegal left turn (I was in the left turn lane, he was in the straight/right turn lane). But, it was me who put his son’s life in danger.
Camaro wrong trying to pass on the right and in a hurry, and to do the accident
Bad pick up for behaving like a wounded child in his ego and cause the Camaro has the accident
If one of them has given, there would have been none of this.
On the road; this nonsense some are paid the rest of their lives, we think to be shared; there are other people; is luck that has just been hit.
I hope the next time; They think of other lives on the road and activate the brake pedal.
Care in the roads friends; you protect you and protect other lives how much you may.
Regards from Spain
A pickup driver in a road-weary Sierra.
A recent-model Camaro driver with a burned-out tail light.
45 brain-cells between the two of them.
Nothing like a little GM-on-GM crime.
Simple. Truck driver should be ticketed if he’s in a state the penalizes left lane driving. The Camaro driver should be charged with a plethora of fun things like reckless endangerment, DWI and more. The truck driver antagonized the situation, but may have only broken the law in regard to left lane driving. The Camaro driver consistently engaged and antagonized and endangered. Throw the book at him.
Maybe the semi was the one keeping pace and not allowing the truck into the right lane?
The truck wasn’t driving slowly intentionally; if you look closely he is driving behind another car. The Camaro was trying to push over the truck before there was enough space for him to safely make the lane change.
No. The car in front of him was long gone. If you look closer what looks like another vehicle ahead is part of the pick-up truck.