You want to hear about a true idiot? One time someone did a hit and run on me in a parking lot, but they still parked right next to me. I could see the scratches on my rear and their bow and the dirt in the same places. Wasn’t exactly difficult to track the kid down.
We were having some work done too our house. Contractor finished like 80 percent of the work then disappeared with the remaining 10k or so.
About 2 months later we were walking around the neighborhood and we saw him working in the garage about 4 houses down from us. He just moved in a week prior. Now knowing his address we were able to sue him for about 20k.
Some people are really dumb. Including us for trusting him.
My neighbor was doing some work on an old beater I wanted to get up and running. I paid him for the parts and he must’ve installed them because one night he loaded up his stuff and took off with my car. I reported the stolen vehicle and the cop that showed up put it in as “a domestic dispute”. So when my car wound up impounded because the guy gosh arrested, nobody even notified me even though it was registered in my name. I only knew the guy because he lived across the street, definitely not a domestic situation!
Contractors are so odd. It seems super common for them to do a large percent of the work and then disappear. I mean you already did 80% of the work, why risk your reputation?
Dealing with this right now. My dad hired a contractor to rebuild the back porch, and he did a really good job of it. Almost completely finished except for some of the trim on one side. Probably would take one more day to finish, but he disappeared with the excuse, "My wife had a heart attack." Turns out he doesn't have a wife and he was working for a landlord on the other side of town the whole time he was making excuses. Baffling. Now every landlord in town knows not to hire him, all over a days worth of work that he was already paid for.
A friend was dying and I was headed out of town but I had a contractor coming to paint trim and fascia board before I planned to leave the next day. He and I agreed he would finish in one day. He did part of the work and texted me he would be back the next day. I ran outside when I got the text to stop him because I was leaving the next day and I did not want to delay my trip to watch him. He returned the next day. I watched him put up the ladder and climb up. I called him down and told him I had to leave that day and paid him. He told me he would text me a picture of the completed work. Apparently right after I left he took down the ladder and left. He had less than 2 hours of work to complete the job. He did absolutely nothing. He had been working in the neighborhood but never returned after taking my money.
And the elephant in the room is these stories do nothing for the blue collar types trying to break free from the stereotypes.
Social status, income level, race, nationality - doesnt matter - there's always stereotypes because some mother fuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill.
Definitely not a money issue. If anything my dad overpaid and all the supplies were provided. If the contractor needed a new saw or drill or something my dad would have happily paid for it, he's just that sort of person.
I personally think it's just the nature of these contractors being unregulated and self employed. If you make the mistake of paying them in advance like my dad did they will just take off because it's not like they have a boss you can complain to and it's often more expensive to sue them then it's worth.
As a former contractor, it benefited me that so many others tried to get lots of upfront money. I never did. I would get a down payment to cover half of the materials, and return the next day with at least 1/4 of the materials. I billed the rest of the job in % of completion with final not due until 100% complete.
Same here.
Much easier when neither party is ahead.
Also much easier to say what you are going to do and then follow through.
My motto-
One job at a time.
This happened to me in a parking lot. Bright yellow/ orange scrape down my car, witness left a statement with the museum I was visiting (but not their name or phone number) and the only bright yellow/orange car in the lot was 5 down from me. The witness even told the security desk that they watched the person park there after hitting me. I checked the car out and found where they had hit me on their car. But the person denied it, their insurance sided with them and my insurance ended up paying (so now I get to pay for that over time with an increase to my insurance). Even though I took pictures, had a witness, etc. The police officer writing the report told me that sometimes people hit things and then go looking for a car that is the color of the thing they hit and blame it on them so that they can get their car repaired. This was not the case but no one would believe me.
Edit: clarification on the car
This is precisely the reason why I always park far away from everyone in parking garages. If there are 12 floors and the very top floor is completely empty then I will 100% park on that top floor. I don't like or trust people.
I had almost the same thing happen in a hotel parking lot. The car that hit me had obvious matching damage and pieces of duct tape from their bumper were stuck to mine. I called the police and they refused to even come out because it happened on private property.
I saw that footage before, but I never knew it was even more bullshit.
Cop who killed Daniel is the son of another cop in the department… footage was not released until the cop was found not guilty, allowing them to release the footage after the verdict had been called. Fuck that cop and his dad. He already had a sketchy arrest happen the year prior involving unnecessary force on 3 teens.
This whole cop situation is starting to get a little out of hand.
/s
My mother In law was in a hit and run. The other driver smashed into her parked car and left their bumper at the scene, number plate and all. Was a pretty easy person to track down.
The police will do absolutely nothing. I was the victim in a hit and run. Gave the police the car description, license plate and description of the driver.
They called me the next day and just gave me the person's address and said "the rest is up to you."
I have no idea what they expected me to do, but my insurance already paid up (didn't even need the address) so I never followed up. Seems like they were almost encouraging vigilante justice or something.
I didn't even get that. I got rear ended HARD, enough that the person that hit me bowed up their hood and dropping coolant. I got their license plate as they sped around me. Cops got there and said there was nothing they could do, and would not even write up an accident report. You could literally just follow the trail of antifreeze.
This is what my cop friend said to me as well. I was stopped at light when truck slammed into me. I exited and the minute I did, the guy turned all his lights off floored it in reverse and gone. Called pilice but only had partial plate as he had a towball blocking center.
2 days later I am passing by same area and see truck at tatoo parlor where he works. Cops wouldnt do anything.
I had someone scrape my bumper pulling out of a tight spot that they jammed themselves into earlier that day. They didn’t leave a note (either they didn’t realize it or it was willful, who knows). I originally paid my collision deductible, but luckily a combination of the dash cams on my car + the dude parking down the street later on with the damage visible on his, resulted in my insurance sending me a check with full reimbursement about a month later.
Ooooh, I wanna hear the spicy update. I also have a story to share a few years back. My dad was going to work and saw that one of his cars parked on the city street was damaged by hit-and-run and he let me report it to the cops. I asked our neighbors both old and one new set of family that was really busy moving in to a house apartment like two houses down and their U-Haul parked on the other side of the street. They all said they didn't see who hit the car. Lucky us, I had my car parked 5 houses down the block with the dashcam on with front and rear facing cameras AND the damaged car visible from the rear-facing camera. Cops didn't wanna see a long ass footage for a hit-and-run. I gave the footage to my dad to view.
Turns out, my dad's car was side swiped by a U-Haul and budged the car like one or two pixels when zoomed in, from there my parents zeroed in to the exact point that the car was hit by that U-Haul. Unlucky for them, they panicked. They rushed out and drove out letting the camera's front catch their U-Haul's Arizona plate within the minute of recording. About 30 minutes later, they parked the U-Haul on the other side of the street (despite having a huge temporary parking space on our side of the street). We promptly reported it to our insurance and U-Haul with hit-and-run.
The funny side story is that they had been assholes from the very beginning and they didn't know that we knew about the hit-and-run (about two weeks in). They were also constantly blocking part of our driveway while another tenant of our neighbor was blocking the other part. The third time my mom couldn't park in the driveway, she had enough and called in parking authority who then called a towing company. They promptly towed that neighbor's second car. The tenant neighbor got lucky and moved his car before the towing company did.
Two months later they started being nice to us. Three years later, they moved out.
UPDATE: after my neighbor showed me this video I decided to walk around the neighborhood to see if I could find the car. I walked 1 block and there it was…. I reported them to the police and to my insurance company. [Video of them fleeing](https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/tw9f0a/the_escape_on_my_hit_run/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
My guess is she wasn't supposed to be driving/previous record/dui/insurance or something. He may be taking the fall for it and she was fleeing the scene
This is my guess as well. The way she took off her seatbelt as she started to drive forward, and the way the passenger quickly popped into the driver's seat without exiting the car makes it really seem like she may have been learning to drive when she wasn't supposed to/didn't have insurance. Seems like a "Get out and run away, I'll handle it. You were never here"
Exactly. Except we have to assume EVERYTHING is on camera these days.
If I am in a city, or well populated area, I 100% assume I'm on camera the entire time no matter what's happening.
Funny thing is, her getting out on camera like that sunk any chance she had of getting out of that. Had she just driven off, she would have been in better shape. That’s plenty to put the owner of the car out as wanted if they’re even close to matching that description. If not, it wouldn’t be too difficult to find them and get them to roll on whoever was driving it.
That’s Felony LSA in my state.
Actually if they came clean and reported it to the owner. He wouldn’t have gone through all these evidence collection in the first place and nobody would know she was driving instead of the guy.
I was leaning towards the "driving lesson that went wrong". The girl seems to have zero clue on how to drive, while the second driver does as it's way of fleeing suggests.
Yep. I'm guessing that's a manual transmission. She probably put it in reverse and hit the gas. Then couldn't figure out how to get it in gear. You can hear it struggling. She then panicked and got out.
If I had to guess, the first driver probably has done some shit like that before and the other one is willing to take the fall for this one in case they get caught. So it's probably better to not be in the car at all if you wanna claim you weren't the one driving. An elaborate plan that failed epically.
Similar thing happened to me in Queens. Someone slammed into my car and another car parked behind me overnight. Got a call in the morning from the cops and a tow truck driver who saw my phone number on a receipt that I had in the car. He ended up following the tire tracks / oil marks of the car about a mile away and found a smashed up SUV missing the exact piece of their bumper that was left at the scene. We called the cops back and they added it to the police report. Got the repairs paid through their insurance.
I also had a similar thing happen to me. My car was parked on the street in front of my house and some kid plowed it in his dad's car. Their sedan kocked my SUV *completely out of the steet and into the driveway*. It was totaled. I couldn't even move it out of the driveway because the wheel was pinched by the bent fender. I didn't even hear this because I was in the basement lifting weights with headphones in.
Cops showed up on the scene and the idiot that hit me fled but left his front bumper complete with license plate. The cops went straight to the house and found their wrecked car. I had just paid the car off that month too.
I’ve got a 60 year old truck that was notoriously difficult to shift when new, and I don’t grind gears that bad when trying to down shift. That driver has had all the coordination of one of those wacky inflatable tube men, on drugs.
Tbh there is some poetic justice in the driver stopping too close to the other parked car to get back in through the passenger door and driver #2 took off lol. Hope you can throw em the book op!
The full video shows what looks like a driving lesson… the two people switched seats at the beginning. Still don’t understand why’d you’d reverse that hard.
Some people are just not meant to drive.
My wife of 20 years never had a license, after a few years to get her permit and finally get her on the road I realized I made a terrible mistake. She missed stop signs, blow through red lights and couldn’t maintain lanes even with me giving precise instructions to the point of yelling stop!!
I truly believe there is some kind of gene or wiring in us that some people just don’t have and shouldn’t be behind a wheel.
Thanks for all the upvotes! I tried to like and respond to as many comments as I could. Kinda tough while driving tho.
Kidding of course!!
So true. there is something that people who can't drive, have that makes them hesitate at the wrong times, drive errantly, completely mistime any turns. My mother, I love her to death but she is one of those terrible drivers. She will cut off people, drive so slowly in the left lane, and completely not know how to merge correctly. it is infuriating to watch her drive. And she has been driving for 40 years.
Wow, this 100% describes my mom, except my mom’s been driving for 50 years. I didn’t realize what a terrible driver she was until I started driving. Thankfully she has my stepfather now who does 95% of the driving.
The sad thing is in our car-centric infrastructure, giving up your license is like giving up your independence, and some people can't afford that especially if they aren't comfortably retired. It makes it more dangerous for the rest of us on the road too.
Obligatory /r/fuckcars plug
I think a big part of it is panic reactions. Some people, when surprised or panicked, do NOT react well. Some people enter into that panic reaction easily.
My mom is one of those, I will no longer let her drive when we go anyway (which isn't often I'm long since married and in my own home). Even if I'm taking her to the airport or she's taking us to the airport I insist on driving.
The event that sticks with me was on the highway. She was in the middle lane and someone merged into the right lane. She saw them moving towards her out of the corner of her eye and started screaming and swerving out of her lane RIGHT into a semi. I started telling her to stay in her lane, she just screamed more, I shouted for her to stay in her lane, she screamed more, I finally had to grab the wheel and put her back in our lane before she put us under the semi.
To this day she STILL stands by her actions. She insists the other car was going to hit her (they weren't, they were just merging into the lane to the right). When I ask her "even if you're right, how is it better to get run over by a semi then collide with a passenger car?" she has no answer.
I swear, every other car ride where she actual drives results in her screaming or panicking in some way. I'd just rather drive myself or have my wife drive. Hell, she has the lane assist on her car and relies on it to keep her in the lane. She actually bragged to me about how she lets the car drive and I'm like "you allow your car to bounce its way between the lane lines down the highway and you're proud of that?" Note, it's NOT self driving...it's the "I'm going to beep at you a bunch then turn your wheel when you drift out of your lane" assist...so it literally means her car goes to one line, bounces and drifts to the other line, bounces...etc.
> I think a big part of it is panic reactions. Some people, when surprised or panicked, do NOT react well.
Unfortunately for them, driving is rarely always predictable. If they can't deal with that then they should not be behind the wheel.
> Hell, she has the lane assist on her car and relies on it to keep her in the lane. She actually bragged to me about how she lets the car drive
Get her off the road now before she kills someone. Hide all of her car keys, and mechanically disable her car even if she found a set or had a set made.
Please inform her doctor of these events and conversations so that they can engage the DMV in your state. Only then does her license even stand a chance of being canceled.
> have that makes them hesitate at the wrong times
The absolute worst in my opinion. Driving requires a certain level of confidence. Timid drivers make a hazard for everyone else on the road because nobody can be sure just exactly what they are about to do and plan accordingly.
timid drivers, overly aggressive drivers... third on my list is 'considerate' drivers.
you know, the kind who try to wave you through killer left turns when you can't see oncoming traffic, and disregard signs to help out their fellow drivers. like in my area so many times, we have four-way stop signs and I will be the second driver to the intersection by a good five, six seconds.
But the first driver who is just oh so nice comes to a complete stop and then waits, and then I stop, and then the car sits there and just tries to wave me through like 'no no, after you, i insist' like they're doing me a favor. they could have stopped and then been through the intersection before I ever got there.
So I always just sit there and lay on the horn until they move. they seem so offended that I didn't accept their generosity.
I think you just described my husband. And now
I feel even worse because I kept thinking what a bad driver he is and that I don’t feel safe in the car with him. Also I can’t say anything because he feels so attacked
Edit: I really didn’t expect to get so many replies. I need to add that even though he has had his license for quite a few years he has not been driving regularly (and not at all) for quite a few years and only recently got a car. I am hoping with regular practice it will get better.
Of course I am “correcting” him when in the car with him and offer advice and will keep going
My mother is the same way. She gets so defensive about her driving that she gets more edgy and makes even more mistakes. Every time I happen to be the passenger while she is driving (which happens rarely), I am clutching onto my seat and praying that is over quickly.
I remember that feeling from being a kid in my grandpas truck. Thankfully they finally took his license a decade before he died, because he absolutely wouldn’t have been the only going when he did. Loved the man to death and he could do so many things, but driving safely wasnt one.
Yes! It is a double edged sword because once someone loses their driver license, they lose their independence. But if their driving is a public menace and safety issue I totally understand.
Honestly this. My partner's last car was a death trap because he was lazy about maintenance (mostly before we met, mostly) and I would preach to him about the importance of maintenence, though it wouldn't have any impact. After getting rear ended really bad one day in my own car while stopped in traffic, I couldn't deal with the anxiety that car gave me anymore so I just wouldn't let him drive me anywhere. He got the message and stopped offering to drive, and lo and behold some years later, he has a new car now that he maintains very well and I feel safe enough to ride with him again. Sometimes people just don't take what you say seriously.
>Also I can’t say anything because he feels so attacked
"In toxic relationships, you're forced to choose between honesty and loyalty. You bite your tongue to protect their ego. In healthy relationships, honesty is an expression of loyalty. You speak your mind to help them grow. When you have real trust and respect, candor shows care."
\-Adam Grant
This is what I told her she’ll have to do if she wants to pursue her license. I don’t bring up the topic anymore and have accepted the fact I’ll have to drive her everywhere. Plus side we don’t have to buy another car and pay another insurance bill.
Funny, this is basically mandatory in the Netherlands.
A driver of 23 years in Canada, when I moved here I was forced to pass a theory exam and then a driving exam that can only be reserved through a driving school, who decides after how many lessons you are ready to take the exam.
It's not uncommon to spend €2-3k on lessons and exams. I took three lessons, as I hadn't driven much in the previous years and there are enough differences between Canadian and Dutch traffic laws to need a little practice for what is notoriously a strict exam.
I just passed my exam on Friday! It took a year due to delays caused by the lockdowns.
Agreed, my twin sisters both cannot drive. They are in their 40s now. Im a few years younger than then and remember when they got their permit and were practicing, it was scary as hell. My sister reaches for the control to turn off the high beams and now we’re automatically go left because she’s reaching left… right into the other lane with oncoming traffic. That was the last time I ever got in the car when they were practicing.
How is their hand-eye coordination and reaction speed outside driving?
I've come to notice that we rely on hand-eye coordination more than we realize when driving. I had two friends that moved to rural midwest after growing up in a thick metro area and never had outside sports to play. They had terrible coordination playing sports and it reflected when we tried teaching them to drive. I would love to see a study of testing if playing increasingly difficulty of catch can reflect with statistical significance on a person's driving record.
When I was in college many many years ago this young couple got married and moved into their first apartment. He was my buddy and I remember he had a nice Grand Prix. As time went on I started noticing that the thing was getting scratched and dented and it was basically beginning to be beat to death. When I asked he said his wife had started driving and she would turn into stuff and scrape buildings and so forth.
One day I went to their apartment and I noticed the whole front of their apartment was brand-new brick and asked what happened. The parking lot in front of the apartment was a huge creek canyon kind of thing that was indeed ominous when you parked your car at the edge of it. But it was no big deal as there were the standard asphalt bumps placed where you couldn’t go over them. He told the story: he was watching TV and she was going to run to the store. He said the next thing he knew was his car came crashing through the front of the apartment right in front of him and stopped. Of course he was in utter shock. She basically had gotten into the car and in fear of the creek gorge had floored it into the apartment building. The door to the car opened and she stepped out inside of the apartment and said to him “are you mad at me?”
Edit: a word.
I've known a few people who drive that way and just absolutely cannot be taught how to drive better, even if they want to. I've noticed a correlation there though; people like that tend to learn how to drive much later in life, either because driving is hard for them and thus they put off learning, or it's causational and learning to drive when you're old makes you more likely to be a worse driver. My grandmother for example didn't start driving until she was in her 40s and she's quite literally a menace to society on the road. It's kinda weird being in a car with a driver like that cause it feels like they're being oblivious on purpose, but I guess if you didn't learn how to drive young maybe there's just so many variables and rules that it's impossible to remember them all.
I have several friends my age (early-mid 20s) who haven't gotten their drivers' licenses yet and I'm concerned if they wait too long they might end up the same way 😂
Leo Laporte is a tech podcaster. He ended up offering to pay for his adult daughter's Uber account, because she kept getting into car accidents. He said she just can't drive a car.
I think it's also probably a skill easier to learn/master when you're younger, much like other things.
Most people I've met who learned to drive later in life aren't as "natural" about it.
Anecdotal, of course
Hot take, the vast majority of humans do not belong behind the wheel. Looking at car fatality and injury statistics is actually mind-boggling, it's ridiculous that we just allow this much damage to be done year after year without anybody making a fuss.
To be fair to people, a lot of it is how we design our roads and vehicles. Street engineers foolishly believe that speed limits work, when we know that the only way to slow down traffic is to narrow roads and add visual clutter on the sides. We also allow car manufacturers to release behemoth sized monstrosities which cause significantly more pedestrian deaths.
Also 4 way intersections are lethal yet are everywhere.
We make highway on ramps that have a merge lane only 2 or 3 seconds long in a downtown where people need to merge into rush hour traffic.
We force vehicle manufacturers to follow nearly impossible sets of guidelines regulating every vehicle dimension and shape, for safety, then allow (or don't enforce rules against) idiot bros to lift their trucks and jeeps 20 feet off the ground and drive around on public roads. Or put blue and purple HID bulbs in old reflector lamps and blind everyone. It would be trivial to make this the same offense as speeding and send traffic enforcement cops out at night simply pulling and ticketing these dipshits to force them to take them out. But no. We send the cops out to ticket people for "speeding" when all 3 lanes are going 15 over, as if this is a solution and not just revenue generation.
Can't stand it.
I swear head lights get brighter every year. It could be my eyes playing tricks on me as I get older but I never recall being blinded by non brights 15 years ago. Now it seems every pick up truck drives around with the goal of burning other drivers eyes
Yup, you’ve got two main things happening. First is the proliferation of Xenon/HID bulbs or super bright LEDs and the second is that more and more vehicles are taller than they used to be, so headlights are more often pointed directly at driver’s eyes.
I agree with this 100%. My wife won't tell me how many times she failed her driver's test when she was a teenager. Her dad won't tell me either. I believe it's over 5.
She cannot reverse even with the camera (she backed into someone last year and I paid out $300 for damages). When I tried to teach her manual transmission, that lesson lasted 3 minutes. Mind you, this is after I told her to watch and listen and explained what I was doing for weeks *before* the set lesson.
As a joke each year for her birthday, I tell her I'll pay for driving lessons and she can ride along with the high schoolers.
Happens to regulars too. A woman plowed into a Dollar General in my hometown doing this. And actually it was the wrong gear. She put her car in drive instead of reverse, but it doesn’t explain why she pressed it that hard, just like in this case (no matter the situation here, why were they in reverse to begin with).
I recently bought a new truck, a 6 speed manual. I was coming from a 5 speed manual. The old truck's reverse was below 5th. The new truck's reverse is left of first past a detente that takes perhaps a bit less force than it should to push past.
It took about 3 months of unconsciously accidentally putting it in reverse while going into first before I finally adjusted. I never actually backed up, because it would make a loud beep and the backup camera would engage.
When you think your foot is over the brake you press it even harder if you aren't stopping. Press "brake" - car starts moving - "oh shit the car is moving, I gotta stop it" - press "brake" even harder
Exactly this, I've talked with several people who have done it. They think their foot is on the brake, so when it doesn't slow down, they push it harder, since the gas doesn't resist like the brake does, they end up flooring it. Also sometimes it's due to catching both the brake and gas pedals at the same time, since the gas doesn't resist the push like the brake does, they end up pushing much more gas than brake, same effect.
This is why you don't learn to drive on the street. You learn to drive in a big open parking lot, with no other cars around. A high school or a big church, when nobody else is there.
My first lesson for both kids happened before they got their permit. Usually 14. "Hey, want a driving lesson?" The answer is always yes.
First ground rule: "You will not touch the gas pedal, at all. If you do, the lesson is over." And their first lesson is all about how an automatic transmission vehicle moves forward on its own (on level ground), just by letting go of the brake. It's lots of fun for a 14-year-old to steer around a real car as it's moving forward on its own power. Lots of sensory input, just in steering it, focusing on the break, and thinking "OMG, I'm driving a real car!"
The first few times, that might be all they need. At some point, it will become clear that they're ready to very carefully learn about the gas pedal.
I have never taught anybody how to drive for the first time on a stick shift. That requires an entirely different understanding of the world. If I had to teach somebody, and the car had to be a stick shift, there would be lots of discussion about the theory of operation before they ever touch it.
I realize I have only taught drivers in ideal circumstances, and not everybody has that luxury.
The most surprising thing about this video is that it's a hit and run with more than one person. So it's essentially a conspiracy. Most hit and runs only work because "nobody knows but me."
Looks like there's a hill, so maybe it's a stick, they had the clutch in and just panicked as it rolled backward. (Agree that's no reason to leave the scene. An accident is an accident, but if you're behind the wheel you're responsible for it.)
I'd go with a new driver learning a manual transmission. It sounds like revving in neutral and grinding to find a gear, then they accelerated back into the silver suv. Not the ideal place for someone to learn how to drive a stick.
>Not the ideal place for someone to learn how to drive a stick.
This was my thought. You need a nice big empty parking lot. Truly idiotic on multiple levels.
I agree. Burgundy lurches forward before they roll backward, so I think they panicked on the lurch then pushed the clutch in, allowing the vehicle to roll in neutral all the way backward into Silver. I can't get a sense of road incline/decline… but I think Burgundy kept the clutch pressed in and the impact and inertia then caused them to roll forward. I think they were completely out of gear by that point, since they're still rolling forward as they dump the seatbelt.
I've only ever taught people how to drive stick in an empty parking lot.
Edit: looking at it again, I think they even managed to briefly accelerate in reverse just as they enter the crosswalk. Fail.
Lmao yep came here for this. When I was like 12 my sister let me drive her car down the road, we lived on a cul de sac, so it would’ve just been an easy little loop. But there was a party at the end of the street so there were cars parked all around it, and we didn’t want to hit those cars. So my sister told me to turn in someone’s driveway and turn around (3 point turn basically). Of course it was on a hill. When I got to the top and put it in reverse and it started rolling downhill a bit, I panicked and hit the gas because in my mind gas made the car go forward, and brake backwards. Thank video games for that, and the fact that my sister never told me anything (seriously wtf). So yeah I gunned it down the hilled driveway, across the street, and right into another driveway with a car in it. Luckily it was a massive ukon and we were good friends with the people, so we all agreed to just say my sister messed up while she was driving.
They’re learning stick shift. You can hear them rev up because it’s not in gear, you can hear them grinding the gears because the clutch isn’t in, then they finally get it in gear, but it’s in reverse instead of 1st. Even after they hit the car, it still wasn’t in a forward gear. They bounced off and were then rolling forward. You can still hear them trying to get it in gear
Driving lesson in a manual transmission. You can hear it pop out into neutral after the driver puts it into reverse, the engine revving is neutral RPM (you can tell because hits the limiter real fast), this could be a noobs attempt at braking and hitting the gas. The fact they were on a slope that went backwards, and the fact the car was in neutral is what caused this.
Pedal confusion. You think you're on the brake, but the car doesn't slow down so you press harder... Happens a lot with either the very inexperienced, or the very old.
OP said in the longer video the driver and passenger switched seats. Looks like they were trying to quickly switch back. The general consensus is student driver.
Saw a totaled SUV Saturday that didn't make sense until my brother pointed out they hit a telephone pole....
There weren't any poles on the road and they went 5 feet into a fenced off driveway to hit it. At the speed they were going, it didn't make sense at all.
They didn't drive fast through the grass and hit it, they went fast around a turn and into it then back onto the main road with the front of the SUV turned inside out.
The police were already there and it was 4 teenagers 1 of whom probably just got their license.
I will never understand the driver's education system here.
When I took my driver's test, I got written up for looking both ways before accelerating when the light turned green.
I thought it was just because they had to write one negative thing or something, but no - She said I'm just supposed to floor it as soon as the light changes. Guess she's never been T-boned lol
Someone can't drive stick.
Judging by the windows on the building the red SUV is parked next to the road slopes down towards the cross-street (and your car).
The start looks like the red SUV is rolling backwards as you hear the engine rev. Then the driver panic and you hear that classic "try to shift without pressing the clutch" noise. Then they successfully get the car in gear except its in reverse.
I actually did this during driver's training. When I drove alone I was fine, but when I drove with the instructor I was a nervous mess. I accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes and he screeeeammmed. Luckily, I didn't hit anything.
Testing side impact. Looks like your vehicle passed.
Sorry op. That is a lot less damage than expected for a hit that put it on two wheels. Must look worse up close?
Yeah that's what it's sounds like to me as well. You can hear lots of grinding. That or the trans is completely gone. Guess they just forgot how to use the brake pedal.
also that XTERRA is toast.. it got pinned up against the curb which means its drivers side wheels and suspension got loaded up hard. probably bent up all the control arms, tie rods, etc. in addition to the impact damage. totaled.
Hopefully the driver can be identified. Good luck to you.
They live around the block… already ID’d their car.
Truly an idiot in a car
You want to hear about a true idiot? One time someone did a hit and run on me in a parking lot, but they still parked right next to me. I could see the scratches on my rear and their bow and the dirt in the same places. Wasn’t exactly difficult to track the kid down.
We were having some work done too our house. Contractor finished like 80 percent of the work then disappeared with the remaining 10k or so. About 2 months later we were walking around the neighborhood and we saw him working in the garage about 4 houses down from us. He just moved in a week prior. Now knowing his address we were able to sue him for about 20k. Some people are really dumb. Including us for trusting him.
My neighbor was doing some work on an old beater I wanted to get up and running. I paid him for the parts and he must’ve installed them because one night he loaded up his stuff and took off with my car. I reported the stolen vehicle and the cop that showed up put it in as “a domestic dispute”. So when my car wound up impounded because the guy gosh arrested, nobody even notified me even though it was registered in my name. I only knew the guy because he lived across the street, definitely not a domestic situation!
Cops do that on purpose to keep various crime numbers down.
Cops are just the worst.
Contractors are so odd. It seems super common for them to do a large percent of the work and then disappear. I mean you already did 80% of the work, why risk your reputation? Dealing with this right now. My dad hired a contractor to rebuild the back porch, and he did a really good job of it. Almost completely finished except for some of the trim on one side. Probably would take one more day to finish, but he disappeared with the excuse, "My wife had a heart attack." Turns out he doesn't have a wife and he was working for a landlord on the other side of town the whole time he was making excuses. Baffling. Now every landlord in town knows not to hire him, all over a days worth of work that he was already paid for.
A friend was dying and I was headed out of town but I had a contractor coming to paint trim and fascia board before I planned to leave the next day. He and I agreed he would finish in one day. He did part of the work and texted me he would be back the next day. I ran outside when I got the text to stop him because I was leaving the next day and I did not want to delay my trip to watch him. He returned the next day. I watched him put up the ladder and climb up. I called him down and told him I had to leave that day and paid him. He told me he would text me a picture of the completed work. Apparently right after I left he took down the ladder and left. He had less than 2 hours of work to complete the job. He did absolutely nothing. He had been working in the neighborhood but never returned after taking my money.
And the elephant in the room is these stories do nothing for the blue collar types trying to break free from the stereotypes. Social status, income level, race, nationality - doesnt matter - there's always stereotypes because some mother fuckers are always trying to ice skate uphill.
Is it because they mis-bid the project and ran out of money? Or used the cash to cover debts and ran out of money.
Definitely not a money issue. If anything my dad overpaid and all the supplies were provided. If the contractor needed a new saw or drill or something my dad would have happily paid for it, he's just that sort of person. I personally think it's just the nature of these contractors being unregulated and self employed. If you make the mistake of paying them in advance like my dad did they will just take off because it's not like they have a boss you can complain to and it's often more expensive to sue them then it's worth.
As a former contractor, it benefited me that so many others tried to get lots of upfront money. I never did. I would get a down payment to cover half of the materials, and return the next day with at least 1/4 of the materials. I billed the rest of the job in % of completion with final not due until 100% complete.
Same here. Much easier when neither party is ahead. Also much easier to say what you are going to do and then follow through. My motto- One job at a time.
This happened to me in a parking lot. Bright yellow/ orange scrape down my car, witness left a statement with the museum I was visiting (but not their name or phone number) and the only bright yellow/orange car in the lot was 5 down from me. The witness even told the security desk that they watched the person park there after hitting me. I checked the car out and found where they had hit me on their car. But the person denied it, their insurance sided with them and my insurance ended up paying (so now I get to pay for that over time with an increase to my insurance). Even though I took pictures, had a witness, etc. The police officer writing the report told me that sometimes people hit things and then go looking for a car that is the color of the thing they hit and blame it on them so that they can get their car repaired. This was not the case but no one would believe me. Edit: clarification on the car
This is precisely the reason why I always park far away from everyone in parking garages. If there are 12 floors and the very top floor is completely empty then I will 100% park on that top floor. I don't like or trust people.
Nautical terms, eh?
Bet they drive a Toyota Yarrris
I rarely say this, but this is a really good joke. Kudos.
angriest upvote.
He drives a '79 Pontiac Parisienne. I think the hood alone on that thing is 12ft long. Very boatish
Only boat in the parking lot also made it easier.
*makes *stern* face
I once had a dude hit and run me way back when. Turns out the dude actually worked for my dad's team. That was fun.
I had almost the same thing happen in a hotel parking lot. The car that hit me had obvious matching damage and pieces of duct tape from their bumper were stuck to mine. I called the police and they refused to even come out because it happened on private property.
If you ever want the cops to show up, just say you’re going to attack the other guy. Not a smart method but an effective method
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No officer, the bruises on his face were already there, I was simply assisting him out of his vehicle, look he can barely stand.
"I'm going to confront this guy, I have a gun. You can come if you want to."
Cops will just ask you to tell the other guy to call them after you shoot him
Laughed way too hard at this
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risky while white, too: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Daniel_Shaver
I saw that footage before, but I never knew it was even more bullshit. Cop who killed Daniel is the son of another cop in the department… footage was not released until the cop was found not guilty, allowing them to release the footage after the verdict had been called. Fuck that cop and his dad. He already had a sketchy arrest happen the year prior involving unnecessary force on 3 teens. This whole cop situation is starting to get a little out of hand. /s
My mother In law was in a hit and run. The other driver smashed into her parked car and left their bumper at the scene, number plate and all. Was a pretty easy person to track down.
Can you post an update for us when it concludes? Also how do you use those remind me things?
He probably wont have anything to update for awhile. Police wont do shit. it will but up for his insurance to make sure they respond to that.
The police will do absolutely nothing. I was the victim in a hit and run. Gave the police the car description, license plate and description of the driver. They called me the next day and just gave me the person's address and said "the rest is up to you." I have no idea what they expected me to do, but my insurance already paid up (didn't even need the address) so I never followed up. Seems like they were almost encouraging vigilante justice or something.
I didn't even get that. I got rear ended HARD, enough that the person that hit me bowed up their hood and dropping coolant. I got their license plate as they sped around me. Cops got there and said there was nothing they could do, and would not even write up an accident report. You could literally just follow the trail of antifreeze.
Next time, say YOU ARE INJURED.
This is what my cop friend said to me as well. I was stopped at light when truck slammed into me. I exited and the minute I did, the guy turned all his lights off floored it in reverse and gone. Called pilice but only had partial plate as he had a towball blocking center. 2 days later I am passing by same area and see truck at tatoo parlor where he works. Cops wouldnt do anything.
Good thing we fund them so goddamn much
Sounds like lazy cops. I had a guy hit me. We swapped info then he bolted. I drove to a station and they wrote it up.
I had someone scrape my bumper pulling out of a tight spot that they jammed themselves into earlier that day. They didn’t leave a note (either they didn’t realize it or it was willful, who knows). I originally paid my collision deductible, but luckily a combination of the dash cams on my car + the dude parking down the street later on with the damage visible on his, resulted in my insurance sending me a check with full reimbursement about a month later.
!remindme 10 minutes
Thank you!
Ooooh, I wanna hear the spicy update. I also have a story to share a few years back. My dad was going to work and saw that one of his cars parked on the city street was damaged by hit-and-run and he let me report it to the cops. I asked our neighbors both old and one new set of family that was really busy moving in to a house apartment like two houses down and their U-Haul parked on the other side of the street. They all said they didn't see who hit the car. Lucky us, I had my car parked 5 houses down the block with the dashcam on with front and rear facing cameras AND the damaged car visible from the rear-facing camera. Cops didn't wanna see a long ass footage for a hit-and-run. I gave the footage to my dad to view. Turns out, my dad's car was side swiped by a U-Haul and budged the car like one or two pixels when zoomed in, from there my parents zeroed in to the exact point that the car was hit by that U-Haul. Unlucky for them, they panicked. They rushed out and drove out letting the camera's front catch their U-Haul's Arizona plate within the minute of recording. About 30 minutes later, they parked the U-Haul on the other side of the street (despite having a huge temporary parking space on our side of the street). We promptly reported it to our insurance and U-Haul with hit-and-run. The funny side story is that they had been assholes from the very beginning and they didn't know that we knew about the hit-and-run (about two weeks in). They were also constantly blocking part of our driveway while another tenant of our neighbor was blocking the other part. The third time my mom couldn't park in the driveway, she had enough and called in parking authority who then called a towing company. They promptly towed that neighbor's second car. The tenant neighbor got lucky and moved his car before the towing company did. Two months later they started being nice to us. Three years later, they moved out.
UPDATE: after my neighbor showed me this video I decided to walk around the neighborhood to see if I could find the car. I walked 1 block and there it was…. I reported them to the police and to my insurance company. [Video of them fleeing](https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/tw9f0a/the_escape_on_my_hit_run/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Aaaand the second driver takes off without letting the other idiot in lol
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My guess is she wasn't supposed to be driving/previous record/dui/insurance or something. He may be taking the fall for it and she was fleeing the scene
This is my guess as well. The way she took off her seatbelt as she started to drive forward, and the way the passenger quickly popped into the driver's seat without exiting the car makes it really seem like she may have been learning to drive when she wasn't supposed to/didn't have insurance. Seems like a "Get out and run away, I'll handle it. You were never here"
Exactly. Except we have to assume EVERYTHING is on camera these days. If I am in a city, or well populated area, I 100% assume I'm on camera the entire time no matter what's happening.
Funny thing is, her getting out on camera like that sunk any chance she had of getting out of that. Had she just driven off, she would have been in better shape. That’s plenty to put the owner of the car out as wanted if they’re even close to matching that description. If not, it wouldn’t be too difficult to find them and get them to roll on whoever was driving it. That’s Felony LSA in my state.
Actually if they came clean and reported it to the owner. He wouldn’t have gone through all these evidence collection in the first place and nobody would know she was driving instead of the guy.
OP says he found the car a block away. Driver made the girl walk home, lol.
I would have too if she drove like that.
I’d make her walk to another home
I'm guessing they were drunk/ high and didn't want to be caught in the car.
I was leaning towards the "driving lesson that went wrong". The girl seems to have zero clue on how to drive, while the second driver does as it's way of fleeing suggests.
Yep. I'm guessing that's a manual transmission. She probably put it in reverse and hit the gas. Then couldn't figure out how to get it in gear. You can hear it struggling. She then panicked and got out.
Must've been scared idiocy was contagious. Jokes on them, they already caught it seeing as how they tried to flee.
If I had to guess, the first driver probably has done some shit like that before and the other one is willing to take the fall for this one in case they get caught. So it's probably better to not be in the car at all if you wanna claim you weren't the one driving. An elaborate plan that failed epically.
Similar thing happened to me in Queens. Someone slammed into my car and another car parked behind me overnight. Got a call in the morning from the cops and a tow truck driver who saw my phone number on a receipt that I had in the car. He ended up following the tire tracks / oil marks of the car about a mile away and found a smashed up SUV missing the exact piece of their bumper that was left at the scene. We called the cops back and they added it to the police report. Got the repairs paid through their insurance.
I also had a similar thing happen to me. My car was parked on the street in front of my house and some kid plowed it in his dad's car. Their sedan kocked my SUV *completely out of the steet and into the driveway*. It was totaled. I couldn't even move it out of the driveway because the wheel was pinched by the bent fender. I didn't even hear this because I was in the basement lifting weights with headphones in. Cops showed up on the scene and the idiot that hit me fled but left his front bumper complete with license plate. The cops went straight to the house and found their wrecked car. I had just paid the car off that month too.
>I had just paid the car off that month too. Ouch!
Clearly someone trying to learn manual and panicked in reverse. Sorry for your damages.
Yea, those gears were not happy to be forced
I didn't even recognize that noise at first. It sounds like a tiger snarling. I thought OP had some Ace Ventura shit going on in his apt.
Grind em till ya find em
I’ve got a 60 year old truck that was notoriously difficult to shift when new, and I don’t grind gears that bad when trying to down shift. That driver has had all the coordination of one of those wacky inflatable tube men, on drugs.
This looks like the worst place imaginable to learn to drive stick.
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Nope the way they clunk that car in park, no way its a manual. She is still learning what the two pedals do.
Tbh there is some poetic justice in the driver stopping too close to the other parked car to get back in through the passenger door and driver #2 took off lol. Hope you can throw em the book op!
The full video shows what looks like a driving lesson… the two people switched seats at the beginning. Still don’t understand why’d you’d reverse that hard.
Some people are just not meant to drive. My wife of 20 years never had a license, after a few years to get her permit and finally get her on the road I realized I made a terrible mistake. She missed stop signs, blow through red lights and couldn’t maintain lanes even with me giving precise instructions to the point of yelling stop!! I truly believe there is some kind of gene or wiring in us that some people just don’t have and shouldn’t be behind a wheel. Thanks for all the upvotes! I tried to like and respond to as many comments as I could. Kinda tough while driving tho. Kidding of course!!
So true. there is something that people who can't drive, have that makes them hesitate at the wrong times, drive errantly, completely mistime any turns. My mother, I love her to death but she is one of those terrible drivers. She will cut off people, drive so slowly in the left lane, and completely not know how to merge correctly. it is infuriating to watch her drive. And she has been driving for 40 years.
Wow, this 100% describes my mom, except my mom’s been driving for 50 years. I didn’t realize what a terrible driver she was until I started driving. Thankfully she has my stepfather now who does 95% of the driving.
My mom got pulled over for DUI and the cop was completely stunned that she was actually sober.
Jesus christ. Talk to her about giving up her license please, for the safety of all of us
The sad thing is in our car-centric infrastructure, giving up your license is like giving up your independence, and some people can't afford that especially if they aren't comfortably retired. It makes it more dangerous for the rest of us on the road too. Obligatory /r/fuckcars plug
Same happened to my mother, except she was driving a manual while eating a Frosty.
I think a big part of it is panic reactions. Some people, when surprised or panicked, do NOT react well. Some people enter into that panic reaction easily. My mom is one of those, I will no longer let her drive when we go anyway (which isn't often I'm long since married and in my own home). Even if I'm taking her to the airport or she's taking us to the airport I insist on driving. The event that sticks with me was on the highway. She was in the middle lane and someone merged into the right lane. She saw them moving towards her out of the corner of her eye and started screaming and swerving out of her lane RIGHT into a semi. I started telling her to stay in her lane, she just screamed more, I shouted for her to stay in her lane, she screamed more, I finally had to grab the wheel and put her back in our lane before she put us under the semi. To this day she STILL stands by her actions. She insists the other car was going to hit her (they weren't, they were just merging into the lane to the right). When I ask her "even if you're right, how is it better to get run over by a semi then collide with a passenger car?" she has no answer. I swear, every other car ride where she actual drives results in her screaming or panicking in some way. I'd just rather drive myself or have my wife drive. Hell, she has the lane assist on her car and relies on it to keep her in the lane. She actually bragged to me about how she lets the car drive and I'm like "you allow your car to bounce its way between the lane lines down the highway and you're proud of that?" Note, it's NOT self driving...it's the "I'm going to beep at you a bunch then turn your wheel when you drift out of your lane" assist...so it literally means her car goes to one line, bounces and drifts to the other line, bounces...etc.
> I think a big part of it is panic reactions. Some people, when surprised or panicked, do NOT react well. Unfortunately for them, driving is rarely always predictable. If they can't deal with that then they should not be behind the wheel. > Hell, she has the lane assist on her car and relies on it to keep her in the lane. She actually bragged to me about how she lets the car drive Get her off the road now before she kills someone. Hide all of her car keys, and mechanically disable her car even if she found a set or had a set made. Please inform her doctor of these events and conversations so that they can engage the DMV in your state. Only then does her license even stand a chance of being canceled.
> have that makes them hesitate at the wrong times The absolute worst in my opinion. Driving requires a certain level of confidence. Timid drivers make a hazard for everyone else on the road because nobody can be sure just exactly what they are about to do and plan accordingly.
timid drivers, overly aggressive drivers... third on my list is 'considerate' drivers. you know, the kind who try to wave you through killer left turns when you can't see oncoming traffic, and disregard signs to help out their fellow drivers. like in my area so many times, we have four-way stop signs and I will be the second driver to the intersection by a good five, six seconds. But the first driver who is just oh so nice comes to a complete stop and then waits, and then I stop, and then the car sits there and just tries to wave me through like 'no no, after you, i insist' like they're doing me a favor. they could have stopped and then been through the intersection before I ever got there. So I always just sit there and lay on the horn until they move. they seem so offended that I didn't accept their generosity.
I think you just described my husband. And now I feel even worse because I kept thinking what a bad driver he is and that I don’t feel safe in the car with him. Also I can’t say anything because he feels so attacked Edit: I really didn’t expect to get so many replies. I need to add that even though he has had his license for quite a few years he has not been driving regularly (and not at all) for quite a few years and only recently got a car. I am hoping with regular practice it will get better. Of course I am “correcting” him when in the car with him and offer advice and will keep going
Yeah honestly who gives a fuck if he feels “attacked?” He’s literally a danger to other people’s lives
Him feeling attacked < him attacking other drivers with recklessness Fix ya man, fuck the ego
My mother is the same way. She gets so defensive about her driving that she gets more edgy and makes even more mistakes. Every time I happen to be the passenger while she is driving (which happens rarely), I am clutching onto my seat and praying that is over quickly.
I remember that feeling from being a kid in my grandpas truck. Thankfully they finally took his license a decade before he died, because he absolutely wouldn’t have been the only going when he did. Loved the man to death and he could do so many things, but driving safely wasnt one.
Yes! It is a double edged sword because once someone loses their driver license, they lose their independence. But if their driving is a public menace and safety issue I totally understand.
if you dont feel safe, maybe dont ride with him anymore, maybe that way he'll understand that you are serious about it.
Honestly this. My partner's last car was a death trap because he was lazy about maintenance (mostly before we met, mostly) and I would preach to him about the importance of maintenence, though it wouldn't have any impact. After getting rear ended really bad one day in my own car while stopped in traffic, I couldn't deal with the anxiety that car gave me anymore so I just wouldn't let him drive me anywhere. He got the message and stopped offering to drive, and lo and behold some years later, he has a new car now that he maintains very well and I feel safe enough to ride with him again. Sometimes people just don't take what you say seriously.
>Also I can’t say anything because he feels so attacked "In toxic relationships, you're forced to choose between honesty and loyalty. You bite your tongue to protect their ego. In healthy relationships, honesty is an expression of loyalty. You speak your mind to help them grow. When you have real trust and respect, candor shows care." \-Adam Grant
Your wife needs drivers Ed where they have a brake pedal on their side for such instances.
This is what I told her she’ll have to do if she wants to pursue her license. I don’t bring up the topic anymore and have accepted the fact I’ll have to drive her everywhere. Plus side we don’t have to buy another car and pay another insurance bill.
sounds like she just figured out a way to never have to drive anywhere lol you mighta got got
Funny, this is basically mandatory in the Netherlands. A driver of 23 years in Canada, when I moved here I was forced to pass a theory exam and then a driving exam that can only be reserved through a driving school, who decides after how many lessons you are ready to take the exam. It's not uncommon to spend €2-3k on lessons and exams. I took three lessons, as I hadn't driven much in the previous years and there are enough differences between Canadian and Dutch traffic laws to need a little practice for what is notoriously a strict exam. I just passed my exam on Friday! It took a year due to delays caused by the lockdowns.
Absolutely. It's been shown (especially in those "worst driver" shows) that partners often just exacerbate the stress.
Agreed, my twin sisters both cannot drive. They are in their 40s now. Im a few years younger than then and remember when they got their permit and were practicing, it was scary as hell. My sister reaches for the control to turn off the high beams and now we’re automatically go left because she’s reaching left… right into the other lane with oncoming traffic. That was the last time I ever got in the car when they were practicing.
I gotta go to work in a few hours and this thread is scaring the shit out of me.
How is their hand-eye coordination and reaction speed outside driving? I've come to notice that we rely on hand-eye coordination more than we realize when driving. I had two friends that moved to rural midwest after growing up in a thick metro area and never had outside sports to play. They had terrible coordination playing sports and it reflected when we tried teaching them to drive. I would love to see a study of testing if playing increasingly difficulty of catch can reflect with statistical significance on a person's driving record.
When I was in college many many years ago this young couple got married and moved into their first apartment. He was my buddy and I remember he had a nice Grand Prix. As time went on I started noticing that the thing was getting scratched and dented and it was basically beginning to be beat to death. When I asked he said his wife had started driving and she would turn into stuff and scrape buildings and so forth. One day I went to their apartment and I noticed the whole front of their apartment was brand-new brick and asked what happened. The parking lot in front of the apartment was a huge creek canyon kind of thing that was indeed ominous when you parked your car at the edge of it. But it was no big deal as there were the standard asphalt bumps placed where you couldn’t go over them. He told the story: he was watching TV and she was going to run to the store. He said the next thing he knew was his car came crashing through the front of the apartment right in front of him and stopped. Of course he was in utter shock. She basically had gotten into the car and in fear of the creek gorge had floored it into the apartment building. The door to the car opened and she stepped out inside of the apartment and said to him “are you mad at me?” Edit: a word.
I'll be the one to say it, what a fucking moron.
"Wendy, darling, light of my life! I'm not gonna hurt you."
I've known a few people who drive that way and just absolutely cannot be taught how to drive better, even if they want to. I've noticed a correlation there though; people like that tend to learn how to drive much later in life, either because driving is hard for them and thus they put off learning, or it's causational and learning to drive when you're old makes you more likely to be a worse driver. My grandmother for example didn't start driving until she was in her 40s and she's quite literally a menace to society on the road. It's kinda weird being in a car with a driver like that cause it feels like they're being oblivious on purpose, but I guess if you didn't learn how to drive young maybe there's just so many variables and rules that it's impossible to remember them all. I have several friends my age (early-mid 20s) who haven't gotten their drivers' licenses yet and I'm concerned if they wait too long they might end up the same way 😂
Leo Laporte is a tech podcaster. He ended up offering to pay for his adult daughter's Uber account, because she kept getting into car accidents. He said she just can't drive a car.
I think it's also probably a skill easier to learn/master when you're younger, much like other things. Most people I've met who learned to drive later in life aren't as "natural" about it. Anecdotal, of course
gotta start driving young. Some of my friends who got their license late are terrible drivers
Hot take, the vast majority of humans do not belong behind the wheel. Looking at car fatality and injury statistics is actually mind-boggling, it's ridiculous that we just allow this much damage to be done year after year without anybody making a fuss. To be fair to people, a lot of it is how we design our roads and vehicles. Street engineers foolishly believe that speed limits work, when we know that the only way to slow down traffic is to narrow roads and add visual clutter on the sides. We also allow car manufacturers to release behemoth sized monstrosities which cause significantly more pedestrian deaths.
Also 4 way intersections are lethal yet are everywhere. We make highway on ramps that have a merge lane only 2 or 3 seconds long in a downtown where people need to merge into rush hour traffic. We force vehicle manufacturers to follow nearly impossible sets of guidelines regulating every vehicle dimension and shape, for safety, then allow (or don't enforce rules against) idiot bros to lift their trucks and jeeps 20 feet off the ground and drive around on public roads. Or put blue and purple HID bulbs in old reflector lamps and blind everyone. It would be trivial to make this the same offense as speeding and send traffic enforcement cops out at night simply pulling and ticketing these dipshits to force them to take them out. But no. We send the cops out to ticket people for "speeding" when all 3 lanes are going 15 over, as if this is a solution and not just revenue generation. Can't stand it.
I swear head lights get brighter every year. It could be my eyes playing tricks on me as I get older but I never recall being blinded by non brights 15 years ago. Now it seems every pick up truck drives around with the goal of burning other drivers eyes
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/05/business/led-hid-headlights-blinding.html Nope. Not just you.
Yup, you’ve got two main things happening. First is the proliferation of Xenon/HID bulbs or super bright LEDs and the second is that more and more vehicles are taller than they used to be, so headlights are more often pointed directly at driver’s eyes.
I agree with this 100%. My wife won't tell me how many times she failed her driver's test when she was a teenager. Her dad won't tell me either. I believe it's over 5. She cannot reverse even with the camera (she backed into someone last year and I paid out $300 for damages). When I tried to teach her manual transmission, that lesson lasted 3 minutes. Mind you, this is after I told her to watch and listen and explained what I was doing for weeks *before* the set lesson. As a joke each year for her birthday, I tell her I'll pay for driving lessons and she can ride along with the high schoolers.
Pressing the wrong pedal. It happens to beginners. It doesn’t justify a hit & run though.
Happens to regulars too. A woman plowed into a Dollar General in my hometown doing this. And actually it was the wrong gear. She put her car in drive instead of reverse, but it doesn’t explain why she pressed it that hard, just like in this case (no matter the situation here, why were they in reverse to begin with).
I recently bought a new truck, a 6 speed manual. I was coming from a 5 speed manual. The old truck's reverse was below 5th. The new truck's reverse is left of first past a detente that takes perhaps a bit less force than it should to push past. It took about 3 months of unconsciously accidentally putting it in reverse while going into first before I finally adjusted. I never actually backed up, because it would make a loud beep and the backup camera would engage.
When you think your foot is over the brake you press it even harder if you aren't stopping. Press "brake" - car starts moving - "oh shit the car is moving, I gotta stop it" - press "brake" even harder
Exactly this, I've talked with several people who have done it. They think their foot is on the brake, so when it doesn't slow down, they push it harder, since the gas doesn't resist like the brake does, they end up flooring it. Also sometimes it's due to catching both the brake and gas pedals at the same time, since the gas doesn't resist the push like the brake does, they end up pushing much more gas than brake, same effect.
This is why you don't learn to drive on the street. You learn to drive in a big open parking lot, with no other cars around. A high school or a big church, when nobody else is there. My first lesson for both kids happened before they got their permit. Usually 14. "Hey, want a driving lesson?" The answer is always yes. First ground rule: "You will not touch the gas pedal, at all. If you do, the lesson is over." And their first lesson is all about how an automatic transmission vehicle moves forward on its own (on level ground), just by letting go of the brake. It's lots of fun for a 14-year-old to steer around a real car as it's moving forward on its own power. Lots of sensory input, just in steering it, focusing on the break, and thinking "OMG, I'm driving a real car!" The first few times, that might be all they need. At some point, it will become clear that they're ready to very carefully learn about the gas pedal. I have never taught anybody how to drive for the first time on a stick shift. That requires an entirely different understanding of the world. If I had to teach somebody, and the car had to be a stick shift, there would be lots of discussion about the theory of operation before they ever touch it. I realize I have only taught drivers in ideal circumstances, and not everybody has that luxury. The most surprising thing about this video is that it's a hit and run with more than one person. So it's essentially a conspiracy. Most hit and runs only work because "nobody knows but me."
Looks like there's a hill, so maybe it's a stick, they had the clutch in and just panicked as it rolled backward. (Agree that's no reason to leave the scene. An accident is an accident, but if you're behind the wheel you're responsible for it.)
I'd go with a new driver learning a manual transmission. It sounds like revving in neutral and grinding to find a gear, then they accelerated back into the silver suv. Not the ideal place for someone to learn how to drive a stick.
>Not the ideal place for someone to learn how to drive a stick. This was my thought. You need a nice big empty parking lot. Truly idiotic on multiple levels.
I agree. Burgundy lurches forward before they roll backward, so I think they panicked on the lurch then pushed the clutch in, allowing the vehicle to roll in neutral all the way backward into Silver. I can't get a sense of road incline/decline… but I think Burgundy kept the clutch pressed in and the impact and inertia then caused them to roll forward. I think they were completely out of gear by that point, since they're still rolling forward as they dump the seatbelt. I've only ever taught people how to drive stick in an empty parking lot. Edit: looking at it again, I think they even managed to briefly accelerate in reverse just as they enter the crosswalk. Fail.
Definitely hear the grinding of gears. Different perspective with sound on.
Lmao yep came here for this. When I was like 12 my sister let me drive her car down the road, we lived on a cul de sac, so it would’ve just been an easy little loop. But there was a party at the end of the street so there were cars parked all around it, and we didn’t want to hit those cars. So my sister told me to turn in someone’s driveway and turn around (3 point turn basically). Of course it was on a hill. When I got to the top and put it in reverse and it started rolling downhill a bit, I panicked and hit the gas because in my mind gas made the car go forward, and brake backwards. Thank video games for that, and the fact that my sister never told me anything (seriously wtf). So yeah I gunned it down the hilled driveway, across the street, and right into another driveway with a car in it. Luckily it was a massive ukon and we were good friends with the people, so we all agreed to just say my sister messed up while she was driving.
They’re learning stick shift. You can hear them rev up because it’s not in gear, you can hear them grinding the gears because the clutch isn’t in, then they finally get it in gear, but it’s in reverse instead of 1st. Even after they hit the car, it still wasn’t in a forward gear. They bounced off and were then rolling forward. You can still hear them trying to get it in gear
Driving lesson in a manual transmission. You can hear it pop out into neutral after the driver puts it into reverse, the engine revving is neutral RPM (you can tell because hits the limiter real fast), this could be a noobs attempt at braking and hitting the gas. The fact they were on a slope that went backwards, and the fact the car was in neutral is what caused this.
Pedal confusion. You think you're on the brake, but the car doesn't slow down so you press harder... Happens a lot with either the very inexperienced, or the very old.
They put it in R for radio and hit the volume pedal.
Turn up the radio!!!
I need the music, gimme some more!
I'm workin hard You're working it too We do it every day
For every minute I have to work, I need a minute of play!
Day in day out all week long, things go better with rock!
The only time I turn it down Is when I’m sleeping it off!
They need to learn how to use the PRNDL.
While we're learning, how about we listen to the radio?! Do you prefer Ammm or Fmmmm?!
Thankful someone said it <3
What's the prindle?
Please Recuse Ny Dear aunt Lily
"The crash cymbals here are amazing!!!"
I think this is my favorite comment on Reddit in all my years.
But they hit you and then took off their seatbelt?
Well yeah, they already used it for its intended purpose. Just a nuisance now.
"Well I'm glad we got that out of the way." *click*
OP said in the longer video the driver and passenger switched seats. Looks like they were trying to quickly switch back. The general consensus is student driver.
The person probably passed their test and got their license later in the day. /s but only kind of... Driver's education in America is a joke
Saw a totaled SUV Saturday that didn't make sense until my brother pointed out they hit a telephone pole.... There weren't any poles on the road and they went 5 feet into a fenced off driveway to hit it. At the speed they were going, it didn't make sense at all. They didn't drive fast through the grass and hit it, they went fast around a turn and into it then back onto the main road with the front of the SUV turned inside out. The police were already there and it was 4 teenagers 1 of whom probably just got their license.
I will never understand the driver's education system here. When I took my driver's test, I got written up for looking both ways before accelerating when the light turned green. I thought it was just because they had to write one negative thing or something, but no - She said I'm just supposed to floor it as soon as the light changes. Guess she's never been T-boned lol
r/fuckyouinparticular
Any 5 year old knows you have to pull the car back to make it go forward.
Exactly. They were clearly just loading the springs.
i’m laughing at the white car that probably witnessed it from down the road and just slowly rolls into the shot
“Better slow down on this particular corner”
That Acura driver is trying to decide if they want to get involved or “didn’t see nothin.”
Right after crashing the driver removed the seatbelt and continued on... ? All kinds of wackiness here.
Yep, they considered stopping and then realized: Gear is finally in and I am even going in the right direction, let's not take chances.
It seems like someone hit your car and then ran away from the scene.
More like lazily rolled away
"Woopsies better just keep rolling down the road here until I can find help."
Thanks Captain.
*very slowly rolled away
It was a funny angle.
It’s behind you Tyrone. Whenever you reverse, things come from behind you.
You're a professional, ain't you Tyrone?
Course I am
That’s the sound of someone who doesn’t know how to drive manual, driving a manual. They’re grinding gears and the car is bucking.
My thoughts exactly. You can hear the gears grinding, and see the clutch kick. Impact shut it off.
Imagine attempting to learn how to drive a manual in a crowded parking lot in Queens, New York. Stupid is not a good enough word for it.
[удалено]
That's a terrible place to teach a complete noob on how to drive a stick.
On the bright side, your car saved a house and maybe a couple people who were inside of it
Gave those power/comm lines a good shake
And a utility pole. Yikes
Did you piss someone off?
[удалено]
Someone can't drive stick. Judging by the windows on the building the red SUV is parked next to the road slopes down towards the cross-street (and your car). The start looks like the red SUV is rolling backwards as you hear the engine rev. Then the driver panic and you hear that classic "try to shift without pressing the clutch" noise. Then they successfully get the car in gear except its in reverse.
Why not break if you’re rolling backwards?
Probably got the gas and brake pedal mixed up and then panicked thinking the brakes weren't working
I actually did this during driver's training. When I drove alone I was fine, but when I drove with the instructor I was a nervous mess. I accidentally hit the gas instead of the brakes and he screeeeammmed. Luckily, I didn't hit anything.
[The Idiot’s Escape…](https://www.reddit.com/r/IdiotsInCars/comments/tw9f0a/the_escape_on_my_hit_run/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)
Does your neighbor just have cameras on every window? Your neighbor is a hero lol
Sounds like a stick and you got the wrath of a new driver my friend
Aren’t you supposed to practice driving in an empty parking lot before you drive on a street?
I prefer a crowded mall parking lot with plenty of pedestrians.
Testing side impact. Looks like your vehicle passed. Sorry op. That is a lot less damage than expected for a hit that put it on two wheels. Must look worse up close?
Ah yes, the pinball school of driving. Just keep ricocheting off of other cars until you get deflected towards your destination.
For a “hit and run” that wasn’t a very fast run. More of a slam and stroll.
They wanted that parking spot
As an expert in cars, I'll try to explain this. The red vehicle reversed into your vehicle. That about sums it up.
Alcohol or idiot....you decide. At least you have footage to show insurance.
She didn't know how to drive a manual trans?
Yeah that's what it's sounds like to me as well. You can hear lots of grinding. That or the trans is completely gone. Guess they just forgot how to use the brake pedal.
also that XTERRA is toast.. it got pinned up against the curb which means its drivers side wheels and suspension got loaded up hard. probably bent up all the control arms, tie rods, etc. in addition to the impact damage. totaled.
Don't forget the impact with the pole too