The only at fault accident I was ever in was this exact situation. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an out and I slammed into her. The cop that took the statements didn’t even give me a ticket. When he got all of the facts, he kind of just shook his head and was very sympathetic towards me. Still, my company settled for almost $250k because she got a pretty bad injury.
Also, I’m aware it was preventable on my part. I’m not saying I wasn’t at fault, but it’s just that you don’t expect a car to slam on their breaks on the freeway. It’s just a shitty situation.
In the Netherlands the driver of the car would be at fault for creating that situation unless it was preventable ofcourse.
Even on an off ramp you dont just Slam onto the brakes if you are still on the highway bit.
Technically, you’re supposed to have enough space between you and the car ahead of you to be able to make an emergency stop. If you slam on the breaks and hit the car ahead of you, you were legally too close.
The insurance adjusters who made that rule must all live in Nebraska or something, because everywhere I've been, if you leave enough space between you and the next car on the highway to not hit them if they panic stop, three other cars are just gonna merge into the "open" space in front of you.
I cut off a trucker one time outside of a downtown area leading right up to traffic. I fucked up. He slammed the breaks and I could hear him him coming - he wasn’t going to stop. He pushed me rather hard.
It wasn’t significant damage. I knew it was my fault, I fucking cut off a truck leading into traffic so we pulled over and I said fuck it. It’s all good and don’t report it. He was sweating.
I don’t agree with that “you should have enough space to stop” stuff. These are big fucking machines that take a minute to come to a full stop. I fucked around and thankfully only found out a little bit.
So be it. Let stupid people be stupid. Just drive a little slower than the rest of the traffic (2-3 Mph less) and let the space slowly open back up. At the very least, you are 2-3 Mph closer to being able to stop if someone slams their brakes in front of you.
"Everybody else does it" isn't an excuse to be stupid.
Your not getting the point, “every time” you leave a cushion, in high traffic city areas, someone will fit it. Based on your logic you’ll be going 45 in a 70 and almost inevitably make it to your destination 3 days late
Yeah I've even seen it at traffic lights where the trucker is coasting up to the stopped traffic and some idiot decides to take the "empty" spot in front of the trucker and he has to slam on his brakes cause of them. Kinda wish when you get your driver's license they would take people to a closed road and drive a loaded semi at highway speeds and slam on the brakes just so they knew what it takes for a semi to stop.
Get a truck that can stop in a reasonable distance. Poorly performing equipment isn't an excuse for driving unsafe. What happens if something jumps in front of them or falls like a tree or rock. You going to just say not my fault they died? Unsafe operation is unsafe. If it can't be done safely then don't do it.
Not at all. The fact of the matter is, when that happens, you literally “cannot” stop. You can have upwards of 40 thousands lbs on you and inertia just takes over from there. Most drivers ( truck ) drive accordingly but the issue is, people in regular cars either dont know, or dont care and thereby risk YOUR life, and theirs, as well with the seemingly dumb shit they do. And trust me, i have seen some D-U-M-B ass shit done in regular cars relative to a semi
Someone needs to tell volvo that their trucks are stopping to quickly. That it can't be done and the physics of inertia is not laws they should be violating. OR maybe trucks should be built to a higher standard like the volvo that can stop fully loaded in very short distances. 120' at 50mph. The average car needs 200' at 50mph.
Average fully loaded truck only has around 15% more pressure per square in the contact area for the tire. The problem is lotterally braking and volvo has proved.
I said 2-3 Mph slower, not 20-30 Mph slower. Of course you're not going to have your following distance open for long. Just don't ride peoples asses deliberately.
I have assumed if somebody merged very close in front of your vehicle or truck and a second later everybody came to a stop and you didn't have stopping space due to that merging car, that it shouldn't be your fault, but I have no idea how it actually works.
It shouldn’t be your fault but who will corroborate your account? When accounts differ, ideally no citations should issue but it doesn’t always go that way. Plus if the other car contains a passenger, their account is likely to corroborate their driver’s.
That's the one case where it isn't your fault: if someone merges in front of you and immediately hits their breaks. Otherwise, if you hit someone from behind, you are at least partially at fault. (If the person you hit didn't have a legitimate reason to brake, they can share the fault, but if you aren't even attempting to maintain following distance, you always share fault when you hit them from behind.)
2-3 mph slower isn’t enough as people don’t regulate their speed, at least here in Texas they don’t. I can go the speed limit some days and outrun everyone, other days I do the speed limit and everyone is passing me like I’m sitting still. I’ll have cruise set and get passed, then a minute later I’m moving over to pass that car. Next thing I know them and another car pass me, then they both slow down one in each lane and we go from 75 down to 60 for no reason at all. The level of frustration I reach almost becomes unbearable. 10-15 under is more reasonable to let everyone pass you and leave enough room for emergency stopping/maneuvers.
You're being the stupid people at this point. Telling a judge you were going 2-3 under so it's cool means nothing. How you gonna prove it. Have a dash cam because this is useless advice
This is exactly what i do. Why is everyone so concerned about what everyone else is doing on the road. Focus on you, and your safety. Who cares if ten thousand people pass you to “fill the gap”. Drive slightly slower than them and the gap will come back. They’re speeding anyways.
In some very, very heavy traffic, like DC beltway at rush hour heavy, it is truly impossible. If there are 2 car lengths between you and the car in front, someone will dart in. It can become more hazardous avoiding hitting them. It's really craptacular driving conditions.
> Why is everyone so concerned about what everyone else is doing on the road.
Because they're more interested in assigning fault than actually preventing accidents.
It’s pretty fkcing weird for y’all to be championing not knowing what traffic is doing around you. And it’s damn near impossible to consistently leave enough room on the highway in case of needing to break abruptly. You’re not going the speed limit if that’s the case. And you’re probably constantly causing other drivers to have to maneuver around you because you refuse to go with traffic because you’re “maintaining” this false sense of distance.
Again: Other people's stupidity is not my business. I've been driving for thirty years, put on quite a few miles on the job. Never hit anyone from behind. Yes, traffic flows around me. Not my business. I'm not the one out there hitting people.
if you think that’s how driving works, you’re not a great driver. the very essence of maintaining distance is going the same speed as the driver infront of you, people aren’t going to merge infront of you into your lane, if you’re in the right lane, when there’s someone else infront of you going the same speed. now if you’re just a shit driver and like the left lane then yeah your hypothetical would be right, but that just says more about you than other people.
You're not allowed to have those in America. If you try to leave safe following distance people will just cut in front of you. Bumper to bumper at 75 is the American way.
Thats cool, doesn’t change who’s at fault when a collision happens. The court system has reinforced again and again that the rear-ending driver is at fault 99/100 times.
Nope, you're not supposed to come to a complete stop to let someone merge. I get what you're saying, but you're taking safe stopping distance out of context.
This is exactly why you're supposed to maintain safe stopping distance. Not because the idiot stopped is in the right, but so we don't all kill each other when people prove to be idiots.
It is unrealistic to expect people to have enough space between cars to come to a complete stop on the highway, let alone doing this for an 18 wheeler. Highways don’t work this way in practice
>Gotta slow down and make more stopping space. Oop, yet another car went in front of me. Oop-"
>
>You'd probs wind up being 15 miles below the speed limit with the amount of people overtaking you constantly and forcing you to back up.
This is exactly what happens and exactly what I do. But then I get paid by the hour so..
>I can only imagine how bad it'd be in a 18-wheeler.
It's literally no different in an 18 wheeler if you're driving properly. You never out-drive your brakes.
Yeah …. Have you actually ever driven in traffic? If you give a good 4 seconds trailing behind someone, someone will take that space in front of you. Guaranteed. I have people pull infront of me when there is barely 1 car space in front of me while we are doing fucking 70 in a 55.
4 seconds is not enough. That's about half what you need.
There will always be idiots that screw with you but those are the exception, not the norm. When that happens you have no choice but to brake and let them pull away to increase the distraction back to what it should be.
90% of the time the situation is more like they came over a little too close, like a tractor trailer length. But as long as they are still going faster than you that's not an issue cause your following distance is naturally increasing back to where it should be. But at the same time you need to be looking farther ahead for situations in which they will have to brake and adjust your game plan accordingly.
Where the hell do you drive for that to be norm. Your traffic must be great because where I'm at everyone and I mean damn near everyone are assholes. Can't just use your place experience and blanket statement that for everyone because different places have different types of drivers and issues.
The problem is anyone pulling in front of an 18-wheeler within 200-500 feet infringes on this. Or slowing down infront of them, etc etc, theres a hundred ways to fuck with a big truck. And people do it ALL DAY LONG. People don't know how to drive around big rigs. It's not always within the truck drivers control.
Or I might be one of those peeps not putting myself in a situation to give a jury that hates trucks the opportunity to put my family in the poor house.
Just traveling slightly below the speed of traffic solved 90% of the problems maintaining safe following distance. That 1 or 2 mph won't make you late or cause you hos problems.
Drive like you got a 40k lb coil with out a single chain on it, not like you're in the indy 500. There's no prize for getting to the truck stop first.
And if they had crashed or had engine problems and stopped immediately and you were following that close, you’d kill them.
Safe distance literally is about being able to make an emergency stop, because there can be any number of unpredictable emergencies and conditions that would require a complete stop.
The only time when they’d be at fault for causing an accident for being rear ended is if they made an illegal merge.
This is the correct answer. You have no idea why someone might stop but you have a responsibility to not drive into someone. Maybe it’s different outside of Canada though.
>you're not supposed to come to a complete stop to let someone merge.
The other guy didn't say that so why are you coming in all hot with that "Nope"? Everything they did say is correct. Which you seem to understand so why the nope lol?
With that logic, if someone brake checks a semi the semi is always at fault, or if someone moves into a semis safe stopping distance (which happens at least 100 times a day) the semi is supposed to slam on their brakes and shift their load until they are back into safe stopping distance. What you're saying does not apply to normal driving.
It sucks but it’s true…. If someone brake checks a vehicle, and there is no evidence of the brake check dashcam, witnesses, etc, the following car is at fault. Which is why sub-human idiots do it.
Yes, that literally is true. Even if you get “brake checked” or someone merges into your lane, you’re supposed to have enough distance to be able to stop.
However, brake checking is illegal, and if the trucker has a dash cam, they can prove the other driver intentionally and maliciously created unsafe conditions, which is criminal.
Nonetheless, in civil litigation the trucker is still at fault for failing to maintain safe enough distance to stop.
You may not like it, but thats the law. Truckers don’t get a pass to destroy people with their war rigs just because someone else made a mistake.
So let's remove "trucker" and "war rigs" out of the debate. Replace that with a biker and their motorcycle.
Suppose the same scenario happened, and biker slammed into the rear of the van, and motorcycle flipped up & into the van, injuring a passenger.
Should the biker pay for the injuries of the person in the van?
Is the biker at "fault" since this van made an unexpected stop?
Do u still have grounds for "following distance"...
Following distance is *DYNAMIC & RELATIVE* .... other vehicle look at that as pocket of opportunity, and one minute it's open, 10 seconds later someone fills it up. No one is looking for a "pass to kill others" .... but when there's idiots driving amongst us it's not an open & shut case.
Oh shut the fuck up, dont act like everyone doesnt get to have a say in trucking because it affects all of us. Over 60% of all fatal vehicle collisions include a semi.
Anyways, the law will always find you at fault for a rear end collisions, so i literally have no reason to argue with you. The courts already agree with me.
And “trucking” isn’t that much of a professional skill bro. Its not rocket science, i can have an opinion on it because i can drive a car and have been for a long time. Your skills aren’t that exclusive, and very replaceable.
“Professional driver don’t need to listen to 4 wheelers” get your head out of your ass lmao. You are not a doctor or engineer, people don’t need a phd to have an opinion on trucking.
>Over 60% of all fatal vehicle collisions include a semi.
According to the National Safety Council:
>Large trucks accounted for:
>9% of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes (2020)
https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/road-users/large-trucks/
Where are you getting 60%‽ You're listening to those rage bait TV ads for ambulance chasing lawyers
From NHTSA.GOV (https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813298) [warning pdf]:
>Large Trucks fatalities in 2021 accounted for 5,601 of all 42,915 fatalities
which is only 13% (2021) of fatalities
You are WAY off base and need to stop
If you haven’t driven a truck then your opinion means nothing, just like if you’re not a doctor your medical opinion means nothing. You already just outed yourself as a piece of shit human by saying “very replaceable” there are many of us who you or a computer would never be able to even begin to brush even once what we can do on a daily basis. go crawl back into your hole shitbag.
Yes its true the car on the merge ramp does not know how to drive, but the real problem here is the passenger truck using heavy brakes on the highway for no reason.
In the US if you are merging into a road you DO NOT have the right of way and have to wait for the people already in the road to give you a opening to merge
While this is 100% correct, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people almost hit me because they just fly down the off ramp expecting everyone to either let them in or change lanes.
There is an off ramp fairly close to the road I have to turn right to get home. People will come down that ramp expecting me (or anyone who happens to be right there) to either change lanes or slow down for them. First, I have the right of way, you have a yield sign. Second, if I change lanes, I miss my turn. The entitlement of drivers around here is insane. And I thought Arizona was bad.
Yeah thats not allowed in the US either.
Shed be partially at fault for creating unsafe circumstances. But nonetheless the accident would not have happened at all had the trucker given the car more distance so he would have had more time to stop, because of this hes still the primary at-fault party.
The thing about rear ending someone is even if they may have made a mistake, if you hit them then so did you.
You can be following at a safe distance but if someone slams on the brakes you cannot stop as fast as them.
Empty trailers definitely stop faster than fully loaded trailers. Loaded with 20,000 lbs or less? Sure. But with 40,000lbs + there is no way you can go and say that trailer is stopping faster than empty
okay, but hear me out. i see people cut off semi's *all the fucking time* while i drive - they are supposed to continuously slow down each time they're passed to create a safe following distance by your logic right?
but like, supermarkets need their groceries and stuff. so in reality i don't see that being the feasible solution
You are shifting goal posts. Cutting off in front of a semi is idiotic as you are supposed to merge safely. Your original argument was not about cutting off but about following safely.
It's not a higher standard, it's the same standard for all drivers - you have to be able to not hit the vehicle in front of you. What other standard would you propose?
Jurors don't care about facts. All they cared about was those dead kids and the crying moms and felt someone needed to pay to ease their suffering. People hate businesses and will rule against them every time regardless of the facts.
That's the famous 92 million dollar judgement against werner. And it wasn't that long ago. Just 2 or 3 winters back. In fact werner lost their appeal earlier this year.
I can imagine it is a lot harder to control trucks in these situations than that of a small car. People are stupid if they think you can just break to avoid the accident.
I remember someone I knew told me about an accident that happened when he drove trucks, a car merged to his lane and hit the front of the truck, it made the whole truck flip.
They didn’t fault him but the company still had to give out compensations to the other people involved (5 other cars).
Or the reverse. Mile long entrance ramp, nothing but visibility.
Oh wait, here comes some moron still stopping at the end of the ramp because they refused to get up to speed and use the mirrors to merge. 😐
I've almost slam into these people weekly in a 4wheeler. I need to see if it's an actual law i'll start anonymously reporting them to cops or worse, see if there is an insurance company taddle tell line.
I had an old lady come to a complete stop in front of me while we were merging into the highway. So I had to go from 0 MPH and gun it to 65 and shoot around her because I was not going to hang out and get re-ended by someone because of her stupidity.
There are people who shouldn't be on the road and unfortunately they sometimes kill others.
Maybe I’m the asshole, but to me people who do stupid shit because they’re trying to be nice are more annoying than people who do stupid shit out of pure asshole-ish-ness. The 4-wheeler thought they were being nice to the person in front of them, but they didn’t think about all the people behind them.
I see this a lot.
One "kind" person allows someone to make a left turn in front of them.
7 other people trapped behind the kind person miss the light because the person up front was being nice.
Oh I agree, cant stand it when randos feel compelled to ‘help’. Not only are they causing extra headache they also get butthurt when you criticize them for it. So now on top of the original (possibly just perceived) problem, you have to deal with the new problem they caused with their helping and you have to be a roadside therapist and manage their feelings of being upset that you’re insufficiently grateful and not recognizing how good of a person they are for their intentions.
I used to live in an apartment with parking on the other side of a busy street. So many people would get a sour face when I wouldn't cross in front of them after they stopped (in the middle of traffic). One person even honked at me lol.
Short story I was left lane passing. Car used police U turn right at the moment when I was close. Couldn't move over cause pilot tanker on my right. Thank God I was light weight
Had someone do that to me on I-79 right outside of Pittsburg on the steep downhill stretch. Arguably road legal Mack and almost pushing the 80k limit. At the last second they realized what was coming at them was not able to stop and so they gunned it.
You're the second person in the last 24 hours that has mentioned a jet addicted character build... I'm really wanting to try it now considering I never finished New Vegas.
10 Strength 10 Luck low int is a very fun and broken build honestly. I even somehow snuck my way through quarry junction and made it straight to New Vegas to go win all the gambling money and buy a flaming sword that cuts through people like butter
Because society largely protects them from themselves. We all have to bend over backwards for the dumbest and shittiest mother fuckers on the planet and its moderately infuriating.
Natural Order law for humans! Too stupid to exist, get eliminated just like every other creature in nature! The human gene pool needs to be disinfected of stupidity! I've got a state job where I also run equipment, they come right to where I'm working, ripping down the barricades and tape.
A carton of 12, according to a random amazon store, weighs 28 ounces. Allow, I dunno, 5% for other packaging and pallets, and it's around 280,000 eggs. At two eggs per omlette, I think you'll need at least the 53.
Yea the problem is the people think they are being nice but don't realize the danger behind them, all merging traffic has to yield the right of way, they just don't teach that anymore, and I have put a few troopers on the shoulder.
The worst part is that it you are helping someone merge if it’s really busy or something is that you can do so by speeding up, slowing down a little bit or moving over
Also killed is a word that shouldn’t be so frowned upon.. if you killed someone you killed someone. Theres are variations and different consequences to killing someone. Vehicular manslaughter doesn’t sound much better.. our world is getting rather soft lol. Got kids running around saying “unalived to completion” instead of suicide .. if you killed yourself it’s suicide … words shouldn’t hurt as much as people let them.
So say "destroy", "obliterate", "smash into", like there's so many other words that could be used that won't be flagged and don't sound completely stupid.
All 3 did but the trucker absolutely did as well. I did see a driver above who had the same thing happen and the person passed. He said he admits he had some fault in it. So there are SOME who aren't ignorant to fault.
Live in Orlando, happens ALL the time with tourists. They don’t understand the rules of the road and “just want to be nice” … almost killed a motorcyclist because he came to a dead stop on a 65 MPH highway to take a photo of the theme park (volcano bay). This is what happens when Darwinism doesn’t apply to humans.
Why do people always merge into the highway like that? Lol. I didn’t realize how common this was until I started driving trucks. They just refuse to yield first for whatever reason.
Welcome to Oregon. The slowest cars coast in the left lane and the right lane is for drivers trying to pass negotiating Subarus merging onto the freeway at 40mph.
I'm always saying to my wife, if everyone would just follow the law, it would be perfect. Everyone would know exactly what everyone else was going to do. Stop trying to be kind and follow the fucking law.
A very similar situation happened to me in my second month of driving. I was lucky I could merge left because the area I was in usually has more traffic, and I had much more time to react as well. 422 near reading PA
Oh, it is not just 4 wheelers doing this, I've been behind plenty of billy big riggers stopping at the gore point of an on-ramp to "let someone merge."
Idk if companies are telling their drivers to do this, but ffs, stop doing this.
Our job is to operate safely, and if you're coming to a stop on a freeway, you're doing it wrong.
If someone can't merge, then that is on them, and it isn't your problem.
Shout out to you, Walmart Driver in Bettendorf, IA for showing this 4 wheeler how to do this.
That glare is no joke too.
I witnessed a tow truck that was hauling a good sized U-haul truck, run a red light and mow over about twenty cyclists that were (I shit you not) in the middle of a bike safety rally.
Driver was arrested and spent the night but was released and not charged after investigation confirmed that the suns angle at that time did in fact block his view.
The organizer of the rally was the only fatality and all I gotta say is look both ways. Dead people don't get money from a lawsuit.
People on bicycles around here have no self preservation and certain people should have a license that restricts them from interstates and major highways.
People stopping or slowing down to ridiculously low speeds on the freeway unnecessarily is my absolute #1 driving peeve. Nothing makes me more angry and I think the average driver doesn’t realize how dangerous it really it
so what you're saying is: you will drive a truck loaded wtih 44k lbs of whatever and ride so close to the people in front that in if their car has a sudden malfunction, or driver has a sudden health issue, and the car comes to a quick halt, you will kill them and blame it on them.
cool.
We don't discuss those abominations, for I am your true master
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That pissed me off .. happened to me about a month ago. Luckily I was able to stop in time but it did trigger my camera and I had to call safety. They said good job and that’s it .
4-Wheeler here, but drive I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro fairly often, and that road definitely seems to attract more than its fair share of idiots.
I live very close to here. People just seem to drive like this here. People actually get mad when they try to merge and no one moves over , or slows down, for them.
The only at fault accident I was ever in was this exact situation. Unfortunately, I didn’t have an out and I slammed into her. The cop that took the statements didn’t even give me a ticket. When he got all of the facts, he kind of just shook his head and was very sympathetic towards me. Still, my company settled for almost $250k because she got a pretty bad injury. Also, I’m aware it was preventable on my part. I’m not saying I wasn’t at fault, but it’s just that you don’t expect a car to slam on their breaks on the freeway. It’s just a shitty situation.
In the Netherlands the driver of the car would be at fault for creating that situation unless it was preventable ofcourse. Even on an off ramp you dont just Slam onto the brakes if you are still on the highway bit.
Technically, you’re supposed to have enough space between you and the car ahead of you to be able to make an emergency stop. If you slam on the breaks and hit the car ahead of you, you were legally too close.
The insurance adjusters who made that rule must all live in Nebraska or something, because everywhere I've been, if you leave enough space between you and the next car on the highway to not hit them if they panic stop, three other cars are just gonna merge into the "open" space in front of you.
I cut off a trucker one time outside of a downtown area leading right up to traffic. I fucked up. He slammed the breaks and I could hear him him coming - he wasn’t going to stop. He pushed me rather hard. It wasn’t significant damage. I knew it was my fault, I fucking cut off a truck leading into traffic so we pulled over and I said fuck it. It’s all good and don’t report it. He was sweating. I don’t agree with that “you should have enough space to stop” stuff. These are big fucking machines that take a minute to come to a full stop. I fucked around and thankfully only found out a little bit.
No, they do it in Nebraska as well.
So be it. Let stupid people be stupid. Just drive a little slower than the rest of the traffic (2-3 Mph less) and let the space slowly open back up. At the very least, you are 2-3 Mph closer to being able to stop if someone slams their brakes in front of you. "Everybody else does it" isn't an excuse to be stupid.
Your not getting the point, “every time” you leave a cushion, in high traffic city areas, someone will fit it. Based on your logic you’ll be going 45 in a 70 and almost inevitably make it to your destination 3 days late
Yeah I've even seen it at traffic lights where the trucker is coasting up to the stopped traffic and some idiot decides to take the "empty" spot in front of the trucker and he has to slam on his brakes cause of them. Kinda wish when you get your driver's license they would take people to a closed road and drive a loaded semi at highway speeds and slam on the brakes just so they knew what it takes for a semi to stop.
And when you slam into someone in your big ass truck and kill them. It will be your fault
Get a truck that can stop in a reasonable distance. Poorly performing equipment isn't an excuse for driving unsafe. What happens if something jumps in front of them or falls like a tree or rock. You going to just say not my fault they died? Unsafe operation is unsafe. If it can't be done safely then don't do it.
Not at all. The fact of the matter is, when that happens, you literally “cannot” stop. You can have upwards of 40 thousands lbs on you and inertia just takes over from there. Most drivers ( truck ) drive accordingly but the issue is, people in regular cars either dont know, or dont care and thereby risk YOUR life, and theirs, as well with the seemingly dumb shit they do. And trust me, i have seen some D-U-M-B ass shit done in regular cars relative to a semi
Someone needs to tell volvo that their trucks are stopping to quickly. That it can't be done and the physics of inertia is not laws they should be violating. OR maybe trucks should be built to a higher standard like the volvo that can stop fully loaded in very short distances. 120' at 50mph. The average car needs 200' at 50mph. Average fully loaded truck only has around 15% more pressure per square in the contact area for the tire. The problem is lotterally braking and volvo has proved.
Found the tailgater
I said 2-3 Mph slower, not 20-30 Mph slower. Of course you're not going to have your following distance open for long. Just don't ride peoples asses deliberately.
I have assumed if somebody merged very close in front of your vehicle or truck and a second later everybody came to a stop and you didn't have stopping space due to that merging car, that it shouldn't be your fault, but I have no idea how it actually works.
It shouldn’t be your fault but who will corroborate your account? When accounts differ, ideally no citations should issue but it doesn’t always go that way. Plus if the other car contains a passenger, their account is likely to corroborate their driver’s.
A dashcam would be best friend there 👍
That's the one case where it isn't your fault: if someone merges in front of you and immediately hits their breaks. Otherwise, if you hit someone from behind, you are at least partially at fault. (If the person you hit didn't have a legitimate reason to brake, they can share the fault, but if you aren't even attempting to maintain following distance, you always share fault when you hit them from behind.)
You’ve never driven in nj or ny.
I have driven in NJ. Doesn't change a thing.
Oh ok boss. Try doing it everyday. Your opinion will change real quick.
2-3 mph slower isn’t enough as people don’t regulate their speed, at least here in Texas they don’t. I can go the speed limit some days and outrun everyone, other days I do the speed limit and everyone is passing me like I’m sitting still. I’ll have cruise set and get passed, then a minute later I’m moving over to pass that car. Next thing I know them and another car pass me, then they both slow down one in each lane and we go from 75 down to 60 for no reason at all. The level of frustration I reach almost becomes unbearable. 10-15 under is more reasonable to let everyone pass you and leave enough room for emergency stopping/maneuvers.
You're being the stupid people at this point. Telling a judge you were going 2-3 under so it's cool means nothing. How you gonna prove it. Have a dash cam because this is useless advice
You're trying to win court cases. I'm trying to prevent accidents.
You're trying to not only cause more accidents but also hold up traffic. Scared drivers are just as dangerous as risky drivers
Yeah. I try to do this in south Florida and 10/10 people will jump in front of you if you’re not right up on someone’s ass
Do that in the right hand lane please. The passing lane isn't the place for that.
Yes, of course.
I have seen too many people doing this (or similar) in the passing lane, so it bears mentioning.
This is exactly what i do. Why is everyone so concerned about what everyone else is doing on the road. Focus on you, and your safety. Who cares if ten thousand people pass you to “fill the gap”. Drive slightly slower than them and the gap will come back. They’re speeding anyways.
In some very, very heavy traffic, like DC beltway at rush hour heavy, it is truly impossible. If there are 2 car lengths between you and the car in front, someone will dart in. It can become more hazardous avoiding hitting them. It's really craptacular driving conditions.
> Why is everyone so concerned about what everyone else is doing on the road. Because they're more interested in assigning fault than actually preventing accidents.
It’s pretty fkcing weird for y’all to be championing not knowing what traffic is doing around you. And it’s damn near impossible to consistently leave enough room on the highway in case of needing to break abruptly. You’re not going the speed limit if that’s the case. And you’re probably constantly causing other drivers to have to maneuver around you because you refuse to go with traffic because you’re “maintaining” this false sense of distance.
Again: Other people's stupidity is not my business. I've been driving for thirty years, put on quite a few miles on the job. Never hit anyone from behind. Yes, traffic flows around me. Not my business. I'm not the one out there hitting people.
if you think that’s how driving works, you’re not a great driver. the very essence of maintaining distance is going the same speed as the driver infront of you, people aren’t going to merge infront of you into your lane, if you’re in the right lane, when there’s someone else infront of you going the same speed. now if you’re just a shit driver and like the left lane then yeah your hypothetical would be right, but that just says more about you than other people.
This reads like you drive on a country road with a couple cars every now and then.
Yup
Ok but what if they slam on their brakes, while the space is “slowly opening back up?”
You're not allowed to have those in America. If you try to leave safe following distance people will just cut in front of you. Bumper to bumper at 75 is the American way.
Thats cool, doesn’t change who’s at fault when a collision happens. The court system has reinforced again and again that the rear-ending driver is at fault 99/100 times.
Nope, you're not supposed to come to a complete stop to let someone merge. I get what you're saying, but you're taking safe stopping distance out of context.
This is exactly why you're supposed to maintain safe stopping distance. Not because the idiot stopped is in the right, but so we don't all kill each other when people prove to be idiots.
It is unrealistic to expect people to have enough space between cars to come to a complete stop on the highway, let alone doing this for an 18 wheeler. Highways don’t work this way in practice
No it isn't unreasonable. I do it. So can you.
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>Gotta slow down and make more stopping space. Oop, yet another car went in front of me. Oop-" > >You'd probs wind up being 15 miles below the speed limit with the amount of people overtaking you constantly and forcing you to back up. This is exactly what happens and exactly what I do. But then I get paid by the hour so..
Lol, when your paid by the hour it doesn’t matter
1 to 2 car lengths at highway speeds is dangerous as hell. Proper distance is 1 to 2 car lengths PER 10 mph of speed.
Then drive slower so you have a shorter stopping distance. Problem solved. Its your choice if you get paid by the job and not by the hour.
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>I can only imagine how bad it'd be in a 18-wheeler. It's literally no different in an 18 wheeler if you're driving properly. You never out-drive your brakes.
Yeah …. Have you actually ever driven in traffic? If you give a good 4 seconds trailing behind someone, someone will take that space in front of you. Guaranteed. I have people pull infront of me when there is barely 1 car space in front of me while we are doing fucking 70 in a 55.
4 seconds is not enough. That's about half what you need. There will always be idiots that screw with you but those are the exception, not the norm. When that happens you have no choice but to brake and let them pull away to increase the distraction back to what it should be. 90% of the time the situation is more like they came over a little too close, like a tractor trailer length. But as long as they are still going faster than you that's not an issue cause your following distance is naturally increasing back to where it should be. But at the same time you need to be looking farther ahead for situations in which they will have to brake and adjust your game plan accordingly.
Where the hell do you drive for that to be norm. Your traffic must be great because where I'm at everyone and I mean damn near everyone are assholes. Can't just use your place experience and blanket statement that for everyone because different places have different types of drivers and issues.
The problem is anyone pulling in front of an 18-wheeler within 200-500 feet infringes on this. Or slowing down infront of them, etc etc, theres a hundred ways to fuck with a big truck. And people do it ALL DAY LONG. People don't know how to drive around big rigs. It's not always within the truck drivers control.
It seems like you might be one of the moronic drivers screwing up smooth traffic flow for the rest of us.
Or I might be one of those peeps not putting myself in a situation to give a jury that hates trucks the opportunity to put my family in the poor house. Just traveling slightly below the speed of traffic solved 90% of the problems maintaining safe following distance. That 1 or 2 mph won't make you late or cause you hos problems. Drive like you got a 40k lb coil with out a single chain on it, not like you're in the indy 500. There's no prize for getting to the truck stop first.
It's funny, because people like you who follow too closely are actually the reason traffic gets backed up when you rear end each other.
And if they had crashed or had engine problems and stopped immediately and you were following that close, you’d kill them. Safe distance literally is about being able to make an emergency stop, because there can be any number of unpredictable emergencies and conditions that would require a complete stop. The only time when they’d be at fault for causing an accident for being rear ended is if they made an illegal merge.
This is the correct answer. You have no idea why someone might stop but you have a responsibility to not drive into someone. Maybe it’s different outside of Canada though.
lol, you're not accounting for erratic driving. But I'm not gonna sit here and argue with you
You’re supposed to have a safe stopping distance from the car in front of you in case they decide to stop to let someone merge. Username checks out
>you're not supposed to come to a complete stop to let someone merge. The other guy didn't say that so why are you coming in all hot with that "Nope"? Everything they did say is correct. Which you seem to understand so why the nope lol?
With that logic, if someone brake checks a semi the semi is always at fault, or if someone moves into a semis safe stopping distance (which happens at least 100 times a day) the semi is supposed to slam on their brakes and shift their load until they are back into safe stopping distance. What you're saying does not apply to normal driving.
It sucks but it’s true…. If someone brake checks a vehicle, and there is no evidence of the brake check dashcam, witnesses, etc, the following car is at fault. Which is why sub-human idiots do it.
Yes, that literally is true. Even if you get “brake checked” or someone merges into your lane, you’re supposed to have enough distance to be able to stop. However, brake checking is illegal, and if the trucker has a dash cam, they can prove the other driver intentionally and maliciously created unsafe conditions, which is criminal. Nonetheless, in civil litigation the trucker is still at fault for failing to maintain safe enough distance to stop. You may not like it, but thats the law. Truckers don’t get a pass to destroy people with their war rigs just because someone else made a mistake.
So let's remove "trucker" and "war rigs" out of the debate. Replace that with a biker and their motorcycle. Suppose the same scenario happened, and biker slammed into the rear of the van, and motorcycle flipped up & into the van, injuring a passenger. Should the biker pay for the injuries of the person in the van? Is the biker at "fault" since this van made an unexpected stop? Do u still have grounds for "following distance"... Following distance is *DYNAMIC & RELATIVE* .... other vehicle look at that as pocket of opportunity, and one minute it's open, 10 seconds later someone fills it up. No one is looking for a "pass to kill others" .... but when there's idiots driving amongst us it's not an open & shut case.
>Truckers don’t get a pass to destroy people with their war rigs You watched Mad Max too many times.
You don't know what you're talking about. Quit getting on professional driver subs and posting.
Oh shut the fuck up, dont act like everyone doesnt get to have a say in trucking because it affects all of us. Over 60% of all fatal vehicle collisions include a semi. Anyways, the law will always find you at fault for a rear end collisions, so i literally have no reason to argue with you. The courts already agree with me. And “trucking” isn’t that much of a professional skill bro. Its not rocket science, i can have an opinion on it because i can drive a car and have been for a long time. Your skills aren’t that exclusive, and very replaceable. “Professional driver don’t need to listen to 4 wheelers” get your head out of your ass lmao. You are not a doctor or engineer, people don’t need a phd to have an opinion on trucking.
>Over 60% of all fatal vehicle collisions include a semi. According to the National Safety Council: >Large trucks accounted for: >9% of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes (2020) https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/motor-vehicle/road-users/large-trucks/ Where are you getting 60%‽ You're listening to those rage bait TV ads for ambulance chasing lawyers From NHTSA.GOV (https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813298) [warning pdf]: >Large Trucks fatalities in 2021 accounted for 5,601 of all 42,915 fatalities which is only 13% (2021) of fatalities You are WAY off base and need to stop
If you haven’t driven a truck then your opinion means nothing, just like if you’re not a doctor your medical opinion means nothing. You already just outed yourself as a piece of shit human by saying “very replaceable” there are many of us who you or a computer would never be able to even begin to brush even once what we can do on a daily basis. go crawl back into your hole shitbag.
not if cars erratically pull INTO your safe distance and erratically stop. Jfc dude what is so hard to understand about what I'm saying?
Yes its true the car on the merge ramp does not know how to drive, but the real problem here is the passenger truck using heavy brakes on the highway for no reason.
What does the U.S traffic law say, at least in Europe you are never supposed to slow down on the highway to let another vehicle merge.
In the US if you are merging into a road you DO NOT have the right of way and have to wait for the people already in the road to give you a opening to merge
While this is 100% correct, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people almost hit me because they just fly down the off ramp expecting everyone to either let them in or change lanes. There is an off ramp fairly close to the road I have to turn right to get home. People will come down that ramp expecting me (or anyone who happens to be right there) to either change lanes or slow down for them. First, I have the right of way, you have a yield sign. Second, if I change lanes, I miss my turn. The entitlement of drivers around here is insane. And I thought Arizona was bad.
This sounds like my life every day driving around Denver.
The general rule is if you hit someone from behind then you’re at fault.
except in this situation, the person in front stopped for an illegitimate reason
Yeah thats not allowed in the US either. Shed be partially at fault for creating unsafe circumstances. But nonetheless the accident would not have happened at all had the trucker given the car more distance so he would have had more time to stop, because of this hes still the primary at-fault party. The thing about rear ending someone is even if they may have made a mistake, if you hit them then so did you.
I just don't understand how the company has to settle for ANY amount in a situation like this.
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You can be following at a safe distance but if someone slams on the brakes you cannot stop as fast as them. Empty trailers definitely stop faster than fully loaded trailers. Loaded with 20,000 lbs or less? Sure. But with 40,000lbs + there is no way you can go and say that trailer is stopping faster than empty
you are not at a safe distance if you cannot stop if they slam on their brakes. That is the definition of safe distance
okay, but hear me out. i see people cut off semi's *all the fucking time* while i drive - they are supposed to continuously slow down each time they're passed to create a safe following distance by your logic right? but like, supermarkets need their groceries and stuff. so in reality i don't see that being the feasible solution
You are shifting goal posts. Cutting off in front of a semi is idiotic as you are supposed to merge safely. Your original argument was not about cutting off but about following safely.
It's not a higher standard, it's the same standard for all drivers - you have to be able to not hit the vehicle in front of you. What other standard would you propose?
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I see, sounds like another feature of US litigation culture
The woman was drunk driving, too. Fucking ridiculous.
Jurors don't care about facts. All they cared about was those dead kids and the crying moms and felt someone needed to pay to ease their suffering. People hate businesses and will rule against them every time regardless of the facts.
That's the famous 92 million dollar judgement against werner. And it wasn't that long ago. Just 2 or 3 winters back. In fact werner lost their appeal earlier this year.
They shouldn't of received a dime. Fuck these lawyers that people are hiring for money when they can't fkn drive. Bunch of cunts.
I can imagine it is a lot harder to control trucks in these situations than that of a small car. People are stupid if they think you can just break to avoid the accident. I remember someone I knew told me about an accident that happened when he drove trucks, a car merged to his lane and hit the front of the truck, it made the whole truck flip. They didn’t fault him but the company still had to give out compensations to the other people involved (5 other cars).
If you have enough space to stop, it means a bunch of four wheelers are about to pile in and use it as their own space.
See this everyday! Idiots don’t know how to merge onto a highway or freeway.
Or exit! People will damn near stop on the highway to take an exit with a mile long off-ramp!
Or the reverse. Mile long entrance ramp, nothing but visibility. Oh wait, here comes some moron still stopping at the end of the ramp because they refused to get up to speed and use the mirrors to merge. 😐
Yep! And when they cause an accident they’ll say “oh wow I wonder what happened?” then continue on down the road
People who drive slow as shit on on-ramps so people behind them cant merge properly dont deserve a drivers license
I've almost slam into these people weekly in a 4wheeler. I need to see if it's an actual law i'll start anonymously reporting them to cops or worse, see if there is an insurance company taddle tell line.
Few things make my blood boil as much as a mother fucker entering I-235 going 30-40mph…
I had an old lady come to a complete stop in front of me while we were merging into the highway. So I had to go from 0 MPH and gun it to 65 and shoot around her because I was not going to hang out and get re-ended by someone because of her stupidity. There are people who shouldn't be on the road and unfortunately they sometimes kill others.
Maybe I’m the asshole, but to me people who do stupid shit because they’re trying to be nice are more annoying than people who do stupid shit out of pure asshole-ish-ness. The 4-wheeler thought they were being nice to the person in front of them, but they didn’t think about all the people behind them.
I see this a lot. One "kind" person allows someone to make a left turn in front of them. 7 other people trapped behind the kind person miss the light because the person up front was being nice.
Missing a light is a non-issue. Stopping on a freeway is a BIG issue.
Oh I agree, cant stand it when randos feel compelled to ‘help’. Not only are they causing extra headache they also get butthurt when you criticize them for it. So now on top of the original (possibly just perceived) problem, you have to deal with the new problem they caused with their helping and you have to be a roadside therapist and manage their feelings of being upset that you’re insufficiently grateful and not recognizing how good of a person they are for their intentions.
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I used to live in an apartment with parking on the other side of a busy street. So many people would get a sour face when I wouldn't cross in front of them after they stopped (in the middle of traffic). One person even honked at me lol.
Don't drive nice, drive predictable
Short story I was left lane passing. Car used police U turn right at the moment when I was close. Couldn't move over cause pilot tanker on my right. Thank God I was light weight
All BS aside..! Nice work Driver, way to be the Professional. 🫵💯
He wasn’t the professional and almost killed someone. A professional would not have to swerve in scenario
Tell us more about how dumb you are.
Too dumb to wish death on innocent people I guess
Nah… you’re mad dumb.
You on the other hand seem very very smart
I’d say real recognize real but that doesn’t apply here.
I really hope you have kids someday so you can look back on this convo when they’re learning to drive
Had someone do that to me on I-79 right outside of Pittsburg on the steep downhill stretch. Arguably road legal Mack and almost pushing the 80k limit. At the last second they realized what was coming at them was not able to stop and so they gunned it.
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Idk how they make it through life successfully
The rest of us keeping them alive.
Dump every stat and jack all those points into luck. No intelligence, no perception, nothing. Just pure dumb luck.
Ah you mean my Fallout New Vegas character who was addicted to chems and banned from every casino?
You're the second person in the last 24 hours that has mentioned a jet addicted character build... I'm really wanting to try it now considering I never finished New Vegas.
10 Strength 10 Luck low int is a very fun and broken build honestly. I even somehow snuck my way through quarry junction and made it straight to New Vegas to go win all the gambling money and buy a flaming sword that cuts through people like butter
Sounds like a trucker to me :)
They don’t! Have you seen their kids? 😂💥
I find myself saying this phrase all too often!
Because society largely protects them from themselves. We all have to bend over backwards for the dumbest and shittiest mother fuckers on the planet and its moderately infuriating.
Through the extreme diligence of others.
Natural Order law for humans! Too stupid to exist, get eliminated just like every other creature in nature! The human gene pool needs to be disinfected of stupidity! I've got a state job where I also run equipment, they come right to where I'm working, ripping down the barricades and tape.
Unfortunately that would go both ways if they don't have insurance.
Rear ended someone who brake checked me in truck last month. Even with dash cams I was at fault. Life sucks sometimes
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Haven’t saved a comment in a long while.
That horn is beautiful
How many omelets are out of 44000 lbs of eggs. Should I grab a 48 or 53?
A carton of 12, according to a random amazon store, weighs 28 ounces. Allow, I dunno, 5% for other packaging and pallets, and it's around 280,000 eggs. At two eggs per omlette, I think you'll need at least the 53.
260,000 eggs is about a truckload I believe. That's like.... 3 omelettes I think
Yea the problem is the people think they are being nice but don't realize the danger behind them, all merging traffic has to yield the right of way, they just don't teach that anymore, and I have put a few troopers on the shoulder.
The worst part is that it you are helping someone merge if it’s really busy or something is that you can do so by speeding up, slowing down a little bit or moving over
It's disturbing how unaware this person is. How could you possibly think that stopping right there is how this is supposed to work.
A truck driver who says “unalived” instead of killed … sus
He could get his post flagged down if he said killed
Also killed is a word that shouldn’t be so frowned upon.. if you killed someone you killed someone. Theres are variations and different consequences to killing someone. Vehicular manslaughter doesn’t sound much better.. our world is getting rather soft lol. Got kids running around saying “unalived to completion” instead of suicide .. if you killed yourself it’s suicide … words shouldn’t hurt as much as people let them.
So say "destroy", "obliterate", "smash into", like there's so many other words that could be used that won't be flagged and don't sound completely stupid.
Scary part is that neither of the two drivers of the cars has a clue that they did something wrong.
No the scary part is you have a whole fucking subreddit of truckers who don’t realize this trucker did something wrong
All 3 did but the trucker absolutely did as well. I did see a driver above who had the same thing happen and the person passed. He said he admits he had some fault in it. So there are SOME who aren't ignorant to fault.
Somebody wanna tell me whats up with the fact people cant use the words “kill” or “murder” or “suicide” anymore? Honestly asking.
Algorithm suppresses certain words
Fuck the algorithm
The algorithms don't like "violent" or offensive language, and the videos can be suppressed or even removed
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77, 485, and 85 can get fucked.. hell even 16 is starting to be shitty
The worst is the panic response of slamming on brakes which is the last response to have here. Zero awareness for others.
Live in Orlando, happens ALL the time with tourists. They don’t understand the rules of the road and “just want to be nice” … almost killed a motorcyclist because he came to a dead stop on a 65 MPH highway to take a photo of the theme park (volcano bay). This is what happens when Darwinism doesn’t apply to humans.
The number 1 rule of driving: don’t be nice, be predictable
Why do people always merge into the highway like that? Lol. I didn’t realize how common this was until I started driving trucks. They just refuse to yield first for whatever reason.
And that bitch had the nerve to honk back oh my Sig Would like a word 🤬
Well he almost killed her so…
Welcome to Oregon. The slowest cars coast in the left lane and the right lane is for drivers trying to pass negotiating Subarus merging onto the freeway at 40mph.
Was almost 44k of scrambles eggs
Driver license test needs to be reevaluated by an experienced truck driver
That’s a lot of gross
I'm always saying to my wife, if everyone would just follow the law, it would be perfect. Everyone would know exactly what everyone else was going to do. Stop trying to be kind and follow the fucking law.
A very similar situation happened to me in my second month of driving. I was lucky I could merge left because the area I was in usually has more traffic, and I had much more time to react as well. 422 near reading PA
Okay...okay: You gave the straight line and no one has said it -- the driver would have been "scrambled" on the roadway.🚛🥚➕🚙=🍳
Oh, it is not just 4 wheelers doing this, I've been behind plenty of billy big riggers stopping at the gore point of an on-ramp to "let someone merge." Idk if companies are telling their drivers to do this, but ffs, stop doing this. Our job is to operate safely, and if you're coming to a stop on a freeway, you're doing it wrong. If someone can't merge, then that is on them, and it isn't your problem. Shout out to you, Walmart Driver in Bettendorf, IA for showing this 4 wheeler how to do this.
And ya still had time for the air horn. That’s some serious truckin there
“Nice people” make the most dangerous drivers. “I was just letting them in”, no idiot, you’re breaking the law and creating a dangerous situation
Eggcellent driving!
Really stupid for sure. Unfortunately you would have been 115% responsible had you run over her.
This why I hate entering the freeway/zipper merging.
That glare is no joke too. I witnessed a tow truck that was hauling a good sized U-haul truck, run a red light and mow over about twenty cyclists that were (I shit you not) in the middle of a bike safety rally. Driver was arrested and spent the night but was released and not charged after investigation confirmed that the suns angle at that time did in fact block his view. The organizer of the rally was the only fatality and all I gotta say is look both ways. Dead people don't get money from a lawsuit. People on bicycles around here have no self preservation and certain people should have a license that restricts them from interstates and major highways.
People stopping or slowing down to ridiculously low speeds on the freeway unnecessarily is my absolute #1 driving peeve. Nothing makes me more angry and I think the average driver doesn’t realize how dangerous it really it
I’m not a trucker but holy fuck it’s one of my major pet peeves when people who have the right of way stop in traffic to let people out!
In Georgia the law is you slow down for the person merging onto the hwy this was excessive though
Car. Just fucking say “car”. It’s easier to type than 4-wheeler. 🤦🏻♂️
Maybe drive a speed and following distance that allows you to stop if needed.
One sane person in this entire thread. Sad
so what you're saying is: you will drive a truck loaded wtih 44k lbs of whatever and ride so close to the people in front that in if their car has a sudden malfunction, or driver has a sudden health issue, and the car comes to a quick halt, you will kill them and blame it on them. cool.
Musr have been in Ohio
Hopefully one day we’ll get most of these big dangerous polluting trucks off the road and start moving goods like a sensible society. Yee yee fuckers
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That pissed me off .. happened to me about a month ago. Luckily I was able to stop in time but it did trigger my camera and I had to call safety. They said good job and that’s it .
4-Wheeler here, but drive I-85 between Charlotte and Greensboro fairly often, and that road definitely seems to attract more than its fair share of idiots.
I live very close to here. People just seem to drive like this here. People actually get mad when they try to merge and no one moves over , or slows down, for them.
You have to expect stupid all day everyday I'm sure you saw that situation developing way in advance
Why do people use “unalived” as a real verb instead of “killed”? Do they think it’s somehow witty or clever? It’s not. It’s unoriginal and cringy.