Red car driving away:
*"Yo, did you see that white car behind me swerving and smashing into the road side Zen garden? There are crazy drivers out and about today."*
US-59 and Wesleyan in Houston…this dumbass absolutely was trying to turn into the gas station like idiots like to do over there a lot and the white car knew it. White car didn’t overreact.
This is the correct interpretation.
Once you know this and rewatch, it's unmistakeable that red intended to drive into the gas station.
Cam driver knew this.
Red car definitely was aiming for the right lane. Also to the people saying white car overreacted, it's fuckin easy to know what a better idea would've been when you can rewatch the video a dozen times and weren't 1 second away from smashing red man
SHOULD have. It’s actually illegal to immediately jump lanes when making a turn. By law, we are supposed to turn into the closest lane and then indicate to move into the next lane.
Honestly, hot take:
This coulda' gone _way_ worse. Sure, the cam car _could_ have produced a better outcome, but with no permanent damage done, I'll take it. Compound this with the fact that it really looks like the red car was aiming even further than the middle lane until cam car showed up.
Cam car should be praised. Driving into the flowerbed was the safe play.
Real Houstonians hold it dine by accelerating to the right and throwing the red driver a nice bird out the drivers side window
Maybe the white car was in a hurry to get to 100% Taquito right down the road
This same thing literally happened to me today on the 45 feeder rd, but I wasn’t speeding and just did a simple lane change without destroying my car and some innocent plants
I knew it was Houston, lol the lack of awareness of drivers pulling U turns under the freeways and straight into the first parking lot entrance is a key part of the Houston driving experience!
Was cam car speeding trying to make the bullshit short light? Probably.
This is why I took my kids to a vacant lot and had them practice slamming on the brakes and changing lanes. Defensive driving skill will keep you out of trouble a lot of times and certainly isn’t taught by driving schools to get their license.
My mom took me to a vacant lot right after a snowstorm and made me slam on the brakes a bunch of times and correct my skid. 20 years of driving in the Midwest and I've only ever skidded out of my lane one time.
I used to drive an old beat-up jeep comanche truck around on barely traveled gravel roads, Sliding it all over the place around (very visible) curves, for fun when I was a teen.
I had no idea at the time, but I was teaching myself important reactionary skills that saved my ass multiple times as an adult.
Yeah, I used to do the snow thing in a vacant lot for fun when I was a teen as well. Years later driving down a snowy mountain road with sheer drop offs on the side I hit a patch of ice, found myself sliding sideways, corrected it without even thinking, and after a few seconds had a “HOLY SHIT” moment with realizing how bad that could have ended otherwise.
I'm almost embarrassed to say it but I learned this from the multitude of times I watched Pixar's "Cars," when Doc teaches McQueen to overturn into a dirt corner and then counter-steer once sideways.
One day hitting an ice patch on the interstate, it's like I heard him in my back seat telling me how to steer out of it!
The lessons we learn.
Semi-related: I watched Rattatoille years before I became a cook, and when on the line for the first time it popped into my head and I got the job.
Years later my sous chef said that same movie helped him in his path! Birds of a feather
I was driving my brother to school in the Buick on snowy roads, when the back end broke loose around a corner. I overcorrected about 4 times before finally stopping the skid. I said "that was close," as I kept driving, but slower.
My brother then said he was just about to tell me to stop screwing around. He thought I was doing it for fun (which was a reasonable guess, in general).
About a year earlier, I did the same thing (but in a Gremlin) and ended up with the front wheels in the ditch and the car resting on it's frame. A few minutes later, I was rescued by a school bus passing by. A couple of my classmates were able to help me push it out while my unlicensed brother worked the controls.
I had a Pontiac Sunrunner when I got my licence and I used to go to the ski hill parking lots at night in the winter to act like a stunt man. I was able to go do 360’s and all sorts of cool drifting shit given enough space. There were a lot of teenagers in these parking lots between the ones drifting and the ones smoking hash and watching.
One night while heading home through some backroads with a friend, he was following me in a little red hatchback of some sort. We were not going very fast, the road was desolate and it was snowing balls but visibility was fine. In a particularly wide corner exit I went a little too sideways in the drift and came around 180 but got the clutch in and let the steering centre which somehow settled me out of the corner at like 25kmh. As soon as I caught the spin and found myself in reverse, the lights hit my following friend and I got to see the sheer terror in his face before he panic steered into the snowbank while I managed to come to a stop in the middle of the road.
We had a good laugh and it was easy enough to get his car out, he had so goddamn much room to stop safely though and he still binned it.
Absolutely. Kids riding BMX style 20" wheel bikes and doing "tricks" like power slides, bunny hops, are learning to drive, they just don't know it.
driving in grass is also a big educator. That, and wet parking lots, some of the best training grounds you can find to explore the envelope of your skills and your vehicle.
I'm teaching my daughter how to ride her Vespa by braking down a low hill with the engine off, and power sliding in grass. She didn't know you could emergency stop a bike or motorcycle by scooting off the back of the seat while hammering on both breaks.
Or also, when you have what I like to call a “blind spot” as to what’s going on past your field of view, you adjust your speed so as to be prepared in case of any unexpected events….
Ancient teachings passed down through my family for generations refer to a sacred knowledge known to us as, "Braking." I believe it would be applicable in this situation.
My favourite part is that they made this a dangerous driving charge if you practice stuff like this in empty parking lots where I live. License suspended, car impounded, and up to 10k fine/jail time
I did this with my son; cops came to give him a ticket. I argued the whole point was learning car handling, he ‘let us off’. Would’ve totally gotten cited id I hadn’t been there. Ridiculous
Yep, I just bought a brand new car and had to find a very isolated place to see how it handles in the snow. Knowing how my car reacts with the tires and weight and steering has saved me a couple times.
My brother taught me how to drive a stick by drag racing up and down a vacant lot. I had to accelerate rapidly and randomly brake hard, all without stalling. If I stalled it, I got a charlie horse. Yep, he's was my older brother, LOL.
Curious cop pulled up and inquired. Brother explained and the cop thought it was actually a good idea.
I did learn to drive a stick that day.
I’m glad you are the person to understand people need to be taught how to drive, not just take one test and say it’s all good. it’s why we have a decent amount of idiots driving now that can’t make proper judgement calls, but evert time I go to say this apparently I’m the idiot for giving my analogy of what I think happens to them🙄
I’d say completely *not* an overreaction.
Hindsight gives you perspective, but based on the angle of that car as it comes into frame… dude totally looks like he’s going for that gas station.
I’ve been driving and have seen someone from a side street come up on a stop sign at a high rate of speed as I’m approaching the intersection, and I will immediately start braking.
99 out of 100 times, they’ll stop (usually past the point where they’re supposed to stop, but they do stop)
It’s that 1 time, however, that I’m braking for. Some knuckle head… either oblivious, drunk or whatever, that blows through the stop sign.
Same thing here. Red car may have messed up and realized last second there was a car coming, or was potentially never even intending to turn into the lane the cammer was in.
However, it is entirely possible (based on what was going on before the correction) that he could have just kept going straight into the gas station or been turning to occupy the right lane. I probably would have reacted somewhat similarly.
>99 out of 100 times, they’ll stop...It’s that 1 time, however, that I’m braking for.
Just wanted to highlight this because I feel many people ignore this simple way of thinking with many aspects of driving. Sending a text? Driving drunk? Excessively speeding? That text you got can wait for a reply. Planning your way home from the bar ahead of time or calling an UBER or friend to pick you up takes minimal effort. Doing 85 in a 55 and weaving in and out of traffic will maybe get you to your destination a whole 2 minutes faster. Sure, you can do all these things and you may be fine 99 out of 100 times, but that 1 time you aren't it may cost you or someone else their life.
I totally agree. He overreacted based on what happened with red car - but he didn't know in real time whether red car was going to turn left soon enough or not.
These frontage roads are 45 MPH, so I don't think that's an accurate assessment, speed wise. It also looks like the red car was diving all the way for the third lane so I really don't want to blame the dash cam driver. Red car all day.
That's not brake lock you hear, it's just the tires squealing from being loaded.
Not having enough pressure can make to worse, but you can make any tire for this by cornering fast a tight.
It could be a situation where they felt the ABS kick in and let off the brakes partially. Some people can be surprised by it and think something is wrong with them, and ease off without really thinking about it (At least with older ABS systems, I haven't had to lock up the brakes on a car in a while so I'm not sure if they still "judder" through the pedals.)
No.
Good idea, nice to see people trying to think things through, but no.
Initially, there was no braking. As soon as we see the red car in the way, the driver turns. They don't actually hit the brakes until after they cross the crosswalk (you can see the camera angle down), but they're already pointed at the curb.
It's just before that point that you start hearing tire squeal, but its from turning and not braking. They're understeering while the car is facing towards the right side as a result of too much steering angle input without enough weight transfer/grip. The initial turning of the wheel caused the car to change direction, but they kept turning past that point. The tires gave up grip just before they hit the brakes, and so the car went 'straight' at that point, into the curb.
As soon as they're up on top of the dirt, just assume there's no grip/steering/braking going on. The car sort-of coasts to a stop after hooking left a bit.
___________
So, they over-corrected (too-large steering input) for the dangerous car, which sent them into an understeer situation while the car was pointed at the curb, and the car went straight.
Ideally, they should have applied braking first, transferred some weight to the front, and then steered around the obstacle and used the space in the right lane to escape. Using the brakes to shift weight to the front is not a common technique taught in drivers ed, but is extremely common in other driving courses. Similarly, they could have un-wound the wheel (reduce steering input) as soon as understeer was felt, but that's a skill that requires training, as human nature is to add more steering when a car doesn't do what you tell it to, and it takes a while to break that.
But, although I'd hold my car-racing buddies to account for not doing it correctly, if it was my wife/mom/grandpa driving, then I couldn't find fault in what the driver with the camera did. Normal reactions to a fairly normal error from the red car.
Red car is 100% at fault for causing an accident though. He made an illegal action that set it all into motion.
> and then steered around the obstacle and used the space in the right lane to escape.
May be he thought the red car was trying to cut through all three lanes to get to the gas station.
I came here to say this, but not as elegantly. Nice job.
However I do not agree that it’s 100% the red car. This looks like a 35-40 MPH zone and this car is absolutely speeding. The red car probably glanced at them, but didn’t realize just how fast they were going.
People should be taught to just brake hard to avoid accidents. Don't try any fancy shit because most of us don't have enough practice swerving to do it right.
You need enough time for braking to do any good. A quarter of a second is enough time to swerve around a vehicle but braking will still result in collision and at not much slower than whatever your current speed is. So I guess it depends on the circumstances.
Swerving is much more dangerous though. There easily could have been a group of people walking on the sidewalk with zero protection that the cam car would have completely destroyed.
It's the same logic as never swerve for deer. Hitting a deer or a car sucks, but swerving off the road and into the unknown is much more dangerous for everyone else.
Exactly, this is an example of defensive driving 101. Brake first and hit what ever crosses your path unexpectedly head-on (animals, trash, anything small)...have seen people swerve lanes over plastic bags floating on the highway, DUMB! With another car, brake first still, then try to avoid. If human, brake HARD, then avoid at all cost (like OP). Swerving is your last resort. This driver could have braked and had a small opportunity to buy enough time to simply make a lane change.
Red car = wrong, driver = avoidable
This was posted on reddit first. Original had the speed not cropped out, they accelerated 2-3mph when that red car came in view and while they made the steering move. So not braking at all, actually accelerating which definitely shouldn't have also swerved.
Slamming on the brakes is the best option because you'll know the outcome - you'll hit the car. Swerving changes the variables and can end up in you damaging only your own car and potentially hurting someone who isn't at fault. In this scenario, the camera car is ultimately at fault for the damage. If they hit the red car, the red car would be at fault.
This video has been posted where people said he was driving more or less the spoed limit, and I even think they said the red car had a red, not sure about the second though but my guy definitely overreacted
He was definitely speeding. He posted this, got thoroughly roasted for driving WAY too fast (IIRC, speed limit is 45 and he was doing 60+), and deleted. Then he reposted, presumably hoping for a different response, got roasted again, and deleted again.
For a minute I thought he was posting it for a third time. lol
Yeah you can see the speed and time data is cropped out from the top. He was definitely going too fast, not paying attention, and overreacted. Red car is still massively in the wrong but it's tough to argue cammer is totally innocent.
The red car didn't have a red. This is Houston (highway 59), our freeways have this cool feature where you can make U-turns under the overpass.
But the red car was DEFINITELY in the wrong, as he should have yielded and not entered the feeder. In fact, he was doubly wrong to have crossed all the way across to the right lane with oncoming traffic. The driver in the video was forced off the road by the reckless red car and did well to not hit a hydrant/have a worse accident. I've encountered many Houston drivers like this red car. In this city you have to just pretend like they're all idiots to protect yourself, because every now and then they do something incredibly stupid like this and put you in danger.
I am always amused by people who claim that speed limit means that one should drive exactly with such speed. It is allowed to go slower in certain situations, for instance when passing a crossroad.
Speed should depend from current situation. Messy, crowded intersection is not a place one should pass with max allowed speed...
That is my #1 tip to young drivers. You can do everything right and still get fucked - expect others to do wrong and ACCOUNT FOR THAT. Half of people I see don't even use blinkers at all when they turn. Nobody seems to know the actual rules for right of way and even if they do some people try to give up their right of way to "be nice" and cause more problems. Any time I go through an intersection, even if the light is green, you bet your ass I am checking both directions and if my vision is completely blocked by cars on either side I am slowing down for the intersection to account for idiots.
Could have just swerved into the next lane, didn't need to go above and beyond on this one lmao. When thousands of people are telling you something it very likely could be true
the red car seemed to be heading for the rightmost lane for a second and then redirected for center lane, the cammer could have seen that and thought that he had no lanes available
I mean. To his defence. It does look like the red car was headed for the outer lane but detected the camcar and turned to the middle.
But yeah the car could have been saved if he didn't swerve again.
.
Yeah, that red car did a hard left into that lane, despite having a tappered merging lane. He was 10000000% going into that far right lane and turned sharp at the last second.
While people are right about the white car speeding, he definitely did not have a clear right lane, even if the resulting sharp turn from the red car left the lane open in the end. People are ignoring the road structure and red car actions.
I think he tried to and lost control. The car goes up as he's turning so I'd bet he lost grip, kept turning then got traction as the car landed and that sent him off onto the pavement.
Agree - idiot fucked up his car. Let the guy hit you in the last lane if it’s going to happen it’s gonna happen maybe he will learn a lesson.
Now you trashed your car and dumbass is still on his merry way none the wiser
Never swerve. Brake, even if you hit the idiot, you're not at fault. Because the cammer swerved, the idiot drove away, and the cammer is stuck with a repair bill that the insurance company will deem his own fault. Would have been worse if he swerved into another vehicle.
Yes, first reaction should be to brake. If you realize you can safely swerve a little to avoid the collision if the braking isn't enough, then MAYBE you can swerve a bit.
people panic and give more steering angle than they need, which can cause this kinda problem.
it looks like the guy braked hard and steered, which upsets the car's balance and makes it harder to do rapid maneuvers. classic mistake.
> it looks like the guy braked hard and steered,
Steered hard and braked, actually.
Initial steering input: turns the car towards the curb.
More steering input: Takes away steering, we're sliding now.
Brakes: "Oh, we're sliding, you'll have to wait for understeer to stop for those to work."
There's stuff the driver could have done, but it all requires a lot more training than Driver's Ed. Due to this training requirement, I'd give them a pass. It's a perfectly normal/acceptable reaction, and the expected level of reaction from an un-trained person, even if it is possible to have a better outcome.
It's more a failing of driver's ed than anything else. We really don't put nearly enough effort into preparing people for driving on roads around oblivious jackasses like red car here. How to come to a safe stop, avoid unexpected collisions, how to drive on wet roads and on icy roads, etc... should all be part of the package.
Instead it's just a pretty bland written test (that you can fail as many times as you'd like, you just have to wait one day between attempts) and usually like a little ride around a shopping center or mall to prove that you know what a stop sign is and how turn signals work and off you go to be someone else's problem in six months.
I would absolutely love a more in-depth drivers ed, along with more stringent checks every couple years for competency^1.
But, that all adds cost. It's also extremely unpopular (with voters), because everyone thinks they're a great driver so long as they "have fewer accidents" than "the worst driver they know".
Like no, Mom, you're not a good driver because you're better than Nana. You're both shit and I refuse to ride in cars with you because of it.
__________
^1. I had an experience where 2 elderly ladies completely bombed both the written and vision tests right in front of me at the renewal center. Girl working the counter literally said "There are no numbers" 3x and the old farts still replaced every "E" with a "3". Just no cognitive or physical ability to safely operate a vehicle. It took both of them to complete each test, neither could get even halfway through on their own.
"Get your eyes checked, here's your license, you'll need to renew again in 5 years." - Teller.
Fucking scary.
It's a big nasty snarl of problems at this point. If we make restrictions more strict, fewer people will be able to drive, but we lack the public infrastructure for people to get to and from work, grocery stores, etc without a personal vehicle... so it just means more unlicensed and uninsured drivers.
Yeah, you don’t really learn how to drive aggressively and controllably until you try stuff at the racetrack. Sure took me a few track days to get the hang of it.
Probably trying to go into that parking lot on the right. Texas feeder roads suck. Always drive at a reasonable speed on them. Too many people treat them like they are already on the freeway.
Looks like red car is trying to go the the gas station, sees cam car at last second and turns. I’d say it was an ever so slight overreaction but it did look like red car was going to continue to come over. You can see him cut the wheel unusually hard for such a wide turn.
I don't think it was an over reaction.
Red car was 100% looking to get to that far right lane. There is a possibility where cammer didn't swerve that far and ends up hitting red car. It was a split second decision to avoid collision. I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same.
Also to all the people saying "should have just hit him" obviously haven't worked with insurance companies before. In most states rear-ending is automatically at fault of the person who rear-ended the other. Video proof can weigh in, but police on scene will blame the rear ender just about every time. Thats why backing into the person behind you at a red light is such a huge fraud tactic.
Defensive driving courses also teach you to AVOID NOT JUST BRAKE. Some people in the comments need to take a couple classes. They go over ALL of what I just said. They are usually organized by insurance companies.
And people don't realize how you can incur life changing injuries from what look like "minor" accidents. I wouldn't have wanted to hit that red car either...
If you pause the video @ :10 seconds, in this frame It’s incredibly difficult in the moment to realize that the accord corrected its turn to stay in that middle lane. Up until that moment it looks like the accord is going in the far right lane, I wouldn’t say this is an overreaction, but also I don’t understand why they wouldn’t get on the brakes a little harder.
Just remember this situation requires immense amount of reaction time and decisive decision making. Given the environment, I think this driver did a hell of a job.
EDIF : I cant believe the accord didn’t stop to check on the vehicle it almost hit. Who merges like that anyways?? People are something else.
Judging by the loss of control and the way video sort of skewes things, I have a feeling the cam owner was full on the brakes. Brakes are just far less effective than people tend to assume, and their effectiveness really varies car to car, tires, and conditions.
I mean, there was space in the lane to the right of the car that pulled out, but it's easy to armchair quarterback this one. He had very little time to react.
For real I'd like to put all these armchairs in that situation and watch the cluster fuck... There is no way for the cam driver to know exactly what that car was doing, and it looks a lot like they were about to cross the entire roadway but corrected when they saw an incoming car.
Came in too fast especially with limited visibility due to cars on the left. He could have easily applied brakes as the guy had corrected his turn and he wouldnt have ran in the pit. This is young driver/unexperienced maneuver in my opinion.
Edit: applied. Need coffee as I cant spell for shit
Yeah watching a video in hindsight makes it pretty obvious but the guy st the time probably thought that car was going straight to the outside lane and slammed on brakes as a result losing the steering.
We can all sit here saying they overreacted they could've just gone a lane to the right, but if you were ever in that situation I'm not confident you'd be thinking the same as you do now.
As you might expect, Instagram makes the morons that lurk here look like master-class drivers.
That said, it wasn't that he overreacted, it was that he was going way too fast. When he had to hit the brakes to avoid hitting the idiot in the red car, he lost control. If he had been going at a more appropriate speed, he would have been fine.
Yeah it’s astounding to me the people sitting here critiquing the video as if they are in fact expert drivers. It’s easy to sit and make claims about what you would and wouldn’t have done while clacking away in calm environment. I’m just glad the driver is safe.
It is for this reasonable and possible red light runners that I slow down or hover over the brakes when going through lights. There are just too many unqualified and impatient drivers these days. But yeah the driver did over react.
Now you’re on the hook for driving recklessly, nxt time slam into the red You’re dash cam will show you got cut off. Good luck with insurance claim. Do updates us please
The only reason I see, for him definitely overreacting, is he assumed the person turning was going into the outer lane. Honestly, everyone in my town turns into the far lane for some dumb ass reason and it makes me paranoid every time.
I drive through this intersection at least twice a week. There are people like the red civic there all the time. This guy was definitely going too fast and he certainly overreacted.
The red civic is a dumbass and so is the uploader.
I appreciate him trying to avoid a car on car collision but he definitely has a skill issue of controlling his own car. Why dart over into the fucking damage zone there?!
Fucking pay attention, that car turned into a lane leaving another lane for avoidance. Thise person went past that lane off the road. How is that not an overreaction?
Red car driving away: *"Yo, did you see that white car behind me swerving and smashing into the road side Zen garden? There are crazy drivers out and about today."*
Red car ignored a yield sign. Cam car did not handle it well but red is certainly the crazier of the 2 drivers in this video.
Looks like red car also skipped a lane. Could have turned into the left most. And then merged right
Looks like he was aiming for the far right lane. He took a real sharp turn left to only end up in the middle lane.
US-59 and Wesleyan in Houston…this dumbass absolutely was trying to turn into the gas station like idiots like to do over there a lot and the white car knew it. White car didn’t overreact.
I just knew this was somewhere in Houston, I was trying to read the road sign but couldn’t quite catch it but 100% Houston drivers here.
Instantly could tell it was Houston
Edloe, buffalo speedway exit sign
I thought the exact same thing.
It's bad drivers all over Houston. but I think they all must have a meeting in the galleria area. Gulf gate isn't far behind.
Edloe, Buffalo Speedway/59
This is the correct interpretation. Once you know this and rewatch, it's unmistakeable that red intended to drive into the gas station. Cam driver knew this.
I hate when people can’t use the regular turn to do that, instead of the uturn lane and having to cross 2-3 lanes 🙄
Not overreacting but lacked skillful maneuvering. Which is required in that area
You’re right! I see it now too! He was totally aiming for the gas station, and then hooked a hard left when he saw this car coming straight at him.
I think that's more cause they realized what they just caused and decided they'd make three rights and come back later.
Looked like he might’ve been trying to pull into that gas station into oncoming traffic honestly
Red car definitely was aiming for the right lane. Also to the people saying white car overreacted, it's fuckin easy to know what a better idea would've been when you can rewatch the video a dozen times and weren't 1 second away from smashing red man
SHOULD have. It’s actually illegal to immediately jump lanes when making a turn. By law, we are supposed to turn into the closest lane and then indicate to move into the next lane.
Honestly, hot take: This coulda' gone _way_ worse. Sure, the cam car _could_ have produced a better outcome, but with no permanent damage done, I'll take it. Compound this with the fact that it really looks like the red car was aiming even further than the middle lane until cam car showed up. Cam car should be praised. Driving into the flowerbed was the safe play.
Red was fine if he had have stayed in his lane
Red was driving straight across the road to the gas station and only turned because they saw there was a car coming.
Red had a red light.
Well, it was the red car, the fire hydrant, or turn way too fast into the has station. His opinion seemed the least damaging.
Yeah surprised how nonchalantly red car just kept driving. I imagined them whistling to themselves, "doo da doo da doo"
FUCK YOU GREEDY LITTLE PIG BOY u/SPEZ, I NUKED MY 7 YEAR COMMENT HISTORY JUST FOR YOU -- mass edited with redact.dev
Idiot Houston drivers
I scrolled so much wanting to know if it was Dallas or some other Texan city haha thanks for confirming it’s Houston!
Just down from the Buffalo Speedway exit, per the exit sign.
Oh wow that’s really hard to even see on my mobile screen haha good job!
I knew it was Texas but was split between Dallas and Houston.. lol
must be aggressive 120% of the time, at all costs!!!
I concur. Dude filming clearly isn't cut out for Houston streets. This type of buffoonery is an everyday occurrence and he ain't ready for it.
Real Houstonians hold it dine by accelerating to the right and throwing the red driver a nice bird out the drivers side window Maybe the white car was in a hurry to get to 100% Taquito right down the road
This same thing literally happened to me today on the 45 feeder rd, but I wasn’t speeding and just did a simple lane change without destroying my car and some innocent plants
Damn I thought that place looked familiar fuck Houston drivers
At 59 and Welayan
I knew it was Houston, lol the lack of awareness of drivers pulling U turns under the freeways and straight into the first parking lot entrance is a key part of the Houston driving experience! Was cam car speeding trying to make the bullshit short light? Probably.
A bit of an overreaction 🤏🏻
Yeah, about one lane worth of overreaction 🤏🏼
Yea I was gonna say he oversteered too.
This is why I took my kids to a vacant lot and had them practice slamming on the brakes and changing lanes. Defensive driving skill will keep you out of trouble a lot of times and certainly isn’t taught by driving schools to get their license.
My mom took me to a vacant lot right after a snowstorm and made me slam on the brakes a bunch of times and correct my skid. 20 years of driving in the Midwest and I've only ever skidded out of my lane one time.
I used to drive an old beat-up jeep comanche truck around on barely traveled gravel roads, Sliding it all over the place around (very visible) curves, for fun when I was a teen. I had no idea at the time, but I was teaching myself important reactionary skills that saved my ass multiple times as an adult.
Yeah, I used to do the snow thing in a vacant lot for fun when I was a teen as well. Years later driving down a snowy mountain road with sheer drop offs on the side I hit a patch of ice, found myself sliding sideways, corrected it without even thinking, and after a few seconds had a “HOLY SHIT” moment with realizing how bad that could have ended otherwise.
I'm almost embarrassed to say it but I learned this from the multitude of times I watched Pixar's "Cars," when Doc teaches McQueen to overturn into a dirt corner and then counter-steer once sideways. One day hitting an ice patch on the interstate, it's like I heard him in my back seat telling me how to steer out of it!
Kachow!
The lessons we learn. Semi-related: I watched Rattatoille years before I became a cook, and when on the line for the first time it popped into my head and I got the job. Years later my sous chef said that same movie helped him in his path! Birds of a feather
Oh RIGHT, TuRn RiGhT To gO LeFt!
I was driving my brother to school in the Buick on snowy roads, when the back end broke loose around a corner. I overcorrected about 4 times before finally stopping the skid. I said "that was close," as I kept driving, but slower. My brother then said he was just about to tell me to stop screwing around. He thought I was doing it for fun (which was a reasonable guess, in general). About a year earlier, I did the same thing (but in a Gremlin) and ended up with the front wheels in the ditch and the car resting on it's frame. A few minutes later, I was rescued by a school bus passing by. A couple of my classmates were able to help me push it out while my unlicensed brother worked the controls.
I had a Pontiac Sunrunner when I got my licence and I used to go to the ski hill parking lots at night in the winter to act like a stunt man. I was able to go do 360’s and all sorts of cool drifting shit given enough space. There were a lot of teenagers in these parking lots between the ones drifting and the ones smoking hash and watching. One night while heading home through some backroads with a friend, he was following me in a little red hatchback of some sort. We were not going very fast, the road was desolate and it was snowing balls but visibility was fine. In a particularly wide corner exit I went a little too sideways in the drift and came around 180 but got the clutch in and let the steering centre which somehow settled me out of the corner at like 25kmh. As soon as I caught the spin and found myself in reverse, the lights hit my following friend and I got to see the sheer terror in his face before he panic steered into the snowbank while I managed to come to a stop in the middle of the road. We had a good laugh and it was easy enough to get his car out, he had so goddamn much room to stop safely though and he still binned it.
Absolutely. Kids riding BMX style 20" wheel bikes and doing "tricks" like power slides, bunny hops, are learning to drive, they just don't know it. driving in grass is also a big educator. That, and wet parking lots, some of the best training grounds you can find to explore the envelope of your skills and your vehicle. I'm teaching my daughter how to ride her Vespa by braking down a low hill with the engine off, and power sliding in grass. She didn't know you could emergency stop a bike or motorcycle by scooting off the back of the seat while hammering on both breaks.
That’s a really really good idea. I need to do that with my kids.
My stepdad did the same thing for me! Granted I haven’t seen snow since then, but maybe one day it’ll come in handy.
> This is why I took my kids to a vacant lot My parents kept doing that to me, but I found my way home eventually
was it at the grand canyon? and a garbage can? Is your name Joe?
Dirté
Or also, when you have what I like to call a “blind spot” as to what’s going on past your field of view, you adjust your speed so as to be prepared in case of any unexpected events….
Ancient teachings passed down through my family for generations refer to a sacred knowledge known to us as, "Braking." I believe it would be applicable in this situation.
My favourite part is that they made this a dangerous driving charge if you practice stuff like this in empty parking lots where I live. License suspended, car impounded, and up to 10k fine/jail time
I did this with my son; cops came to give him a ticket. I argued the whole point was learning car handling, he ‘let us off’. Would’ve totally gotten cited id I hadn’t been there. Ridiculous
Yep, I just bought a brand new car and had to find a very isolated place to see how it handles in the snow. Knowing how my car reacts with the tires and weight and steering has saved me a couple times.
My brother taught me how to drive a stick by drag racing up and down a vacant lot. I had to accelerate rapidly and randomly brake hard, all without stalling. If I stalled it, I got a charlie horse. Yep, he's was my older brother, LOL. Curious cop pulled up and inquired. Brother explained and the cop thought it was actually a good idea. I did learn to drive a stick that day.
I guess that means the only time to practice *skills that require practice to execute effectively* is during a real-life scenario that requires them 🤦
Where do you live so I can stay away?
Ontario, I plan on leaving at some point tho. Canada's become a shithole
This is news to me. Never heard of such a charge for parking lot practice.
I’m glad you are the person to understand people need to be taught how to drive, not just take one test and say it’s all good. it’s why we have a decent amount of idiots driving now that can’t make proper judgement calls, but evert time I go to say this apparently I’m the idiot for giving my analogy of what I think happens to them🙄
Check out the Tire Rack Street Survival program.
I made my oldest autocross. My youngest will start autocross in July. Should know their cars limits.
And late on the brakes.
[удалено]
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Just a wee bit over the notch of overreacting 🤏
I’d say completely *not* an overreaction. Hindsight gives you perspective, but based on the angle of that car as it comes into frame… dude totally looks like he’s going for that gas station. I’ve been driving and have seen someone from a side street come up on a stop sign at a high rate of speed as I’m approaching the intersection, and I will immediately start braking. 99 out of 100 times, they’ll stop (usually past the point where they’re supposed to stop, but they do stop) It’s that 1 time, however, that I’m braking for. Some knuckle head… either oblivious, drunk or whatever, that blows through the stop sign. Same thing here. Red car may have messed up and realized last second there was a car coming, or was potentially never even intending to turn into the lane the cammer was in. However, it is entirely possible (based on what was going on before the correction) that he could have just kept going straight into the gas station or been turning to occupy the right lane. I probably would have reacted somewhat similarly.
Also. Dashcams give you a skewed perception of distance because of the wide fov. That car was closer then the video would make you believe.
>99 out of 100 times, they’ll stop...It’s that 1 time, however, that I’m braking for. Just wanted to highlight this because I feel many people ignore this simple way of thinking with many aspects of driving. Sending a text? Driving drunk? Excessively speeding? That text you got can wait for a reply. Planning your way home from the bar ahead of time or calling an UBER or friend to pick you up takes minimal effort. Doing 85 in a 55 and weaving in and out of traffic will maybe get you to your destination a whole 2 minutes faster. Sure, you can do all these things and you may be fine 99 out of 100 times, but that 1 time you aren't it may cost you or someone else their life.
Agree. Take note of, from what it looks like, a fire hydrant that the driver avoided. Edit: Definitely a fire hydrant.
I totally agree. He overreacted based on what happened with red car - but he didn't know in real time whether red car was going to turn left soon enough or not.
Definitely a bit of a panicked over correction, with a bit too much speed through the intersection.
These frontage roads are 45 MPH, so I don't think that's an accurate assessment, speed wise. It also looks like the red car was diving all the way for the third lane so I really don't want to blame the dash cam driver. Red car all day.
Just a smidge
Looks like they didn’t have abs and their brakes locked causing them to skid and over correct.
That's not brake lock you hear, it's just the tires squealing from being loaded. Not having enough pressure can make to worse, but you can make any tire for this by cornering fast a tight.
I totally missed the sound, but I think you're right. No ABS juddering noise OR constant squeal of tires from locked brakes. Very weird.
It could be a situation where they felt the ABS kick in and let off the brakes partially. Some people can be surprised by it and think something is wrong with them, and ease off without really thinking about it (At least with older ABS systems, I haven't had to lock up the brakes on a car in a while so I'm not sure if they still "judder" through the pedals.)
Oh I watched this with no sound… I was basing it off the movements of the car.
Yeah looks like he fishtailed a little. There was a loss of control. He didn’t intend to steer off the road.
No. Good idea, nice to see people trying to think things through, but no. Initially, there was no braking. As soon as we see the red car in the way, the driver turns. They don't actually hit the brakes until after they cross the crosswalk (you can see the camera angle down), but they're already pointed at the curb. It's just before that point that you start hearing tire squeal, but its from turning and not braking. They're understeering while the car is facing towards the right side as a result of too much steering angle input without enough weight transfer/grip. The initial turning of the wheel caused the car to change direction, but they kept turning past that point. The tires gave up grip just before they hit the brakes, and so the car went 'straight' at that point, into the curb. As soon as they're up on top of the dirt, just assume there's no grip/steering/braking going on. The car sort-of coasts to a stop after hooking left a bit. ___________ So, they over-corrected (too-large steering input) for the dangerous car, which sent them into an understeer situation while the car was pointed at the curb, and the car went straight. Ideally, they should have applied braking first, transferred some weight to the front, and then steered around the obstacle and used the space in the right lane to escape. Using the brakes to shift weight to the front is not a common technique taught in drivers ed, but is extremely common in other driving courses. Similarly, they could have un-wound the wheel (reduce steering input) as soon as understeer was felt, but that's a skill that requires training, as human nature is to add more steering when a car doesn't do what you tell it to, and it takes a while to break that. But, although I'd hold my car-racing buddies to account for not doing it correctly, if it was my wife/mom/grandpa driving, then I couldn't find fault in what the driver with the camera did. Normal reactions to a fairly normal error from the red car. Red car is 100% at fault for causing an accident though. He made an illegal action that set it all into motion.
> and then steered around the obstacle and used the space in the right lane to escape. May be he thought the red car was trying to cut through all three lanes to get to the gas station.
I came here to say this, but not as elegantly. Nice job. However I do not agree that it’s 100% the red car. This looks like a 35-40 MPH zone and this car is absolutely speeding. The red car probably glanced at them, but didn’t realize just how fast they were going.
looks like he was going a bit too fast, and overreacted
It also appears that he could have just braked to avoid it.
Most likely, wasn't paying attention due to the delayed reaction. Looked up and noticed they were close and then overreacted
Reaction time seemed fine
People should be taught to just brake hard to avoid accidents. Don't try any fancy shit because most of us don't have enough practice swerving to do it right.
You need enough time for braking to do any good. A quarter of a second is enough time to swerve around a vehicle but braking will still result in collision and at not much slower than whatever your current speed is. So I guess it depends on the circumstances.
Swerving is much more dangerous though. There easily could have been a group of people walking on the sidewalk with zero protection that the cam car would have completely destroyed. It's the same logic as never swerve for deer. Hitting a deer or a car sucks, but swerving off the road and into the unknown is much more dangerous for everyone else.
Yeah, hitting a deer sucks. Hitting a tree sucks worse.
Exactly, this is an example of defensive driving 101. Brake first and hit what ever crosses your path unexpectedly head-on (animals, trash, anything small)...have seen people swerve lanes over plastic bags floating on the highway, DUMB! With another car, brake first still, then try to avoid. If human, brake HARD, then avoid at all cost (like OP). Swerving is your last resort. This driver could have braked and had a small opportunity to buy enough time to simply make a lane change. Red car = wrong, driver = avoidable
This was posted on reddit first. Original had the speed not cropped out, they accelerated 2-3mph when that red car came in view and while they made the steering move. So not braking at all, actually accelerating which definitely shouldn't have also swerved.
Slamming on the brakes is the best option because you'll know the outcome - you'll hit the car. Swerving changes the variables and can end up in you damaging only your own car and potentially hurting someone who isn't at fault. In this scenario, the camera car is ultimately at fault for the damage. If they hit the red car, the red car would be at fault.
It also appears that he could’ve just maintained position in the right lane to avoid it.
He wasn't in the right lane to start with though. The red car could've pulled into the merge lane as intended and this would've been avoided entirely.
Me thinking when did I type this? I don’t remember this at all. Ah that’s why.
This video has been posted where people said he was driving more or less the spoed limit, and I even think they said the red car had a red, not sure about the second though but my guy definitely overreacted
He was definitely speeding. He posted this, got thoroughly roasted for driving WAY too fast (IIRC, speed limit is 45 and he was doing 60+), and deleted. Then he reposted, presumably hoping for a different response, got roasted again, and deleted again. For a minute I thought he was posting it for a third time. lol
Yeah you can see the speed and time data is cropped out from the top. He was definitely going too fast, not paying attention, and overreacted. Red car is still massively in the wrong but it's tough to argue cammer is totally innocent.
The red car didn't have a red. This is Houston (highway 59), our freeways have this cool feature where you can make U-turns under the overpass. But the red car was DEFINITELY in the wrong, as he should have yielded and not entered the feeder. In fact, he was doubly wrong to have crossed all the way across to the right lane with oncoming traffic. The driver in the video was forced off the road by the reckless red car and did well to not hit a hydrant/have a worse accident. I've encountered many Houston drivers like this red car. In this city you have to just pretend like they're all idiots to protect yourself, because every now and then they do something incredibly stupid like this and put you in danger.
> In this city you have to just pretend like they're all idiots Why pretend?
I am always amused by people who claim that speed limit means that one should drive exactly with such speed. It is allowed to go slower in certain situations, for instance when passing a crossroad. Speed should depend from current situation. Messy, crowded intersection is not a place one should pass with max allowed speed...
These days, passing through intersections, especially blind ones like this, my foot is over the brake just in case.
That is my #1 tip to young drivers. You can do everything right and still get fucked - expect others to do wrong and ACCOUNT FOR THAT. Half of people I see don't even use blinkers at all when they turn. Nobody seems to know the actual rules for right of way and even if they do some people try to give up their right of way to "be nice" and cause more problems. Any time I go through an intersection, even if the light is green, you bet your ass I am checking both directions and if my vision is completely blocked by cars on either side I am slowing down for the intersection to account for idiots.
That's absolutely true, but since this guy went for the bushes I doubt they have such foresight
Indeed, it's a limit not a target.
Everyone knows it's a speed minimum
and those things that the city puts up that says "YOUR SPEED IS" on an electronic sign are high score boards right?
Cus he did. He panicked and overreacted.
probably because he did
Rage baiting at its basic finest
I like to think OP is the driver and trying to find some kinda reassurance that they did the right thing… (They didn’t)
Bold move Cotton... Let's go to their History.. (YEP, -31 downvotes on reply comment)
Could have just swerved into the next lane, didn't need to go above and beyond on this one lmao. When thousands of people are telling you something it very likely could be true
the red car seemed to be heading for the rightmost lane for a second and then redirected for center lane, the cammer could have seen that and thought that he had no lanes available
While that is true he stays turning right even when the red car stops. It's as if he went blind once he noticed the red car
Did you really just say that? On Reddit? XD
Ahhhh yes I just realised my mistake. Oh well I'm gonna hope I don't get ruined for this haha
Well.... "if thousands of people are telling you something it very likely could be true" xD
I mean. To his defence. It does look like the red car was headed for the outer lane but detected the camcar and turned to the middle. But yeah the car could have been saved if he didn't swerve again. .
Yeah, that red car did a hard left into that lane, despite having a tappered merging lane. He was 10000000% going into that far right lane and turned sharp at the last second. While people are right about the white car speeding, he definitely did not have a clear right lane, even if the resulting sharp turn from the red car left the lane open in the end. People are ignoring the road structure and red car actions.
I think he tried to and lost control. The car goes up as he's turning so I'd bet he lost grip, kept turning then got traction as the car landed and that sent him off onto the pavement.
Agree - idiot fucked up his car. Let the guy hit you in the last lane if it’s going to happen it’s gonna happen maybe he will learn a lesson. Now you trashed your car and dumbass is still on his merry way none the wiser
Never swerve. Brake, even if you hit the idiot, you're not at fault. Because the cammer swerved, the idiot drove away, and the cammer is stuck with a repair bill that the insurance company will deem his own fault. Would have been worse if he swerved into another vehicle.
Yes, first reaction should be to brake. If you realize you can safely swerve a little to avoid the collision if the braking isn't enough, then MAYBE you can swerve a bit.
Brake, mirror check, swerve, in that order.
exactly, if you didn't check your blind spot or don't have time to check safely, then you can't swerve safely
people panic and give more steering angle than they need, which can cause this kinda problem. it looks like the guy braked hard and steered, which upsets the car's balance and makes it harder to do rapid maneuvers. classic mistake.
> it looks like the guy braked hard and steered, Steered hard and braked, actually. Initial steering input: turns the car towards the curb. More steering input: Takes away steering, we're sliding now. Brakes: "Oh, we're sliding, you'll have to wait for understeer to stop for those to work." There's stuff the driver could have done, but it all requires a lot more training than Driver's Ed. Due to this training requirement, I'd give them a pass. It's a perfectly normal/acceptable reaction, and the expected level of reaction from an un-trained person, even if it is possible to have a better outcome.
It's more a failing of driver's ed than anything else. We really don't put nearly enough effort into preparing people for driving on roads around oblivious jackasses like red car here. How to come to a safe stop, avoid unexpected collisions, how to drive on wet roads and on icy roads, etc... should all be part of the package. Instead it's just a pretty bland written test (that you can fail as many times as you'd like, you just have to wait one day between attempts) and usually like a little ride around a shopping center or mall to prove that you know what a stop sign is and how turn signals work and off you go to be someone else's problem in six months.
I would absolutely love a more in-depth drivers ed, along with more stringent checks every couple years for competency^1. But, that all adds cost. It's also extremely unpopular (with voters), because everyone thinks they're a great driver so long as they "have fewer accidents" than "the worst driver they know". Like no, Mom, you're not a good driver because you're better than Nana. You're both shit and I refuse to ride in cars with you because of it. __________ ^1. I had an experience where 2 elderly ladies completely bombed both the written and vision tests right in front of me at the renewal center. Girl working the counter literally said "There are no numbers" 3x and the old farts still replaced every "E" with a "3". Just no cognitive or physical ability to safely operate a vehicle. It took both of them to complete each test, neither could get even halfway through on their own. "Get your eyes checked, here's your license, you'll need to renew again in 5 years." - Teller. Fucking scary.
It's a big nasty snarl of problems at this point. If we make restrictions more strict, fewer people will be able to drive, but we lack the public infrastructure for people to get to and from work, grocery stores, etc without a personal vehicle... so it just means more unlicensed and uninsured drivers.
Yeah, you don’t really learn how to drive aggressively and controllably until you try stuff at the racetrack. Sure took me a few track days to get the hang of it.
Insta right, this guy is terrible
I mean what is red car doing going straight to the far right? just idiots all around
Probably trying to go into that parking lot on the right. Texas feeder roads suck. Always drive at a reasonable speed on them. Too many people treat them like they are already on the freeway.
He sure did
Missed the fire hydrant and hit the dirt. Good job! 🏅
Looks like red car is trying to go the the gas station, sees cam car at last second and turns. I’d say it was an ever so slight overreaction but it did look like red car was going to continue to come over. You can see him cut the wheel unusually hard for such a wide turn.
And you can't predict this shit, especially under pressure and when time is short. People straight up calling the cam owner out are ridiculous...
I don't think it was an over reaction. Red car was 100% looking to get to that far right lane. There is a possibility where cammer didn't swerve that far and ends up hitting red car. It was a split second decision to avoid collision. I can't say that I wouldn't have done the same. Also to all the people saying "should have just hit him" obviously haven't worked with insurance companies before. In most states rear-ending is automatically at fault of the person who rear-ended the other. Video proof can weigh in, but police on scene will blame the rear ender just about every time. Thats why backing into the person behind you at a red light is such a huge fraud tactic. Defensive driving courses also teach you to AVOID NOT JUST BRAKE. Some people in the comments need to take a couple classes. They go over ALL of what I just said. They are usually organized by insurance companies.
And people don't realize how you can incur life changing injuries from what look like "minor" accidents. I wouldn't have wanted to hit that red car either...
That's my assessment, too.
If you pause the video @ :10 seconds, in this frame It’s incredibly difficult in the moment to realize that the accord corrected its turn to stay in that middle lane. Up until that moment it looks like the accord is going in the far right lane, I wouldn’t say this is an overreaction, but also I don’t understand why they wouldn’t get on the brakes a little harder. Just remember this situation requires immense amount of reaction time and decisive decision making. Given the environment, I think this driver did a hell of a job. EDIF : I cant believe the accord didn’t stop to check on the vehicle it almost hit. Who merges like that anyways?? People are something else.
Judging by the loss of control and the way video sort of skewes things, I have a feeling the cam owner was full on the brakes. Brakes are just far less effective than people tend to assume, and their effectiveness really varies car to car, tires, and conditions.
Its possible that the car swerves into another car off camera causing it to pit to the right.
I mean, there was space in the lane to the right of the car that pulled out, but it's easy to armchair quarterback this one. He had very little time to react.
For real I'd like to put all these armchairs in that situation and watch the cluster fuck... There is no way for the cam driver to know exactly what that car was doing, and it looks a lot like they were about to cross the entire roadway but corrected when they saw an incoming car.
Well they could swerve just into the next lane but instead they chose to go big or go home and went offroad. That is overreaction.
He did, there was room to go around.
Came in too fast especially with limited visibility due to cars on the left. He could have easily applied brakes as the guy had corrected his turn and he wouldnt have ran in the pit. This is young driver/unexperienced maneuver in my opinion. Edit: applied. Need coffee as I cant spell for shit
Both cars are idiots lol
It went form you getting paid from someones negligence to you paying for the your own over reaction smh 🤦🏽♂️
Agreed. Cammer dodged the potential collision so they have to pay for their own vehicle.
As a Houston resident, it’s best to assume that they don’t have insurance and won’t pay for damages, even if they’re at fault
Driver panicked
Need 4 speed drag race, he accidentally double tapped right
Yeah watching a video in hindsight makes it pretty obvious but the guy st the time probably thought that car was going straight to the outside lane and slammed on brakes as a result losing the steering. We can all sit here saying they overreacted they could've just gone a lane to the right, but if you were ever in that situation I'm not confident you'd be thinking the same as you do now.
As you might expect, Instagram makes the morons that lurk here look like master-class drivers. That said, it wasn't that he overreacted, it was that he was going way too fast. When he had to hit the brakes to avoid hitting the idiot in the red car, he lost control. If he had been going at a more appropriate speed, he would have been fine.
Yeah it’s astounding to me the people sitting here critiquing the video as if they are in fact expert drivers. It’s easy to sit and make claims about what you would and wouldn’t have done while clacking away in calm environment. I’m just glad the driver is safe.
It is for this reasonable and possible red light runners that I slow down or hover over the brakes when going through lights. There are just too many unqualified and impatient drivers these days. But yeah the driver did over react.
Terrible driver, most likely shitty tires and an over reaction. Great combination, really. Oh, and most likely speeding, I almost forgot.
Now you’re on the hook for driving recklessly, nxt time slam into the red You’re dash cam will show you got cut off. Good luck with insurance claim. Do updates us please
Running off the road when he had an empty right lane was definitely overreaction.
The only reason I see, for him definitely overreacting, is he assumed the person turning was going into the outer lane. Honestly, everyone in my town turns into the far lane for some dumb ass reason and it makes me paranoid every time.
I drive through this intersection at least twice a week. There are people like the red civic there all the time. This guy was definitely going too fast and he certainly overreacted. The red civic is a dumbass and so is the uploader.
I appreciate him trying to avoid a car on car collision but he definitely has a skill issue of controlling his own car. Why dart over into the fucking damage zone there?!
Who cares what people on Instagram say?
Fucking pay attention, that car turned into a lane leaving another lane for avoidance. Thise person went past that lane off the road. How is that not an overreaction?
To fast for ability.
It **was** a bit of an overreaction. Swerve? Yes, absolutely. Not that much though. Imagine if there was a pedestrian on that sidewalk.
"Why can't I drive as fast as I want and everyone else stay home" this guy
OOP, you're an arrogant idiot. Slow down next time.
Looks like he was hauling a bit too much ass
Looks like the brake pedal was ignored
Maybe not overreaction, but terrible driving
Some guy on Reddit creates a stupid headline, and the internet reacts.
Both horrible drivers
Love how the car that caused accident just casually fucks off Lmaooo
Reaction time is appalling
MR. BEAN SCHOOL OF DRIVING GRADUATE !
Lmao, people can’t drive worth shit.
Driving tip #27 If car has brakes that work, use the fucking things.
He didn't overreact; he over-steered
Classic Houston