If He Hadn't Had His Dashcam Rolling, He Might Have Been Blamed for What's About to Happen

Thinking of getting a dash cam?

Here's one more story that might push you towards the purchase.

On Friday, a poster on YouTube shared footage from a collision he said would have been blamed on him — if he didn't have video to back up his claims.

As the dash cam video shows, he approaches a traffic light as it is still green...

Image via YouTube

...but turns yellow before he enters the intersection.

Image via YouTube

It's a close call — stopping would likely require slamming on the brakes dangerously hard — so he continues through on the yellow.

As he enters the intersection, however, he's confronted by a terrifying sight: a minivan barreling through the intersection from the right.

Image via YouTube

He presses on the horn to no avail — the video appears to show the driver of the van wearing sunglasses and looking straight ahead.

Image via YouTube

The collision is quick and loud — watch the moment below (content warning: brief profanity):

The first driver posted pictures on Reddit of his black Honda S2000 and said a repair shop quoted him $8,000 for repairs.

Image via imgur

He also said the other driver told the cops he'd caused the collision.

"She tried to tell the police officer I ran the red light," the first driver wrote. "He was taking her side until I showed him the video."

How did the woman react?

"She just stood there in disbelief knowing she was caught," the driver claimed. "After I showed the police the video he just started writing her multiple tickets."

Commenters on Reddit were quick to analyze the video.

Some noted that the man driving the S2000 was cutting it close on the yellow light, but most agreed that the woman driving the minivan entered the intersection recklessly fast — whether or not she'd been timing the green light.

"If you are going to time lights you time them so you get there when it is safe to cross, not the second it turns green," one commenter wrote. "She was not in control of her speed and did not look like she was timing a green."

Other commenters shared horror stories of traffic injustice from their own pasts — injustices that would have likely been prevented by video of the collisions.

One wrote:

I had the exact same thing happen to me a few years ago. Despite the next door neighbor witnessing the accident the officer wrote it up as my fault. After filing a complaint to try and get the report changed it was revealed the responding officer was the brother in law of the lady that hit me. My insurance company had a field day with that information.

Another wrote:

I was in an accident a few years ago where the lady t-boned me as I was turning into my driveway. She was very clearly at fault and the officer indicated that in his report. I guess she was related to someone in the police department because the report was amended afterwards to indicate I was at fault.

Unfortunately for her, I also am related to people in the police department and they're more important than her people, so the report was again corrected. Yay corruption.

Another commenter summed up many people's feelings after seeing the video, writing, "100% getting a dash cam now."

—

Follow Zach Noble (@thezachnoble) on Twitter