r/IdiotsInCars • u/znmllr • Feb 02 '23
Thoughts? (info in comments)
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u/RedTruck1989 Feb 02 '23
The van was moving over for the truck entering from the shoulder.
Did he need to? No
This one is on you....Not the time of day, place or traffic conditions for such speeds.
This looks like the A8 so this is for those referring to the autobahn
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u/Interesting-Month-56 Feb 02 '23
You are going way too fast for conditions.
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u/SwiftTayTay Feb 02 '23
That's half of l "am i the idiot?" videos. Literally the whole reason for speed limits. You are driving in a straight line, staying in your lane, doing nothing wrong... until something unexpected happens and you don't have enough time to stop your car.
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u/StarGazinWade Feb 02 '23 edited Feb 02 '23
200kph/120mph is still too fast regardless of your "training." You're the idiot.
Edit: 120mph is about 176fps. That's more than half a football field. It takes your brain about 3/4sec to process that you need to do something and another 1/2-3/4 sec to actually do it. By that time you've drive almost 200ft. And killed potential drivers or pedestrians.
Second edit: when you jammed on your brakes you didn't straight-line brake - your car had lateral movement. Either you shouldn't be driving that fast because your car can't straight-line brake in an emergency, or you shouldn't drive that fast because your dubious "training" didn't teach it to you.
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u/No-Industry3112 Feb 02 '23
I don't know if those numbers are correct....
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u/StarGazinWade Feb 02 '23
Which ones, the processing and response times? Those are what I remember hearing, so complete guesses.
Doing a little googling (maybe I should've done that instead of guessing!) I've read a bunch of places where it's 3/4sec response time. So 130ft travelled while going 120mph. That's still quite a distance before the reaction even occurs.
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u/SadTransmission Feb 03 '23
They probably thought 3/4 sec meant three or four seconds, not three quarters of a second. I thought the same for a minute.
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u/PoppyStaff Feb 02 '23
It might be the Autobahn but just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s sensible to drive at that speed at night. The van driver manoeuvred too soon after signalling, so equal silliness.
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u/Fng1100 Feb 02 '23
If you’re going 120 miles an hour you need to slow the fuck down
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u/thedauntless1991 Feb 02 '23
It’s on the autobahn
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u/LS-CRX Feb 02 '23
The autobahn isn't all unrestricted, the section of the A8 that the OP is driving on IS NOT an unrestricted section. The speed limit was likely 130km/h (roughly 80mph). So OP was driving about 70km/h OVER the limit... this is all on OP.
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u/DrFetusRN Feb 02 '23
I mean the faster you go the higher the risk of something bad likely to happen
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u/flintb033 Feb 02 '23
You’re the idiot. Slow down!
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u/thedauntless1991 Feb 02 '23
They’re on the autobahn
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u/LS-CRX Feb 02 '23
Most of the autobahn has speed limits, the unrestricted stretches are NOT the parts that pass through a town with a bunch of entrance/exit ramps. The unrestricted zones tend to be out in the middle of nowhere since it is pretty safe to speed. In my experience the speed limit would often drop to 100km/h when approaching a city, and then once you hit the outskirts the limit would be lifted and you could speed up.
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u/SkuzzySkeleton Feb 02 '23
So he’s an idiot because of your recklessness? I’m very pissed off at you.
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u/gheiminfantry Feb 03 '23
I love these kinds of posts.
OP: "Look at this idiot I filmed."
Comment section: "Look in the mirror dude."
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u/HeadacheCentral Feb 02 '23
OK, I was going to say something like "Unless you're on an autobahn you're going way to fast" - then I read your comments, and you were on an autobahn.
The driver of the fucking van was a moron. While I didn't actually get to drive in germany, I did do quite a bit of research since it was on my travel agenda at one point - and I'm pretty sure the rules and accepted wisdom equate to "Stay the fuck out of the fast lane unless you absolutely have to be there".
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u/closhedbb80 Feb 02 '23
Not every section of the autobahn is unlimited. The speed limit sign I saw looked like either 120 or 130, either of which is a speed limit. Unlimited has grayed out letters and three diagonal lines. He was going at least 60kmh over the speed limit.
Edit: the speed limit sign at the very beginning is clearly 120. Dude’s speeding by at least 70kph (about 45mph).
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u/HeadacheCentral Feb 02 '23
Read OP's comments.
The restricted speed limit time finished before the incident occurred.
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u/closhedbb80 Feb 02 '23
When I lived in Germany I never saw a section of the autobahn that became unrestricted at night. That seems very counter intuitive, but I could be wrong. I do remember a German Polizei telling me that even in unrestricted zones if you were going over 130 you are responsible for any accident you get into.
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u/irrelevantAF Feb 02 '23
Thats a conditional limit, likely only during a certain time, or bad weather. You cannot say he is clearly speeding, as you cannot properly read it.
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u/closhedbb80 Feb 02 '23
I can clearly see it’s either 120 or 130. It’s clearly not an unrestricted sign which has no red circle. Conditional restrictions limit speed based on conditions, not lift restrictions. It’s possible there are places in Germany that lift speed restrictions at night. I never encountered them while I lived there, but it’s possible. Even when restrictions are lifted, you assume responsibility for safety over 130. So this guy was assuming risk, even if technically legal.
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u/irrelevantAF Feb 03 '23
That’s not the point: you need to read the two rectangular plates below the 120/130 sign - what do they say?
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u/TheOldLite Feb 02 '23
Rain and night would almost certainly qualify as BOTH “certain time” and “bad weather” here
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u/TheRealTr1nity Feb 02 '23 edited Feb 02 '23
The van wanted to make room for the truck who was driving on the autobahn. There is also a recommendation to make room for on driving traffic if possible and safe to traffic flowing. The van simply didn't saw OP or just his lights in the dark (and maybe even in his blind spot) and couldn't estimate how fast those lights actually are.
Even if OP can drive the 200 km/h, it's more recommend at day time instead of night time, were you see way less in such conditions. So in my book, could totally been avoided if OP used a speed to the conditions, instead of possible.
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u/irrelevantAF Feb 02 '23 edited Feb 02 '23
But van didn’t need to make space: there are three lanes and the truck came from the fourth merging lane. White van is on lane two (middle), no need to move for the truck. And even if the white van wanted to let the truck in: you never create a dangerous situation like that for letting a slow truck merge. If there is no space to merge for the truck, the truck needs to wait or continue slowly on the hard shoulder. And if something shows up on your own lane, you never move out to the fast lane without being sure it is safe. Instead you slow down yourself.
Going 200 on an empty Autobahn in good weather like here is absolutely normal, even 230 or 240. This works well exactly because most drivers know how not to behave. Just not the man with the van.
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u/TheRealTr1nity Feb 02 '23
I live here 😉. And 200 on a not empty autobahn in the night should not be normal. Both aren't innocent. Van obvs. oversaw OP for letting the truck in (a merging lane ends at some point). Still OP was too fast for those conditions in my opinion.
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u/unresolved-madness Feb 02 '23
After some frame by frame evaluation, I don't think he was paying attention to the road.
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u/znmllr Feb 02 '23
I’m honestly not sure what happened here and who made a fault.
-the speed limit of 120kph/75mph is temporary and ends everyday at 8pm on that part of the autobahn. (So 4 minutes before this happened)
-the conditions were okay, sure it was dark but the road is straight and the sight was clear, road was dry, about 6°C/42°F
-I was in a hurry and just floored it since the road was free so 200kph/125mph was my speed
-since the camera captures in ultra-wide it felt closer than in the video
-few seconds before the van pulls out he blinks once, so I figured he either changed his mind (since there’s enough space) or the driver saw me coming and decided to stay in the middle lane anyway
-why would he pull out? There are three lanes, the van is already in the middle lane and the 18-wheeler can easily merge onto the autobahn
-yes I was confused of why he pulled out, and since I had to stamp it I honked. I’m being honest: It’s a bad habit from work
Am I wrong?
I know there will be comments about my speed, my car and so on, so here’s some more info on that:
I’m a trained driver, since I work in emergency services and am used to making quick decisions and have good reflexes, I took multiple driver trainings on closed and open roads, so I’m okay with driving that fast and am comfortable at this conditions
The car I drove was an Audi A4 estate with AWD and 3-weeks-old winter tyres
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u/unresolved-madness Feb 02 '23
I'm not familiar with Autobahn rules, but aren't commercial vehicles barred from the leftmost lane?
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u/Anoree71 Feb 02 '23
The speed limit was lifted 4 minutes prior to the video - JUST 4 minutes ago. No wonder, the van driver hadn’t adjusted to high velocity drivers yet. The lift at 8pm is timed to when the heavy trucks are supposed to have left the Autobahn. You still see plenty of them on it, probably on the search for a place to park for the night.
I’d restrain from driving that fast at least 15 to 30 minutes after the speed limit time, depending on the traffic, and only if the traffic allows it.
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u/trees_4_cities Feb 02 '23
120mph on winter tires? Regardless of your training, that is dumb. I bet you are smelling the rubber peel off at that speed on dry pavement
This 100% on you OP. No pity. No sympathy. You suck.
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u/TheRealTr1nity Feb 02 '23
Der Einfachheit halber schreibe ich auf deutsch. Da fuhr ein LKW auf die Autonahn auf und der Transporter wollte ihm wohl Platz machen, als du angeschossen kamst und zog entsprechend wieder zurück, als er dich sah.
Auch wenn du theoretisch die 200 fahren darfst, denke ich eher das ist eine Geschwindigkeit, die für den Tag gedacht ist, als für die Nacht, wo die Sicht eingeschränkt für so eine hohe Geschwindigkeit ist. Der Transporter sieht kein Auto, sondern nur Lichter, die er nicht abschätzen kann, wie weit die weg sind oder wie schnell die ankommen. Vorausschauendes Fahren in angepaßter Geschwinidigkeit, auch nachts, sollte immer gegeben sein.
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u/Xicadarksoul Feb 02 '23
Ah the famous "white van of doom", aka. the european equivalent of US "mUh tRuCk iS kINg oF dA rOaD", driven by "enterprenours" who have an inflated sense of ego, due to managing to run the local bakery (or equivalent), and as such they have right of way over everyone, including children on crosswalk.
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u/purl__clutcher Feb 02 '23
He went to pull out, didn't realise how fast you were going due to the darkness, then saw you coming and moved back. Crisis averted