Already do.
They’re used by mechanics for diagnostics, but insurance companies have already started pulling the content after losses. And it’s going even beyond that: Progressive has offered discounts to drivers willing to undergo monitoring of their driving habits.
It’s actually pretty uncommon for an accident to cause a fire. If the impact is strong enough to rupture the fuel tank, you probably don’t have enough gasoline near a source of heat. If the tank remains intact, there’s not going to be enough oxygen to sustain a fire (and likely, not enough heat, either).
What exactly happened in that second video? Was the driver of the convertible drunk? It looks like he just stomps on the gas, and then…the guy behind him did so as well?
I don’t have the sound turned on as I’m at work, so apologies if someone in this video explains this.
Is that the body of the driver skimming across the road from left to right? It sure looks like a human figure.
Who said these are most interesting parts?
That’s an entirely **different **tape library!
I haven’t been a cop in many years, but I do still work with my county EMA, and I’m on call 24/7, so I’ve got lights & sirens along with the cameras in my POV. They’re mostly for my benefit, since I **am **a stupid magnet. I get hit or hit-and-run more than you’d believe. You know your last accident where the other guy said this and you said that? I just say “Let’s go to the tape!” and prove my innocence or at least lack of culpability!
The truck was just a hoopty with a poorly attached hood; he hit a bump there in the road, and that’s all she wrote.
The rear-end wreck was just pure inattention on the part of the Mercedes.
Traffic slowed quickly in front of me, so I hit the brakes; the BMW was a little late on the draw, but was managing not to hit me when Mr. S-class hit him from behind. Mr. BMW and I spent my 20th wedding anniversary in the hospital.
This little filly was riding in the HOV lane (illegally alone) when her hood latch failed, flipping her hood back over her windshield and blocking her vision. I came along seconds later, and guided her across the highway with red lights flashing so she wouldn’t get plowed from behind. Ba dum bum.
And as a motorcyclist, I was heading into the twisties to take pictures of bikes doing their thing. I let these guys pass me, only to catch them 5 minutes later; one of the guys had wrecked pretty bad into the guard rail and needed medical care badly.
I’m a First Aid and CERT instructor, so after setting a broken leg and stopping the blood, I rode him back down the mountain to an ambulance, saving over an hour of delay…
Just your average good samaritan with a camera.
And stupid-magnet.
I’m thinking that it was because the crash was so spectacular is the reason he lived. He hit the guardrail which dissipated energy, the car flew apart which dissipated energy and he didn’t hit anything head-on. It’s like a race car accident. A high performance race car is designed to break apart and take the energy of the crash away from the driver. That’s how those drivers walk away from some spectacular crashes where the car flies into 1000 pieces. The unspectacular crashes (like Dale Earnhardt’s), can be the most dangerous for the driver.
If that guy had driven straight into the bridge there would have been a big crash and no worry about a summons or car insurance.
“Redneck Hood Launch” turned out to be a lot less funny than I had hoped.
I see the link is from 2008. Fascinating. From 2002: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=2572118
Those cars aren’t accelerating, the camera car is braking and the following drivers, particularly the one behind the roadster, are plowing on ahead.
Those guys (and the driver of the car behind who swerved to avoid them) were amazingly lucky they didn’t get flattened by that truck right behind.
The OP reminds me of this accident involving a Corvette, a semi truck and 165mph of speed…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JucCMjyLd7U
If you let the video play out on the OP’s link, another video starts that is the news story that aired, and they interview a trooper who says that no other vehicle was involved in any way, seeming to mean that no debris significantly damaged any other vehicles.
For sure, oncoming traffic would have been fucked if not for that guardrail.
The thing about these crashes that really annoys me is that I know people who sincerely believe that the pursuing officers should be arrested for attempted murder. “Clearly,” they say " the police department’s needlessly aggressive and hostile pursuit strategy provoked a completely innocent person into this reckless and destructive act!
Rampant idiocy is spreading and we are all doomed.
Is that Neal Boortz you’re listening to?
In this particular case, the trooper wasn’t pursuing the crash victim. He may have the spooked the driver or something, but I think it was just coincidence that a law enforcement officer was in just the right place with his cruiser-cam…
Always wear your seatbelt.
My mom lives one exit up the highway from where this crash occurred - I was asking her how her day was, and she said as soon as she pulled out to the main drag, and saw people getting off at HER exit because traffic was backed up that far, it was going to be an exciting drive to work.
I kinda feel sorry for the Beemer in the middle. He saw the idiot coming up behind him, tried to get out of the way and discovered he had no where to go. Of course the idiot at the back still sould have rearended** ducati**.
You’re also not the one being recorded. I was referring to the people (or cars) actually appearing in the vids.
Yep. The body lands just to the left of a car that stops on the right shoulder.
If you have a twisted enough sense of humor, there’s a video on youtube of the crash set to the Knight Rider theme.
Always!