Cybertruck sideswiped on highway. ROAD RAGE?

[Jethro]

If you haven't yet preserve the original video. It should be higher quality than this phone capture.

If you didn't save the video pull out the USB drive now and use a file recovery program to try and get it back.

Excellent point!

Unfortunately, we were unable to show the police the video on the CT screen before the Cops let the other driver go. After looking at some of the files we now believe the other driver may have been intoxicated after stalking us for several miles.

We now know that the systems seems to record video for the last hour (and delete videos older than and hour) minute by minute from 4 external cameras.. Much had been deleted before we removed the drive. Saving the accident video/stopping the deletion process would be a useful feature (we were unable to find it if it already exists).

I did find this link on Reddit, but have not tried to recover lost files:

I’ve learned a little about how the system works, but am trying to be slow and careful as not to delete relevant information…unfortunately this adds to our daily stress and we are losing sleep over these issues.

Also, we are contacted by the other driver’s insurance company every day requestino statements/information while my insurance co is slow to respond and the Police have not responded at all at my requestion to send them additional information.

Thanks for the the useful comments and support as these issues consume our lives.

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[Jethro]

Looks like you accelerated hard at the last second. Did you?

Why does it look that way?

Honestly i did not see that other driver at all

 

[Jethro]

I would still like to hear it from OP. When I see video clips cut so short like this one I get a bit skeptical. what happened 30 seconds before this?
[/QUOTE]

I tried to posts a longer video but this platform said it was too large

 

[Jethro]

and this is why we have Sentry . What a moron that guy was... a minivan (I think) playing chicken with a 7000lb vehicle.

Yeah get a lawyer... it won't cost you a dime. File a police report too.

You look like eye are in Boulder. Go get Frank Azar, the Strong Arm!

We have been checking it out…it’s been advised that we get someone in KS familiar with their MV laws. The other driver is local and MAY explain why the cops quickly let him go without a sobriety check.

We have found that most law firms just want big $ personal injury cases. Just vehicle damage alone doesn’t seem to be enough to get them to take the case on contingency. We are debating seeing what the insurance company offers before we hire a lawyer that will take 40%.

 

[Jethro]

Yes, it's clear the OP punched the accelerator of the Cyberbeast about two seconds before impact.

I'm unsure of the legal ramifications, but the evidence is clear. The video provides two undeniable clues;

1) The speed of the striped lane marker accelerates markedly about one second into the video. Unless the lane line stripes changed spacing on that section of road, the Cyberbeast suddenly accelerated.

2) One can observe the attitude of the car on the suspension by paying attention to the attitude of the camera (because the camera is rigidly attached to the windshield, which is attached rigidly to the chassis of the Cyberbeast). The chassis is suspended above the road by the suspension which rises in the front under sudden acceleration, it's the opposite of brake dive. As the passing car rolls by the Cyberbeast, you can see the nose of the Cyberbeast suddenly rise. The most obvious reference point to use to observe this is the horizontal level of the top of the concrete divider wall (where it falls on the left side of the video frame). Because this level suddenly lowers in the video frame, we can deduce with 100% reliability that the attitude of the Cybertruck chassis suddenly became more nose high.

What else could have caused this besides a sudden burst of the awesome acceleration of the Cyberbeast? Sure, if the two rear air suspension units suddenly lost pressure, the nose of the Cyberbeast would jerk upwards and might imitate a sudden acceleration. But that would not explain #1 (above). And the OP did not mention that his rear suspension suddenly failed moments before impact.

The undeniable conclusion is that the OP suddenly accelerated strongly right before the over-taking car changed back into the fast lane. Certainly, the other driver failed to account for a sudden acceleration and had unacceptably low situational awareness. This kind of lackadaisical driving is all too common on our roadways. I'm not trying to excuse it, not at all, but with great power comes great responsibility. I've known this in the 6 years I've been driving a Model 3 Performance. I know it can seemingly warp time and space and surprise other drivers. Which is why, before I floor it, I pay extra attention to other cars on the road, to appraise whether I could surprise a sleepy or distracted driver by being somewhere they didn't expect me to be.

The OP made a poor choice to add a sudden burst of power, it may have even been more of an emotional reaction than a conscious decision. But that doesn't excuse it.

To be clear, from a legal perspective I'm not certain where the legal liability lies, or how it is divided up. But from a practical, common-sense perspective, both drivers share responsibility, both drivers exhibited extremely poor judgement and extremely poor situational awareness. This kind of accident was entirely avoidable, by either party. It should have never happened.

I dont recall hitting the accelerator at all…might it have been a bump in the road? Does Tesla record this type of data? I may have been on cruise control too.

My side camera video show the other driver is in my lane while he is still behind me. How could this accident have been avoided if I was unaware of the other vehicles location?

 

[M0unt41nm4n]

We have been checking it out…it’s been advised that we get someone in KS familiar with their MV laws. The other driver is local and MAY explain why the cops quickly let him go without a sobriety check.

We have found that most law firms just want big $ personal injury cases. Just vehicle damage alone doesn’t seem to be enough to get them to take the case on contingency. We are debating seeing what the insurance company offers before we hire a lawyer that will take 40%.

Yeah, if it happened in KS, you have to get one there. Chances are the insurance company will take care of you, but they only cover damages. They won't go after the time and energy you have to deal with taking in your vehicle to Tesla for repairs, letting it sit, etc.

You can ask a lawyer to go for fees and other "damages" (i.e. time/suffering), etc, and then there is no contingency... you get the whole ball of wax and they get the fee. However, IANAL and I have no idea how easy or difficult it is to get legal fees back and some kind of punitive damages that has no health issues.

 

[Jethro]

You are assuming its irrelevant. Context matters! Why does everyone feel its ok to respond to a question I posed to the OP? The OPs failure to respond says something too. He knows he caused the accident.

So, you projecting your assumptions because I didn’t respond as fast as you would like on a Friday? We had family come into to town AND I dont answer to you.

What’s your beef? You related to this road rager or just pushing anger?

 

[M0unt41nm4n]

I would still like to hear it from OP. When I see video clips cut so short like this one I get a bit skeptical. what happened 30 seconds before this?

I tried to posts a longer video but this platform said it was too large

[/QUOTE]

Take the video and run in through Handbrake (free software) and output it as MP4. It will make it much smaller and not lose much quality.

https://handbrake.fr/

I use this all the time when I need to share a MOV file with someone.

 

[Jethro]

Like I said, with great power comes great responsibility. The Cyberbeast can appear to warp time and space and it's irresponsible to accelerate aggressively when another car is obviously over-taking on the right. And that begs the question, why was the OP cruising in the fast lane to begin with. Stay right unless over-taking slower moving traffic.

This was the result of two drivers with very poor situational awareness. The legal liability may rest on the other driver, I'm not 100% sure (and the legal answer doesn't even interest me very much). The legal details don't excuse the poor behavior, and poor situational awareness of the OP. It was a real bone-headed move on multiple levels (like not pulling right to let faster traffic pass on the left). This accident happened in broad daylight with the Cyberbeast making a very aggressive move that was entirely uncalled for, as if nobody should be able to pass such a superior vehicle.

Shame on both of them, this is how dumb accidents happen in broad daylight with clean, dry pavement and no mechanical faults. This is why I always say that humans are really bad drivers. We have video proof. Hopefully they both learned important lessons so they become more skilled motorists. As someone who enjoys all the power my Cybertruck and my Performance Model 3 have to offer, I know I have to use it in a safe and responsible manner, not to try to own the public highway I'm sharing with other motorists.

Interesting analysis, but making negative assumptions without confirmation.

You are manufacturing facts to suit your negative conclusions. You have not established that I was “accelerating aggressively” or what that even means. I’m fairly certain I was on cruise control.

I was in the right hand lane, but moved to the left-hand lane to pass a couple of cars. As I stated before this platform doesn’t let you post a very long video, but I am working on it so people don’t start making things up again.

Shame on you, hope you learn!

 

[Crissa]

Thanks for the update Jethro.

What people are seeing is probably a glitch in the video. To upload longer ones you'll have to use a site that supports that like google drive, youtube, or vimeo... there's a bunch of sites that support hosting your video content.

-Crissa

 

[HaulingAss]

Interesting analysis, but making negative assumptions without confirmation.

You are manufacturing facts to suit your negative conclusions. You have not established that I was “accelerating aggressively” or what that even means. I’m fairly certain I was on cruise control.

The video evidence you provided is incontrovertible proof that you accelerated suddenly. Being on cruise control does nothing to prevent that. Cruise control never over-rides the accelerator pedal. The video proof is the sudden attitude change of your Cybertruck. And, like I already stated, punching the accelerator may have been more of an unconscious decision than a conscious one. But that doesn't negate the fact that you punched the accelerator suddenly, right when the other offender was beside you, attempting to get in front of you and cut you off.

I was in the right hand lane, but moved to the left-hand lane to pass a couple of cars. As I stated before this platform doesn’t let you post a very long video, but I am working on it so people don’t start making things up again.

Shame on you, hope you learn!

I didn't make anything up! The camera view to the rear shows there is no one in the right-hand lane. Kansas law requires you to use the passing lane for passing only.

If you post a longer, uncut and un-edited video, I'm sure it will support my analysis. Because we already have enough direct evidence to see exactly what caused this accident in broad daylight. Hopefully this can be a good learning experience for both drivers. I hate to see such senseless collisions.

It takes two to tango, and the video proves you were one of them.

 

[Cyber Man]

I didn't make anything up! The camera view to the rear shows there is no one in the right-hand lane. Kansas law requires you to use the passing lane for passing only.

If you post a longer, uncut and un-edited video, I'm sure it will support my analysis. Because we already have enough direct evidence to see exactly what caused this accident in broad daylight.

The OP is clearly saying he was on the right-hand lane and moved to left lane to pass couple of cars. Could you please clarify how you are concluding that he was cruising in left-hand lane for a long time based on 5 seconds video? Earlier you mentioned that you made the conclusion based on what OP said - the minivan was behind him for a long time. What if OP was cruising all along in right-hand lane and minivan was on left-hand lane. When OP moved to left, the van might have moved to right to pass him. OP could have meant that, right? What’s making you think that OP violated the law? Where is the evidence to say he was driving all along in left lane? He clarified it now. Are you saying he is lying? Minivan passed from the right. Is passing from right legal? Why are you not calling it out?

I like facts corroborated based on real data and evidence. I showed that video to some of my friends. None of them said there was any “sudden” acceleration in the beginning. How are you able to clearly see something that many of us are clearly missing? Shouldn’t the passing vehicle maintain a good distance before switching lanes? Are you claiming CT’s awesome acceleration covered a solid 3 seconds car distance in a split second?

I’m not at all convinced with both your arguments. If OP shares a longer video that shows him cruising in left-hand lane and clearly accelerating, I can believe in your claims. Otherwise you are losing credibility by making big assumptions based on a mere 5 seconds video. IMHO, the evidence is not at all there to support for or against your claims, and OP is saying his side of the story. Instead of listening and waiting for him to share more evidence, he is getting labeled as someone who broke the law or was irresponsible or was escalating road rage in a d*** swinging contest. I don’t see any evidence. I’ll wait for him to share the longer video. Based on the tone of his message, I also think he is traumatized. Instead of asking more questions, it’s unfair to just make big assumptions and bash someone for getting help. On top of dealing with a broken CT, he has to spend hours justifying his stance against tons of assumptions. Very sad!

 

[Jethro]

My apologies to anyone I may have offended in my responses to some of the more antagonistic and ignorant comments

I tried to trim down on of the videos showing more of a historical perspective, but it’s almost 2 minutes.

Not a computer person and trying to do this on my iphone, but I‘m attaching an Icloud link: https://share.icloud.com/photos/043KWUMJBx9WTGSQdYdPc_MwA


So, what the longer video shows:
-I was in the right lane except to pass
-The other vehicle was following me, but I didn’t know (hard to see)
-my speed was modest (cruise control probably on) and I did not accelerate hard.
-The other drive was in my lane while he was still behind me and failed to use a signal.
-The other driver had excessive speed and continues to pull away after he hit me..

 

[Cyber Man]

My apologies to anyone I may have offended in my responses to some of the more antagonistic and ignorant comments

I tried to trim down on of the videos showing more of a historical perspective, but it’s almost 2 minutes.

Not a computer person and trying to do this on my iphone, but I‘m attaching an Icloud link: https://share.icloud.com/photos/043KWUMJBx9WTGSQdYdPc_MwA


So, what the longer video shows:
-I was in the right lane except to pass
-The other vehicle was following me, but I didn’t know (hard to see)
-my speed was modest (cruise control probably on) and I did not accelerate hard.
-The other drive was in my lane while he was still behind me and failed to use a signal.
-The other driver had excessive speed and continues to pull away after he hit me..

Thanks for sharing! The new video clarifies few things. If you carefully look at the rear right camera view, the minivan switched lane multiple times (at timestamps 0:37, 1:06, and 1:30). He definitely was at a high speed. He managed to catch you in a matter of 7 seconds before side swiping you. Right before he hits you, the uneven road surface gives the impression that your nose went up and you accelerated hard. I don’t think that’s the case. It’s just uneven road surface. It’ll be good for Tesla to add the speed of the car in these crash recordings. It’ll help a lot with these type of investigations.

When you get a chance, it’ll be good to see a longer video that shows you cruising in the right-hand lane before these last 90 seconds. I’m curious to know when the minivan first came into your field of vision. Wonder why he was speeding, and why he changed lanes so many times in just 90 seconds. Was he trying to catch up with you? Looks like he was either drunk or raged ?‍

 

[Jethro]

The video evidence you provided is incontrovertible proof that you accelerated suddenly. Being on cruise control does nothing to prevent that. Cruise control never over-rides the accelerator pedal. The video proof is the sudden attitude change of your Cybertruck. And, like I already stated, punching the accelerator may have been more of an unconscious decision than a conscious one. But that doesn't negate the fact that you punched the accelerator suddenly, right when the other offender was beside you, attempting to get in front of you and cut you off.



I didn't make anything up! The camera view to the rear shows there is no one in the right-hand lane. Kansas law requires you to use the passing lane for passing only.

If you post a longer, uncut and un-edited video, I'm sure it will support my analysis. Because we already have enough direct evidence to see exactly what caused this accident in broad daylight. Hopefully this can be a good learning experience for both drivers. I hate to see such senseless collisions.

It takes two to tango, and the video proves you were one of them.

Four letter word for you…NOPE!

Ignorant PLUS judgmental DOES NOT EQUAL credible

Why are your opinions so malicious??

Perhaps changing your name to ”maulingass”

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