Has this happened to anyone? RVers BE AWARE!

[dh50]

We just returned yesterday from what is called on this forum a 'shake-down' cruise in our new LL toy.  About that later on another thread.


To our question prompted by a troubling occurrence during our return home yesterday, there was plenty of traffic upon our approach to Orlando's 'mousetrap' stretch of I-4, though it was nowhere close to 'bumper to bumper' conditions.  We traveled a careful speed, probably in the 50's when suddenly a little red car passes us quickly on our driver's side, then suddenly darts right in front of us seemingly close enough to bump us, or so it appeared sitting higher up in the Ram's cab.  Fully in front of us now, the red car suddenly slammed on its breaks though there was no vehicle in front of them!   Hubby responded quickly, though I was sure crashing into them was inevitable.  After braking for just a moment, the red car hit the accelerator and sped off.  Only because they braked hard for just a moment, and not two moments, and then sped off did we avert a bad accident.  I will also unashamedly give credit to our good Lord for His protection. And kudos to my Hubby and his alert response.

 Anyway, we shared this with a family member who believes that this was an insurance scam underway, a growing problem in Florida, a 'no-fault' state.  Miscreants target someone certain to have insurance, pull in front, slam on the brakes and if an accident follows, guess who's liable?  Before now, we'd never heard of this.  Have any of you?  The prospect is troubling and if a valid concern, how can we protect ourselves?  Front cameras?  Capture license plate and report it?  Truth is, it happened very fast and they sped off so fast. It was a very small car such that the license plate was out of sight throughout most of the event.  The quick getaway and shock of it all prevented our ability to catch the license plate number.  Beware fellow RVers...we could be sitting ducks for such criminals.   Must look further into the facts regarding Florida's laws.  

[tinkeringtechie]

Sounds more like a brake check than a scam. If they wanted you to run into them I think they would have braked for more than "just a moment". They would have braked to a stop.

Maybe you unknowingly upset them and this was their way of getting back?

[dh50]

It is inexplicable, but a brake check on our front bumper?  Wow...are people like that really out there?  There must be more to it than what met the eye...very unnerving.  

[leslie]

Just hope there are witnesses. Although this happened to a friend of mine who was just driving a car, and she did rear-end the car in front. He was acting like an idiot, telling her she was going to pay. She was the one who called the police. The other driver continued to act like an idiot in front of the police, so that they decided the accident was his fault.

[pinstriper]

Occam's Razor suggests this was just some jackhole that wanted to get a thrill out of freaking out the RV driver. Some dude in a red Miata who thinks he's badass and doesn't realize he's driving a chick car.

But...

Don't the latest cars have some sort of black box that tells what the car was doing for the last n minutes ? Pretty sure that's what things like that little plug some of the car insurance companies connect to to report home whether you are a good driver/speeder/etc. It will report jackrabbit starts, hard braking, speeding and such and you get DQ'd out of your cheaper rate.

If this works the way I think, you should be able to get the data off that to show what he did right before the crash.

[djsamuel]

Could have been someone just ticked off for some reason.  However, in the Orlando area, this has been a problem in the past.  A couple of years ago, one of the local news did a story on it.  Haven't heard much lately, but it could still be an ongoing issue.

I live in the Disney area, but have to drive to east Orlando to get to work.  As much as I hate to pay tolls, I use the toll roads (417 or 429 and 408).  You are MUCH less likely to see this type of behavior on those roads than I-4.  After getting hit by a semi and a pickup truck on I-4 (in one incident, not two), I avoid that road like the plague.  It is even more important when towing a camper IMHO.

[fasteddieb]

Not directly related, but yet another reason we're in the market for a dash cam!

[a href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=837957919558435"]https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=837957919558435[/a]

[charliem]

[quote source="/post/6985/thread" timestamp="1424355535" author="@fasteddieb"]Not directly related, but yet another reason we're in the market for a dash cam!

[a href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=837957919558435"]https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=837957919558435[/a][/quote][font size="3"]You can't cure stupid.[/font]

[pinstriper]

[quote source="/post/6986/thread" timestamp="1424355859" author="@charliem"][quote source="/post/6985/thread" timestamp="1424355535" author="@fasteddieb"]Not directly related, but yet another reason we're in the market for a dash cam!

[a href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=837957919558435"]https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=837957919558435[/a][/quote][font size="3"]You can't cure stupid.[/font]
[/quote]Darwin just did.

[dh50]

Speaking of dash cams, any experiences or recommendations? After doing a little research I'm considering the Mini 0805, which gets good reviews for the money (around $115 on Amazon). Don't think I need the GPS feature, just good quality recordings day & night. The one down side I see is the lack of a suction cup mount, so as to use in multiple vehicles.

[fasteddieb]

I am about to pull the trigger on a G1W:

http://www.amazon.com/Recorder-Dashboard-Dashcam-Authentic-NT96650/dp/B00KZ0J452/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1424387663&sr=8-3&keywords=G1W+dash+cam

At around $60, I may pick up two, one for each of our main drivers.

Mixed reviews, but may be adequate as a basic unit to get started.

[admin]

I agree with others that this seemed like some jerk that happened to act out. However I have seen the type of scam mentioned where the other car tries to get hit, or even worse the goal is to get you to avoid them and hit the car you didnt see sneak up next to you. Either way its a bad and possibly deadly situation.

I like the piece of mind from a dashcam but in all honesty I dont know how much good it will actually do. Every state has different laws and even if you can prove someone cut you off I think it would be hard to prove intent. I hate that our world is so litigious now, and in turn it makes it so difficult to simply do the right thing. In the end a dashcam may or may not help but at least its some piece of mind.

[fasteddieb]

Just placed the order. Should be here in time to mount it in the Flex for an upcoming FL trip.

Will do a review once I have some time with it.

[shovelhead]

I see the cameras record to memory cards but can you connect to say a laptop and record? Ala DVR mode

[spot1]

We were on an interstate ramp accelerating to enter the flow of traffic, with the CampLite in tow, when the car in front of us almost stopped for no apparent reason, we almost had to stop to avoid hitting them, when they took off again. Looked suspicious.