I have never heard of it before joining the platform and now see it almost everyday (always fails). I cant imagine stuff like that happening in germany. Why are people doing this ? What is the intention? It almost looks suicidal (sorry for strong language).
Thanks all for your help and sorry for my bad english.
In: Other
When operating a vehicle, you have the responsibility to maintain control of your vehicle.
If you rear end another vehicle, you have clearly failed to maintain sufficient space between the vehicles and/or have failed to maintain control of your vehicle. A driver rear ending another vehicle is almost always determined to be at fault.
To be fair, traffic can stop for any reason at any time, and we need to be paying attention.
Brake checking is the act of slamming on the brakes intentionally to scare and effectively threaten the driver behind you. Usually, it involves abruptly cutting in front first so that there is not much time to stop effectively.
If you get rear ended for it, then without video evidence the other driver may even be held at fault.
Angry drivers will do this against other vehicles to get back at them for prior wrongdoing, real or perceived. E.g. if they are being tailgated (close following), they may brake check to force the other driver to back off, or they may do it purely because they are angry. I’ve seen it happen because a driver was going too slow in a passing lane.
Brake checking can also be done as an insurance scam. Attempting to get rear ended on purpose so that they can either get an insurance claim OR just get cash from the other driver.
When I was young, I remember hearing about a scammer that would drive up and down the downtown strip all night with their brake lights disconnected, and then brake check other drivers. They’d get rear ended, say “Eh, it’s not that bad. I could get it replaced for $400 instead of going through insurance.” They got caught when a police officer pulled them over and found the disconnected brake light bulbs in the trunk.
Brake checking is definitely dangerous. Attempting or threatening to cause a collision is illegal, and it may be charged as reckless driving. It’s caused by anger and frustration.
German driving culture is admittedly different than other countries. I imagine that Germany’s higher respect for traffic regulations and simply less rude behaviour on the road results in less road rage incidents.
North America has a very weird vehicle culture. We like to black out our windows and treat our vehicles like our own private space where we can do and say anything we want. We interact with vehicles like inanimate objects instead of as real living people with feelings.
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