Oh man! I cannot tell you how many times I've push started an old VW. Wish I'd known about this.

Yeah, you know now that you mention it, though size is hard to judge, it might be one of those 2/3's scale replicas. That being the case, it may just have an old air-cooled VW engine.

hahaha..sent this to my buddy who owns 3 mustangs and builds them.his is particularly proud of his new cobra.think i should send him some VW brochures?
*quality spanking right there.

R.I.P Marcio Piancastelli, designer of the VW Brasilia and the SP-2.

http://jalopnik.com/the-designer-of-one-of-the-best-looking-vws-ever-just-d-1712541497

Kinda dark... sorta like that fake VW ad.

http://videosift.com/video/Unauthorized-Volkswagen-commercial-leaked-onto-Internet

5.38 second quarter mile...fast ride---
Oddly, the top fuel dragsters (internal combustion engines) can run it faster (4.5 seconds, with a trap speed of 332 mph...)

Bugatti Veyron around 10.1 seconds at 139 mph
Corvette Z06 runs 11.2 to 11.6 seconds...
VW GTE runs 15.2
and a 2013 Prius about 18 seconds...

I remember in the 60's Newman dropped a Porsche engine into a VW Bug.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by blackfox42.

It is possible that a forensics expert could use the video to determine if the truck is accelerating by looking at how quickly the painted lines are passing. But that's pretty expensive, and probably wouldn't be used unless the claim was going into litigation.

There are definitely two pieces of information I would want to gather before making a decision--the statements of both drivers. While based on the video I would place liability on the truck 60-70%, the statements from the drivers (and how well they match up with the video) could affect the decision 10-20 points either way. In particular, there is a point in the video at which the VW has partially completed the lane change, appears to be aware that there is an issue, and then continues to move over.

I would want to know what their reasoning was at that point. It could easily impact their degree of negligence, as part of determining negligence is figuring out what people knew, when they knew it, and how they took action to minimize or avoid a loss.

As far as pulling vehicles over for speeding--not my area of expertise. I'd ask a law enforcement officer about that. Insurance adjusters aren't in the business of writing tickets.

Didn't anyone else notice the truck was trying to get out of the way by going into the side strip?

Stupid VW driver, clearly that cars fault as the damage is all along the side of her car, clearly no room for that car to merge and obviously did not look over shoulder.

So, I am an auto liability adjuster. I do this for a living--I take statements from drivers and witnesses, review damage and, when it's available, I watch videos of car accidents to see where fault lies.

In this particular accident, it seems pretty obvious that both parties contributed to some degree or another. The VW's driver was obviously making an unsafe lane change. However, the trucker had the last clear chance to avoid the accident, and from the audio in the cab was clearly distracted by a cell phone. The truck thus contributed by failing to maintain driver attention.


So we're going to need to assess partial negligence on both driver's. So, how much will we need to assess, and what does that mean for how much each person might or might not get paid?

In terms of negligence law, Texas is a Modified Comparative state under the Not Greater Than rule. What this means is that in order to recover money from the other party, you cannot have more responsibility than they do in order to recover any money. But you can only recover the percentage that the other party is at fault. So if it's 50/50, each party gets half of their costs from the other party. If it's 51/49, one person owes the other guy 51%, but the other guy doesn't owe a dime.

In this case, 50/50 would be a likely and attractive option for the insurance companies. Both parties clearly contributed, and each party had equal opportunity to avoid the loss, so each insurance company would pay the other 50%.

The gross negligence of the driver of the pickup is such that I don't see less than 50% negligence on that driver. However, I can see the car's insurance company arguing for a higher responsibility on the truck.

When the car puts on the signal and starts moving over, there is clearly room to move over without striking the truck. The car starts moving over, and the truck starts to overtake the VW. The trucker was closing the distance with the traffic ahead. The VW appears to hit their brakes as the traffic ahead is slowing down--but the trucker doesn't, and appears to be accelerating.

Moreover, as the driver of the larger vehicle, the trucker has a greater duty to maintain driver attention and avoid accidents, as a mistake on his part has greater likelihood of causing more serious physical damage, and severe bodily injury or death.

I believe that it would be justified to put a slight majority on the truck, 60-70%. This would be my preference. So they would owe for 60-70% of the VW's damages. The trucker will have to go through his own insurance or pay out of pocket for his damages.

I don't know... they both suck. Trucker on his phone cruising in the left lane like a lazy piece of shit. And then the VW trying to pass on the right and cut in where there wasn't room.

And the trucker didn't speed up - the traffic flow slowed down.

TLDR, but I'm on board with @newtboy. The trucker really seems to be intentionally closing the gap only after the VW starts to enter the lane (I'd assume to teach "this blonde" a lesson). Before then he is maintaining a steady distance from the Nissan.

Also, really interesting sight at 0:30 to 0:33 is you can see that only the front tires on the other truck have completely stopped spinning but continue travelling forward as if they're still turning.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by blackfox42.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by eric3579.