Pop-Up Camper Pops its Top on Expressway

rhagfo wrote:

The driver of the little car took almost two seconds to react and hit the brakes. If he was aware of traffic to his left he had time to make a smooth lane change. The little car was traveling at or a little faster than the rig with the dash cam.

I think the driver of the car behind the camper handled him/herself very well. Most people's first instinct is to swerve. At that speed, swerving would have caused an accident. I doubt there was any damage to the car other than maybe some cracked plastic trim.

Seems silly to cast judgement on someone's response time in a situation like this. Perhaps the driver was trying to judge if speeding up to go under the top was the best solution. That would have been my first thought if I was in that situation. It goes airborne and stays aloft a few seconds.

There are way too many variables to quickly determine where it will land and I doubt many people could correctly anticipate where the top of the camper would have landed. The top landed in the right lane, while the canvas went to the shoulder. If the driver swerved to the shoulder, the canvas might have landed on the windshield. Then he'd be blind.

-Michael