October’s Video Update: What Our Users Are Seeing On The Road

Each month, we’ll post a select few videos captured by Nexar’s users on the road. We’ll briefly discuss the safety issues they present, and how a community of drivers equipped with Nexar’s AI are especially fit to handle these situations and make our roads safer.

In the last few weeks, the roads were bustling with action: We saw cyclists endangering vehicles, vehicles endangering cyclists, a freeway pile-up, and the result of a high-speed police chase that left a dog barely escaping with its life.

So here are Nexar’s top six videos of October 2016. Warning: #6 is slightly graphic.

1. A Narrowly-Avoided Pile-Up

In this clip, we witness a driver cutting through two lanes of freeway traffic and the off-ramp neutral zone in order to exit. The filming driver was forced to brake hard and veer away from the oncoming car’s trajectory. Nexar’s vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication feature (coming soon) will help you steer clear of situations like this, because it recognizes dangerous situations and will warn you to react. In addition, the V2V feature will send a warning to Nexar users behind you so they know to pump the brakes, too.

2. Give Me A Brake

Sometimes, drivers ahead of us decide to brake hard without any warning, just like the Prius in this video does before performing a 3-point u-turn in the middle of a road. Luckily for our users, Nexar’s forward collision warning feature (coming soon) will detect when drivers ahead perform a hard brake, and will immediately warn you to brake too. The system is effectively an extra pair of eyes that will help keep you and the drivers around you safe.

3. Manhattan Cyclist Sandwiched Between Two Cars

There’s a war raging between motorists and bicyclists in many cities, but together we can broker a peace treaty. This year there were 11 deaths in NYC alone, so the Manhattan cyclist in the footage above got lucky.
With protected bike paths and higher accountability on the roads, we could curb these deaths and keep cyclists and drivers alike safe. The Nexar community can do a lot to help: our users are gathering data that will help city officials make data-driven decisions about where to prioritize protected bike lanes. Meanwhile, keeping Nexar on your car’s dashboard will arm you with video evidence that could come in handy when you find yourself in a predicament like this one.

4. Close Encounters Of The Bicycle Kind

In this clip, we witness a Nexar user in Tel Aviv forced to brake hard to avoid colliding with an electric bike rider cutting two lanes of traffic ahead.

Electric bike use has recently increased in Israel, with many riders below the age of 16 and lacking proper education in road laws. In 2015, 4 people were killed in electric bike accidents in Tel Aviv, and many hundreds more were injured. This year, members of Israeli parliament have introduced laws that would require a minimum age of 16 for electric bike riders. The municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa has also done its part this year to increase enforcement of bike laws in order to protect riders, drivers, and pedestrians alike. While Tel Aviv works to improve the safety of its citizens, your Nexar app’s AI learns from its surroundings and can warn you of dangerous situations, like the oncoming cyclist in this video.

5. A Pile-Up On A New York Parkway

Pile-ups like this happen suddenly. The only sure way to avoid them on fast motorways is keeping a safe distance from the drivers ahead of you. But Nexar will soon add another layer of safety to your ride with its V2V network. When the camera of a Nexar user several cars ahead captures a third car braking hard, you’ll get a Forward Collision Warning (FCW), allowing you to brake as well. As Nexar’s community continues to grow, you’ll receive more and more information like this sent back to you, helping you to take preventive action and avoid pile-ups and other hazards.

6. A Terrible Crash On The US 101

(Warning: Slightly graphic content)

This video shows a speeding driver who crashing into a hill on the side of the US 101 in California. The footage also shows a dog miraculously escaping the scene, hopefully unharmed!

After receiving this video, Nexar’s team interviewed the driver who recorded it. According to him, this incident was the result of a police chase. The driver who crashed had no serious injury and left the scene escorted by armed police.

We believe Nexar’s V2V network has the potential to change the world. The more our community of drivers uses it, the better the AI becomes, and Nexar’s warnings become smarter and more relevant to the hazards ahead. As our community of drivers grows and begins using Nexars’ AI, improving it, and capturing and sharing content like the footage above, we can bring greater accountability and safety to our roads together.

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