HelmetCam

The GoPro Hero 9 is an exciting camera with some spectacular new features and upgrades. The action cam enthusiasts are all offering their opinions and reviews, but this camera buff is excited about something other than the stabilization features. He's baffled by the new "voodoo science" that he says allows the camera to take you back in time to capture the action that happened 30 seconds before you even knew you needed to record. Our tech review enthusiast provides a hilarious rapid review in a Scottish brogue as he struggles to maintain his enthusiasm. Luckily, he's slowed down his commentary as much as he can to make it understandable to the viewer, and even to the camera. The fact that the voice control feature can understand the Scottish accent, known to be one of the most difficult technological feats, impresses him almost as much as the feature he reviews. Hindsight is the latest development from this action camera giant and it passively records when the camera is on, but not activated to record. Once the record button is pressed, or the voice command is given, the images from the past 30 seconds are stored by the camera as if the user had the ability to go back in time 30 seconds and begin recording.

When traffic is backed up on a highway due to an accident ahead, people get frustrated and panicky about being late. It's understandable that they want to find a way around the lineup. When an ambulance or other emergency vehicle comes up the left side, people get the idea that the best place to be is right behind it. These motorists were all thinking the same thing. As traffic pulls to the right to get out of the way of the emergency vehicle, it creates an empty spot right behind. The motorist with the camera has pulled into the left lane and has found it to be smooth sailing right behind the ambulance. Somebody has squeezed in between and is doing the exact same thing. He needs to keep right on the tail of the ambulance to avoid being blocked by every other person who is just as eager to chase it. An Audi driver in the middle lane is getting ready to chase the ambulance too and he doesn't seem to care that he is cutting off the vehicle that was chasing it first. He pulls out and the camera car driver lays on the horn and the brakes to avoid hitting him. It's back to chasing the ambulance for all of them as the lineup of cars continues up the highway behind it. In Ontario, as in most places, the person changing lanes has the full responsibility to do so safely, and in a manner that does not require evasive action by any other driver. The person already in the lane has the right of way. In this case, no accident occurred and it was not an issue. Following behind an ambulance can be hazardous because it is predictable that people will try to force their way in so that they can follow it through traffic.

Driving on busy highways exposes people to the risk of collisions almost every day. Changing lanes, merging, entering and exiting the highway create moments of increased risk. As long as everybody follows well established rules, accidents are few. But lapses in judgement, honest errors, reckless lane changes, moments of indecision, and constant choices make the task of driving safely a very difficult one. The driver of this small car was traveling on Highway 404 near Toronto, Ontario. There are many lanes of traffic and the on-ramps and offramps are numerous. It is almost impossible to travel any distance on this section of road without being affected by people changing lanes around you. Simply put, there is a lot to watch for and a driver will spend a lot of time looking in all directions. The speed limit here is 100km/h or 60mph. Our driver approached a section of highway where traffic was merging from his right. Vehicles in the lanes to his left were traveling faster than the speed limit, as is typical, and our driver could see that the cars were passing him, despite the fact that he was driving carefully at the speed limit. When he saw that the transport and the vehicle behind it were moving much more slowly, he decided that maintaining his speed was the safest approach. This is what the Ontario Highway Traffic Act and the driver's handbook suggests a driver should do when approaching such an on-ramp. It was his expectation that the merging vehicles would continue to accelerate in their lane as he passed and then they would merge safely. He increased his speed slightly to ensure that he was past them in time for their merge. They have more than 700m (half a mile) of lane left. He has the right of way by law, and by common sense. But the 18 wheel transport truck merged much sooner than expected and the car behind it began to do the same. They began this lane change as our driver was quickly looking to his left to see if he could change lanes himself to make all of this easier. The car that was passing on his left made it impossible to move over. The driver of the car behind the 18 wheeler obviously didn't see him as he changed lanes. It was also accelerating up on his right and preventing him from slamming on his brakes to avoid the back of the 18 wheeler. Our driver was able to inch over and straddle the lanes until the lane to his left was fully open. He then smoothly changed lanes and missed being run over by the 18 wheeler by mere inches. He also missed sideswiping the vehicle on his left by inches as well. Sometimes it's easier to see alternatives when we watch video footage. We mistakenly assume that the driver was able to see all that the camera shows us, but in reality, drivers of vehicles are looking in many directions and making many decisions each minute. We also have the luxury of watching several times, but drivers on the road have just one chance to get it all right. In this case, the lane change of the merging vehicles left our driver with only two options. He could have braked hard and hoped nobody hit him, or he could do what he did and squeeze into a small gap in the traffic. Either way, this video demonstrates how quickly an accident can happen on a highway and how keen we must be at watching other drivers around us.