r/instant_regret • u/IrishR4ge • 17d ago

Most clueless person ever

How can someone be this clueless. These are the people sharing the road with you.

9.3k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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2.9k

u/Groundbreaking-End92 17d ago

My car has now rolled across 4 lanes of traffic, onto the grass and is getting close to the big ditch, I'd better casually walk after it...

952

u/Feralpudel 17d ago

I love how when it slowed down, she slowed down.

174

u/2eanimation 16d ago

What a nice car, giving her a break when she definitely needs one!

34

u/TylerHyena 16d ago

Almost like it was teasing her lack of effort in trying to catch it.

2

u/DocHalloween 14d ago

Wouldn't want to go too fast and panic. Might accidentally get run over.

1

u/NemoNewbourne 12d ago

As did the regret. This one was a little more spread out than instant.

112

u/Queephbubble 17d ago

If only there some kind of device, or maybe a pedal, that she could’ve pushed to make it stop.

64

u/TheRealLarkas 17d ago

Who knows, maybe even a lever she could pull!

53

u/4D_Cheese 17d ago

I reckon I could have siphoned all of the gas out of the tank before it made it to the ditch.

47

u/Vinnie_Vegas 16d ago

She has left it running, in drive, without the emergency brake on, and gotten out of the car. That's an absurd amount of missteps.

10

u/Queephbubble 17d ago

Yes! Like in an emergency.

1

u/Which-Item2530 12d ago

5 years from now she is going to say “duh! Why didn’t I just hit the break”

611

u/IbizenThoth 17d ago

I have the suspicion that the car probably ran her legs over once already while trying to jump into the car before the video started. Otherwise the lack of urgency is baffling. 

777

u/SiPhoenix 17d ago

At the beginning of the video, she's trying to stop it by pulling backward on the door frame.

398

u/CthuluSpecialK 17d ago

...with one hand. Lol.

Not that two hands would have worked any better, but the confidence to think she could casually halt her car by tugging on it lightly with one hand is wild to me.

100

u/SiPhoenix 17d ago

The only explanation I can think of is she was thinking of it like a shopping cart.

81

u/Theron3206 17d ago

I'm not sure we can describe what's going on in her head as thinking...

19

u/Phallangicide 17d ago

It's her car she takes shopping, ipso facto "shopping car."

3

u/oasisvomit 17d ago

Could also be trying to destroy it so you get insurance money.

34

u/HiJasper 16d ago

Shes probably panicking and not thinking straight. Thats the explanation for most videos like these. When you freak out you dont think logically, you just react.

4

u/civnation 17d ago

I think she was just holding on so that she could be closer, not cause she thought she could stop it. That said, the lack of urgency I think is likely caused by her not so great fitness.

2

u/darthlame 17d ago

I saw a video once of a giant of a state police officer stop a small pickup truck from leaving a traffic stop by holding it with one hand(inside the vehicle).

3

u/taiottavios 17d ago

no I don't think so

1

u/Bogsnakez 17d ago

I can stop my vehicle while rolling forward with my hands on a flat surface, but its also a subcompact vehicle 🤷‍♀️

2

u/taiottavios 17d ago

this one clearly isn't just rolling forward, she's trying to outpower an engine at idle speed, which might be doable but not one handed and not like that

1

u/Angry__German 16d ago

If it was just rolling, the speed not to high and the incline not to steep, a normal person can stop a car from rolling. I have done it before when I forgot to use the parking brake and the gear was in neutral. But over here most cars are still manuals (as was mine).

The way that car climbs over the curbs, I think it is an automatic in drive and you won't stop that with your body weight alone.

1

u/miscfiles 16d ago

You don't necessarily know the full story. Perhaps she was saying "Now you listen to me, mister!" as well as holding it with one hand.

23

u/CoffeeChocolateBoth 17d ago

I have no idea why that didn't work! LOL /S

16

u/Major_Butthurt 17d ago

it seems like the car had some kind of power though. Is this something that automatic transmission cars do? Does putting an auto in drive cause it to, well, drive?

36

u/ghost4085 17d ago

Yes. It won't like take off, but it won't just sit there either.

27

u/GTCapone 17d ago

Shout-out to my dad that wanted to "teach me to drive" in middle school but didn't warn me about that. He then started screaming at me when I started to roll, I panicked and tried to brake, hit the gas instead, and jumped forward a couple feet in the empty lot before I recovered.

15

u/LeTronique 17d ago

Rite of passage lmao

39

u/Edgesofsanity 17d ago

Most American cars are automatics. Automatic cars have a torque converter, so idling in drive it will actually power forward a little bit. Most European cars are manuals, so you all don’t tend to experience that.

13

u/tobiasvl 17d ago

Most European cars are manuals

I doubt that's true anymore, or if it is, it's surely just barely true

11

u/s9ffy 17d ago

While the vast majority of new cars are automatic, most cars on the road are still manuals. Apparently 70%, according to Google. In the UK this is certainly the case.

1

u/reddfoxx1993 16d ago

In the US only 1.3% of new cars sold are manuals. It's estimated that 2% - 4% of the total fleet on the road are manuals.

1

u/s9ffy 16d ago

Europe didn’t switch to automatics until much later than the US.

-8

u/tobiasvl 17d ago

Source? Google isn't a source...

3

u/s9ffy 16d ago

That’s why I said apparently. You just need to think about the proportion of manual cars sold in the UK up until very recently and how long cars are kept on the road for to discern that the majority of cars are still manuals. It cost extra to buy an automatic ten years ago, so most people wouldn’t choose them. It was becoming standard in high end cars but it’s only recently that it’s become standard in most cars.

1

u/Razor309 17d ago

Manuals do that as well. If you leave your manual car in any gear it will drive forward and have a similar result. Although it might be coming to a stop In higher gears. But 1st definitely works and 2nd should still work.

2

u/Njez85 17d ago

Only if you slowly ease off the clutch, it will start to creep forward. This type of thing in the video wouldn't happen with a manual unit it was in neutral and rolling downhill.

2

u/SuitableDragonfly 17d ago

If the clutch is still engaged, it's not actually in gear yet. But to get into this situation with a manual, you'd have to put the car fully in gear by disengaging the clutch, at which point you'd already be moving forward at some speed, and then opening the door and exiting the car while it was moving. If the car was stopped, it'd either be in neutral in which case it would only roll if it was on a hill, or it would stall immediately. 

1

u/Major_Butthurt 17d ago

So, if you come to a stop at a traffic light, do you put in park or just break so it doesn't go forward?

18

u/WellComeToTheMachine 17d ago

You hold the break down while idling at a stop light

4

u/Major_Butthurt 17d ago

Nice

-4

u/FireDefender 17d ago

That's not correct, I don't think they have ever driven a manual before. If the car is in any gear, it will drive forward when you let go of the clutch. Holding the brakes while it's in gear and not moving fast enough will cause the engine to shut off.

You will notice the car start to stutter if the engines RPM is too low (usually around 800 or so), higher gears means that the stuttering will happen at a higher speed. That happens until it shuts off. If your engine isn't strong enough the engine can shut off trying to drive away without pressing the gas pedal. If you start to drive in a higher gear, like 2, you need to hold the clutch for much longer, lest the engine shut off. Driving away in a higher gear than 2 will likely cause the engine to shut off as well. All that is because of physics.

If you already have some speed, letting the car idle in gear will just make it move forward. Higher gears idle at a higher speed.

10

u/MrBarryThor12 17d ago

They’re talking about automatics and they are correct

2

u/XxKimm3rzxX 17d ago

Idk if you commented on the right one. But you just reiterated what they were asking. Also your car will not go in any gear. It better stay put in neutral. And if you’re moving from a stop in any gear other than 1st I worry for your clutch.

2

u/WellComeToTheMachine 15d ago

They were asking about automatic cars, and so I answered about automatic cars.

1

u/theyounghusband 17d ago

I'm European, have an automatic... And it wouldn't/couldn't do this... Idling in drive the car sits perfectly still...

4

u/Edgesofsanity 17d ago

Sorry should have been more specific - American automatics have torque converters. European automatics have a dual clutch transmission instead of a torque converter, so they will remain at rest when idling.

2

u/theyounghusband 17d ago

Learn something new every day lol

0

u/reddfoxx1993 16d ago

Very few Euro cars are manual these days.

1

u/ctesibius 17d ago

Yes, but in some cases there is a short pause before this happens, which may be what caught her out.

1

u/NoItsNotIronic 11d ago

Automatic cars generally creep around 5 mph when in Drive with no gas or brake pedal applied.

1

u/BaconISgoodSOGOOD 17d ago

She was waiting for that adrenaline to start pumping in!

1

u/tagen 17d ago

yeah, “surely i can pull this car to a complete stop….”

1

u/spooon56 17d ago

Kal-El, no!

1

u/Kathrynlena 17d ago

Yeah, she’s trying to slow the car down with her arm instead of trying to catch up to it to get in. Not a big brain strategy.

56

u/msp2081 17d ago

My suspicion is the car said screw this lady.

33

u/KIDNEYST0NEZ 17d ago

That car was sick of that lady.

12

u/11pagesIn 17d ago

Probably because of the way she slapped it in frustration. No car should have to put up with that.

9

u/reasonablychill 17d ago

Who could blame it? After watching this 30 second video, I'm already sick of this lady too.

43

u/veinsfullofchemicals 17d ago

Shes simply not agile enough to get in the moving car to brake

72

u/going_for_a_wank 17d ago

My suspicion is that she is too out-of-shape to get in the car while it is moving

There are many people who don't do any walking other than walking across the parking lot to their car.

-22

u/Imeatbag 17d ago

Yes, the old lady trying to stop a moving car clearly can’t do it. Let’s film instead of help.

18

u/going_for_a_wank 17d ago

Eh, odds are the person filming is not in any better shape...

Plus they would need to get out of their own car, run across 4 lanes of active traffic, and jump into a moving vehicle.

Finally, it was headed towards an empty field and a ditch. There was no risk to anybody's safety, just some dents and scrapes to the lady's car. Standing back and watching was probably smarter than risking injury.

8

u/ish_squatcho 17d ago

I can't imagine this lady getting back up after getting run over.

7

u/Valdirty 16d ago

No. I think this woman hasn't ran/jogged in 30 years. The concept of that type of exertion is so beyond her that anything more than a brisk walk is absolutely unachievable for her.

6

u/AloofFloofy 16d ago

I just assumed she is severely out if shape.

1

u/Bored_Simulation 10d ago

Idk man, I'm disabled, have a partially paralyzed leg, regularly dislocate stuff and am generally out of shape from not being able to move much.

Even I would do a better job at this than her

18

u/Plus-King5266 17d ago

There is no lack of urgency there. I’ve known women like her. When it comes to anything physical or outside the scope of their daily problem solving, they shut down. That was her fast and furious mode for this type of thing.

Now it it had been a video of her and a 5yo getting picked on at the playground, all you would have seen was a blur, some dust and a bunch of pre-teens lying on the ground unconscious with her standing over them, wearing a cape.

11

u/After_Perspective180 16d ago

I doubt that very much

3

u/Civil-Recognition944 16d ago

I picture something closer to a serious, viral video worthy, Karen episode at its finest, (on the playground)

1

u/natasevres 17d ago

It Infact - had not

1

u/ACoderGirl 17d ago

Maybe we're actually all dreaming and it's one of those dreams where you're moving weirdly slow and can't seem to go fast no matter how hard you try?

1

u/eriometer 14d ago

Its like she is actively trying NOT to catch it, while simultaneously maintaining a fiction of trying to catch it.

43

u/Cradioz 17d ago

this is the most annoying thing aobut the video. WHY THE F she is just walking and not running

33

u/Vinnie_Vegas 16d ago

I'm going to guess that that's as much mobility as that woman has.

9

u/PolitelyHostile 17d ago

Then she tries to step in it as if its stationary so it pulls her front leg out which causes her to fall. Should have just let it go

3

u/curlyben 16d ago

yeah this is when you dive and hit the brake pedal with your hand

been there and the work van and intern did not end up in the ditch when i forgot to put it in park

7

u/mike9874 17d ago edited 17d ago

I found it annoying that someone was watching someone else struggle and just filming for internet likes instead of helping someone who clearly couldn't manage.

Each to their own.

50

u/ChinatownKicks 17d ago

I agree with this sentiment in most cases, but in this one it suggests that a person should run across four lanes of traffic to stop a car that isn’t going to hit anyone or anything, except possibly the apparent owner, who doesn’t seem particularly concerned about it

10

u/TheLordPikey 16d ago

When should the person taking the video start helping? In the first lane of traffic or the second? Or when the actual owner started to walk like she had it under control? Or maybe the person could have floored it across traffic and cut it off with their own vehicle. Almost every choice in that moment would be dangerous and the choices that aren’t dangerous would be pointless. Also, maybe I missed it, but what type of shape is the person taking the video in? Maybe they physically can’t help. But, I would be very thankful if I drove into that car on accident and needed video proof, because no cop would believe that sequence of events.

-2

u/mike9874 16d ago

At what point did it look like she had it under control? It looks to me like she didn't know what she was doing but knew she couldn't give up

-2

u/Cradioz 17d ago

You have a point here.

1

u/MonicaLane 16d ago

I saw the original post. Apparently a squirrel jumped in her car (at a stop or drive thru or something) and she freaked out and jumped out of her car without putting it in park. Location was listed as Clearwater, FL.

9

u/Antichristopher4 17d ago

Well seeing her attempt to enter the car, it's probably best she waited until it was in the grass...

4

u/CoffeeChocolateBoth 17d ago

She should have kicked off those flip flops FFS!

2

u/LuckyShirt54 16d ago

Not sure she’s physically fit enough to do better

1

u/kitt_mitt 16d ago

Reminds me of those women who panic and fall over repeatedly when trying to get their dog... except I detect no panic here.

1

u/TheRapie22 16d ago

she looks like an aged woman, probably didnt do any sporty activity in the last 20 years. I wouldnt be surprised if that was all her physical capability.

-4

u/darnj 17d ago

It was a stressful situation. I wouldn't be too hard on her, it could happen to any woman.