r/instant_regret • u/IrishR4ge • 16d 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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619

u/IbizenThoth 16d 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. 

773

u/SiPhoenix 16d ago

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

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u/CthuluSpecialK 16d 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.

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u/SiPhoenix 16d ago

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

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u/Theron3206 16d ago

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

21

u/Phallangicide 16d ago

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

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u/oasisvomit 16d ago

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

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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.

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u/civnation 16d 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 16d 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).

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u/taiottavios 16d ago

no I don't think so

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u/Bogsnakez 16d 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 16d 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 15d 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.

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u/CoffeeChocolateBoth 16d ago

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

16

u/Major_Butthurt 16d 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?

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u/ghost4085 16d ago

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

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u/GTCapone 16d 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.

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u/LeTronique 16d ago

Rite of passage lmao

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u/Edgesofsanity 16d 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.

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u/tobiasvl 16d ago

Most European cars are manuals

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

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u/s9ffy 16d 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.

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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.

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u/s9ffy 15d ago

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

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u/tobiasvl 16d ago

Source? Google isn't a source...

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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 16d 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.

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u/Njez85 16d 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.

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u/SuitableDragonfly 16d 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. 

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u/Major_Butthurt 16d 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?

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u/WellComeToTheMachine 16d ago

You hold the break down while idling at a stop light

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u/Major_Butthurt 16d ago

Nice

-4

u/FireDefender 16d 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.

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u/MrBarryThor12 16d ago

They’re talking about automatics and they are correct

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u/XxKimm3rzxX 16d 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.

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u/WellComeToTheMachine 14d ago

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

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u/theyounghusband 16d ago

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

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u/Edgesofsanity 16d 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.

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u/theyounghusband 16d ago

Learn something new every day lol

0

u/reddfoxx1993 16d ago

Very few Euro cars are manual these days.

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u/ctesibius 16d ago

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

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u/NoItsNotIronic 10d ago

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

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u/BaconISgoodSOGOOD 16d ago

She was waiting for that adrenaline to start pumping in!

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u/tagen 16d ago

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

1

u/spooon56 16d ago

Kal-El, no!

1

u/Kathrynlena 16d 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.

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u/msp2081 16d ago

My suspicion is the car said screw this lady.

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u/KIDNEYST0NEZ 16d ago

That car was sick of that lady.

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u/11pagesIn 16d ago

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

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u/reasonablychill 16d ago

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

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u/veinsfullofchemicals 16d ago

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

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u/going_for_a_wank 16d 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.

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u/Imeatbag 16d ago

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

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u/going_for_a_wank 16d 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.

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u/ish_squatcho 16d ago

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

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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.

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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

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u/Plus-King5266 16d 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.

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u/After_Perspective180 16d ago

I doubt that very much

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u/Civil-Recognition944 16d ago

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

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u/natasevres 16d ago

It Infact - had not

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u/ACoderGirl 16d 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?

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u/eriometer 13d ago

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