In my post about illegal immigration, a commenter pointed out that I was lucky to avoid greater financial consequences from my “car accident.” It turns out that the maneuver where a car accelerates from a stop and then suddenly slams on the brakes is a common insurance scam. This tactic is known as the “sudden stop” or “brake check” scheme.
I started researching more about this type of fraud because it had crossed my mind during the accident. Out of nowhere, after accelerating hard, the car in front of me slammed on the brakes for no apparent reason—she had the right of way at the intersection. Thankfully, I was moving slowly, barely reaching 3 mph toward the stop sign, before slamming on my brakes and bumping into her car.
Could Have Been A Setup
Later that evening, a reader from San Francisco reached out, sharing a similar experience from just the other month. What was remarkable was that it happened at the same intersection: the three-way junction of Sloat Blvd, Skyline Blvd, and Lake Merced Blvd.
Beware of the brake check scheme at this intersection in San Francisco
And when they pulled over at the same spot on Skyline Blvd, just before Zoo Road, the other driver was also a woman who didn’t speak English. Conveniently, there just so happened to be a man on the side of the road who could translate for her. What are the chances?
That made me replay the details of my own encounter. It happened at 2:57 pm on a Thursday, and the only other thing I remembered was seeing people in a car coming from Lake Merced Blvd who were watching and laughing, as if they knew it was a setup. How strange, I remember thinking.
Were we victims of a staged vehicle collision?
