Mitsubishi Lancer EVO Takes a Tumble After Double Illegal Overtake

Just as we were crying the disappearance of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution performance sedan and the Japanese company's decision to use the name for its electric crossover concept, we're promptly reminded of a certain type of driver who also appreciated this car. They're generically called "boy-racers, " and they're the last drivers you want to meet out on the road.

That's because they can pretend to be normal people for extended periods of time before something unforeseeable and invisible to everyone else triggers them. That's when they start acting completely unpredictable while hitting the throttle pedal like there was no tomorrow.

The Evo driver in this clip doesn't go particularly fast, but considering the rest of the cars were either braking or had already come to a halt, the speed difference is still considerable. When the clip starts he's in the fourth lane, closely followed by the camera car.

Surprisingly, he does use his turning signal to indicate the lane change - albeit way too late after the maneuver had already been initiated. But he doesn't go from fourth into third, as the law would have it, skipping all the way to the first lane instead.

The red Volvo S40, the second car involved in the crash, was cruising along in the second lane behind a light truck. Because of the big vehicle in front obscuring his view of the traffic - and because he didn't keep a safe distance - he is surprised to see it brake all of a sudden. He reacts late, so he decides to pull to the right, knowing the first lane would be empty.

Unfortunately for everyone, the Evo had finished its daring maneuver and was about to undertake the Volvo when the Swedish sedan swerves into the Japanese one. The latter gets pushed into the curb, rolls on its right side and slides along to a halt.

So, who did it? It was the red Volvo that initiated the contact, and its driver also didn't check the mirrors before reacting to the truck braking in front him by avoiding it to the right. On the other hand, there was a solid white line that prevented vehicles from crossing into that lane, plus had he checked any of his mirrors a second before, he couldn't have seen any vehicle there.

Then there's the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. That driver cut across three lanes of traffic and entered one he wasn't allowed to before being clipped by the Volvo. Can anyone actually claim he was innocent? Are they both sharing the blame? That's what we'd go for, but we're sure not everybody would agree.