Dashcam footage from a multi-car accident on 680 southbound is making the rounds this week, and it's the kind of chaotic pinball sequence that makes you wonder if anyone in the Bay Area remembers what a following distance is.

The clip shows what appears to be a chain-reaction crash in a single-lane deceleration zone — a Camaro clips a Nissan, which then swerves, brakes, and ricochets off another vehicle that had already pulled into the emergency lane thinking it was safe. The driver with the dashcam barely escaped, but the car directly behind them wasn't so lucky.

As one Bay Area commuter put it: "This whole single lane deceleration accident is so freaking preventable." And that's the thing — it is. Every time.

We talk a lot in this space about government failures, wasteful spending, and bureaucratic incompetence. But some problems aren't about policy. They're about personal responsibility — a concept that apparently evaporates the moment some people merge onto a freeway. You don't need a new state program or a $50 million Caltrans study to solve tailgating. You need drivers who understand basic physics.

Another local watching the footage summed it up with admirable brevity: "Holy shit, people can't drive anymore."

Hard to argue.

Several people have urged the dashcam owner to send the video to CHP, and they should. That Camaro driver has some serious questions to answer — from law enforcement and from insurance companies. Accountability matters whether it's a city supervisor blowing through the budget or a driver blowing through a deceleration zone at 75 mph.

If you're commuting on 680 — or anywhere in the Bay, frankly — leave space, pay attention, and put your phone down. The life you save might literally be the person behind you.