the parked cars seem to be placed so as to force oncoming automobiles into the slow emergency lane to the right. there do not seem to be any warning signs or warning flashers. there does not seem to be any special illumination. the illumination seems all coming from standard freeway lightposts at regularly spaced intervals for urban freeways. this seems certainly not a standard roadblock or traffic funnel imho— imho, it is poorly designed and poorly managed from a safety point of view.
initially, at 0:00 through 0:05, pedestrians seem to be milling around without taking any particular notice. this is imho a very serious safety issue. most of the pedestrians are dressed in black, another serious safety issue.
the first notice by onlookers from movement seems to be at about 0:06. most onlookers seem to start to move out of the way by 0:09. most onlookers seem to be out of the way by 0:18. the two women seem to move towards the slow lane as if to get into the slow emergency lane, then they both change direction, imho probably in response to the automobile change in direction to avoid the pedestrians in the slow emergency lane directly in front of him, reversing his steering back into the slow lane. so, i think it is possible that the women were not so much challenging the automobile so much as off to a late start in reacting, and then moving in the wrong direction for the auto driver reaction to other pedestrians.
the impacts seem to be at 0:19.
i think that the first public video shows the victims moving obliquely towards the auto.
in either case, both women seem to demonstrate a serious lack of situational awareness to the danger that they have placed themselves in, and much more so than most if not all other pedestrians at the scene.
if they had been doing this or something similar for 19 days in a row, then it is amazing that the leaders did not know or care about the dangers to which the protesters were exposed. perhaps they were becoming complacent and emboldened by their own actions and the apparent lack of any injurious consequences of their actions.
“...perhaps they were becoming complacent and emboldened by their own actions....”
These “protests” on the Interstate were starting later and later each night, which may have something to do with your theory.
There is a rumor out there that the driver was a protestor and CHAZ, at the Mayor’s house, etc. Combined with information from protestors on how to get to the protest on the interstate by using the exit ramps, that would be pretty interesting if the driver got that information, and then drove to meet up with this protest.
In a hurry, but off by one exit. Oh crap, I thought they were SOUTH of the overpass!