Posted on 12/21/2012 6:53:42 PM PST by Domandred
Yeah, I’ve many a truck driver complain about cars getting in front, just as they are trying to stop their rig at a red light.
Many people lack understanding that trucks have more akin with trains, then they do with cars in their ability to stop and have to take that into account.
-——Cumins Pick-amup Trucks-——
The very definition of rattle traps
My Dodge Sprinter Mercedes turbo diesel runs silent
Hey Mayor, if you have it a trucker delivered it dumb A$$.
Hey Mayor, if you have it a trucker delivered it dumb A$$.
I recently was traveling on I 81 in Virginia, Mile marker 87 to be specific. The traffic was slowing for bridge work ahead.
I heard a very very loud crash and in my mirror I saw a tractor trailer laying on it’s side sliding right toward me. Fortunately, the median friction gripped the trailer and it stopped.
The driver ran full bore into a car and shoved it under the trailer in front of the car and then veered to the left having run over the car with both tractor and trailer. The front truck moved forward leaving the totally mangled car sitting in the road. There were two tractor trailers behind me, the trailing one was involved in the wreck. I stopped and went back to the truck on it’s side just as the driver crawled out of the window. It was then I saw the mangled mess in the road. The make and model of the car was completely unrecognizable. One of the drivers behind me ripped the door the rest of the way off revealing an arm and a leg. The rest of the dead body was concealed by air bags.
The truck driver was mid eastern, Pakistani I would guess. He did not speak English well. He hit the woman full speed. I travel there often and have difficulty finding the spot because there are no skid marks. He never hit his brakes. There are lots of skid marks on I 81 where trucks slam on their brakes to slow. There are none at this scene. After the collision he veered to the center and over turned. The friction of the rig on it’s side stopped the forward momentum.
A black driver of one of the two trucks behind me, big guy, linebacker, went berserk . “Murderer! Murderer! ...... you murdered that poor woman”. He was getting right in the Paki’s face when the State Trooper ran up to separate them.
I am very alert as I travel up I 81. There are now several crews repairing guard rails and they block one lane and move on. The slowing for this moving lane blockage is such an accident as described above waiting to happen.
On topic, the fact is most major truck stops, especially Flying J/Pilot are on the outskirts of towns. It seems that towns tend to grow up around the truck stops. For the record, Governor Bill Haslen of Tennessee is the family member not in the Flying J/Pilot business management. They got him elected governor.
That sort of thing always has me looking for a way to avoid being boxed in, when high speed traffic suddenly slows. Right lane with the emergency lane to accelerate into and away, with a car length in front of me and always keeping an eye on the rearview mirror. That’s what I try to do if I can. Inattention, sleepiness, substance abuse, mechanical failure or in the case of this driver just not valuing human life in the same manner as we do, it happens too frequently. I’ve had a man who was ejected from a Jeep land on the roadway right in front of me before, due to a similar thing. This was on I-40 in NC though.
Same here
I drive @50K per year, have seen a lot.
A quick stop on the highway is bad....I always hit my emergency flashers and look in the rear view mirror....I've hit my horn too many times when I've seen people coming up too fast.....to wake them out of their drone-driving and to warn others that something is coming too fast behind them....to look around.
So far they’re only legal in Canada from what I read.
There has been several times over the years when I was tapping the brakes furiously to get some trucker to snap into reality, just shy of flooring it onto the apron. Never had to actually do that yet, but that’s my plan. Just over the crest of a hill is my nightmare.
One of the “benefits” of the Baraqqi Depression is that people are desperate for jobs, so you can do stuff like this.
I did that too....I'm getting lazy now and use my hazards:)
When a fast highway goes to a dead-on stop I'm tapping the brakes too, instead of a solid red tail light.
When I see the highway stopping up ahead I always hit the flashers, trucks do that....my little car can too.
I'm a big 'horn' user....someone running a red - I hit my horn long....someone coming up too fast to a red light behind me...I hit my horn long....people don't pay attention - Hit the Horn.
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