had a near miss and i wanted your guys input

Good job avoiding an accident driver. That said, don't kill yourself because someone else screws up.

 

You can kick the lid off the what if barrel all you want to.. Your friend is correct. You should have done everything to avoid the moron but ALL drivers should maintain their lane.. give them all the room you can, but the nightmarish hell that could have happened to you and some innocent schmo would have been catastrophically worse. The other side of the scenario could have been a rollover, a head on fatal wreck in the oncoming lane while the moron happily drove away.. or reported the fatal accident that happened "right in front of him". I have never seen a driver prove innocence who avoided an accident that didn't happen while creating the accident that he had..Be careful out there... but at least collect some evidence from the guilty SOB.. Law enforcement investigations, insurance companies and trucking companies couldn't care less about the accidents that are avoided.

 

Yep. Gotta look at it from a lawyer's point of view and watch out for yourself.

Swerve and have an accident with another vehicle, even if not a fatality, that persons lawyer will question why you hit them instead of the idiot that pulled out in front of you, even if you have a dashcam to prove you were avoiding them.

But just the rollover or jackknife with nobody else involved, at least the dashcam can provide proof of innocence. They could be charged with reckless driving, causing an accident, and leaving the scene of an accident. Of course, this stuff doesn't matter if you're dead and your company and their insurance doesn't care either, it's still an accident on record but at least hitting the idiot will have the idiot's insurance paying out.

 

In this argument, you can be "right" or you can ensure everyone gets home safely.

Always choose to get everyone home safely. You did the right thing.

 

No one will go after the person who "caused" the accident as its all up to the lawyers and a jury at that point. The dash cam will only prove to the company lawyers and Safety wonks (who most of which have never driven and are only there to protect the company's assets) that the driver acted "improperly" and the driver will be walked out the door and will be made to blame for it all on paper.. The company will write everything and the driver off in moments.

 

I was fired from a union shop with a similar type accident yrs ago. Old timer told me, stay in your lane and get a peice of the action. Your job will depend on it.

 

I've had to fire some ###### good people because they wrecked their trucks with no evidence of anyone else being in the area.. A LOT of the people were just coming up with stories.. and I'm sure there were some truthful ones in there too.. but its irrelevant to the corporate schemes. Most of the "I ran of the road to miss a deer" stories are simply road naps that wen't bad.. But in the scenario above.. do your best to avoid them.. but the sad fact is, with no evidence of the moron being there.. you're toast!

 

As stupid as people are, I'd rather get fired for ditching a truck than have killing someone on my conscience the rest of my life. I'll take the moral high road over the company any day.

Then again, Canada isn't a joke like the US when it comes to lawsuits.

 

The problem is that its not that simple... Its not as simple as a ditch.. its potentially killing some innocent person or yourself, destroying the truck, the trailer, the load, and a hell of a lot of personal property in a massive crash.... while the person who actually caused it drives off into the sunset. Its a tough choice, a huge gamble or both. You are not paid enough to kill yourself.