A message for new drivers

You ain't the only one that noticed it. I looked at that part of the video several time. I don't think it's fair to solely crucify the trucker.

 

It's almost like carriers hire people who have never held a job and thus have no common sense... I know that's a stretch, though...

You're in your 30s and worked a week at Burger King after high school? Okay... I can get you to a orientation on Tuesday, is that good? One week after starting: Your first solo load is going to be paper rolls going to [densely populated are here]

Again,,,, this is just a wildly imaginative unlikely theory.....

 

I don't know if they still have the policy, but when I was at Stevens, any U-turn by any driver was immediate termination.

 

After reading all the comments here, I finally saw the video. I'm a little bit torn about this, but I'll give it my best.

I never did u-turns when I was at Stevens or Melton, because that led to immediate termination. Stevens had some sort of tracking that would set off an alarm at the safety department if there was a u-turn made. Or so they said. However, as an owner/op now, I have no problems making them, albeit on rare occasions. But the conditions have to be right. If I have to sit on the side of the road for 10 minutes until the right moment arrives, I SIT. I had to do that recently in Kansas I think it was. Last year I took a wrong turn just north of Reno and ended up in a semi-residential area during afternoon traffic. Again, I had to wait a good amount of time until both sides were clear to make the fairly tight turn. I had to cut right into a cross street and do a button hook from there to the left.

That being said, I personally would have NEVER attempted that u-turn in the video AT THAT MOMENT. If I ABSOLUTELY had to, then I would have waited on the right shoulder until the cows came home. Not only was it wet, but there was a lot of oncoming traffic. Even without the 4-wheeler being in the mix, that truck would essentially have had to do bully himself over on the other side.

That being said, I believe the 4-wheeler deserves the BULK of the blame. She was doing at least 65, and she obviously wasn't really looking ahead because she hit the brakes fairly late. If you want to dummy things down a little, essentially what we have here is one car rear-ending another. In a rear-end collision, who is at fault 90% of the time?

THAT being said, the trucker was definitely irresponsible. It was a bonehead move for sure. It would be interesting to find out the truck driver's info. Is he a newbie? If so, how long and where was his training? Is he a veteran driver? If so, how is his driving history?

 

It’s raining, your in a car you see a truck on the shoulder with it’s turn signal on what do you expect them to be doing next. That’s right getting back on the roadway, not crossing all 4 lanes. I don’t see this 65 mph but haven’t gotten to my computer to do a real time frame analysis. I do however see a car slightly slowing without brake as if awaiting to see what the truck is going to do?
How many times have you or I came upon a driver on the side with a signal on but still didn’t move even after you were wayvpast them? Today in my car I passed two trucks on the burm one had his flashers on and the other only had his turn signal on to return to the roadway. He never moved from the time I passed him on my way to my destination and was still there about 40 min later as I returned to go home.
How would a driver that doesn’t drive as many miles as us process this type of information next time? How would you?
A car doesn’t need to slow anyplace near the amount you might think to change a lane if that truck decided to move to the right lane but they would still be taking the wrong approach as the car held the right away as they were in lane and moving, the truck should have waited till all traffic was clear no matter thier intention and no matter how you slice this that alone makes them in the wrong!
Further more that lane change could have easily been made last moment if the truck did go to the expected right lane but instead it quickly took the entire roadway blocking the intended escape.
Unfortunately for me I see this as the old foolish way of thinking, “ I had my turn signal on so you should have made way for me no matter what” or “I’m bigger then you and you need to stop, slow down or whatever while I cut you off” you know just like the ###### that doesn’t stop at the end of a ramp because he wants to get to the truck stop up the road and doesn’t feel like having to work up threw the gears again and doesn’t care that the guy with the right away is doing 45 to 55.

We as drivers must remember that those we share the road with might not have the experiance, foresight or even a clue other than the basics and we need to understand the law is the law and we have no right to take the right away from any vehickle no matter the circumstances.

 

I understand your point of view, but your argument doesn't hold water. The lady was doing AT LEAST 65 because the truck that filmed this was doing 59-60, and she passed him pretty quickly.

As a driver, whether you are a trucker or a 4-wheeler, you should drive defensively. When you pass your tests and get your license, it is presumed that you know what you are doing. The degree of knowledge and skill between individual licensees will vary of course. But driving is not graded on a curve. A crash doesn't care if you had your license for 20 days or 20 years. Whether a driver knew this or that, or had this skill or not, is irrelevant. The thing is, as a license holder, you have to know about FOLLOWING DISTANCE. Obviously, the 4-wheeler did not have enough following distance relative to the DRIVING CONDITIONS to be able to come to a stop safely. We know this because she crashed into the trailer. Or, she DID have enough distance but was too busy texting or looking at her phone to be able to stop in time.

Now, you and others here will come back and say, "But she WASN'T technically following him because he was on the shoulder and she was one lane over." That may be true. But look at where she hit the tuck. She hit the end of the trailer, not the cab. If the truck had pulled out at the last second, she would have hit the cab. But she didn't. She hit the end of the trailer. It would take a good 5 or 6 seconds for a truck driver that is at a complete stop to advance far enough to get the end of the trailer to that spot where he got hit. When I was in driving school, they timed me to show me how long it took for me to complete a left turn from a dead stop coming out of a traffic light. It took 16 seconds! So she had more than enough time to react, IF she was at a safe speed/distance. And look at the damage to the car. She was still moving pretty quickly to cause that kind damage.

Even after my argument, I still feel that the truck driver should not have attempted that turn at that moment.

On another note, how did the lady die? Wouldn't an air bag or seat belt have prevented this?

 

You're right, the truck driver should NOT have attempted this. But the 4-wheeler was going too fast for the conditions, OR didn't have enough following distance. When the 4-wheeler passed the truck that filmed this, it was doing at least 65 mph. It took the truck driver a good 6 seconds to get to the point where he got hit. Go ahead and time it from the moment he starts his turn to the moment of impact. And he got hit on the tail of his trailer.

 

My argument isn’t saying she didn’t do anything right or wrong.
What I am saying is legally the truck driver is at fault as she had the right away.
What she should have done, how she should drive defensively or pay more attention really has nothing to do with it.
My point is in this world of madness how many people can you count on to do the smart thing?

My second count doesn’t show her at a constant speed and I at first thought she went to the left side of her lane anticipating something but am unsure and it’s very hard to enhance video on this device. I will when I get time but unfortunately it doesn’t matter for this truck driver as he is at fault.

 

How does she have the "right of way"? She was 5 or 6 seconds BEHIND the truck! What do you mean that "driving more defensively or paying more attention has nothing to do with it"? It has EVERYTHING to do with it. She had a good 5 or 6 seconds before hitting. The only way she wouldn't be able to stop in time is if she was going REALLY fast or she wasn't really paying attention. She wasn't hauling 80,000 pounds. She was in a small 4-wheeler. I feel bad for her, and the truck driver WAS a bonehead. If you are going 65 mph, you are doing about 95 feet per second. A good lawyer should be able to argue this. The math doesn't lie. It is without prejudice. We will see how this plays out. Yeah, the general public will be against the trucker. I'm sure they will analyze the footage and her cell phone.

 

Seeing how so many want to blame the car the for the sheer stupidity of the steering wheelholder driving the truck is astounding… point blank the idiot driver the semi is entirely at fault… The idiot pulled off of the shoulder to make it an illegal U-turn causing a fatality…