Attn: 4-Wheelers Please Read

i do watch my mirrors often. i should explain the situation a bit more. Click Here

with tandems full to the rear the blue line indicates the path my tractor must make. when i have to enter the oncoming lane of traffic i have to switch my focus to oncoming traffic to make sure i have the room to complete the manuver. its either mirror or oncoming traffic. if u dont take it wide enough ur tandems ride up a jersy barrier and ur sol it has to be perfect. as you can see its onlane on teh bridge going out. why did he think he was going to get by me.

so dont pin this #### on me. i #### up i admit it. but it was either mirror or oncoming traffic. i only got 2 eyes. i watched my mirror the entire time until i had to look straight at the traffic. he snuck in when i was looking straight. by this time the trailer was alredy well on its way back. he had to of known where the trailer was going to go!

 

I don't think anybody is trying to pin it on you... We all understand the difficulty in trying to keep the idiots from trying to cut in.. Unfortunately it 99% of the time is always going to be the drivers fault far as police are concerned.

 

Buttonhooks and wide rights are illegal, get directions to come from the other way, or take the time to do it yourself. Heres the deal, your DM won't go to jail, your company won't go to jail but if you hurt or kill a person, you get to go to jail. Maybe for a long time. Call your safety dept. The management and the safety dept. do not always agree with each other. Think about that.

 

Im not trying to pin anything on you I was just wondering why you did not notice at some point that there was contact. I had the same thing happen a cpl weeks ago, wasent charged but its possible it could have been preventable on my part. Drive55cat, I'm dont really know about buttonhooks being illegal but wide turns and buttonhooks are part of the deal if your driving a big truck and "coming from the other way" is not always an option.

 

They're not illegal anywhere I've ever heard of. They are TAUGHT in driving school as they are a SAFETY maneuver.

 

Maybe a buttonhook is still OK in Canada, but here they're supposedly illegal- at least that's what I was taught.

Too tall that sucks but unfortunately it's almost always the truck driver's fault; and to add to that since you didn't realize you had clipped the doof, you're ### is really screwed. Good luck driver.

 

While it absolutely sucks that you lost your job, TooTall, the bottom line is there's no one to blame but yourself. Man up and accept the responsibility that you screwed up. The mere fact that you didn't even know you hit the 4-wheeler shows that you weren't checking your mirrors the way you are supposed to, ESPECIALLY when making a turn.

Things like this are unfortunate, but should have been avoided. I can't tell you the amount of times I've seen other vehicles just inches before they were clobbered by my trailer as I was making a turn. It's why we're called professionals. We are responsible for the actions of others, to an extent. As a professional, CDL holding truck driver, we have to assume that every person driving around us is completely oblivious to what's happening. A lot of times they are and it's up to us professionals to keep their pretty little BMW's or SUV's from being another insurance claim. Not to mention, it's the only way a CDL holder will keep earning a paycheck.

Two companies have let you go in less than a year. Your career just might be dead. I just hope you have learned something about your driving responsibilities.

 

According to the map it's not a sharp corner,so I'm not understand his maneuver following him to accident

 

Can someone translate this for me??

 

Why were your tandems all the way to the rear?? Had you taken the time to suck them up a few feet you might still be employed.