I am sick and tired of unsafe idiots.

"Speed adaptation": The feeling that 25 mph is ~2 mph after driving at higher speeds for a period of time, and a suspected major factor leading to the fact that most crashes occur at intersections, and most of those occur at intersections nearest interstates.

Motorists drive by "feeling", not thinking, and certainly not by applying any principles of "safety". They "got it", right up until the instant they don't got it. Then, it was just an "accident", nothing could have been done to prevent it.

 

Never walk directly in front of the trucks when they are parked at the fuel isle. Sometimes these guys don't look before pulling out

 

YES, YES, YES, YES, AND MORE YESES! I agree, I've had some high profile companies drivers come at me in the parking lot like they were going to run me over. I've never had to through my oversize coffee THERMOS through a windshield yet, but i've contemplated it 2 times. GOD help the victim and the impulsive driver, both of their lives are changed forever! Neither can change the dynamics of what has transpired and both are locked in situations they didn't want to get into. I have more compassion for the dead driver, but the living driver also I regret that he didn't behave more responsibly! Obviously he somehow SELF DISTRACTED away from HIS RESPONSIBLE SAFETY FOCUS! It happens hundreds of times a day in every state in the US!
IMPULSIVENESS is still pretty common in the trucking industry, as it is through-out North and South America! Some day, one of us will devise a unique perception in the form of a self-admonition that we can tell ourselves when our senses detect we are in impulsive mode and in danger of hurting someone else, and oursleves in the future legal outcomes................................

 

GPSMAN
I like the quote on the bottom of your post, "The first thing we must recognize is that crashes are not accidents." -Ricardo Martinez, M.D., NHTSA Administrator, 1997
Brilliant! The vocabulary we use, working through our neurology, psychology, perceptual faculties and belief systems allows us to keep accidents in the wrong perceptual position, too frequently! In training it is valuable to not get over anxious about mistakes and non injury accidents. In actual work environments (OTR) its time to abandon accidents in favor of POTENTIALLY FATAL ENCOUNTERS or some other label that gives more importance to avoidance or non-contact encounters. Maybe our vocabulary keeps this proneness glued in place?

Every action, thought, reaction, lack of planning is/are all mental processes and bodies rarely do anything without mental processes driving them. The exceptions are usually serious medical conditions, that can also be fatal.

 

Omg you're going to DIE!!!!! Lol......

 

What did he say?

 

lord jesus, you got to be kidding. potentially fatal encounters, that funnier than a three peckered billy goat in a pen full of nannies.

 

/
That is why YOU always look in the cab where the driver sits and if he is in the seat, you get eye contact, so he/she knows you are going to walk in front of them. If there is no one in the cab, than there is no way you can get run over. I walk wherever I feel is safe and out of the way of traffic lanes but, I still pay attention. No different than riding a motorcycle... I too am not blaming the driver that got hit/run over but, this is a lesson for all drivers and should be talked about. I also want it to be a lesson to all drivers that speeding is dangerous and "slow is smooth, smooth is fast"..

 

Replace the word "accident" with "negligence".. Every time an "accident" occurs, you can find where someone was negligent and that is what caused the problem. While I was in Iraq, there came a time when the brass ordered to start calling "accidental discharge's", "negligent discharges". They were right, the rifle, or pistol, does not fire off a round by itself. A vehicle does not crash into another car by itself. Sure, a tie rod can break and the driver loose control of the car and than crash into another care but,,,,who's responsibility is it to ensure the car is mechanically safe to drive? There is NO such thing as an accident, act of God yes, but no accident...

 

I use the same philosophy that I use at any motorsport event. NEVER turn your back on a moving vehicle.