Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

A few years (20 to be exact) I saw the same thing happen. A tanker was making a right turn and this lady thinking she could beat him tried to past on his right. His back tantums went right over the hod of her car. Goes to show 1. as you said they really need to add a class on how to drive safely around trucks and 2. We need to really watch our mirrors during our turns 3. Do what we can to block that right hand side with the rear of the trailer.

 

Police need to watch for these, and ticket them!!! Even when you have your blinker on, these people still ride along side you while talking on that cell phone. Hard lesson to learn.

 

4wheelers fault, plain and simple. see it every day - they think "oh, now i can get around the big truck, i'm gonna go for it!" and this is what happens.

knucklehead is lucky they didn't get themselves killed.

 

CDL training blunder..Pure example of something learned in school that was not applied in that situation. Accidents like this result from a lack of discipline and focus on the job. Always make sure no car can get on your right when turning right(block enough of lane). And if it turns out that he turned last second from the going straight lane. Oops! Should have gone straight and turned around somewhere. Then he could have taken out a fire-hydrant, took a pole out, and shut off the blocks electricity.

 

I notice two things here. When a truck is making a right hand turn,why would some idiot pull up beside it,thats sort of a death wish.Secondly, evidently the Swift driver was not watching his mirrors. So it looks like they were both at fault. However the way the laws work in this country the truck driver will be blamed for the accident. I am in no way sticking up for Swift as a company,but what in the he-- was that idiot doing in that place anyway?

 

The responsibility lies at the professional drivers door. We are professional drivers and no one else is. The four wheelers are mostly stupid as shown and so the professional driver has to drive for themselves and for the stupid other drivers.
The truck-trailer combo is a lethal weapon and can kill and has killed in the past. We can not forget ever to look in the mirrors all the time. If in doubt get out and look.( Not good idea sometimes-just trying to make a point.)

 

From the position of his trailer wheels appearing to be well up in the go on lane, he may have "whacked it right" at the last minute.

Also, look close as they pan the SWIFT on the trailer, but I'd swear the "S" (or part of it) is missing- Like maybe a panel had been replaced prior and "S" not decalled back on. Trailer may have history of smacking things on right.

If he swung it out to the go lane; to block, and did it too far back before the corner he could be positioned there.
Goes to show we don't want any "You Tube Accident Reconstruction" pics showing up at our courthouses when we are up.....
Too many of these interpretations would confuse the jury.

 

And while in the middle of a tight right turn, checking your right mirror is going to show you....a small chunk of your trailer about 6 feet behind your truck. I'd bet money the Swift driver checked his mirror and saw a clear right lane (maybe he was even blocking it on the approach), then mid way into his turn while unable to see the right any longer, Mr. MeSoFast GTO came up from behind at 78 MPH, whipped into that right lane and attempted to zing through real fast to get around the "big slow dumb trucker".

But yeah, either way, you bet your ### the Swift driver got the ticket.

 

Like I posted before,always watch your mirrors,especially in situations like this. If all you see is a six foot section of your trailer then you my friend are not using your spot mirrors. One of the best sets of mirrors are the spot mirrors mounted up on the front fenders,also known as rookie mirrors.And yeah I continue to see a lot of big long nosed Petes and KWs not equipped with them. Guess the driver does not want to be labeled as a rookie. I used these spot mirrors and found them to be very helpful. Call me a rookie or whatever you want,but safety is the name of the game.And yeah the idiot driving the car up in there is very dumb to make such a move,and in a way got what he or she deserved. But somebody is gonna be blamed for the accident,GUESS WHO??? I am reminded of one time I was delivering a load of MT bottles to the Coca Cola plant on McGraw Ave. in Detroit,MI.I was a little early and I had to circle the block and park for a while before the guard would let me into the lot. The roads were slippery with a fresh snowfall,and while I setrup for a buttonhook right turn at a traffic light,I noticed a car behind me slide up over the right curb.The rear of my trailer was still in the right lane and mi tracvtor was over into the left lane all set to make the right turn when the light changed. Anyway the guy got out of his car and walked up by my drivers door and in a very frustated way said,did you see what juast happened to me back there.I replied yeah I seen what you did and rolled my window back up.I then went on my way. This jerk seen me setting up for the right tuirn,directionals on and everything and thought he could goose it and pass on my right side,He evidently felt it was my fault for his ignorance,guess I fooled him.I hope he knocked his frontend out of alignment jumping that curb.

 

My bad...
Pic I referred to of his trailer being in the go on lane apparently is a shot of it after he backed up off the little car ready to leave. 10,000 apologies facing east..