Truck Load Rates Halt 8 Week Slide 2.0

When did you start hitting the brakes? At about 25 seconds it looks like he's starting to swerve and in the video it looks like you are still going full speed ahead until the end, which obviously wasn't the case as you were able to come to a full stop before hitting him. Did you have anybody behind you?

Scary stuff.

 

What happened to that guy? It was a beautiful sunny perfect day there is no reason for any swerving or carrying on.

Did he blow a tire out or something?

 

No he had that machine loaded to far back on his trailer.

 

Nice save. Had something similar happen a few months ago. Cops all the sudden at about 1am put their lights on 2 lanes wide and everyone went scattering. Some 4 wheeler missed my tanks by inches

 

These bobcats, he had on the trailer, weigh over 4 tons. With the trailer, it must have been more than the weight of that pick truck. Maybe he jerked the steering wheel at some point and the rest was a domino effect. The funny thing is that I had a similar situation in Nebraska, but then the guy went off the road. That was the reason, I decided to get a dash cam. Also, in my mirrors, I saw another semi parked half way on a medium, thank God he was paying attention and kept some distance. No one was hurt and the only damage - if any - was done to his own pickup that seemingly bounced off the rails.

 

The dash cam GPS speed has a lag time. As soon as I saw his first twist, I took the foot off gas pedal and the rest was a total improvising. Frankly, I did not think I would go away unscathed. Out 10 situations like that 9 would have ended up in a crash. Some vehicles behind me on both lanes must have had a brake check too.

 

I think that was the problem. Plus he went on the rumble strip for a moment which perhaps made him yank the steering wheel. Or that contact with the rumble strip in itself magnified the imbalance and caused the whip effect.

 

Excellent job Joe. That could have ended up much worse for both of you.

 

I would've been a nervous wreck after that lol. Not only did you manage to not hit the vehicle who wiped out, but no cars hit you from the back. And I say that because in my relatively short time of driving OTR (2 years), it's crazy how many cars will ride my ### instead of putting proper distance between themselves and the back of my truck or just passing me.

Question - If a vehicle WOULD HAVE been riding your ### when this happened and ran into the back of your trailer, would you have been at fault for having to hit the brakes like that to slow down? Or is it usually/always the person who runs into the person in front of them that's at fault?