Drivers pay attention!!

The 4 wheeler is doing what it does best, WAAAAA.....WAAAAA........WA.

 

Rather then insulting the 4-wheelers wouldn't it be better to try to educate them about safety around trucks.

The fact that she came here gives us all a chance to help her understand what it is that we go through on a day to day base. She may be able to take something from this forum and spread the word to her family, friends, and coworkers.

Just a thought.

 

What about the car that pulled out in front of me when I was less than 20 feet away.... oh, I was in my car... I hit my brakes and missed them by scant inches... yet their was nobody behind me... Should I call DMV?

He probably did not see you. How many times have you looked left, right, then left and POOF their is a car there.

How many times have you slowed down to let a truck off a side street when the main road is busy?

We all drive these roads. I was OTR for 3 years, but I always slow down to let a truck out, give them the right of way even when I have the right of way.

I am glad no one was hurt. Just chalk it up to an OOPS... I am sure everyone has them.

Mark

 

CC that's why they have stop signs not slow down and look and go signs. If we get these menaces of society out of big trucks the more commodity air is for me to move. I will never get called in for almost causing a 40 car pile up I stop for stop signs even when I'm the only one at it im not perfect but 5,000 no need to stops beats out 1 should have and didn't

 

I was not there to witness the "Incident", however; based on my father’s 46 years of otr experience, all of his friends/co-workers/peers venting in our living room for all of those years, & my own driving experiences, I know that pulling a fully loaded tractor trailer (GVW 80,000 lbs. +/-) from a side street onto a secondary road takes time, skill, technique, PATIENCE, and a lot of finesse.

Just do the math, please. By the time said tractor trailer has started to make the turn from a complete stop he/she has had to take into account incoming traffic, oncoming traffic, (double) parked cars, trucks, pedestrians, bicyclists, food trucks, a possible shifting load (if sealed) etc., etc,etc,etc and has most likely shifted (double clutched) 8 to 12 times without going above 12 mph, looked out of the window, in all of the available mirrors 100+ times, & is making sure to be in the proper lane in order to correctly position the rig so as to merge onto the highway onramp without having to furiously drive around some ghetto ### part of town and add more stress/miles/fuel expenses to an already (most likely) very long day without having canceled the turn signal yet.


Having this entire process go off without a hitch from start to finish in and of itself requires an amazing amount of work because there is nothing easy about merging a tractor trailer into traffic (period). The best that a driver can hope for is that other motorists can be somewhat tolerant and wiling to understand that driving a big rig requires more than just packing the kids in and starting the minivan, throwing it into drive, and dialing the cell phone.

Why would I say that? Because 35% of crashes that males are involved in are caused by female drivers. With that being said it is easy to deduct that many women suck at driving purely based on the fact that women get into more fender benders than men. Reasons being??? There is no excuse for applying makeup, fixing their hair, talking on the cell phone, yelling at the dogs and kids to “shut up,” and for the pure fact that women aren't as decisive as men while operating a vehicle on the road.


Also, I think it’s about people (not just women) to be considerate of commercial drivers and back off the gas pedal and let the heavy vehicles merge onto the road like it says to do in almost every State Motor Vehicle Drivers Handbook, or is that too much trouble because you don't want that "big truck” in front of you?

So the point that I am making in most cases for commercial drivers is that they don’t have an opportunity to choose what happens to them as far as other drivers are concerned. These drivers are obligated and dedicated to the nation’s byways and highways. They can only utilize emergency braking and the sounding of their horns so much while driving with an unruly driving public.

The drivers of non-commercial vehicles can obey the speed limit which entail will enable them to stop, steer, or take evasive action whereas a commercial motor vehicle operator cannot. So really, if the non-commercial driver is stupid or inattentive enough to not “yield to a commercial driver” then the last thing they will see is… (I don’t know because “haven’t been killed yet due to my own stupidity.”)

Without dragging on the point is that most of the time the professional driver does not have the opportunity to choose what happens to them while on the road. Most commercial drivers have at least 9 weeks of training as well as 2-3 weeks of otr training under their belts whereas the average motorists General Statistics show that The overwhelming majority (75 percent) of serious general population crashes are due to "critical errors" associated with inexperience, with the three common errors accounting for nearly half of these crashes: lack of scanning that is needed to detect and respond to hazards, going too fast for road conditions (e.g., driving too fast to respond to others or to successfully navigate a curve), or by being distracted by something inside or outside of the vehicle.


With that being said and please do not take offense but semi tractors cannot stop quickly. Even if the operator of a tractor trailer moving at 12 mph can take 160 feet or more to stop once the service brakes are applied. Please do not be fooled or get mad that you have been tricked by the optical illusion that the tractor trailer you see is closer and slowly moving faster than you thought! Therefore, in the future, if you see a semi-truck approaching, stopped, or finally proceeding past a stop sign please be courteous and always wait for that truck to go by before you kill yourself (die), lose your mind because you might be late to yoga practice, or call the company to complain even if you were in the wrong.

 

I'm one of the ones that actually comes to a complete stop at all stop signs. Even on desert crossroads. I even use my turnsignal when no one is around. It's just habit.

But the op come to the forum with an attitude. I'm sure she has broke many traffic laws herself. She's one of the ones that don't have a clue what it's like to be in an 18 wheeler.

I'm not standing up for the truck driver. He probably deserves whats coming if he causes people to brake hard because of his inconsideration.

I guess I'm sayin, don't paint the kettle black.

 

Never mentioned anything about his rolling stop. He may/may not have rolled through. Heresay on that item. We were not there to witness their ability to stop or roll throught the sign. I was talking about how easy it is to "not" see a car before you pull out. With the many different colors out there the persons car could have "blended" in and could have been easily not seen. Granted the driver of the truck should have done a double look to the left before they pulled out.

From what was mentioned it seems a simple case of not seeing the car on the main road.

I wonder if the person who was almost hit does the same when another car pulls out in front of them. Probably not.

When I see a car/truck on a side street I go into defensive mode and do a "what if" case. 5/10 times something stupid will happen.

Life is too short to make a mountain out of a molehill.

No one was hurt, just some upset feelings....

Mark

 

Lol, I thought he was talking to me.

Imposter!!!! I'm the real CC!

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not placing blame here. I just think that its an issue that should be followed up on. When its done right it goes like, motorist said this, driver responds with his story, general convesration follows, safety disscussion, agreement, go on with your life.