Dumb things passenger vehicles do

Yesterday in LA area traffic three times I signaled for a lane change with plenty of time to let traffic behind me know my intention, checked the mirrors, made sure the lane is clear and no cars were approaching, initiated the lane change... only to have some idiot pop out from behind my tail gate and zoom up into the lane!?

On another note I'd almost forgot about an incident over 20 years ago when I was riding in the passenger seat of a small car. My friend was driving and came to a stop at a traffic light. There were three lanes. The left lane was left turn only. The middle lane had an option to turn left or go straight. The right lane was an option to go straight or make a right turn. We were in the left lane, the "left turn only" lane, and we were first in line.

After we came to a stop at the traffic light a semi pulling a van came to a stop next to us, in the left turn option lane. His left turn blinker was on. There was about two or three dozens cars total waiting at the light when it turned green.

The light turned green (with a green left arrow and green straight ahead for all lanes of traffic). My friend slowly started to move forward.... but not turning left at all, instead creeping forward going STRAIGHT. I immediately become concerned (having prior truck driving experience) as the truck tractor starts making the left turn about 6-8 feet in front of our bumper as my friend comes to a complete stop in the middle of the intersection. I look to my right and pull my legs up to avoid having them get crushed under the oncoming tandems.... luckily the tandems only clipped the right front fender, spinning our car to the left and out of the way of getting crushed.

The truck doesn't stop at all, just keeps shifting and moving on down the road. My friend just sits in the intersection saying, "He didn't stop!" I'm sure the trucker wasn't looking in the rear view at the moment of impact, was busy shifting after his tractor got through the intersection, and wasn't expecting a complete idiot to park in the middle of his oncoming tandems. If he felt anything, he might have put it down to a rough shift.

I asked my friend what the #)(*!$! he was thinking. He said at the last minute he thought turning left was the wrong way to our destination and he wanted to go straight....

..... doh!

Biggest problem for folks driving passenger vehicles around large trucks is failing to engage.... the brain.

 

It is flabbergasting to me that anyone would make an illegal move, like zooming across 3-4 lanes of traffic on a freeway to take an exit or going straight in the situation my friend was going, in order to not have to go on to the next exit and turning around or taking the turn and finding a way back to the intersection. I see this kind of reckless behavior every day, and it is an accident waiting to happen.

Footnote: we never got the license plate of the trucker involved in that accident. The fender was bent into the tire and we had to pull over and pull it free in order to keep traveling. I gave my friend a piece of my mind regarding driving mindlessly next to a truck and making illegal maneuvers to avoid having to backtrack. It did put a strain on our relationship, but I hope he took it to heart in the future.

 

For the state of CA the code is CVC 21654(b), and this was cited in a successful argument that exonerated my brother when he was ticketed for passing two dump trucks that were traveling side by side on a 3 lane freeway for over a mile. The ticketing officer should have issued a ticket for the dump truck that was in the middle lane, the judge agreed.