Close calls

You make them stop, go up to the driver, take keys from ignition and throw them as far away to the grass (preferably) as possible. Wish him/her luck in life and continue with what ever you have planned, remembering that he/her is still looking for their keys hours later.

 

One of my biggest fears came true today. 79000lbs @ 70mph. I-70 through Ohio. Start cresting an overpass and it's nothing but a sea of brake lights. Thank God for a shoulder.

 

Mine happened just last month. hauling a 113' concrete bridge beam putting me at 132' overall. Two lane road, 60 mph, pilot car front and rear, beacons and all my lights on. Gentle left hand curve with the truck on the fog line and the dolly just inside the zipper and 12' wide lanes. S10 sized blazer going the opposite direction as they passed the cab I automatically look in the mirror only to see them getting closer to the dolly. They actually broke the dowel on my flag on the back corner of the dolly that stuck out at a 45° angle making it maybe 8" wider than the trailer. There was no time to react to anything, by the time it registered what had happened I was pissed that they broke the dowel. It was a new flag too.

Said to myself, "I hope it shattered your ####ing mirror!"

#### rear pilot did not even see it happen.

 

That's a "Mexican Doh Se Doh", although the passing car was supposed to straddle the center line and the oncoming car was supposed to straddle the fog line. The MDSD was used by truckers post WWII when trucks were gutless and passes could take a while. Hand signals helped.

The only time I witnessed this was driving a car in Mexico in 1975 on two lane roads. Truckers did it frequently. The excitement level increased when the road had no shoulder.

 

Several years ago I was on a two-lane just outside Fredericksburg TX. It was early afternoon and I was cruising at the speed limit, 55 mph. A Toyota Camry coming the opposite direction blew out a front tire and started to spin out. It crossed the center line about 20 feet ahead of my front bumper and went into the grass on my right side, coming to a stop when it hit a fence. I slowed to a stop and hit the shoulder to check on the driver. It was a teenage girl that was crying and scared but otherwise unharmed. After I saw that she was ok, I had to lie down in the grass to keep from throwing up. If I had been 1.5 seconds further down the road I would have hit that girl head on going full speed and there was nothing I could have done.