Thank you for not killing me??

Discussion in 'Car Hauler and Auto Carrier Trucking Forum' started by rolls canardly, Aug 23, 2019.

  1. rolls canardly

    rolls canardly Road Train Member

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    mt. pocono. pa.
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    I am in Northeast Pennsylvania, where we have a "slow down, move over" Law,
    called the Steer Clear Law, for Emergency Vehicles. You would never know it.
    I was removing a breakdown from I-380 North near Mt. Pocono, and was almost killed.
    A Tanker Yanker came within inches of me. There was no one in the lane next to,
    or anywhere near him. There is no excuse for this. My yellow LED lights are blinding.
    These is NO WAY on Earth this fellow did not see me, he was all by himself, and not
    in a pack of cars moving together. I had to get up off the ground, and run up onto
    my Freightliner tow-truck bed to avoid being squashed like a bug.
    Did you find your little stunt amusing?
    You are lucky I only got a partial plate, and your State, on my dash-cam,
    or I would have called ahead - and had you stopped by the State Police
    at the Bridge going into New Jersey.
    Am I pissed; you betcha!!
    I'm now thinking of getting a Go Pro, and mounting it on my headache rack,
    facing back towards the tail of my truck, just for these morons who have no clue.

    I did get home alive, no thanks to you; you came within seconds of killing someone.
     
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  3. magoo68

    magoo68 Road Train Member

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    st malo mb canada
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    That is a pet peeve of mine as well... I have asked drivers why they did that to the tow trucks and gotten stupid responses like I’m in my lane and he’s off the road so why move.. I told him I’ll keep that in mind if I ever see his pete on the side of the road with the hood open..Glad you do your job with one eye on the idiots
     
    Phantom Trucker and buddyd157 Thank this.
  4. buddyd157

    buddyd157 Road Train Member

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    under a shade tree
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    sorry to hear this, but yeah, we will always have jerks on the roads.

    definitely get another camera, hopefully the fastest speed you can get, to capture the full plate.
     
  5. Whipster

    Whipster Bobtail Member

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    OP, sorry to hear about your close call. Were you able to get a company name and do you have a pretty accurate time, when it took place?
     
  6. HoneyBadger67

    HoneyBadger67 Road Train Member

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    Savannah, TN
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    Partial plate plus state is enough to run through the dmv to get a company name. After that, it's just tracking down the driver who was pulling that trailer.
     
    Cattleman84 Thanks this.
  7. x1Heavy

    x1Heavy Road Train Member

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    White County, Arkansas
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    Have a thousand cameras. Your future or someone else in your line of work will depend on it.
     
  8. brian991219

    brian991219 Road Train Member

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    Aug 10, 2013
    Lords Valley, PA
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    This is a sad reality today for all roadside workers, although tow trucks seem to take the lead with struck-by incidents. Since Jan. 1 of this year there have been 41 fatalities involving tow truck drivers with more than 2/3 of them struck-by incidents on the highway. This sobering statistic means a tow truck operator is killed on average every 6 days in the US.

    Being from the same area as the OP, I know how bad 380 can be, although that is no excuse to not slow down whenever any vehicle is on the shoulder. It is not always possible to move over, in fact I think the move over law has done more harm than good for roadside safety since so many folks are now so afraid of a citation that they make dangerous lane changes in an attempt to comply. They seem to ignore the slow down component of the law however, never lifting their right foot one bit.

    To the OP, have you heard about the "Drop Three to Save Me" campaign? It is the brain child of my colleague, Randy Resch who I co-author the Business and Operations column on Tow Industry Week with. Randy is pushing for tow operators to mount 3 traffic cones as close as possible to their cab so they can grab them as they exit the vehicle, walk back and drop them to create a work area. You may not think this helps but his research shows a marked increase in vehicles that move over. They will give more respect to that dang traffic cone than a human being on the side of the road!

    Lastly, to all drivers, put the distractions away! Truckers are supposed to be professional, the best on the road, yet I see more dangerous driving by truckers today than ever before. No food or phone call is worth taking someone's life over, period. What ever happened to 15 seconds of eye lead time and enough following distance so you can see around the vehicle in front of you? I see trucks riding 2-3 seconds off eachothers tail, no time to react even if they could somehow see the worker on the shoulder.

    One more note to Rolls, you say your amber beacons are bright, in fact you use the word "blinding". Stop for a moment and think about what it looks like when you roll up on a crash scene and the fire/ems/police vehicles are all light up, you as a professional that knows what to look for can't see where the people are clearly, so what does the average driver think when they see a bunch of flash lights? I subscribe to the "less is more" theory of emergency vehicle lighting, and as such use it sparingly so as not to blind approaching motorists. A set of simple low to medium intensity strobes on wig wag combined with a bit of under body glow as area or foot lighting will make you much more noticeable than a bunch of strobes flashing randomly. Think about the moth to a flame phenomenon, perhaps scene lighting is causing drivers to veer towards us rather than away?

    Either way, I am glad you are safe today. Keep your head on a swivel and watch your back. Hope you get a chance to come out to the American Towman Expo as I enjoy meeting towers at the show. This year it is in Atlantic City rather than Baltimore and a few weeks later than usual, Dec. 5-7.
     
  9. Banker

    Banker Road Train Member

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    [QUOTE="brian991219

    To the OP, have you heard about the "Drop Three to Save Me" campaign? It is the brain child of my colleague, Randy Resch who I co-author the Business and Operations column on Tow Industry Week with. Randy is pushing for tow operators to mount 3 traffic cones as close as possible to their cab so they can grab them as they exit the vehicle, walk back and drop them to create a work area. You may not think this helps but his research shows a marked increase in vehicles that move over. They will give more respect to that dang traffic cone than a human being on the side of the road!

    Excellent point Brian, I carry 3 cones and use them routinely. I will set them out even when unloading on a busy dealership driveway, it really does work to protect your work space. The times I have been broken down on the interstate I have set them up in addition to my triangles.
     
    interpreter and brian991219 Thank this.
  10. D.Tibbitt

    D.Tibbitt Road Train Member

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    Gettin' down westbound
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    Dang buddy thats good u were paying attention . usually tanker drivers are some of the better drivers on the road. I wonder if he just didnt care. Its unfortunate . u towing guys have a tough enough job as it is. I would definatly get that camera set up . u know them state police would be on him in a heartbeat. .
     
  11. okiedokie

    okiedokie Road Train Member

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