4-Wheeler Mistakes

Honestly, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am no longer a truck driver, but instead a professional babysitter. I don't have to worry about what I'm doing nearly as much as what "they" are doing.

 

I've seen - at one time or another, most of what's been described here... and I just got my CDL 2 days ago.

I don't think any of them touch on what I've seen, personally, at least three times on the interstates and divided highways around Denver.

Speed limit: 55 to 65.
Weather: clear and dry
Sight distance: usually .5 mile, but in one case, I think less than a quarter mile (this is from where you can't see, to where you can see, the vehicle in question)

Problem: missed exit

Answer: (no, not swoop 46 lanes and dive)
Real answer: STOP ON THE FRIGGIN' HIGHWAY, IN LANE 1 (Hammer lane) AND BACK UP! Never mind that there's an exit less than a mile away where you can either turn around or hit surface streets to get where you are going. Speaking of "Only Driver" syndrome!

As an *expereienced* 4X4 driver, I tend to hold most other 4X4 drivers in contempt. The idea is to drive a 4X4 as though it were a normal car - and THEN, if you get stuck, you might get out. Four Wheel Drive does NOT equal four wheel STOP.

As an example, last winter - just before Xmas, Denver enjoyed (well, *I* did) a blizzard. I left work early and headed home - in my Lincoln Continental. yah. a 2-wheel drive luxury yacht. It's almost exactly 25 miles from that office to my front door. In that 25 miles, I pulled 6 vehicles out of the deep stuff on the side of the road. Guess what. EVERY one of them was a 4X4.

Did I get stuck?

Well, to be honest, yes. About 100 feet from my driveway, the snow was finally deep enough that I high-centered. So, got the 4-by out, and my wife and I pulled the car up into the drive. No biggie

So, yeah, I've seen guys at the wheel of a truck do stupid things, it's exceedingly rare. It's far more common for that twit in the sedan to do something deadly.

 

I have seen this a couple of times.
The first time, I was on an interstate freeway - in-town/Phoenix. A carload of snowbirds had missed their exit. Traffic was moving the speed limit - 65MPH. This car stopped in a regular lane - not the emergency lane - put the vehicle in reverse and started backing up. Fortunately, there were no trucks (I was driving in my car). However, the vehicles that were present and were behind this vehicle were sliding sideways and all over the freeway. It was quite amazing that no collisions occured. Really, amazing that no-one was got killed.

 

Heh... Was driving through Chicago and saw some black car with no headlights actually do a complete circle (he had control of the car) then drive the wrong way to get to his exit.

 

I had just gotten my cdl, and was behind the wheel for the first time with my shiny little cdl, and an ### hole of a trainer.
I in a clover leaf, and this dumb ### four wheeler went around me! As common sense tells you he varil had space. Not only did he pass me in the clover leaf, but he did at a break neck speed. Some people you just gotta wonder where they got their licenses at.
Another time, I traveling on I-5 through LA, and this idiot comes off the off ramp, and slides at break neck speeds across five lanes of traffic. I had to break to keep from hitting him, when he came through my lane, and he ALMOST hit the propane truck in front of me.

 

We are in Texas right now.....need I say more??

We were heading out of Houston once on I-45 and saw a Cadillac jammed up under one of those long blades for a wind turbine. There were all kinds of pilot cars around this long load and this nut had managed to run up underneath it.

 

Okay letsee. My biggest one is the people that don't understand yield at onramps. If I cannot get over that doesn't mean you should pull the heck out in front of a truck going 65 mph going 40. In addition the people that couldn't pass me in time that ride on the shoulder on the right speeding up to pass me instead of waiting and getting behind me...

Persons that leap across several lanes in front of me and then hit their brakes to exit and wonder why they get honked at.

Foglights and high beams also bad.

But my all time most idiot 4-wheeler moment had to be this expierence:

So... I was riding along just passed another truck whom was bogging down uphill and was back in the right lane. Left lane was closed due to construction. The truck has a governor it only can go 65 so I was going 65 in the 70 mph I-44 # Exit 240ish in MO. Little gold Buick starts down the onramp when I was about 300 feet away from the merge point. Going far below highway speeds, but he was going to merge at the same time I was going to be passing the merge point. He didn't even consider slowing down despite him being the one required to yeild.

I am going 65 mph, this idiot is going 40ish mph. There was no way I would get the truck slowed quickly enough to avoid sideswiping the idiot as he merged. So I merged left, about a 1/2 mile up the road the road construction crew's trucks are blocking the left lane. So I have to now emergency break ASAP so that I don't hit the construction trucks, while the idiot STILL BELOW HIGHWAY SPEEDS, remains for another 1/4 mile BESIDE me blocking me from going into the right lane. He is going slower as I am going slower... making it impossible to get into the right lane until I finally just had to there was no way to brake down to a stop the only good thing was we weren't loaded so even though we were going downhill there was no extra weight pushing. The moron pulled to the shoulder when I merged and forced him off the road.

If this was you, please shoot yourself in the head. You almost got me hurt, my husband hurt, poor construction people hurt, yourself hurt, your ladyfriend hurt, and my animals hurt because you were either too blind to see the 13 foot high 8 foot wide truck hauling the 53' trailer with its lights on, or just too stupid to understand maybe you should speed up or wait till I go pass. Just kill yourself and better the gene pool you ####### moron. Most likely you'd just been a big speed bump as you slammed into my trailer's side but I still don't like the idea of living with your death on my record. Please let the lady drive next time.

 

My biggest pet peeve with four wheelers is that mentality of just having to get around the big truck. Remember we are heavy and depending on conditions will lose speed up little hills and gain speed down. So if you gain on us going uphill and we walk away from u going down please take that into consideration when u pass.

 

IROC,I have had that same situation happen to me more times than not.(Speed up when u speed up,slow down when u do). I think they have the tune "the wheels of the buss go round and round" stuck in their head! Maybe the only reason they have a head is so they have some place to keep their eyes. Anyway I have had people slow down to under 30mph as i will take my foot outa it till they clear. Go figgure.

 

Yeah. Should've just let the idiot cream himself under your trailer if he was really that desparate to merge.