Accident Today

I used up every shot on one of those disposable cameras they give you. After this I'm seriously considering investing in a dash cam or something like that because that would clear me no questions asked.

 

The law is on my side in this one, there is a big yield sign on that ramp. Swerving left would have been worse as I had another big truck alongside and that accident would be my fault without question if I did that. Right was also not an option since there were a number of 4 wheelers on that side tailgating the slowpoke trying to merge.

What really gets me is that he had 100' + of lane to use to merge but literally just moved over as soon as the curve on the ramp straightened out. Had he been you "normal" slow merger who crawls to the end of lane then gets over I would have had time to see and react but instead he just gets out without looking at the beginning of the nice long acceleration lane that was available to him. The bear even said he could tell where he merged at from where the debris was so thats a good thing I guess that he could see how much room the other driver failed to use and since he was so close to the curved ramp, there was no way he was even close to highway speed when he moved over.

 

I will keep you all posted for sure. As dumb as it sounds I'm probably better off with this kind of accident rather than backing into something or cutting a turn too tight and hitting a pole. Whatever happens I'm sure it will be for the best though as I know it's God's will that is done and His will is for the best even if I can't see why right at the moment. Thanks for all the support.

 

I doubt he could get away with that story, he was on an on ramp and there would be no reason at all for me to change into a merge lane that was ending. To be honest he may have gotten a ticket, I don't know. I'm going to call the police dept tomorrow and request a copy of the report for my own records so I will try and find out. If they won't tell me on the phone it will for sure be listed on the report if any citations were issued.

Honestly the poor man was so shaken up I really can't imagine him being able to really give a better account of events than, i was on the ramp, changed lanes and a few seconds later bam. Questions to me were minimal (just a quick so what happened) and I wasn't even asked for logs or other paper work so I kinda take that to mean the LEO had a good grasp on what occurred and didn't see it as my fault. I guess it will probably come down to exactly how she worded things on the report but I defiantly didn't get the feeling they felt like I was the big bad trucker that caused a horrible accident with an old man.

I did ask the guy from claims if he thought it would be preventable and while qualifying it with its not my call, he said it sounds like as long as the accident report matches what I told him that it sounds like something safety would rule non preventable since I had traffic in the left lane and was cut off.

Regardless of what happens on my end I hope the lesson is learned by him that it just might be time to give up driving before something worse happens. I'm sure its got to be tough in that case but after a certain point you have to just give it up before you hurt yourself or someone else.

As far as I understand it no whiz quiz is required under FMCSA regs for me but if Swift wants to do one I'm more than happy to oblige them, I got more than enough to go around and am pretty sure I can get it in the cup.