Accidents ...what's the Truth?

Yes. That's why I asked how long it takes to stop. If I wanted to know how long it takes to run into the back of a moving minivan, I would have asked.

I would guess that the majority of truck accidents are either a truck rear ending another vehicle or a truck leaving his lane to avoid rear ending a vehicle.

Scenario:
I-87 N near Poughkeepsie, NY. I am late for PU and traveling faster than I would normally....going with the flow....heavy traffic.....probably 70 mph. I am empty following another truck probably 2-3 truck lengths. He had just passed me and pulled in front. A second or two later he changes lanes and then I see it. There is a uniform delivery van directly in front of me traveling ~35 mph. Unlike the truck ahead of me I have nowhere to go so I hit the brakes and lock the trailer up. I didn't hit him but it could not have been closer. He was ~190 ft ahead of me and I was closing at a rate of 50 ft/sec. It takes at least a second to check mirrors for an out and start to brake that leaves 2 secs. What if I was loaded?

Up until that day I always thought I only needed to stay far enough back to slow down when the fella ahead of me jams on the brakes. I was wrong. You need to be able to STOP. And I still say we can't.

 

The longest 8 seconds ever, I bet Tony. Who knows, maybe we saved a life today.

I have never understood why they use vehicle length to figure that out. I have always figured it should be based on axles but hey what do I know.

 

Me too. Weight and speed determine stopping distance pretty much, the more weight on the axle means the longer the stopping distance. Physics plays a much bigger role here I think. But what does an old trucker know.

 

What little amount of time I've been driving, I've seen lots of dumb 4-wheeler drivers and crazy truck drivers. I don't understand why these truck drivers ride right on each others butts! It's crazy.

I just back way off from them, giving myself plenty of room. Staying safe takes work out there!

Avoid the crazies!!

 

Well here's your problem. DON'T TAILGATE!!!!!!!

Anway, on a full load at 65, slammed into your brakes and having your ABS kick on, 2-300 feet. Not a very hard distance to hold.

And yeah, 95 feet before you realized... Well, so did the car in front of you. Or if you were paying attention "Oh look a car, I should be ready to have to stop suddenly". You guys SCREAM smith system, but forget the most basic rule, every other car on the road can potentially do something stupid, just pay attention.

And a full load is entirely different from empty. Once you break your trailers momentum to the point that youre the one pulling it instead of it pushing you, now your trailer is like an extra brake. But empty, you don't have that force slowing you down so stopping is going to be harder.

 

I would advise you to get a dash cam, which will record the crazies. You will have proof of who caused the accident. We purchased a nice dash cam from diesel boss.

 

This is why I love the New Driver forum. You can always count on hearing from someone that has learned it all in one year. Sometimes less.

 

While being q couple seconds ahead of you

 

Not hard to believe at all. A lot of students go to fly by night two week schools to get their cdl and all of their truck driving is learned from a trainer. I knew a guy who went to one of these schools and man he would hit something daily. I went to a three month college to learn and my trainer said I already drove like a pro on my first day. Only because my class spent hours everyday practicing nonstop.