Defensive driving 101

" can you hear me now? How about now? I'm still not sure if you can hear me"

 

Last night I was in Greenwich Connecticut on a residential street in the middle of the night about 3 in the morning and I noticed a car approaching me without headlights on the wrong side of the road so I immediately came to a stop and set my parking brakes and waited for the impact. I made sure my truck and trailer was 10 inches on the correct side of the yellow line before I set my parking brakes. I think the guy was drunk or on drugs or something and he swerved to avoid my tractor and immediately jerked his steering wheel to the left and purposely smashed his car into the front of my trailer and dragged his car down the entire 53 foot of my trailer and smashed into my rear tandem which ripped the mirror completely off of his door and then he came to a stop 20 feet past my tandem. As I was on the phone with the nine-one-one operator I approached his car to get his license plate and he immediately took off and disappeared around the corner.
The cops found him a block away passed out in the passenger seat pretending he wasn't the one driving

 

Okay, I can't wait, and besides @TripleSix chimed in (kind of)...

...I will bypass the stupidity of using the cell phone and get to the meat of the matter:

1. Fowler Avenue is a BUSY intersection. I know that having never been near it, just looking that up on Google Maps. He is driving a daycabs, which means he should know he is approaching an on and off ramp that can predictably have slow traffic merging. Be prepared for it AND BUILD ROOM IN FRONT OF YOU as you approach a situation like that.

2. One hand on the steering wheel won't give you control. Keep two hands on the wheel as much as possible, at 10 and 2, especially when approaching a challenge.

3. Slow down and create space for traffic to merge.

4. Anticipate stupid.

5. When he yanked the wheel to the right and then back to the left that caused his load to gain momentum to the right. The correct response should be to hold your lane, hit the brakes, and hit the car...

...Wait, What!!???

Yes, I said hold your lane and hit the car. You have a dash cam. Your responsibility is to make it home alive. If a Darwin candidate jumps in front of you like that hold your lane and slow as quickly as possible. Mitigate the carnage, but don't yank the steering wheel to make the situation worse.

 

In OKC there are sections of I-35 and I-40 and I-44 interchanges that are absolutely nuts. Sections where vehicles need to get over six lanes within a mile when getting on the freeway from the right to exit on the left or vice versa.

These are places to BACK OFF and build more than plenty of space in front of you. Create space for other people to use, go at a pace that is slightly slower than traffic and let them flow in front and around you.

If you HAVE to use your phone or the GPS unit, then WAIT until you are through the danger zone. I use a Bluetooth headset and my phone is on a magnetic mount on the dash and is easy to use. But I never use it in bad areas like complicated interchanges.

 

Theetr is completely for the op

 

Well I got 18mo but still plenty to learn so take it for what you will. The obvious cell phone. Not paying attention to his surroundings. Did not have both hands on the wheel Wich is related to cell phone but having both hands could of given him more control over the truck.

 

He committed the truck yanking the wheel one way. Follow through with it for better or worse. Applying a second force equal to or greater than the first input that poor truck is going to take a tumble if possible.

All the other posters covered the possibilities. But this man is a bit slow out of the gate reacting to the problem that was developing long before he saw it. Stupid phone. (Drop the #### thing too while you are at it... sheesh.)