Driving safely around big rigs

I love the signs on trucks that say "Not responsible for objects coming up from road". That means that burden of proof is on the 4 wheeler for anything coming off of the truck as belonging to the truck.
Of course, if a 5 foot alligator takes out the guy's windshield and you happen to have a tire missing, the proof is sort of the other way around. It's not like you could say "Uh...oh, I lost that last week!"

 

I class it the same as the person who puts up a beware of dog sign for a known biting dog. It really admits the problem. They are just trying to scare people off.

 

I dont' think so. If my dog bites, I dont' want to be sued, so I put up a sign. I also just might not want you to be bitten.
"Here's yore Sign!"
It's a known fact that people like to take advantage of trucks and that old cracked windshield can be replaced with money. Who do they think has the money? Trucking companies.

 

Had a woman in a minivan full of kids pass me on the left. I am running the speed limit and she's going 2 miles an hour faster. Another 4wheeler comes rolling up on her quickly and she starts looking over into her right mirror to see when she clears my bumper. 4wheeler is barreling down on her and she starts to panic. She cuts over right in front of me so close that I can barely make out the top of the minivan. I lay on the horn and the brakes. She panics and hits the shoulder. I grab another gear and keep going.

This lady follows me to a rest area and starts unloading on me about almost killing her family and how I am supposed to be a professional driver, but here I am blowing a horn frightening her kids. She actually looked surprised and shocked when I said,
"Lady, dont you tell me about your GD kids! You cut in front of me so close that I could barely see your van! If you want to kill your kids, get your dumb ##### off the road and put a gun to their heads!

 

wow thats just sad that a ignorant woman would put kids in danger like that , but then again you if you had time to see what she was doing looking in her right mirror then you should have anticipated it and let up off the accelerator that would have left both you and her some space to make her move safely and kept a possible hazard from turning into an emergency and even worse and accedent. i agree her actions were uncalled for and so were yours what you said to that lady f-d up and thats what alot of people walk away with and thats what gives truckers a bad name

 

No offense, friend, but I wasnt trying to be nice and courteous.

 

But what a lot of 4-wheelers don't realise is that we can't "stop on a dime". We have a vehicle that weighs 80,000 pounds! If we're lucky we can lock the brakes and hope to stop in a straight line, but that's not always the case. When are 4-wheeler going to understand that driving a commercial truck is more then just getting in the driver's seat. You only have 4 wheels to worry about, we have 18. There's a reason for the signs on the back of the trailer. They are not just for your safety, but ours too.

 

I agree . I never would have hit the horn . She didn't seem to have much sense and could have paniced and locked the brakes up . Just because somebody is wrong does give you the right to make them dead wrong .

 

Since when do truckers have rights?

She was panicking before she ever cut in front of me. The problem with America is that "All are created equal" crap. Like that 'no child left behind' garbage. Teacher cant give a kid a failing grade. This poor woman would walk out in front of a train and expect the train to yield. Ever go to Yellowstone? Theres DONT FEED THE BEARS signs all over the place, but I guarantee you that you will see some guy with a camcorder in 1 hand and food in his other walk up to a bear to try to hand feed it. And they will have to shoot the bear. I even heard one woman tell her daughter to go and stand by the bear so she could take a picture.

Want a better America? Quit trying to protect stupid people from killing themselves.

There should be no DUI and seatbelt laws. Get drunk and kill someone, they should call a magistrate out (to handle the legal ends) and execute you on the roadside and bill your family. DUI problem solved. There shouldnt be any DUI checkpoints and .08 legal alcohol level crap. Ticketing someone for coulda shoulda woulda crap is just a money grab and has absolutely nothing to do with public safety.

Yeah, I know...not what the politically correct wants to hear, but after my time in law enforcement, I firmly believe that politics is the biggest scam going.

 

Holy Cow. I just remembered this truck I saw on the big road once. Evidently the driver got tired of tailgaters, because the wagon doors had big red letters painted all over it that said "THIS TRUCK HAS SUPER BRAKES. IT CAN STOP ON A DIME AND WILL DO SO AT THE SLIGHTEST NEED. STAY 100' OR MORE BACK OR YOU WILL BE IN AN ACCIDENT!"