Fatal In Corning,Arkansas

The generation before Baby Boomers is called the Silent Generation by sociologists. I think labeling people by generations is foolish and lazy though. There are people with good and bad character born every year. The labels are mostly useful for marketers who need a shorthand for which style of propaganda to use on which demographic, based on which style of propaganda they were weaned on when they were in their formative years. Kill your TV and don't let your kids and grandkids have smart phones.

 

What I witnessed today out on the highway probably took the all-time prize. I almost lost it. I’m in the right lane and up up ahead of me is a truck passing another truck side-by-side. This driver would get up side-by-side to the truck to his right. He was passing and then the other truck Would get up further in front of him and this went on over and over. Meanwhile, there’s literally 40 cars backing up behind him. At first, I thought it was the truck on the right maybe speeding up and slowing down and then I realized it was the guy in the left lane. Not only that he’s bumping the centerline and the outside line over and over and sometimes going over it. a.k.a. drunk style. So I decided to speed up, figured I’d have to pass this guy on the right now. Cars were starting to go around him as there was a little gap between him and the truck on the right. As I got up to him and looked over , he was driving in his underwear, no shirt barefoot, staring straight down at His cell phone which was in his hand with a big smile and laughing, not even looking at the road. And had no clue where he was, one leg up on the dash. I blew my airhorn and for the first time in probably three years, gave him the middle finger. Then I held up my CB to tell him to turn his on. I gave him an earful about what I had seen for the last 30 minutes and looked behind him at how many cars he was holding up. Never seen anything like it. Of course all he could say was “##.” The scariest part was this guy had NO CLUE, what was going on around him. He was completely lost on his phone. And it wasn’t like a momentary thing, it was for like 10-12 minutes or more.

 

Heading through there tomorrow if all goes according to plan. This wreck was east of Corning, though, so a mile or two from the route between Pocahontas and Poplar Bluff.

 

The Silent Generation, Boomers, Gen X: monikers have been slapped on these groups. They're not always totally accurate down to the year of birth, but provide a general reference point with boots on the ground labeltarians ready to fill in any missing gaps and define one another at the retail level, usually for petty social dominance in the workplace, social gatherings etc.

But labels aside, with no oversight because I'm single and answer to no one for many of my life decisions, I was doing something the other day and realized that maybe I'm too old for this. I wasn't in danger of hurting anyone else, but still I had to check myself. Just like decades ago I had to check my elderly mother when she wanted to go parasailing high above the bay in Mexico. I mean, she had a legal right to do it, but what could possibly go wrong?

 

They were going to change that intersection years ago, decided it would cost to much.

 

Everything safety related in Arkansas costs too much.

 

I'm curious

Boomer, Brandon, Lefty Righty. Labeling people is indeed bad.

I'm curious though, how did you form your opinion to make a blanket statement that 82 is too old to drive?

 

I don't have a problem with them driving cars, but I just think that 82 is too old to drive a huge TRUCK down the highway. I base my statement on myself getting older and my experience driving OTR 25+ years and watching people in the profession as they age. Is my belief strong enough for me to march on the capitol to get the law changed? No, an article was posted soliciting opinions and I gave mine.

When I read an accident post, I look at who caused it to see if I can blame it on our lax immigration policy. Then I try to see if the driver was stoned, then check the age, sometimes it's not given.

 

Your certainly entitled to your opinion then.

Fact is people age differently and a more definitive battery of tests would be needed to test for driver fitness, ie testing response times and cognition at the 10-12hr mark.

A real IME on driver fitness will happen when the feds, in their infinite wisdom, invent one. Not only fitness but driver understanding and comprehension. How can you understand our modern fast paced roadways when the 3rd world you came from had no speed limits on their donkey paths or a drive at your own risk mentality on their mopeds?

I drove with a 92 year old trucker a year and a half ago and the man made everything look easy. Statistically you are correct, he has a much higher chance of a sudden cardiac event or a stroke but proving it in a test is the problem. Proving lack of comprehension or intelligence not so much.