Hard Right???

RickG you mention the GTA. Around there I keep as much space in front as I can and keep a real close eye for anyone cutting in front. I don't think there would be many chances to safely change lanes in that area to avoid something. Northern Ontario is a whole different story though. Not that long ago I was driving at night west of Wawa. Lots of curves and short but steep grades on Hwy 17 in that area. On the hills it's mostly two lane, some have a passing lane and some don't. Sometimes you see a big truck that's heavy going up the hill halfway onto the shoulder. Sometimes another big truck decides this is a safe place for him to pass the slightly slower truck by using half of the oncoming lane. So I come around a blind corner at the top of the hill. I've got a big truck behind me and when I get around the corner to start down I see that the headlights I could see are from two trucks side by side, one of them halfway into my lane. I guess I could have stopped quickly and kept my lane. Of course that would mean the guy behind me would have to stop quickly and we would be sitting there like brick walls for the next 4 wheeler that came around that blind corner doing sixty. The two oncoming would both have to stop. So now we would have 4 big trucks stopped near the top of the hill. Of course I didn't stop, didn't even slow down. There's more than enough shoulder there for two lanes to easily turn into three and it happens often enough. So all I'm saying is it depends on the situation. In a black and white world I would have stopped and created a hazard for no good reason.

 

yup - it's situational awareness. Nobody's paranoid if they're worried about the other vehicles around them. (Notice: no distinction between 4 wheelers and 18 wheelers)

And I'm not gonna claim perfection, either. I got distracted the other day on US 97 in Oregon and drifted left over the dots. A couple other rig drivers had to do the underwear dance later.. Would NOT have been fun cleaning up the mess.

Of course, it would have been LESS of a mess if they'd not been part of a line of tailgaters -but that doesn't absolve me of being in the wrong in the first place.

Situational awareness was not in my lap at that time. As a result, I've changed some of my in-cab policies.