Question...

I do not think it is fair for anyone to give a direct answer to the OP"s question.,you WILL NOT have time to think about it,-as you are doing now,-you will have 1 second.,2 seconds tops.,so..........-there!!!

 

Seriously? You'll be going 5-10mph in a 65mph highway at every intersection that has a car waiting to turn? Am I the only one that sees that as actually being MORE dangerous? Plus car drivers are impatient and if they are waiting for you to pass but instead you crawl by them at 20mph you can almost guarantee a good percentage of them will have the road rage flaring by the time you pass them. It's a convenient plan that you can say you have, but it is completely unrealistic.

I DO NOT pull out until I see those front wheels turn. Plus coming at me at 55mph I don't have any confidence in any vehicle doing what they insinuate they will.

 

So your willing to create an additional hazzard & possibly cause a completely different accident by slowing a 2 lane 65 mph highway down to 5-10 mph cause you are unsure of what a 4 wheeler may or may not do?

 

its pretty hard to say what you will do until it happens---drive in the northeast enough and its an everyday occurence--
you have to anticipate what every vehicle is going to do as you see it and be prepared for everything--
that might mean slowing down a bit--but not to 10 mph
the main thing is dont panic
if i have the choice of hitting a car at speed or taking the ditch and riding it out
yes i am taking the ditch everytime--screw the dac---i dont want to kill or injure anybody and their loved ones

 

Sounds more like a responsible driver that adjusts their driving to the existing conditions, rather than the type of driver that rolls along at the speed limit or above on crappy roads that you will see in the ditch or median down the road.

 

What isn't clear to me is the direction of travel and distance of the other vehicle in the OP. Is it coming from our left or right? Could it be coming from a turning lane facing us? I think our reaction will vary depending upon those factors. There is no one-size-fits-all response.

As "professionals" we're supposedly checking our mirrors repeatedly so we know what's alongside of us at all times. We're checking traffic, adjusting our speed and anticipating dumb moves from other drivers, pedestrians, kids on bicycles and even animals. I don't operate a truck anywhere near potential hazards without constantly playing the "what if" game in my minds. If I have to play with the radio, grab a smoke, pick up the cup that just bounced out of the cup holder, scratch my butt, you name it, I wait until I'm past the potential hazard.

Having said all that, I will put it in the ditch before I'll kill someone, even if that someone looked dead at me and pulled out at the last second. More than likely someone has a passenger that doesn't deserve to die. I never blow the horn (wasted time), but I've found that a combination of serious braking and gentle swerving seems to work most (not necessarily all) of the time. I've already anticipated which direction I'll swerve based on traffic around me, so it isn't a problem.

Stupid story: the nearest I've come to "laying 'er over" was dodging a house cat on a lonely two lane road in Utah. I saw the cat on the shoulder and thought, "freeze kitty or you're dead." As I neared the only house in 5 freakin' miles, I noticed 3 horrified young kids on the porch and slowed down. Sure enough, kitty started across at the last second and I didn't have the heart to flatten it. Aw crap!!! Missed her by "that much" and nearly wrecked the truck... Stoo-pid!

 

Case by case scenario! You always look for the least colateral damage situation.

And by the way, no matter what you do...your company is probably gonna fire you!

In our business it's just that way.

 

Used to run it all the time. Horrific fatality accidents on US 54 every week. A girl driving a big truck for a nubie company backed out of that tight rest area into the travel lane and a YRC set hit her and the driver died.

It's a dangerous road. More so for those that can run above 65 and want to try to pass in TX during the daytime.