Smith System

Exactly. I know I'm slow, and when I get into heavy traffic I'd rather let off the speed a bit than continue bumping my governor. It's easier for met to sit at 58 where other drivers can see "PRIME Inc" on the back of my trailer and know I'm slow and get around me. If I come across someone slower than me, it means I can speed up to 62 while I pass so I can get around the feller quickly and keep out of everyone else's way. If the road is empty, I'll bump up to 62 since I don't have to compete for highway.

It seems a good portion of keeping safe is just being considerate.

 

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I use it every day and it has saved me from a lot of problems. Common sense is not common any more.
Lately the biggest thing that I have been seeing is drivers with a death grip on the wheel and tunnel vision. They blast by like they never saw you or when you pass them, they don't
even know you are there!

 

It is common sense...however common sense is lacking in this industry anymore.

 

I accidently use the smith system, I was trained by the Motorcycle Saftey foundation. Taught by a 30year motor officer how to ride. It's much the same, except even more in depth.

Had someone slam into the side of me, in heavy traffic, because I I couldn't get out of the way in heavy traffic. Kept it up right, they saw me too. I've looked people right in the eye as they steal my lane many times (especially Asian drivers.) They didn't want to stop either, did crack my turn signal and scratch the side.

Needless to say, thier crappy SUV didn't get away from my Ninja. Vegas Metro was not happy with them.

But the basic ruels apply, don't get locked into a group of traffic, leave multiple ways out if possible, scan, scan,scan .....

 

Yesterday evening was up on the interstate rolling through city where the speed had dropped to 65. I was going about 62 and here comes this team truck hammer down passing. He got in front of me but I could see I was slowly gaining on the guy (cruise control). Since I knew the speed was going to jump up to 70 in a couple miles I jumped out to pass and this guy immediately jumped right in front of my bumper and hit it. Fine. I bump up to 70 and pass the guy up the road and settle in for 70 miles per hour. Then here he comes, evidently he has 72 for so many minutes per day or something trying to pass me up expecting me to slow down for him as he's taking forever to pass.

No thank you, I'm good, sitting in cruise control nobody in front of me just chewing up miles minding my own business. Pass clean or get behind but don't expect me to adjust for you when you cannot pass quick fast in a hurry. AFter a long time, he finally passed and got some good distance ahead. Maybe 15 minutes later I see them parked on the side of the freeway, I guess their dispatchers wanted to know why they exceeded their 72 miles per hour minutes for the shift.

 

IMO the Smith System is a good indoctrination for new drivers. Safe driving is not something you do, it should be your nature. So I think it is to get new drivers to make safe decisions their nature. You shouldn't need to drive reminding yourself of the system.

 

It's a good safety system. We all should take a lesson from it. Common sense , patience , courtesy , and the attitude of always trying to remain proactive while driving instead of bring FORCED to be reactive , would save countless lives and driving records.

 

As others have noted the Smith System is common sense and makes sense. One thing taught at Swift was to be mindful of your MIS (Most Important Stop) ie. getting home safely to your loved ones.

While the concept of MIS is a good one, I think it really misses the point of being a professional driver. While I do care about getting to my destination safely today, the far more important focus for me is to do everything I can to help everyone around me get home safe and sound. That's the essence of it for me.

I'll give an example from a couple of winters ago when I was team driving with Swift, westbound on I-70 in the middle of the night in Indiana. The roads and right shoulder were bare and dry, the left shoulder had maybe a foot off the fog line to 6" of snow. I'm going about 60-61 mph in the right lane with nobody ahead of me for miles and a small car is slowly overtaking me closely followed by five trucks. I ease off the throttle and the car completes the pass and gets over early as I kill the high beams. The car doesn't turn on their high beams. As the first truck in the Choo Choo train is halfway up my trailer I see a rolled up mattress, about three feet in diameter, on the left side of the hammer lane, about 1-2 seconds ahead of the first overtaking truck.

Now, if I were only focused on my own self I could have simply held my lane, possibly risk getting side swiped by the overtaking truck if he yanked the wheel toward me to avoid the mattress. Instead I immediately got over and straddled the right fog line, while maintaining speed in order to give plenty of room for the five trucks overtaking me and threw on my 4-ways.

I watched in my rear view as the lead truck yanked over to straddle the zipper, then get back in the hammer lane. One by one each truck did the same maneuver. None of them had more than a second to recognize the danger. A couple of those drivers turned on their interior lights and gave me a thumbs up on the way by.

Especially if drivers around you are leaving too little following distance or getting trapped in a bad situation without any "outs", help them out. Create outs for them.

 

I like that you helped the others out. You coulda said forget it let em run mattress over. Good job! We need mor of this behavior out here.