The Adventures of Dummy, Dingleberry and Stupid (the Darwins)

I didn't see the offending video, but one of my subscribers was telling me about this youtuber video'ing his trailer hub leaking oil and took it on the road anyway. At a certain point it caught on fire and was very lucky it didn't come off and kill someone. His subscribers begged him not to pull that trailer and he has since taken the evidence down off his channel.

 

I had a near incident with Stupid today, southbound on I-35 approaching San Antonio with four lanes merging into three lanes. The #4 (right) lane ends. I'm in the #3 lane, pulling a trailer that's 10'4" wide and 63' long. It's a pig. My rear view mirror visibility is limited to just behind my trailer.

I do the Smart thing and back down to low range and plod along, allowing a string of four wheelers to "win" and merge ahead of me. As I approach the concrete barrier at the merge I have good space in front, check my left mirror to see if I have an out and there's a pickup truck hanging just behind my 15' overhang. That's good.

Then I look at my right mirror, expecting to see the last four wheel straggler merging behind me, only to see STUPID in a red Cascadia pulling a reefer hammering down to attempt to get in front of me before he hits the wall.

I check my left mirror, the pickup truck hasn't accelerated faster than I have. I check my right and STUPID is already equal with me with only 100 yards to Darwin's Paradise.

I check left, it's good, and merge my 10'4" into the middle lane.

What exactly do YOU think STUPID's Plan was? Do you think he planned on me merging left, or do you think he planned on massively forcing an driver with OVERSIZED banners into traffic in the center lane.

One CLEAR rule of the road for Professional drivers is to GIVE ROOM for oversize loads to get through difficult areas, ESPECIALLY construction zones that require that driver to maintain 4-8" from the concrete wall to allow four wheelers to pass.

That red Cascadia wasn't any mega carrier. It's was a typical self centered mindless cluck in an ungoverned truck. If I had been pinned with traffic to the left he was going into the wall.

 

@Lepton1,

Anytime I approach an oversize that I can overtake, I always let out of it and trail when we approach a bridge even if I could safely pass with room in between. I wait til we both have open shoulders. It’s so uncommon nowadays for drivers to anticipate problems for other drivers and be courteous and let out of it.

 

That's always been my modus operandi from the day I first drove a truck in '77. You NEVER EVER crowd an oversized load, ESPECIALLY in a CONSTRUCTION ZONE. It absolutely boggles the mind, the absolute IDIOCY behind the wheel of commercial trucks these days.

If I was pinned in the number 2 lane that idiot would have eaten the concrete barrier.

 

I should'a filmed it, but I saw a wide guy gaining pretty fast in my mirror so I got over to the fast lane and let him pass in the slow lane so he wouldn't have to change lane twice.

Later in the day for some reason he was lugging along and truckers were passing him, I had to too. I don't get it.

 

Sorry about all the idiocy down here. Especially on 35.

 

I wonder if he was slowing down to time it into a curfew zone. What time of day was it? Was it approaching a metropolitan area?

 

It was later in the afternoon yes. Can't recall where it was just now, wish I had recorded it but I never expected to catch him later that day.

 

I watched a Walmart “experienced” driver do almost the same thing a few weeks ago. It was a mobile home and the pilot car was trying to force their way over but the Walmart driver wasn’t having no such thing. I had seen them, and heard them on the radio,getting on so I just slowed down and took a different route. These “experienced” drivers aren’t all that experienced. I drive a road hazard, governed, and have them pass me and will cut over in front of me within 20’ of passing me. Idiots.