Time for a reality check and a safety lesson. Whether you like it or not.

but I have four wheel drive, I have traction, I can drive as fast as always, is the thinking of many 4 wheel drivers. That traction control does very little when it comes time to stop.

now that same driver gets in a big rig with 2 drive axles, with all the new traction control, and thinks it works just like his suv..... and drives way beyond their ability. The crash is coming.... the other thing many drivers do not understand is the delay that air brakes have compared to hydraulic systems...

so long as this industry if filled with newbees wanting to know how to beat, avoid, scam the drug tests, the wrecks will continue to increase.

 

Well...now here's a generalization. Just an FYI...I'll be a rookie and take great pride in my goal to operate a vehicle safely, as I'm sure other rookie drivers on this Forum do as well. I would think accident rates have everything to do with experience, just like any other field of endeavor. To suggest that we're all a bunch of tokers is a bit of a stretch.

 

The problem, I'd guess, in most of these cases, and this includes cars and trucks, is the driver thought they had enough space to stop...

The actual information is not known to the overwhelming majority of drivers and when the need for the information comes, in hindsight you get, "I thought I was going slow enough" "I thought I could stop in time still" instead of KNOWING...Big difference between thinking and knowing...

I can, with an almost 100% guarantee, say that if we were all sitting here right now in a room and I asked everyone what the distance to stop a 75K pound and an empty truck on a wet road with temps below freezing over 90% would have no clue or be so far off as to explain why these accidents happen...

It's like someone backing into something and saying, "I THOUGHT I could make it" when KNOWING was only a 63' walk...The information is there, it's your choice to have it...

If you choose not to have that info, you're guessing and guesses have 2 outcomes, knowing 'can' eliminate one of those!

Good post Joe!

 

That would probably work if all you had to deal with were the weather and road conditions... but, we share the road.. and cant just asume the other drivers are able to handle the conditions...

Also, you want to think ahead.. if the conditions are such that it may become necessary to stop.. then parking will become non existent... so, there are times where it is better to pull off sooner and be parked legally, safely and where you can get out as soon as conditions or your HOS allow... drivers have gotten themselves in a pickle when they wait till the last minute to stop...

Every driver should trip plan every trip, and knowing what weather conditions you may encounter is a part of trip planing...

 

You didn't say how fast but if we assume 70+ mph in the northeast where stopping distance exceeds following distance all day every day, there is no stopping until you hit something..... another vehicle, guard rail, tree, median, asphalt or all of the above.

 

You can travel a lot closer than the recommended distance as long as you can see and anticipate what the vehicles in front will be doing. Of course all bets are off in New England and FL as random braking is the norm in those parts!

 

just read this forum, not a day goes by without someone asking how to beat the drug test, or which companies only do UA's...... no where did I say everyone is a drug user.

Statistically, rookies have more accidents, that cause only minor damage... backing and parking type accidents.

It is the 1 to 3 year drivers that overdrive their ability, thinking I got this, I know how to do this.

 

there is nothing you can do for any event that happens 5 seconds in front of you at 60 mph on dry roads. you will be part of the crash, on snow and ice, that distance doubles. want to stay safe, and out of wrecks, it is what is happening 5 to 12 seconds in front, that you can control and avoid. Come to a stop in the travel lanes due to an incident in front of you, don't pull up to the vehicles bumper in front of you, leave some space for the impact from the rear, until there is sufficient crumple material behind you.

If you can't see what is happening in front of the vehicle ahead of you, you are driving blind. you have just given that driver in front of you control over your reactions.

 

IMO 5 seconds is way too close in any road condition unless your bumper to bumper in 5 mph traffic..