Why are 18 wheelers always causing accidents?

Yeah- those 4 wheelers wouldn't like having to deal with governers at all. I had this happen in NJ (I80E): coming up to an on ramp, lots of cars getting on.No problem, road is 4 lanes wide, just pulled into the left center lane and slowed down just a little (60 mph). here comes this impatient 4 wheeler, pulls right off the ramp into my lane (leaving maybe 50 ft between us, which is disappearing quickly). So, the usual deal, jam on the brakes, lay on the horn, and this jerk has the nerve to tell me I'm 'number one'.
And I'm the dangerous one out there...

 

As all of you regulars know I drop by this site on occasion, usually when I'm home. This week I have the fortune of having the woman in the house come for a ride in the woman that provides the house

OW..just got smacked for that...luckily we're parked.

I would like to relate a little horror story of mine..coming across I-10 just after the 10-20 split in texas. at the very next exit a four wheeler I had passed decided he all of a sudden had to be in front of me to make that exit..had been behind me for ten minutes..but just had to beat the big truck. The back end of his S 10 blazer disappeared under the hood of my pete..then he hit his brakes..only way I knew he had was the third tail light at the top of the back glass..then we get this pinhead who comes in here blaming us? It was probably one of his relatives in the blazer..short of the story is this..I had never pegged the appliued brake pressure guage on this truck before...I did that day.. 140 psi, 42000 in the reefer. The black marks are still there..I went by there the other day goin the same direction..you couldn't see my truck from all the tire smoke..but the idiot lived to do it again.

Four wheelers have no clue. It takes 300 yards to stop a truck at 80,000 lbs safely..safely means not sliding all over the road trying to keep the trailer behind us..but a controlled stop. But you all have to play beat the big truck or make the truck bounce off the guard rail crap to avoid killing you stupid pinheads who drive four wheelers. Not all four wheelers are bad, but its getting worse every day.

HOWEVER, there may be a light at the end of the tunnel..with a few volunteers from us seasoned truck drivers on the road. Take the time to volunteer to go talk at your local drivers ed classes. We as truck drivers may not be able to do anything about the parents..but we can teach their kids what they don't know. Smith system of driving, and a quick overview of trucks..

One day every three months to educated the children of the idiots is much better than them never learning what they should about these 100 foot long behemoths on the road beside them.


One more thing for mr pinhead up there.

How many miles did you put on your four wheeler last year?

I put over 160,000 on my truck. and she still don't have a scratch on her.

BKE

 

I would love to see all drivers have to pass a drug test like cdl holders have to pass. Like to see all drivers be certified like us cdl holders and have to pass the same physical requirements we have to. Maybe then and only then the 4 wheelers that are not safe will be off our hwys for good.

 

How about hours of service for 'em too? I've many times wondered how many 4 wheelers are being driven by folks who have been up longer than a bull hauler on meth on a run from Denver to Florida.

 

For all those in four wheelers to comprehend the distance of 300 yards......that's equlivant to 3 football fields!

 

That is a very stupid thing to say. After working for almost a year in USA/Canada, I can say that there are no accidents here. All the drivers are very professional and polite. The driver's license can not be bought, you actually have to go to driving school and study and pass the exams.
The laws are very strict. There are log books that limit your driving time and high fines for speeding.

 

There has been 2 studies done by 2 different schools. 1st ones said 95% of the fatel accidents between a Truck and a Car was the Car's fault. 2nd one a year later said that 96% was the car's fault.

I did not get to drive long, due to my health. But I did mange to drive long enough to get a reward for safe Driving. Woopie that and 1.50 I can get a cup of Coffee. 6 Months later I was involved in my first accident. I hit the Wall to avoid killing a Young lady who came off a ramp in Brighten NY on Hyw 17 inches from me. She lived anothre day, not because she was smart, but because I was using my head. A construction Worker lived another day again cause I ran off the shoulder to give a 4 wheeler room and not having to take out cones and a worker standing there, just to get infront of the Big Trucks.

How many 4 wheelers have a State Trooper complementing them for their driving skills in avoiding an accident? I had 2 cars mix it up in front of me, on the other side was a state trooper that see it all. I had to manuver to avoid them and in a hurry. I did get side ways, but yet I avoided them and stopped as I planned it that way on the side of the median. That was just me still a green horn driver.

Was I know it all? No! For I am still learning today. I am no longer driving, but if my health had not gone down I would be out there.

 

Hmmmm...let's see. I am into my third year of driving a truck. During that time, I was involved in one non-preventable accident. Seems this guy behind me decided I was going too slow in bumper-to-bumper traffic around LA. During one mirror-check to the right, I see a white p/u truck on a ramp coming onto the highway behind me. Mirror-check to the left, when I hear an engine gunned hard and see a flash of white to my right as he goes blazing past me. Too bad he didn't "get the big picture" as about 100 feet ahead of the ramp on the shoulder, was sitting an abandoned car, and he had it floored. By the time he saw the car and hit the brakes, it was too late. His truck exploded all across the interstate, front wheels sitting flat underneath the engine and frame of front end (all the rest was peeled back to the firewall). He knocked the abandoned car off the shoulder and out into the travel lane, catching my tandems on the right side. Took out one tire and wheel, and bent that axle.

Now mind you, during all this, I thought he had entered from the ramp. Enter the CHP officer, who told me that no, Mr. Impatient had been right on my ICC bumper for about 5 miles, and kept asking if I was sure I hadn't seen him before the ramp. "I said Maam, you are welcome to pull your cruiser behind my truck as close as he said he was, then get into the cab and see if you can see it in the mirrors. I only saw him on the ramp." Then she says that he actually left the travel lane behind me to cut off someone on the ramp, then speed down the shoulder to pass me on the right. Said he even admitted to all that. 18-wheelers are dangerous and cause all the accidents? I think NOT.

 

my brother has such a way with words....and he's the smart one.