Involved in a wreck today

[Twofingerlou]

The way people drive these days, people have become more like deer than humans.

I drive a mail truck at slow speeds from box to box, nothing like what the big rigs deal with, but every Fall when school starts up you can bet on kids to do the absolute stupidest things around your truck. There just isn't any recognition of danger in their minds and adults have become the same way on the roads.

I think Mike Rowe nailed it with his "Safety Third" policy. His belief is that the more we present things as safe, the less people think about protecting themselves. With "Safety Third" you have to remember that you need to protect yourself. All the traffic avoidance signals, air bag, seat belt, etc. people do not recognize the threats like we did back in the "good old days" before there was safety devices. When you drove an old truck with a bench seat, no seat belts, no air bags, no dash padding, and the gas tank was right behind your seat....you paid attention.

Maybe we should get rid of the air bags in the steering wheel and replace it with a fist. Then maybe people will think before they do stupid things on the road?

I’m a fan of Mike but never heard that theory. That said it makes sense!

 

[USian Pie]

I drive a Chevrolet Avalanche. I have ridden a Yamaha SECA 750. I also made way too many defensive moves in to short of time some forty years ago and sold it. I do drive defensively and look for small vehicles. Just understand acting like a dingbat isn’t solely owned by oversized pickups but also is a characteristic by those in small sport cars.

I've certainly seen my share of sports car drivers, motorcyclists, and even bicyclists do things in traffic that put my sympathy meter for them at zero. Yes your vehicle may be small, quick, and maneuverable but, if you don't account for the fact that the vehicles around you aren't, that's on you.

Many of the large pickup drivers in my area don't seem to get that their vehicles AREN'T maneuverable.

The trucks are quick, though. It's actually a marvel of modern automotive engineering to me how they can make something so big and heavy launch so fast. I think that causes some drivers to drive them like "big sportscars", forgetting that all of that mass and momentum still can't stop fast. Some are also utterly oblivious to how much their vehicles block visibility though, to be fair, many large SUV drivers are as bad or worse.

I don't mean to lump all large 4x4 drivers into one negative category. They are just very common where I live and it only takes a percentage to make it happen too often.

 

[Wrighty]

True but drive commercially and that might change your mind.

I actually do, though now only part time. I do agree that there are some that perpetually drive like idiots, I could list at least 1/2 dozen I know of! It’s just I also witness someone getting it wrong, apologizing profusely and then driving really well for the rest of the time I’m following them. Once in a while, mid manouver, I find myself questioning my decision to do it!

 

[Wrighty]

Scroll to 1:20; that jeep driver is a reckless ______.

That’s not a mistake, that’s an idiot of the first degree. I admire the lorry driver’s ability to resist retaliation. A true proffessional.

 

[Informal]

Most people have no idea, how long it takes for a loaded Big Rig to slow down or stop.
I can watch those videos all day long, where people think brake checking a Rig is a good idea.

 

[boris bubbanov]

I see so much ridiculous stuff at high speed that I’m surprised more crashes don’t happen. Nice detail in your story and I’m glad all are OK.

Yup. People up to their old stuff, plus phones and other reasons for paying even less attention, and now they do it all at the kinds of speeds that used to easily kill and maim a lot of people.

Every time there's a wreck these days, and people (who are at fault) just shrug it off, means they've learned basically nothing. The consequences for messing up are blessedly little in a lot of cases, but now this is like children touching the hot stove and not getting burnt. They're going to keep doing it and doing it. If "safer" cars just mean lousier and lousier drivers, what have we accomplished?

 

[boris bubbanov]

Sorry about the dust-up. Many people aren't aware that railroad engineers live by the same rules and insurance as vehicle drivers. If some someone pulls onto an at-grade crossing at the last minute and gets ground up by a train, which takes a mile or more to stop, the engineer gets demerits on his auto driver's license and PTSD.

I had no idea that a not at fault rail collision would cause demerits to one's car license. Some lawmaker needs to be slapped, as this is insane.

I still remember so vividly being in a deposition where a young woman in a small AMC sedan suddenly turned left across the path of a Werner trucking company semi-trailing rig, fully loaded yes but 10 mph under the limit. The truck driver's logs were way messed up, so the company got nailed that way (I represented one of the injured passengers - another car passenger died). PTSD is right. That Werner driver, in deposition, had the same look one of my friends had when he came home from Vietnam.

 

[boris bubbanov]

Any reason she was able to relay to the Highway Patrol ?

She won't know, I think, for the same reason we normally cannot explain what happened when we slip and fall. People need (for their own safety) to be terrified of other vehicles larger than them and I think we've convinced people that "it is safe" out there. Brother, any of us can die out there and over the seemingly most innocent thing. So many stressed out folks, up to their eyeballs in debt and a failing marriage and war and new draconian laws coming at them and identity theft - and ordinary people (maybe) just can't handle this much stuff all coming at them at once. People get in their cars to go drive, to RELIEVE their other stresses. Just crazy.

 

[P Thought]

purple loads

band name alert

 

[Happy Enchilada]

Worst part is this probably RUINED the text thread she had going with her BFF...

 

[Happy Enchilada]

band name alert

That was the original working title of Prince's "Purple Rain."
His handlers didn't think the public wanted to imagine being pelted with purple loads ...

 

[HootOwlDude]

This was a first and hopefully a last in 20 years of driving. I’m good and last report the other lady involved is good and just had a headache probably from her airbags going off.

For almost six years I’ve been driving for a living commercially. I’m probably 70k plus fully loaded. Every day is a struggle dealing with impatient people in a damn hurry always willing to play chicken with you, cut you off or having their phone shoved up their arse or down right simply not paying attention.

I’ve hade more than my fair share of close calls, probably the worst one I remember was the daycare van that pulled out in front of me while I was doing 65 down the highway. I locked it up and pulled over after dodging that one to collect myself.

Well today it unfortunately happened. Three lane highway, I stayed in the middle lane since I was approaching a on ramp off to my right with flowing traffic. This lady hops in the right lane next me coming off the ramp. I got a glance of her at the side of the truck and thought she was speeding up. Before I knew it she was in my lane and put her quarter panel in my front bumper which spun her out sending her car doors to my truck grill doing 65. She got pushed sideways for a couple seconds then the front end of her car caught as it slid across the front of my truck and out my left side she went spinning for the ditch.

I got it to the side of the road as quick and safely as I could and dialed 911. Tried shoving my stomach back down my throat and stop the adrenaline dump shakes. It all happened so fast, we do have dash cams in our trucks which got reviewed out the gate and the bosses said I did everything right in the moment and it wasn’t my fault.

Just thankful it wasn’t worse! Point of posting this is be careful folks! Pay attention, put the phone down, Slow down, give people some room big truck or not. As far as the big trucks go we’re all out there just trying to do our job.

Really glad no one was hurt. Driving can get dangerous really fast, and now that my 17 year-old son is driving, I sometimes have near panic attacks thinking about him misjudging a weird intersection or a bunched-up highway ramp situation. It keeps me up at times! I for one am lucky to have survived my first few years of driving. I was SUCH a tool! I don’t think one gets a truly realistic sense of physics until one gets to be thirty or forty. Even a small accident can result in horrendous injury or death so easily. Sometimes I wonder if the driving age shouldn’t be raised by four or five years. Anyway—good job dialing 911 immediately.

 

[tomkatf]

I’ve actually had that happen passing a semi years ago and it sounded like a bomb went off. Fortunately I’ve never blown a tire on the big truck but some of the other guys at work have, it about blows the fender off the truck.

Tears up an F250 pretty well too, I was towing a loaded, enclosed 26' car hauler at the time... note inner fender liner gone too...

 

[Twofingerlou]

Really glad no one was hurt. Driving can get dangerous really fast, and now that my 17 year-old son is driving, I sometimes have near panic attacks thinking about him misjudging a weird intersection or a bunched-up highway ramp situation. It keeps me up at times! I for one am lucky to have survived my first few years of driving. I was SUCH a tool! I don’t think one gets a truly realistic sense of physics until one gets to be thirty or forty. Even a small accident can result in horrendous injury or death so easily. Sometimes I wonder if the driving age shouldn’t be raised by four or five years. Anyway—good job dialing 911 immediately.

I wouldn’t say physics are a huge role besides what happens if you crash. I think in todays society paying attention is the biggest issue with everybody on their phones being the majority of the problem. As I mentioned earlier in the thread sitting up higher than everybody else it’s a constant struggle I witness everyday.

It’s a instant gratification society these days and I’d say the younger crowd has lost grip of patience or never learned it since it’s always at their finger tips, as well as the older crowd that’s evolved with this too.

As a CDL driver they always like to hang us out to dry and blame us if they can, the majority of us aren’t the problem. It’s a 10’000$ fine last I heard if I got caught on my phone while driving a commercial vehicle.

I’m all against more laws to fix a problem you can’t fix but some days I wonder. Guess at the end of the day you can’t regulate stupid.

 

[Twofingerlou]

Tears up an F250 pretty well too, I was towing a loaded, enclosed 26' car hauler at the time... note inner fender liner gone too...

View attachment 1061896

What tires?

 

[tomkatf]

What tires?

Michelin manufactured but sold as B.F. Goodrich Rugged Terrain T/A tires, which were recalled for failure of their sidewalls...haha... Michelin replaced all four tires at no cost and paid for repairs to the F250. I was lucky... When it blew without warning, the truck and trailer jumped a lane and an half to the left before I could react. If anybody would have been beside me or close behind on the left, it would have been all over. The truck was pulling to the left badly and I remember telling myself, "Don't touch the brakes, Don't touch the brakes" over and over. Luckily there were a couple of semis a hundred yards or so behind and they slowed enough to allow me to carefully pull to the right and off onto the shoulder...

 

[Twofingerlou]

Michelin manufactured but sold as B.F. Goodrich Rugged Terrain T/A tires, which were recalled for failure of their sidewalls...haha... Michelin replaced all four tires at no cost and paid for repairs to the F250. I was lucky... When it blew without warning, the truck and trailer jumped a lane and an half to the left before I could react. If anybody would have been beside me or close behind on the left, it would have been all over. The truck was pulling to the left badly and I remember telling myself, "Don't touch the brakes, Don't touch the brakes" over and over. Luckily there were a couple of semis a hundred yards or so behind and they slowed enough to allow me to carefully pull to the right and off onto the shoulder...

View attachment 1062192

Wow you got lucky!

 

[Ronhar]

I too have a

I drive a little Miata.

I assume trucks can't see me and I know I have no chance in an accident with one. I also assume that makes me their worst nightmare.

If I do have to change lanes and put myself in front of a semi, my next move is to stomp the accelerator and put as much space between me and the rig as I safely can.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this mutual understanding and distancing with semi drivers means I never have problems with them. Dingbats in oversized 4x4 pickups are my real natural enemy.

I too have a Miata. My first test drive was in a pouring rain and I looked over at a monster 4x4 and could see the car on the other side. I did eventually buy one and drove it to work for several years, on a fairly safe route, since retirement it is regulated to weekend country pleasure drives. I only had it out 3 times last year so it’s getting sold. I prefer my pickup on any major road. I do respect you big truck drivers. Glad you’re ok.

 

[Ronhar]

True but drive commercially and that might change your mind.

Glad it turned out OK. People do insanely stupid things in front of big rigs. Some years ago here in Seattle, truckers complained to the highway patrol about all the drivers cutting right in front of them. HP said "it can't be as bad as you say it is or we'd have seen it." The truckers persuaded the HP to send riders along with them for a day, after which the HP said, "yep, it's every bit as bad as they say it is," and went on a campaign to aggressively ticket motorists for it. I don't know whether it had an effect overall, but it made the news anyway.

Making everyone aware by putting that on the news will make some aware of the danger but won’t stop the idiots on the road. And they do not learn by experience. Trust me on that. I could name names. Fortunately they aren’t currently driving and possibly going to jail for a short visit.

 

[Ronhar]

Yup. People up to their old stuff, plus phones and other reasons for paying even less attention, and now they do it all at the kinds of speeds that used to easily kill and maim a lot of people.

Every time there's a wreck these days, and people (who are at fault) just shrug it off, means they've learned basically nothing. The consequences for messing up are blessedly little in a lot of cases, but now this is like children touching the hot stove and not getting burnt. They're going to keep doing it and doing it. If "safer" cars just mean lousier and lousier drivers, what have we accomplished?

The only really safe cars will be driverless cars in the future by removing the #1 problem. Even a 1% error rate would beat our human error rate. What you think?