I can't believe this hasn't turned into a thread on virtues of tallow ice cream in "The Clown House"
Un-safe trucker
- Thread starter bkfist
- Start date
sounds like you are smart enough to resolve this matter accordingly, i dont think trying to extract money will help this truck driver in any way, you should contact the company so they can discipline the driver and he will learn to be a better driver.
for what it's worth, I was run off the road by a truck driver yesterday. my wife and I were heading back to the cities and were exiting a rest stop. As I was coming off the exit a semi came along, didn't even bother yielding or slowing down to let me in (even though I was practically in front of him) and he kept going full speed. I was blaring on my horn as I was forced to the side of the road. I've never been so angry in my life and you wonder why drivers resort to road rage.
Maybe that first comment was too blunt. Deleted it.
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"Run off the road" is a bit much. If I'm reading your account correctly, YOU caused the whole problem by incorrect merging. When you're merging, oncoming traffic ALWAYS has the right-of-way. You are expected to adjust your speed accordingly, find an opening to merge into, and merge into that opening at highway speed. If you had thought a little bit earlier, you would have realized that you could accelerate away from the truck very easily -- they don't accelerate or decelerate very fast at all.
Take a look at http://www.ehow.com/list_6861027_rules-merging-onto-freeways.html and http://voices.yahoo.com/merging-onto-freeway-safety-rules-7243596.html?cat=17 -- they both mirror the traffic code in most states.
Take a look at http://www.ehow.com/list_6861027_rules-merging-onto-freeways.html and http://voices.yahoo.com/merging-onto-freeway-safety-rules-7243596.html?cat=17 -- they both mirror the traffic code in most states.
excuse me? I was forced to the side of the road by a 10 ton truck that could've killed me, my wife and my dog, so I think that qualifies as being run off the road. I accelerated as fast as I could go and the semi saw me coming off the exit and there was an opening. He could've slowed down....most drivers slow down regardless of who has right of way, it's just common courtesy. the truck driver chose not to slow down and kept going full speed ahead.
I hope you learned to yield from this before you kill someone.
Traffic on the Freeway is not supposed to slow down to allow merging traffic to enter.
Merging traffic is supposed to adjust speed to "merge" into traffic.
If speeding up isn't the right strategy, then slowing down and falling in behind the vehicle you are in proximity to is.
Merging traffic is supposed to adjust speed to "merge" into traffic.
If speeding up isn't the right strategy, then slowing down and falling in behind the vehicle you are in proximity to is.
+1!!!
I know this is about semi truck drivers but i see the same thing constantly on the water. Little powerboats and sailboats want to get a look at the big tug and barge unit heading down the river and decide to "play chicken" with us. The captain toots the horn on the wheelhouse because why? We can't move out the channel to get around you! Were ristricted in our ability to move which makes us the ones with the right of way. I look at Semi trucks as being the same thing. The bigger fish always wins....and don't get me started on the fools that anchor in the channel to fish.
Oh yea...I like Turtles!!
Oh yea...I like Turtles!!
No, sir -- he did NOT run you off the road. You CHOSE not to slow down and go behind him, and then you CHOSE to drive off the road. Your choices are what endangered you, your wife and your dog. You could have slowed down at any time and the whole situation would have disappeared.
The worst thing about all of this is that you're going around telling people this guy ran you off the road. You're trying to get him fired and maybe arrested and charged when it was all the result of incorrect merging on YOUR part, not his.
I will just post my semi horror story. I was on a 2 lane country road, getting ready to make a left hand turn onto a smaller country road. There was a left turn lane for that intersection, but there is no left hand turn lane on the opposing side of the road. Anyway, I just pulling into the left hand turn lane (after signaling my intention before the turn since I had a car riding my bumper) and I see a fully loaded semi headed straight toward me in my left hand turn lane. I had to floor it and pull back into the travel lane and just barely missed the car that had been riding my bumper. Luckily he saw what was happening and was prepared for what I had to do.All of this took place at 6:30 AM, so I can only guess that the truck driver may have driven all night and had dozed off. This was the closest I have ever come to having any kind of accident.
There is a section of road near me where the lanes drop from 2 in each direction to one in each direction. This is a major commuting route, and many cars will try to run in the left hand lane and try to force their way into the right lane just as that left lane ends. Traffic is always backed up here and many truck drivers will try to regulate traffic by having one truck in each lane. I saw a car try to slip by the truck that was sitting in the left lane, and the truck driver just kept pulling to the left until the car was sitting in the median. The car was able to speed up and did pass the truck, but I am certain that all the driver of the car saw in his rear view mirror was semi bumper for the next few miles.
As one of my truck driving friends once told me, whether you are right or whether you are wrong, when you challenge a semi, you lose.
There is a section of road near me where the lanes drop from 2 in each direction to one in each direction. This is a major commuting route, and many cars will try to run in the left hand lane and try to force their way into the right lane just as that left lane ends. Traffic is always backed up here and many truck drivers will try to regulate traffic by having one truck in each lane. I saw a car try to slip by the truck that was sitting in the left lane, and the truck driver just kept pulling to the left until the car was sitting in the median. The car was able to speed up and did pass the truck, but I am certain that all the driver of the car saw in his rear view mirror was semi bumper for the next few miles.
As one of my truck driving friends once told me, whether you are right or whether you are wrong, when you challenge a semi, you lose.
This just jumped out at me -- how did you know the truck was "fully loaded"? Was it a flatbed or something???
That was the idea I was trying to get across in post #115 -- but it doesn't seem that anybody got it.
Honestly, now that you mention it, I do not know that the trailer was fully loaded. This happened about 5 years ago. If anyone is in the Shenandoah Valley this was just south of Berryville, VA on Rt. 340 and I was turning onto Bishop Meade Road, headed to work. You can believe that I said quite a few "Baruch Hashem's" that day.
I bet! Those incidents are SCARY! Shucks, when a CAR comes at me and I'm driving the 18-wheeler, it scares ME!
You may want to reread that first sentence. If you accelerated as fast as you could and were still unable to beat him onto the road it means one thing and one thing only- you had no business whatsoever attempting that move. He didn't put your family in danger, you did. And what would have happened to the people following that truck if he jackknifed while attempting to avoid you?
Unsafe truckers........
That's the kind of stuff I get to deal with on regular basis. All of the above were "driver at fault".
I drove trucks for thirty years and over 3 million miles. Never made any of mine look even remotely like the above.
That's the kind of stuff I get to deal with on regular basis. All of the above were "driver at fault".
I drove trucks for thirty years and over 3 million miles. Never made any of mine look even remotely like the above.
They'll always fault the truck driver if they can.
I talked to a guy a few years ago, who was sitting at a light, behind a line of vehicles. An older gentleman came out of a side road some distance behind the semi, accelerated as hard as it would go, and rear-ended the semi at a fairly high speed. The older man died, and the family was now suing the truck driver for wrongful death.
They'll always fault the truck driver if they can.
If your logbook is just 15 minutes off, they'll make it stick, too.
I talked to a guy a few years ago, who was sitting at a light, behind a line of vehicles. An older gentleman came out of a side road some distance behind the semi, accelerated as hard as it would go, and rear-ended the semi at a fairly high speed. The older man died, and the family was now suing the truck driver for wrongful death.
They'll always fault the truck driver if they can.
If your logbook is just 15 minutes off, they'll make it stick, too.
I drove for thirty years. Over 3 million miles.
The lawyers go for the deepest pocket.
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