Now, this should send chills down your back. About two days ago, at an on ramp a couple miles from the house, an 18 wheeler was doing 75, southbound, when he crested a blind hill and met an elderly gentleman, doing 65, northbound in the southbound lanes. A truck, two cars and a motorcycle later, it was all over. I was traveling southbound on the same road this morning and the hair on the back of my neck stood up at every blind hill. :eek6: Jim
Nope, it did not. It really gave me a odd feeling today, as I drove down that road, but there is really nothing you can do in a situation like that. :nonod: Jim
Ya gotta just keep on truckin' on. All kinds of strange ways to meet your maker. Just gotta be glad about all of the times you ducked out of those circumstances. I do know what you mean, though - I live in Seattle traffic a couple of hours a day, and have to wonder sometimes if that truck ahead weaving back and forth across the line will be my ticket as I pass him. Knock on my hyper blue dashboard - made it another day.
So...let me see if I've got this right. The truck is going southbound in the proper direction at 75 (it could have been 55 and not made any difference in this case) and the elderly man is in the trucks lane on the wrong side of the road, yet you're implying that the truck is at fault? :confused5:
I think Onramp was talking about about something else. Sometimes they don't stay in their lane on a curve, or throw a tread at you in your case. Jim
Oh...to early for me to be responding to posts...thanks Jim! As Rose Ann Rosanna Danna used to say on SNL, NEVERMIND!
Yep - I'm worrying about the truck in the lane next to mine, wandering back and forth. Here in the Seattle area, we have narrowed our lanes and taken part of the shoulder to make a carpool lane on some of I-5. Worse, the trucks that over time have beaten up the right two lanes are now driving in the next to left lane - which REALLY screws up traffic. Can't say I blame them overall, our roads here are getting really bad, and parts of those right lanes also come with goofballs who can't figure how to enter or exit the freeway. You would think that a car entering the freeway and moving directly to the left lane at 45 mph wouldn't live too long. Ah well - my hiway rant for the day...
I as a rule stay as far a way from trucks as I can. My experience- most of them (NOT ALL) are on the reckless side driving. My sister drove for 8 ears and the stories she told me made me scared to death! :yikes:
Hey everybody! First post.....lol. +1........when it's time, it's time. Couldn't tell you how many times at Deals Gap I've come around a blind corner to find someone coming at me in my lane......
I used to live in Oregon where they allow triple trailers. Those things look like snakes heading down the highway, using their lanes and half of everybody elses... :crazy:
Bad drivers are everywhere. They will drive anything with wheels, even MINIs. I feel most drivers do a decent job, but it is our human nature to accentuate the negative not the positive in most things. Have fun drive safe. Best be careful out there.
....never mind, I started to reply and then thought about how these types of threads can get out of control like they do over on the sewing site so....drive safely!
It's interesting that there is a statistic out there that says that 85% of all drivers think they above avg when it comes to driving skill. We can all tell stories of the run ins we've had a with a truck some time or another but really do we want to do that. Truck Drivers by and large are well trained and do a great job. Just look at the sheer number of trucks on the road day in and day out. Just by the numbers there are bound to be a few bad apples. In reality, trucks are not the problem, it's the 85% of us that think they are good drivers that are the real threats. They are ones that dart in front, to the side and behind trucks. Having driven a small truck for a period of time myself I saw first hand how poorly people in cars treat trucks on the road. This raised my awareness and gave me a new found respect for the pro's out there. Everyone should drive at least a 6 wheel Box Truck full of heavy stuff for a week, I bet you stop complaining about truck drivers and give them more respect and space on the road afterwards.
+1 Nathan. I've worked in the truck industry for 34 years and when discussions like this come about I've learned to just sit back and observe.
I'm not sure how we got to this point. The truck driver did NOTHING wrong in my original story. It was the driver of the CAR. It was not meant to point blame, but only to give food for thought, to expect the unexpected. ut: Jim