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Safety Message from the Local Trucker
- Thread starter Michael Morris
- Start date
lol. i always yeild to on coming traffic. Most people, at least the one's I've seen driving down I-35 didn't take that part of the driving test....
I especially yeild to oncoming things that are ten times the size of my lil enconomy car.... Like I said, the bigger they are, the harder it is for them to stop. :\
I especially yeild to oncoming things that are ten times the size of my lil enconomy car.... Like I said, the bigger they are, the harder it is for them to stop. :\
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
I try to stay the heck away from semis, or anything else that (1) has large blind spots, or (2) obstructs my view of the road ahead so I have a hard time anticipating what's coming up.
I do get rather annoyed when a trucker doing 15 mph over the limit runs up on traffic an expects you to get out of his way 'cause he's going to fast to slow down (and you're not in the left lane). Or when the semi overtakes you by 50% of his truck length, then singals and moves into your lane (never mind that you're just behind his front trailer wheels). But given the number of really bad car drivers on the road, I'm surprised there aren't more bad truck drivers.
I do get rather annoyed when a trucker doing 15 mph over the limit runs up on traffic an expects you to get out of his way 'cause he's going to fast to slow down (and you're not in the left lane). Or when the semi overtakes you by 50% of his truck length, then singals and moves into your lane (never mind that you're just behind his front trailer wheels). But given the number of really bad car drivers on the road, I'm surprised there aren't more bad truck drivers.
Mustrum_Ridcully
Legend
It seem statistically likely that 25 % of all Enworlders are or were in fact army truckers, right?Krieg said:It seems that every second Enworlder claims to be a trucker. Whether or not any of them actually are, of course, is anyone's guess. 'Tis the nature of the internet: "Prentending to be BJ McKay and his best friend Bear!"
---Sorry, I just had to.
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diaglo
Adventurer
Nightcloak said:Whoa.
And here I thought your occupation was Mad Scientist
By the way. Do you mind if I snag some info from that site for my next safety meeting?
Looks pretty comprehensive compaired to some of the sources I have locally.
i am the federal gov't and i'm here to help. the check is in the mail. and i won't .... in your mouth unless you want me to
i'm in the lab (National Center for HIV, STD, TB Prevention) and not really a part of NIOSH. contact them. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/cntc_ni1.html i'm sure they would be glad to help.
Mystery Man
First Post
I've been rear ended on the interstate at about 50 mph but it was by a car about the same size as mine. She did over 5000 dollars worth of damage to my car on both ends because she hit me so hard she pushed me into the car in front of me. It's a good thing I had my seat belt on or I would have been upside down in the back seat of my car probably bleeding pretty good.
I'm always at least 5 car lengths behind anyone on the interstate. I know what can happen. It amazes me to see people drive like maniacs, you can tell they've never been hit or hit anyone...yet.
I hate the interstate so much I'm thinking about buying one of these. Cut me off now bee-aawtch!!!
I'm always at least 5 car lengths behind anyone on the interstate. I know what can happen. It amazes me to see people drive like maniacs, you can tell they've never been hit or hit anyone...yet.
I hate the interstate so much I'm thinking about buying one of these. Cut me off now bee-aawtch!!!
The Sigil
Mr. 3000 (Words per post)
I've survived hitting a truck with a crowbar... but motorcycles are too heavy to lift.Spoony Bard said:
Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.
--The Sigil
Seriously, though, a lot of people flat out cannot drive and that really shouldn't be on the road. Californians - especially Angelinos (Los Angeles residents) - have no farking clue about how to drive on a two-lane highway for instance. You'll have boneheads cruising along at 40 mph in the left lane all the way to Vegas. It's quite simple... the left lane is for passing ONLY. If ya ain't passing, get the fark out of the left lane.
*sighs* And the drivers in the general area where I happen to reside are yet ANOTHER story entirely. The worst part is the kids - by which I mean the 5-10 year olds, who obviously haven't been taught by their parents to respect cars... the kids will be playing in the street, and you'll drive down at 2 mph and they won't get out of the street until you're 6 inches away, flashing your lights, and honking your horn... and then it finally begins to occur to them that maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea to move their little chat group/football game/whatever for 15 seconds to let the hunk of powered steel past. I know when I was a kid, any time a car came down the street, we scattered out of the street and waited for it to pass as soon as we saw it. That kids have no concept of the power - and danger to human life - that a car is tells me that the parents probably don't, either... which accounts for the horrible driving habits... they don't understand that they are wielding a weapon of death when they're behind the wheel and thus don't treat cars - their own or other peoples' - with the respect they deserve.
Ralts Bloodthorne
First Post
My sister lives on a rather hazardous stretch of Highway 12 out in Washington State. A casino was put in nearby a nasty stretch of road, a 4 way intersection of 2 highways.
One morning my little brother, brother in law and I were standing out front of my sister's, drinking coffee, when we saw what happens with idiots...
It's drizzling slightly, that misty crap that slicks up the road and turns people retarded. We have:
OK, let me set this here...
From the West (eastbound side) of my sister's house (She is on the SW corner of the 4-way intersection) it is straight for 4 miles. No curves, no hills, no dips, nothing.
Then the South section of the road.
A 90 foot bridge (concrete sides on this bridge)
The northern intersection of the road.
Two miles of straight road continuing East.
E/W highway is 55 MPH and only 2 lanes, with almost no shoulder at this section of the road.
Got the picture?
So, as the motorhome passes the northbound road intersection, and passes the bridge, the guy sees the reservation sign, and DESPITE A NO TURN SIGN, locks up his brakes in order to turn at the last second.
This, dear readers, is where it hits the fan.
The semi hit's it's brakes, the motorhome starts to turn. The van hits it's brakes, and I have a frozen split second of seeing the panicked face of the man and woman in the front, the woman staring in horror at this huge damn motorhome turning in front of them. That's right, in front of them. There was less then the distance of my sister's front yard between the oncoming van and the motorhome.
The van driver can't jink into my sister's yard, because it is full of cars (my father had passed away, one of the reasons my little brother, brother-in-law and I were standing out front at 7AM in the rain, rather than being inside where everyone was crying) from all the visitors.
The semi's brakes are howling, and the motorhome is turning wide, running over the bushes my sister had planted and part of our yard.
Now comes the disaster...
I don't know why, I guess the logging truck driver decided to go for the gusto and try to save people, but the semi-tractor HITS the bridge side, sparks shower, and the semi twists into the oncoming, eastbound lane of the highway.
(To put this into scale of how long this took, my little brother has just completed turning around to race for the house, my brother-in-law and I have just dropped our cups of coffee but they have not hit the ground yet, and we have already started moving, we know what is about to happen...)
The motorhome complete's it turn, and continues on it's merry way...
The semi-tractor is starting to jack-knife, and I clearly see the rubber sheer off it's front tire. Why, I have no idea, because the truck is facing ACROSS the road, the engine roars and the truck slams into the opposite concrete side (I have no idea why he did this? Maybe he was trying to go through it, but it was triple-thick for some reason) and we hear the chains start to snap. (To this day, I hate that scene in Final Destination 2)
Somehow, I don't know, I looked forward as I was heading for my car, the truck tractor was hit by one of the logs and came forward, just in time to hit the van head on. The trailers seperated from the truck.
Crunch.
I'm ignoring the sounds as I pull open the trunk and grab my first aid kit. My brother-in-law, later, over whiskey, tells me how the van lifted up in the back, and the semi looked like it was going to climb over the van, before the van was thrown back, with a woman flying out of the windshield and striking the front of the semi. She fell in front of it and was run over by the driver's side front tire.
I have the medical kit, and turn around, the pickup truck strikes the back of the van, I don't even know if they tried to hit the brakes. It hits and spins into the path of the trailers, which are digging a furrow in the pavement, logs are already flying out, and the truck it totalled.
The compact car has it's brakes locked up, but the road is slick, and it's skidding across the road, and strikes on of the logs, then is hit by a second.
By the time I have finished (It was 10 steps to my car and the trunk was already popped because I was supposed to be bringing in a wreath. I remember it plainly. I can remember the way the flower petals smelled...) everything is coming to a halt, and there's a silence descending.
The van, one of those snub nosed ones, now has a flat front end, the windshield has shattered, and has a hole on the passenger side. Screaming has started from the van and the compact car. There's nothing from the pickup truck.
Now, I'll gloss over what happened next... It's long, bloody, and kind of weird.
Total bodycount:
Driver of the semi: Concussed, broken arm, broken ribs.
Driver of the Van: Dead. Messily. Took an hour to die.
Front Passenger of the Van: Dead. Messily. Instant.
Rear Passenger of the Van #1: Dead. In transit.
Rear Passenger of the Van #2: Dead. Took 20 minutes to die.
Rear Passenger of the Van #3: Lived. Baby seats are amazing.
Rear Passenger of the Van #4: Lived. Internal injuries. Child seats work.
Rear Passenger of the Van #5: Lived, Internal injuries. Child seats work.
Driver of the compact car: Dead. Messily. 10 minutes to die.
Passenger of the compact car: Dead. Messily. Instant.
Rear Passenger of the compact car: Lived, unharmed, trapped in the wreckage for two hours.
Driver of the pickup truck: Alive. Lost one leg.
Driver of the motor-home: Alive. Prosecuted for causing the accident. Beaten up severly in jail awaiting arraignment and again awaiting trial.
Moral of the story? DON'T SLAM ON YOUR BRAKES IN FRONT OF A SEMI! In the 18 years my sister has lived at that intersection, there has been at least 4 fatality wrecks a year, up till 2002, when the intersection was modified with a turn lane.
At least half of them were caused by someone pulling out in front of, or slamming on thier brakes in front, a semi-truck.
Only once was the semi-driver killed.
One morning my little brother, brother in law and I were standing out front of my sister's, drinking coffee, when we saw what happens with idiots...
It's drizzling slightly, that misty crap that slicks up the road and turns people retarded. We have:
- A loaded logging truck (hauling double trailers) comeing Westbound.
- A motorhome coming Westbound
- A mini-van coming in Eastbound
- A pickup truck behind the van
- A compact car behind the pickup truck.
OK, let me set this here...
From the West (eastbound side) of my sister's house (She is on the SW corner of the 4-way intersection) it is straight for 4 miles. No curves, no hills, no dips, nothing.
Then the South section of the road.
A 90 foot bridge (concrete sides on this bridge)
The northern intersection of the road.
Two miles of straight road continuing East.
E/W highway is 55 MPH and only 2 lanes, with almost no shoulder at this section of the road.
Got the picture?
So, as the motorhome passes the northbound road intersection, and passes the bridge, the guy sees the reservation sign, and DESPITE A NO TURN SIGN, locks up his brakes in order to turn at the last second.
This, dear readers, is where it hits the fan.
The semi hit's it's brakes, the motorhome starts to turn. The van hits it's brakes, and I have a frozen split second of seeing the panicked face of the man and woman in the front, the woman staring in horror at this huge damn motorhome turning in front of them. That's right, in front of them. There was less then the distance of my sister's front yard between the oncoming van and the motorhome.
The van driver can't jink into my sister's yard, because it is full of cars (my father had passed away, one of the reasons my little brother, brother-in-law and I were standing out front at 7AM in the rain, rather than being inside where everyone was crying) from all the visitors.
The semi's brakes are howling, and the motorhome is turning wide, running over the bushes my sister had planted and part of our yard.
Now comes the disaster...
I don't know why, I guess the logging truck driver decided to go for the gusto and try to save people, but the semi-tractor HITS the bridge side, sparks shower, and the semi twists into the oncoming, eastbound lane of the highway.
(To put this into scale of how long this took, my little brother has just completed turning around to race for the house, my brother-in-law and I have just dropped our cups of coffee but they have not hit the ground yet, and we have already started moving, we know what is about to happen...)
The motorhome complete's it turn, and continues on it's merry way...
The semi-tractor is starting to jack-knife, and I clearly see the rubber sheer off it's front tire. Why, I have no idea, because the truck is facing ACROSS the road, the engine roars and the truck slams into the opposite concrete side (I have no idea why he did this? Maybe he was trying to go through it, but it was triple-thick for some reason) and we hear the chains start to snap. (To this day, I hate that scene in Final Destination 2)
Somehow, I don't know, I looked forward as I was heading for my car, the truck tractor was hit by one of the logs and came forward, just in time to hit the van head on. The trailers seperated from the truck.
Crunch.
I'm ignoring the sounds as I pull open the trunk and grab my first aid kit. My brother-in-law, later, over whiskey, tells me how the van lifted up in the back, and the semi looked like it was going to climb over the van, before the van was thrown back, with a woman flying out of the windshield and striking the front of the semi. She fell in front of it and was run over by the driver's side front tire.
I have the medical kit, and turn around, the pickup truck strikes the back of the van, I don't even know if they tried to hit the brakes. It hits and spins into the path of the trailers, which are digging a furrow in the pavement, logs are already flying out, and the truck it totalled.
The compact car has it's brakes locked up, but the road is slick, and it's skidding across the road, and strikes on of the logs, then is hit by a second.
By the time I have finished (It was 10 steps to my car and the trunk was already popped because I was supposed to be bringing in a wreath. I remember it plainly. I can remember the way the flower petals smelled...) everything is coming to a halt, and there's a silence descending.
The van, one of those snub nosed ones, now has a flat front end, the windshield has shattered, and has a hole on the passenger side. Screaming has started from the van and the compact car. There's nothing from the pickup truck.
Now, I'll gloss over what happened next... It's long, bloody, and kind of weird.
Total bodycount:
Driver of the semi: Concussed, broken arm, broken ribs.
Driver of the Van: Dead. Messily. Took an hour to die.
Front Passenger of the Van: Dead. Messily. Instant.
Rear Passenger of the Van #1: Dead. In transit.
Rear Passenger of the Van #2: Dead. Took 20 minutes to die.
Rear Passenger of the Van #3: Lived. Baby seats are amazing.
Rear Passenger of the Van #4: Lived. Internal injuries. Child seats work.
Rear Passenger of the Van #5: Lived, Internal injuries. Child seats work.
Driver of the compact car: Dead. Messily. 10 minutes to die.
Passenger of the compact car: Dead. Messily. Instant.
Rear Passenger of the compact car: Lived, unharmed, trapped in the wreckage for two hours.
Driver of the pickup truck: Alive. Lost one leg.
Driver of the motor-home: Alive. Prosecuted for causing the accident. Beaten up severly in jail awaiting arraignment and again awaiting trial.
Moral of the story? DON'T SLAM ON YOUR BRAKES IN FRONT OF A SEMI! In the 18 years my sister has lived at that intersection, there has been at least 4 fatality wrecks a year, up till 2002, when the intersection was modified with a turn lane.
At least half of them were caused by someone pulling out in front of, or slamming on thier brakes in front, a semi-truck.
Only once was the semi-driver killed.
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