Here’s an entertaining, heartfelt, and informative article on why you shouldn’t screw around with trucks on the highway.
One comment of note:
If we crash, you will most likely die. Not because I am a big bad megalomaniac trucker who thinks I own the Interstate, but because there are physical limitations on how effective my response can be. I’m a very damn good driver, but I am not God, and therefore lack the ability to repeal the laws of physics so that you may avoid the consequences of your impatience.
(Via AVID)
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I once watched a gravel ‘train’ – a semi with a trailer – lock his wheels to smoking and somehow, miraculously, not lose control…
I-94 has two lanes, both are always loaded with traffic – no ‘fly-out’ lane for the trucks. This lady (hereby known as ‘twit’) was driving a little escort sedan. The onramp is one of those hard-curve entries… she got to the expressway at a walloping 35 miles per hour and proceeded to cut the truck – moving with traffic at a minimum speed of 70 – right off.
I was three cars behind with my mouth agape, waiting for the inevitable.
The gravel train’s brakes screamed. The ‘pup’ – the trailer behind – bucked and jigged and danced all over the lane. Cars beside and behind the truck were bolting onto the shoulders… Black smoke rose from all the tires of the truck. The semi slew sidewise a bit as I watched in horror, waiting for the roll-over.
And then she was on, and found the damned accelerator, and was pulling away – totally oblivious. And the trucker had kept control by a bare thread, and finally, belatedly, found his horn – pure frustration on his part.
And everybody moved on.
The world is full of twits, and they are scary.
Always check for trucks, and if in doubt, fall BACK behind the truck… the life you save will be your own.
(ever wonder why there are so many of those dead tire snakes all over our freeways? ever wonder how many times in his/her career a trucker has to apply full force to his brakes in a panic? ever wonder…?)
For more on the matter, be sure and check out Doyce’s blog on the topic. His dad’s in the biz.
Short story – Last weekend the auto museum had a speaker. Her name is Sandy and she is a race car driver, who almost dies two years ago in a racing accident. Up until last week, she had never had a crash off the track, and she was embarassed to admit that she had finally had one. But the best part of what she said to me – “Only people who want to die drive on the street like they drive on the race track. Unlike other racers, most drivers barely pass their driving test – a test that they only have to pass once in many states!” If professional drivers are scared on the streets, it no wonder I am!