Thought I'd share this because I couldn't believe anyone could be this stupid...

Let me set the scene: I was driving a 2011 F-350 pulling a 30' gooseneck trailer loaded with about 7,000 lbs of pop can tabs (I grossed in at 19K at the scale house). Thanks to the worst directions in the history of Google maps, I was traveling (lost) on a 2-lane back road at about 50 mph after three hours of wandering around back-country western PA.

I had just come down a hill (on a rolling hill road) with a double yellow line, so I wasn't expecting for someone to attempt to pass me (especially since I was already pushing the speed limit). I happened to glance in my mirror to notice that someone was in fact attempting to pass. As usual, I lifted off the accelerator and was moving my foot to the brake pedal (oncoming hill blocking good view of traffic) when I noticed something in the oncoming lane. A car had crested said hill and as far as I could tell, hadn't noticed the black car trying to pass me in the shade of the trees over-head.

At this point I literally slammed on the brakes. I had to stop watching the impending wreck to keep my trailer from jack knifing. Over the screatch of protesting tires (on all 4 axles) the truck and trailer slid to a halt, surprising quickly. I also wondered whether the 700 lb boxes of tabs would spill as I slowed down from speed. I looked up fully expecting to see a head-on collision.

Apparently, the oncoming car had seen the one passing me and also come to a complete stop. The black car swerved between me and the other car with inches to spare and sped away.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a license plate number. The driver of that other car is pretty lucky I wasn't zoned out a little or on the phone.

I'm sure most of us have experiences like that. This just happened yesterday and thought you all would get a kick of reading about the idiot.

 

Whoa! Close call OK. Glad no one was hurt.

 

i hate that. i never pass unless im sure i can, even with the yellow dotted line, sometimes you cant see far enough ahead

 

My wife got hit head on on a one lane covered bridge out by Chambersburg by a plumber in his truck that was already drunk at 7 AM. She was in a 98 escort and he had a big full sized dodge so it ended badly. They were still cutting her out of the car when I got there 30 minutes later but she as ok. The state trooper that was there saw the accident and said the plumber ran the red light on his side and was going nearly twice the speed limit. He was still sitting in the back of the troopers car. Lucky for him!
I got hit in memphis by another late for work drunk plumber. Seriously. I was turning right off the highway into the Chevy dealer I worked at and this idiot plowed into me on the right as I was in the turn. He got some serious air in his truck from the way he hit me and landed half on a new Z71 and half on a brand new corvette on the lot. My boss saw that one and was all over his butt when the cops got there. He tried to pass me in the grass to the right because I was turning to slow I guess.

 

I'm thinking about disk brakes on my 5er. Its those idiots that cut in front of you and then stop, is when I want to mash the pedal on the right down to the floor!! Glad you survived it Dizzy.

 

Glad no one was hurt, but it's amazing how impatient people get when they see a truck and trailer. Most morons can't even leave a car length between them so everyone can merge without stopping so I guess waiting for a truck is too much to ask

 

Yeah, I never understood why people suddenly forget how to drive any time they see a trailer.

Also, since this is an off-topic thread anyway, I thought I should mention that it's "coke can tabs" as opposed to "pop can tabs".

 

Glad all is OK. I do a lot of driving during the day at work and see a lot of crazy stuff on hwy.

Again glad everything turned out Ok.

Tim

 

My close call like that was being passed right after I passed a hay truck. I knew the highway well and knew that I had two good passing zones. In front was the hay truck, behind him was a Mustang and then me in my F-150 (previous truck). I figured the Mustang driver would pass on the first one so I held off. He didn't budge. Coming up on the second passing zone, I backed off so I could make a run up to higher speed as the zone started. I then pulled out and passed both of them. I then saw the Mustang driver pull out too. I thought he was cutting it close to try at that point. I figured that I needed to give him room to get in so I stayed on the throttle.

Then I saw that the idiot was going to try and overtake me too. I was coming up on a blind hill and I was doing about 85 at that point. As soon as I saw what he was doing I backed off and started slowing. I didn't want to brake too hard because I didn't want to get a boost from behind by the hay truck.

He went right over the crest in the oncoming lane, probably doing about 100 at that point. I figured there was a good chance that I would come over the hill to see a giant wreck, but he managed to get back into his lane before a service truck coming the other way.

Stupidest of all, we all caught up to some combines and ended up going 15 MPH for a while until his turnoff.

 

I know I get frustrated when I'm trying to get past someone and there a lot of oncoming traffic, but on a blind hill????? I always make sure I've got LOTS of room. Glad you're OK Dizzy. Too bad you didn't get the plate numbers. HE could buy you a new set of tires and brake pads. Quite honestly I'm not sure if people don't know or just don't care (I do know there definitely some of that) but we can't just stop!

 

I love it when people try to pass me when I'm hauling hay. My pickup is licensed for 38,000 pounds in Texas with the farm tags. There is absolutely NO WAY I'm going to stop it when I am loaded down that heavy. Not fast anyway. Sometimes a couple of our neighbors get wagon trains going behind their tractors with round bales. I've seen 20-30 hay wagons hooked on before with 10 round bales on each one. Try stopping that in a hurry at 20 mph! NOT going to happen. Last summer my son almost got hit by a drunk mexican in a full sized van. My kid was hauling our swather and hay baler down the highway, a 2 lane farm to market road with a sped limit of 70! In Texas slow moving vehicles have every right to the road as a car does and we are under no obligation to move out of the way. In fact if we do ride on the shoulder and someone hits us guess who's fault it is? Ours!!!! So we ride in the travel lanes mostly. Anyway, My son had a 20 foot wide implement and the baler behind that and flashers and turn signals along with SMV emblems on all of it. Above and beyond what the law requires. He clicked on the left turn signal and cancelled the hazard flashers and started turning left onto our road and this idiot tried to pass him on the left. Mexican went into the ditch, got air and flew across our road landing on a row of mailboxes. Then he took off. I was behind my son in the truck and that guy missed his front wheel by an inch I swear. I was pretty pissed but did get his plate number and called it in.
Just last month, the same idiot passed my kid on the right on that road. a 70 mph zone and my kid was doing 70. My son got his plate number and stopped in the police station to report it. They said he hasn't had a license in a long time and they would take care of it. Now he has no vehicle to drive. It was confiscated and he was locked up this time.
It does pay to report these dangerous drivers if you get a plate number. To aid prosecution a good description of the driver helps a lot too.

 

My FIL trimmed the roof of a Cadillac that way. He had the bucket on the tractor, and it was set just over hood level. He started the turn and the lady driving passed him. It cut the front and back pillars off the passenger side. Luckily for her she wasn't hurt.

Yeah, my report coupled with two others caused a commercial driver to lose his license for passing on a blind corner.

 

They get to vote too!!

 

Obviously, just look at who's president

 

President?? Oh, you mean the puppet!