I was stopped at a red light, in a tractor/trailer. I was in the center lane with the truck, but the trailer was blocking access to the left turn lane (beyond my control). An impatient driver, in a bob-tail truck, hopped the curb and went around the left side to get to the left turn lane, but scraped his mirror down the entire side of the 48' trailer, and even managed to scratch the tractor as well. He stopped just a bit forward of being dead even with my seat, giving me the perfect chance to see the company name, truck number, and other pertinient info, before the light turned green and he blasted off.
I had a co-driver, who just happened to be looking out of the sleeper, and witnessed the whole event. The bob-tail was equipped with sattelite tracking. My log book was updated as it should, and I was taking the exit to reach my reciever, as that was the only way to get there and I was right on time to meet my appointment. All that, combined with the hit & run, proved there was nothing I could have done to have prevented the accident from happening.
Had it not been for the fact that the 48 ft trailer was only 2 months old, the company I drove for would have likely just noted it, and went on. But, the H&R driver worked for a nearby competitor, and they raked them over the coals just because they could.

Sorry for the long post, but details are extremely important in getting a non-preventable ruling........

 

wow. i cant believe somebody was THAT impatient to get where they were goin. glad they raked em good. sounds like they needed it.

 

My brother is a over the road truck driver and has some interesting stories. Like once he had to turn left so he had to be in the middle lane to make the corner, he made sure no one was in the left lane and when the green arrow went so did he. Out of nowhere a Toyota pickup came flying up and rammed right into the trailer jacks. The guys defense was he had a green arrow and tried to sue the company for a having bad drivers. The company paid out and my brother got demarits or something. Or once a county truck, don't remember where ran a red light and plowed into my brothers semi on the passenger side coming from the opposite direction and my brother was turning right. Again the company paid out and my brother got in trouble. Or in Texas once he opened his rear doors to go back into a dock, got in his truck and got almost to the dock and a bunch of mexicans ran off with a bunch of the product, I think it was flavored bottle water or something. I told him if I was a truck driver I'd be beating many heads in with one of them bean filled tire testers.I call them bean filled whack bonks.

 

lmao! FE, sounds like your brother just had some bad luck... lol.

 

My brother is currently an over the road driver. I bite my tongue when he tells some of his stories. Having done the same job, I can easily see where his mistakes cause most of the issues he's had.

 

Most of his crazy stories came from when he worked with Swift, I think people just hate Swift. (See what I Fu**ed up today). He had far less issues with Transport America. And now drives for a local company I can't remember the name. He said he learned that no matter what happens it seems to always be the driver's fault.

 

worst i ever had, i was commin back from CO last summer, and was empty save for some tires i was bringin back. well, i had em stacked and strapped down good, but somehow the ratchet strap came loose, and i look in my mirror and see one of tires bouncin down the shoulder... spent two hours walkin up and down the median, on the other side of the interstate, on my side, mile in each direction, and drove the stretch of road back and forth three times. never found the tire. i was PISSED...

 

i dont blame truck drivers for anything unless they are legitimately bein idiots. ive never driven truck, but i have a lot of friends that do, and ive pulled some long *** trailer, so i try to help em as much as i can. make sure they have room, use light signals, all that jazz.

 

Heavy traffic, I don't flash the lights to say "You're clear". Never know when some a**hat is gonna whip over and block the lane. Otherwise, I do use the curtousy flash.
In heavy traffic, I'm too busy watching out for idiots to try driving their truck and mine.....

 

I swear people think you have better brakes when you're hauling something heavy. The other day I was towing a pretty heavy vehicle on my trailer and it was raining out. I had a guy in a Chevy truck pull out in front of me at the last second and go very slowly. I locked up the brakes went sliding (straight thankfully) and laid on my horn, only when I was inches from ramming him did he take off, I thought my van was toast. If I would have crashed into him I would have dragged him out of the truck and beat him near to death in an attempt to make sure the stupid doesn't spread.

 

I've said it before, and I'll say many times more. Most people turn off their brain, before they turn on the engine. They can't think and drive, what makes them assume they can text/read email/eat/drink and talk on the phone, all while trying to also drive?

 

I think they should hand out tickets to people that have things in their hands other then the steering wheel while driving. I personally drive with one hand most of the time. I don't eat or mess with my phone while driving, and has most likely kept me out of potentially bad situations. In 14 years of driving only one accident, and it was ruled 0% my fault.

 

well, wulff, if youre ever in traffic with me, ill use my lights to let you know when youre clear. i try to help truckers too. like, if im cruisin along, and i see that a rig is tryin to change lanes or whatever, and people are gettin in his way, ill slow down and block everyone else so he can move over.

i hate tryin to shut down in a hurry when youre heavy like that. same trip when i was loaded, headed to colorado, i went to get off the interstate, and i had used too high a gear commin down, so i was gettin up to 80 and shuttin it back down to 70. well my brakes were gettin pretty good and warm. but when i got on that exit, there was a stop light, and the guy in front of me stopped short. well i buried that brake pedal all the way to the floor and started prayin. i was movin along good, and right about perfect distance, where you would normally stop behind someone, everything just grabbed hold and shut me down. dunno how, but it was close. lol. as soon as it stopped, smoke started poorin outta my fender wells. lol. dont worry, i got new brakes later.

 

i wont lie, i txt and drive. but i watch where im goin, and only glance down to either read the received txt, or to check for errors with the one i just wrote. but durin, i watch the road. i only use one hand when i drive, 99% of the time, so its not like im tryin to do somethin or distractin myself from the task of actually drivin.

 

I drive with 1 hand 90-95% of the time myself. But, I spent many years driving manual trans pickups and 9-15 speed heavy trucks. I dunno what to do with my right hand or left foot when driving my F150, as it's the only auto I own. Usually, I just have a smoke in my right hand, and play with the dimmer with my left foot. Also the only floor mounted dimmer owned by me......