A Truck Driver Died Yesterday.....

[Guest]

As I came around the DC circle there were warnings all over the road something had happened on the Bay Bridge (the bridge that connects mainland Maryland with the island part).... then as I got closer the CB finally picked up the talk. A semi had gone off the bridge... this bridge is four miles long.... and all I could think about is OMGoddess.... someone is not going home tonight. As I watched and listened and sat in traffic for five hours I heard the fears of the other truckers "ya know that driver is going to be blamed for this right" and similar sentiments on the radio

I watched the news today... and listened to the reports.

A camaro decided to pass a prias on the south bridge that had been turned into a double directional bridge because of repairs being done... the one car tried to pass into ON COMING WRONG WAY traffic... and caused the trucker to set their breaks to try and avoid hitting them... because as every trucker knows WE are at fault in every accident until it can be proven that we were not doing anything wrong.

Truckers everywhere today... were saddened that a careless "four-wheeler" cost four people their lives and how many families agony over this. But we are also furious because we know deep inside of us that trucker did EVERYTHING he could to be able to go home that night... and make sure that everyone else would be going home too

I am saddened and sickened.... that we as a country STILL do not teach NON commercial drivers how to move around us. We cannot stop on a dime, we can not turn on one either. It takes and ENTIRE football field length for us to stop when we are going 40 mph fully loaded and longer when we are empty.

But if I could teach four wheel drivers one thing it would be this... and it is truly the ONLY rule that if it could be pounded into everyone's head it would work:

If I in my truck can READ the numbers on the license plate of your car - YOU JUST DIED!

Simple and to the point... if ANYTHING goes wrong... and I can read those numbers, you are already dead, the question at that point is how many others are going to die (myself included) in the accident.

 

[Guest]

I saw this on the news.

 

[R. Richard]

I used to ride motorcycles. I'm very aware of the advantages/disadvantages of vehicles on the road.

If you don't allow the same room for a motorcycle as for a car, sooner or later you will get in a 'fender bender' with a motorcycle. The term 'fender bender' is a car term. The equivalent motorcycle term is death.

As Elizabeth pointed out, an 18-wheeler truck doesn't have the handling of a sports car. If you race around a truck, cut in front and jam on your brakes, you're not driving, you're committing suicide. If you stop just around a blind curve to admire the scenery, you're liable to be joined, inside your car, by a truck driver. You won't mind. You'll be dead.

If you drive, be SANE!

 

[Salvor-Hardon]

My brother drove for many years and he drilled into me how to drive on the highways. His carerr ended when a sports car cut close in front of him. Thankfully there were no injuries or fatalities, but he could never drive again. There is so much more to driving that is never considered and should be.

great post lizzie.

 

[starrkers]

I grew up around trucks - many coal mines with road haulage to the port near me - and learned to drive surrounded by them. My husband grew up driving trucks (his dad had a haulage business).

It never ceases to amaze either of us the blatantly stupid things some people do around them.

Clear roads and lightloads to you Lizzy, and peace to the family of the departed.

 

[trysail]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/traffic/bal-bridge0811,0,2018916.story

There are more boneheads behind the wheels of automobiles than I care to count. State Route 50 crosses the Bay Bridge and is the main route for the weekend beach crowd. I note that the accident occurred at 4:00 A.M. and the driver of the Camaro that caused this tragedy was a neophyte (a 19-year old). One can't help but wonder what a 19-year old was doing on the highway at that hour. The beachgoers tend to be young (and stupid).

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge crosses the Bay connecting the Western Shore of Maryland to its Eastern Shore (and the DelMarVa peninsula of James A. Michener fame). When the original two-lane bridge was constructed in 1952, the Eastern Shore was isolated and rural. Traffic was relatively light. Over the next fifty years, with the horrific growth of the Federal government in the "District of Confusion" the Bay Bridge became a conduit for hordes seeking access to the Atlantic Ocean. A parallel span was added in 1976 to accomodate the increased traffic. Regretfully, the horde of auslanders immigrating into the D.C. area have brought the recklessness and impatience learned elsewhere along with them.

 

[trysail]

The rest of the story...

The dumbass 19-year old Camaro driver fell asleep at the wheel. Having essentially murdered the truck driver, she survived the accident.

...and people wonder why I avoid driving on heavily trafficked routes whenever possible. People are in way too much of a hurry and they overestimate their driving abilities.

Folks, when you get behind the wheel of your automobile, remember that you are driving what is essentially a loaded weapon. I don't give a damn if you kill yourself behind the wheel, but when you put my life in jeopardy it's an entirely different matter.

SLOW DOWN, PAY ATTENTION and GET OFF YOUR GODDAMN CELL PHONE!

 

[R. Richard]

I have, upon occasion, used a scrambled sattelite phone while driving, during an operation. I used a hands-free setup and used the phone to keep my team aware of where I was, my speed and tactical things that I observed. While the use of the phone may have somewhat reduced my driving ability, the tactical information I was furnishing also sharpened my focus on what I was doing. Perhaps the result was at least an even tradeoff.

IMNTHO, someone caught driving while chatting on a cell phone should be stopped, given a brief, to the point lecture [featured on prime time national TV]on the hazard they are presenting to other drivers on the road. Then the ass hole should be executed without trial.

If you want to try to kill me, at least have the courtesy to concentrate on the matter.

 

[graceanne]

My step dad is a truckers and my dad was until an accident that made him unable to drive.

for the truck driver.

And I agree - show some consideration. It never ceases to amaze me to watch how people drive around trucks. I've lost track of the number of times I've watched someone cut off a truck driver. Idiots.

Another good rule of thumb to remember is if you can't see their mirror's they can't see you. Seriously, think it through.

 

[Just-Legal]

My dad's been driving for a living all his life. He's not a trucker, only driving a "normal" car, and he has three simple rules:

- Do not argue with anything bigger than you - you WILL lose
- Never, EVER, drive while tired. Even if the world is ending, it'll end faster for you
- Know your route: A lot of roads he has to take either have serious wind problems (at which point he's left a gap the size of a football field between himself and any trucks), black ice issues or prone to flooding. The amount of people he's seen come a cropper is insane.

There are also the sub rules: Pay fucking attention, watch the weather, and its better to turn up late than dead, even if you hundred thousand pounds worth of client gets pissy about tardiness.

 

[Guest]

The markings on the back of the trailer match the kind on the one that I drive... I will NEVER get over my mother calling me in hysterics HOPING that I would answer my phone to make sure that it wasn't me over that bridge.

 

[fifty5]

The markings on the back of the trailer match the kind on the one that I drive... I will NEVER get over my mother calling me in hysterics HOPING that I would answer my phone to make sure that it wasn't me over that bridge.

Car drivers drive their car. Truckers drive for themselves, the vehicle in front, the one behind, and the numberless ones who don't have regulators on their throttles that'll zoom past (on both sides). It's still not enough to cope with some of those on the road!

 

[SensualCealy]

I have driven on the Bay Bridge a few times- YOU DO NOT PASS on that bridge at any time- are there not signs on both ends? I was positive there were signs- or is it common sense?

Hope the Trucker's family are keeping it together-may God be with them at this time.
C

 

[SweetWitch]

My grandfather was a trucker. He drove during wartime and often told of road inspectors that used to pound on the door of his cab if he pulled over to catch a few winks on long hauls.

Gramps had so many stories of his days on the road. Some of them stuck out, making me laugh riotously while others caused nightmares and ugly visuals. One story was of a snowy night in Wyoming.

During those days, two-lane highways were the only roads there were, aside from gravel back roads. On that particular night, visibility was nearly zero. The snow was flying at the windshield, as Gramps told it, in a pattern that was more than merely hypnotic.

At one point, along the lonely highway, an old Hudson drove up behind his truck. The person in the car wanted around Gramps, but he didn’t want to let the guy. The road was treacherous and Gramps felt it was unsafe to let him pass, but the man was insistent and was going to pass whether Gramps let him or not. So Gramps let the fellow go by. He flew past that old tractor-trailer like it was standing still.

Two miles down the road, Gramps had to lock ‘em up. The Hudson was blocking both lanes. At the wheel was a dead man.

The man had been going too fast to stop on a slick road with little warning. A horse had wandered onto the road, probably lost in the storm. The Hudson slammed into the poor animal, sending it through the windshield where it cut the man’s throat.

It wasn’t his fault, but Gramps always felt responsible. When he told me that story, his voice shook. He was living it again, just as he’d done decades before. I always think of that story whenever I see a trucker on a snowy night. I wonder who will be foolish enough to try to pass him/her, and I wonder how badly that trucker would be traumatized.