RadioBanter - South Africa!

"Mike Coslo" wrote in message
...
Dee Flint wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

Mike Coslo wrote:

[snip]

clean up. The accident was related to a snow squall that blew up
unexpectedly, and the excessive speed that the whole group was

traveling

at. While no charges were filed against anyone at the time, the

families

of the deceased are filing suit against the truck drivers *and* the
companies they worked for. Hopefully the trucking companies have a

good

safety program.

If someone was following too close for conditions, shouldn't they be
liable?

Since both my current and previous husbands are/were truck drivers, I
tend to observe what trucks are doing on the road. Though I cannot speak
for this particular accident, normally it is the CARS following the
trucks too close for conditions. How can the truckers prevent that and
the sometimes tragic consequences?

The speeds were well over 70. A truck that was passing the line of traffic
jackknifed and the rest is history. The police did not see fit to issue
any citations. All were traveling over the speed limit, and when the storm
blew up, they were waaayy too fast for the conditions.

As for who is at fault, I have several times had to speed up to ridiculous
speeds to not get run over by truck drivers who want to get a run for the
next hill At speeds of 85 and more, they will get close enough for you to
count how many bugs were caught on their radiators. I've seen a number of
accidents where a truck has simply run right over the car in front of them

I carry a CB, and I must say that there is an urban myth, believed by most
truck drivers, that they *never* do anything wrong. What was especially
funny was the time a truck jackknifed in front of a line of cars during a
bad snowstorm - about 10 years ago - also on I-80, and by the time ten
minutes had passed, the story passed around by radio was that a 4 wheeler
had passed the truck, and cut him off, causing the jackknife. The
offending 4 wheeler was never found. Not surprising to those of us who
were close enough to see the accident happen!

Truck drivers are professionals, and almost always much better drivers
than those in the automobiles. But that doesn't mean they are never to
blame.

- Mike KB3EIA -

Did not mean to imply that truckers are never to blame. I too have had
truckers run right up on my bumper at excessive speeds and then honk to
attempt to bully the other drivers to move. Just noting that I have all too
often observed drivers in cars behaving like idiots around trucks and then
blaming the trucker.

I actually saw a case where a woman was circling a truck and causing a
hazard to everyone on the road because she was bound and determined to find
the phone number on the guys truck so she could turn him in. All that he
had done was make a left turn onto the street that I was traveling on.
Naturally, something that big is going to impede traffic slightly no matter
what he does. He did NOT cut in front of any of us. We all had sufficient
time to see him and adjust our speeds. This woman apparently thought he
ought to wait until there was no one whatsoever on the road before entering
it. Well he'd have been sitting there until he died of old age as that
street is NEVER clear regardless of the weather or time of day. After this
truck got on the road, the woman first sped up and pulled in front of him
and looked in her mirror. When she couldn't find a phone number, she pulled
over into my lane and braked and slowed down to examine the side of the
truck. She paid no attention to the cars already in the lane and created a
major hazard. The car ahead of me had to brake severely to keep from
hitting her. When she found no phone number, she braked even more causing a
major slowdown on a busy street and pulled in behind the truck to try to
find it.

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE

Dee D. Flint, N8UZE