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orange
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It doesn't matter what your name is!
Feb 2000
time: 00:28
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I remember my first real drive...i had been learning in a drivers class and then took a road test with an instructor. I was doing blissfully until I got to a green arrow...my perception wasn't good enough at that point, and I thought for sure I had plenty of time, so I went...
...I was wrong. I got about halfway out into the turn and realized that I didn't have enough time to make it, but rather than hit the brakes, I used my instincts and gunned it...tires squeeled, car went on 2 wheels, and I made it just fine...the other guy didn't even really brake or honk or anything...my instructor was amazed that I actually went, and had considered hitting the emergency brake on his side of the car (for the instructor, incase the student does something like what I did)
the best part was, it was a stereotypical "Student Driver moment". There was the sign ontop of the car too...i bet it gave a lot of onlookers a good laugh 
I've never been in an accident in my nearly 4 years of driving, though.
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Gatekeeper
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United States of America
Feb 2000
time: 23:28
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quote:
Originally posted by chegitz guevara
First, glad you're okay. Dying tend to ruin your weekend.  |
Admittedly, just a little bit ...
quote:
... You migh wish to consider the possibiity that 1), the driver misjudged the light (it happens) |
No way. This was in the middle of my green light. There were vehicles stopped at the intersection, and had been for a while, so it's not like the trucker couldn't have had a clue that a red light had gone up. Just looking would've told him that.
quote:
2) his brakes failed. You don't mention if he honked his horn. He could have just been zoning out, which isn't a mitigating factor. |
Nope. No horn screaming. Just a loud whooshing sound as he swept into the turn lane to avoid me while going through a red light. If his brakes had given out, he would've hit something not much further down the highway ('twas a busy time and crowded road). And he wasn't driving into the sun, either, so he couldn't have been blinded. That leaves but one option: irresponsibility on his part.
quote:
Just saying there are other possibilities than his simply beng an aggressive driver. |
Noted, and dutifully shot down.
Gatekeeper
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Adam Smith
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Maryland, USA
Jan 1970
time: 00:28
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Gatekeeper:
Glad you are still with us. 
quote:
Originally posted by JohnT
Actually, reading the DOT's Fatality Analysis Reporting System you will see that semi's are, at worst, just slightly more likely to be involved to be involved in accidents:
http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/4.pdf
"In 1999 large trucks accounted for 4% of all registered vehicles and 8% of total vehicle miles driven.... In 2000, large trucks accounted for 9% of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes and 4% of all vehicles involved in injury and property-damage-only crashes."
Otoh, as one would guess, these accidents tend to be more fatal, with 12% of all auto fatalities coming at the hands of the laws of physics which argues that big, steel boxes will tend to crush aluminum framework.
In short, I just don't see the evidence that supports the assertion that truck drivers are inherently more dangerous than any other class of driver... but I do see plenty of evidence that trucks are more dangerous than any other class of vehicle. |
This is actually a very misleading set of statistics due to aggregation problems, though most people have no way of knowing that. A good chunk of truck traffic is long-haul trips on interstates, which are much safer (on a vehicle mile traveled basis) than other types of highways. When you take out the relatively safe interstates, the accident involvement gets much higher, especially as you work your way down through US highways, state highways, local highways, and onto city streets as in Gatekeeper's case. Each type of road is less and less capable of coping with a mix of large truck and auto traffic.
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Bereta_Eder
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quote:
Originally posted by Proteus_MST
Glad you´re O.K.
Did you tell the police about it, so they at least try to find this reckless trucker?
Maybe the next person who encounters this Trucker won´t have so much luck like you.
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I wasn't (understandably) able to get a license plate at the time. I must have been pre-occupied with seeing my life flash before my eyes or something.
yep, in situations like these you're just glad to still be alive basically... can't really re-compose yourself in a milisecond after something like this.
Something similar was me getting in a cab whose driver was high on some kind of drug. I still thank god that I'm alive after that experience... but when I got out of that cab my mind wasn't anywhere getting his license plates... just indiscribably glad to have my two feet on the ground.
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DRoseDARs
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"My god, it's full of peas..."
Jul 2002
time: 21:28
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quote:
Originally posted by JohnT
Oh, please. Believe it or not, truckers say the same damned things about you. Your problem lies that fact that you are "unwary" - your words, man. |
Bite me, JohnT. The only place I speed is the left lane on the freeway (so-called fastlane). All the other lanes I slow to 65mph. I use my turn signals effectively, allow safe driving distance in front of me, I don't weave back and forth through traffic just to move ahead one car length, I don't cut people off, I let people merge in front of me, I stop at red lights and stop signs, I don't turn the ignition until all seatbelts are fastened, I slow to a crawl at RR crossings and look both ways before proceeding, I give 18-wheelers a wide berth both in front/back/and sides and so on.
How dare you acuse me of being "unwary" when you don't know sh*t about me!  I've had other people acuse me of being just "another teenage driver," then retract their ignorant statment and prejudgement of me because of my age. I'm damned paranoid about other drivers on the road, so I'm never more alert then when I'm behind the wheel.
I actually paid attention during drivers' ed.
If I've got someone riding my ass, I'll move out of the way when I can, but at that time I couldn't; there wasn't anywhere for me to go because traffic was dense at that part of the freeway, which thins to 2 lanes (in Reno, "city planning" is a joke). The only thing I could do was go faster than 75mph which I'm not willing to do except in emergencies...like having an 18-wheeler riding my ass. I hit 83mph before I could change lanes safely. I'd been in the left lane for 10 miles already at that point, with no one behind me for the previous five or so minutes until that d*ckhead appeared in my rearview. He was on me in less than 2 minutes. I check my traffic situation every few seconds...just in case. Glad I saw him coming well beforehand.
(God that pisses me off when people blindly and wholly acuse me of being a bad driver when the only thing I do is speed 10mph over the speed limit on the freeway in the leftlane...  )
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Apolyton Time is 00:28. |
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24-05-2003 00:32
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