My brother almost died today and I thank God that he didn't. I'm still annoyed as hell about this, so please excuse this linkless rant while I just vent about stupid, stupid drivers!
My brother drives a truck for a living and is a conscientious driver, who drives the speedlimmit, keeps a large distance between his truck and the truck in front of him, and keeps his truck well maintained. Maybe the new tires he just got yesterday helped him too. I don't know but I thank God that he is conscientious because if he weren't, then the event that happened today could have had a fatal ending.
A DUMB DUMB DRIVER cut across THREE lanes, 1, 2, 3 to get to the right hand turning lane (where he had to sit and wait anyways!).
In the meantime, my brother had to brake hard, and they locked up. His trailer fishtailed and nearly flipped over.
ALL BECAUSE THIS DRIVER DECIDED HIS/HER NEED TO GET TO THE RIGHT LANE NOW WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN OTHER DRIVERS ON THE ROAD!
THIS CAR DRIVER WAS RECKLESS AND NEARLY CAUSED THREE PEOPLE TO DIE! (Himself, his passenger, and my brother)
Look people. This isn't the first time this type of thing has happened to my brother or to truckers in general. Last winter, in a snow storm, a car ran a total red light, not even a near red light, and he nearly hit that person. Last month, driving through Chicago, there was a person who crossed three lanes, cut him off, just to get to the exit!
- WATCH WHERE YOU DRIVE. THEY CANNOT STOP ON A DIME! Their momentum and their weight makes it harder to stop when YOU DO DUMB THINGS!
- PUT DOWN THE CELL PHONE.
- Common sense people! GO TO THE NEXT EXIT. NEVER CUT people off.
As far as today, there were no fatalities but only because quick thinking and speedy reactions prevented it. Everything in the truck went flying forward, the truck locked and fishtailed, but in the end, the car driver was saved from the death he almost caused! My brother managed to go to the next exit where he pulled over and threw up.
Think about it. Every time we sit in a car and drive, we put others lives at stake! Most truck fatalities are not caused by the truckers; they are caused by cars cutting them off or pulling into their lanes in front of them.
Isn't it way past time for people to start respecting the power behind the wheel and respecting other drivers on the road?
UPDATE: An expanded list from Georgesmouth
Regarding Silence's three rules:
1. Never jump in front of an another vehicle without a proper space cushion.It isn't just trucks that have trouble stopping.
Sadly a lot of drivers don't check their brakes often enough. That increases stopping distance and deceleration time. Also, human reaction time always injects some time delay between when they see the need to brake to when their foot actually hits the brakes. Milliseconds count and it takes a lot of milliseconds to engage the braking process
2. Ditto on the cell phone - Distracted driving kills just like drunk driving.
3. It is not the end of the world to miss an exit.
In populated areas exits are only a mile (or less) apart. So that's like three minutes to miss and exit and turn around at the next one.
4. Space cushions save lives and actually reduce traffic jams
It's true, computer models show that if people avoided tailgating and avoided crowding, the roads could actually move faster and take on more vehicle traffic at the same time.
5. Use the damn signal!
How () lazy are you if you can't be bothered to use the turn signal to make lane changes. Don't collide with someone that didn't know you were entering his/her lane. It's so easy, it's bewildering why people often times refuse to signal.
6. Pause between lane changes
Even if you signal, someone two lanes over will probably (and has the right to) assume that you are only changing between two lanes. If you need to change between multiple lanes, pause for at least a few seconds, keep your signal on, then change gradually.
Ok. Stolen from the comments too:
Don't paint your toenails while driving.