# In which I Pit the American Trucker... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 21, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538 "2003-11-21T17:35:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/61 "2003-11-24T02:09:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AdmiralQ \* > \*\* Then when I finally have had enough and blast past you in the emergency lane and pull in front of you and slam on my brakes, you wonder why??? \*\* It’s hard to believe that someone is so proud of being a dangerous asshole. _shakes head_ Man! Something like this happened to me once. It was late at night and the car was coming from my right off of an entrance ramp. I had slowed down, but I couldn’t get over because there was a line of cars on my left. The car sped up to get in front of me, then put its brakes on. I **STOOD** on my brakes while trying to keep control of the steering wheel. I looked down in the car, which seemed to be filled with teenagers. I saw these faces in the back seat, illuminated by my headlights, looking up back and up at me, and waved frantically for them to GO GO GO!. The thought screamed though my mind that those frightened faces would be in my memory forever, because of course, they would be dead in just a few seconds. Then the car sped up and zoomed off. I took the next exit, pulled over and cried and cried. That was the beginning of the end of my truck driving career. If “you” had been that driver, fuck you. You deserved what you would have gotten. Those kids in the car, passengers who had no say whether they wanted to live or die, didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/62 "2003-11-24T02:19:51Z")
Btw, I was not speeding, I couldn’t slow down too much because of all the cars behind me, and I couldn’t have sped up enough for him to get behind me. He had more than enogh room to get in front of me, so that brake thing was pure spite and stupidity. Also, those face STILL haunt me. I can see them now. I probably would have committed suicide had I killed them. Needless to say, I didn’t have what it takes to be out there, among people like AdmiralQ. It takes a special constitution and mindset to put up with trucking. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/63 "2003-11-24T03:40:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nuthinboutnuthin \* > \*\*my 2-cents. > And another thing… > All this talk about, you wanna eat? You want it now? Thank a trucker… malarky > > With most inventory control being computerized now, stores know weeks ahead of time when to reorder. There should be no jackass hurry to get ANYWHERE if the person doing the scheduling knows what THEY are doing… \*\* So with alll of this computerized inventory management just how does the product get to the store? Downloaded with a 56K modem? 😕 I guess the farmer could drive the food to the store. In a **truck.** ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/64 "2003-11-24T05:08:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Equipoise \* > \*\*As someone who used to drive semis for a living, in mountainous areas (Utah and Idaho) \*\* You left my beautiful mountains for Chicago? > [@](#): > > Also, those face STILL haunt me. I can see them now. I probably would have committed suicide had I killed them. That’s what I worry about. I know my husband would sacrifice himself to keep from killing someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/65 "2003-11-24T05:43:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tinkertoy \* > \*\*You left my beautiful mountains for Chicago? > \*\* I lived in the Kansas City area at the time. With my co-driver I took Kansas beef in a reefer truck to the Portland/Seattle area, and brought back Washington apples and onions to Kansas. I had to go through Utah and Idaho to get to my destination. It’s very pretty country. It’s very frightening to drive a truck through. > [@](#): > > \*\*That’s what I worry about. I know my husband would sacrifice himself to keep from killing someone else. \*\* Yes, I think most truckers would. I was certainly ready to, but how? It’s the kind of split-second decision that can save or kill lives and if it’s the wrong decision, hard to live with. If I’d tried to swerve, I’m sure I would have jack-knifed, and goddess knows how many people in nearby cars would have been killed (my biggest fear when I’m in a car is having a semi trailer flatten my car). I chose not to swerve and everything turned out ok, but only because the dickhead in the car sped up. No doubt the other people in the car were screaming at him. Had I run them over, it wouldn’t have mattered that it was the driver’s fault. It would have devastated the kid’s families, and would have left an unendurable festering wound on my soul. Even though I lucked out that day, I lost my love and enthusiasm for trucking. All for something that AdmiralQ boasts about. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/66 "2003-11-24T06:11:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tinkertoy \* > \*\*The problem is they don’t teach how to share the road with trucks, and be safe, in drivers ed. \*\* What they really should teach us is how to share our tailpipes with trucks, because that’s where the truckers seem to want to drive ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/67 "2003-11-24T06:17:21Z")
Oh, you’re so clever. Ha ha ha, it is to laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/68 "2003-11-24T06:19:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by nuthinboutnuthin \* > \*\*my 2-cents. > > I hate the damn TRUCKS… I don’t care who is behind the wheel. > Be they safe and saintly drivers or maniacs, it matters none… > I want to know who decided these monster trucks should be as long as a GD football field!!! > > Am I the only one who remembers when trucks were smaller/shorter?? It wasn’t that long ago… but almost overnight the damn trucks grew… > > And NOW these bigass football field sized trucks double up and pull another one the same size right behind them and still want to do 70mph+ > > \*\* U.S. laws changed a few years back. I don’t know if it’s nationwide or regional, but they got them to allow double trailers – one cab hauling two trailers – and the industry was pushing for triple trailers. Triple! Can you imagine? Sure, they had their lobbyists arguing it was just as safe as a single trailer. Riiiiiiight. I wonder how those things would take a corner. Railroads – there’s the idea. There’s something romantic about trains. I’ve never seen a train being driven by an idiot, never seen one behave in a deliberately sadistic manner. Sure wish we’d put more funding into railroads – maybe by taxing trucks more. After all, trucks break down the pavement, and we all have to pay for that. Another nice thing about trains as opposed to trucks: If I see the lights of a train barreling down on me in my rear-view mirror, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who’s in the wrong. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/69 "2003-11-24T06:47:50Z")
Count me as pro-trucker and anti-truck. There are too many trucks on the road, and yes they are scary to us tin-tops. Anybody who has driven Sydney to Melbourne along the Hume at night would be used to being the only car in miles, anongst a sea of thundering semis. Visibility cut-off, huge wheels pounding away at the tarmac inches from your side windows, sheets of water being thrown up as you try to overtake… Frightening stuff. How many of those semis could be taken off the road with each extra freight train? In fact, I’m not sure about the operations in North America, but most owner-driver big rig truckies in Australia are barely breaking even, because the industry is so flooded with them. If trains were brought back, we’d have more smaller trucks (5 - 7 ton ones) doing metropolitan ex-railhead deliveries, and those guys tend to make the money. Having said all that, the truckers aren’t responsible for the economics and government railway policy. I am well disposed to truckers, and most of them are hard-working, professional, and courteous drivers. Many is the time I’ve seen a dickhead in a car cut in front of another car, and the second guy leans on the horn and flips the bird. Then he is back up to full speed again in seconds, and the incident is over. Then I’ve also seen the same thing happen to a big rig, and you can hear the trucker giving the brakes and gearbox everything to try and pull up in time to avoid hitting the dickhead who has cut him off. But rarely will you find the trucker lean on the horn, or show any anger. I’m sure they feel it, but they are professional, and keep it to themselves. Then the poor buggers have to spend ages winding back out through umpteen gears, back to cruising speed (this costs a lot of money in fuel too). It was suggested once here that ever teenager learning to drive a car should spend a morning in the passenger seat of a fully-laden big rig in city traffic. I think it’s a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/70 "2003-11-24T06:57:09Z")
Yeah, my dad has to haul doubles sometimes. He _hates_ them. Everybody does. The company pays you a little more to haul doubles because they save money by having two trailers to one truck (note that the individual doubles trailers are shorter than the normal single trailer, but not by much), but every guy in the fleet avoids pulling doubles if he can at all help it. The talk of triples infuriates Dad. They’d be less safe for the drivers, too! It’s harder to haul doubles than single, it’s less maneuverable, and the couple cents extra pay does NOT make up for it as far as he is concerned. Fuckin’ industry lobbyists saying it’s “just as safe.” Give me a break. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/71 "2003-11-24T07:05:23Z")
One other thing. I’m not sure about the U.S. situation, but I can only guess it is something similar to what we have here in Australia… There is a point system on my driver’s licence. If I do something like drive dead drunk, I may lose my licence on the spot, but for normal speeding offences and other infringements, there is a monetary fine, plus a loss of a set number (usually about 3) points from my licence. Mose all twelve in a set period, and I’m automatically without a licence until a judge decides I can get it back. All well and good for me, and I can brag I’ve never lost a single point since I started driving in the 1980s. BUT, I only drive 30 kilometres for my commute each day. The unfair thing is that a profesional trucker driving a huge rig 2000km return trip interstate two or even three times a week (or a taxi driver doing high levels of driving in town) have _the same_ twelve point system. Many truckies have told of stories like this (fictitious, but not exaggerated): Trucker X drives twenty years without an at-fault accident. He has gone close when idiots in four wheelers have done stupid things, but has avoided it. Unfortunately, he has rear-ended a car twice within the last 12 months. Both times, the car overtook, then braked suddenly, and both times the truck had two trailers loaded with steel, bricks, etc. Technically, the trucker is at fault. Now he has lost 8 of his twelve points, and he hits the road interstate once again. If just one absent minded idiot in a Toyota does the same thing again, the trucker has lost his licence, and therefore his job. ---
**Author:** ![dalejrfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@dalejrfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalejrfan)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/72 "2003-11-24T07:20:24Z")
I have seen some ABSOLUTELY ridiculous posts. I just joined this board when a friend of mine directed me here, think I read some posts about a year or so back… First of all unless you’ve been riding or driving a truck for any length of time. SHUT THE FUCK UP! You have no clue what you’re talking about. Okay that being said…hmmmmmmmmm takes out about 99.1% of what has been said. My husband is a 3rd generation driver and his two brothers are both drivers. Lets see in the past year, some driver ran into him, and he drove over him, like a fucking “4 wheeler” moron, DUH! hmmmmmm. The cop sent my husband on his way, not his fault. A good friend of ours lost his job this year because some idiot in a “4 wheeler” cut him off and he flipped his truck for fear of hitting him. Guess what? “4 wheeler” went on, not concerned about the driver at all. In almost ALL wrecks like this… it’s the truck driver’s fault. Some happy ass “4 wheeler” is driving around safe because our friend flipped his truck, but according to the company, no witness, driver’s fault…FIRED! I was with my husband one day when someone cut him off at a light and the only reason he didn’t run over him, was I seen the idiot cut over and warned him. Yeah there are asshole drivers…bet you’ve NEVER met an asshole in some other line of work either? I know I haven’t, it’s quite amazing really. Only truck drivers really tend to be assholes… You people have NO CLUE what these drivers do. Luckily my husband got rehired at a recent job and is home every night. Some drivers are out 3-5 weeks or more of their lives constantly. While you are in a RUSH on the way on a trip or your happy little job, think about it. They spend half their lives away from their families, to hear an “I love you daddy” across a telephone line. Cry me a fucking river. That little girl doesn’t understand why daddy isn’t home while you are taking a nice trip, or a ride home from work in a fucking hurry when you should just slow down or have a little respect… It isn’t always the drivers either. They are expected to get somewhere on time. Ok, weather is bad, forklift breaks down, whatever. You think some of those companies give a flying fuck about that driver slowing down for weather, or him rushing to get a load somewhere cause he’s delayed? NOPE! they want their stuff wherever, whenever on time, no excuses… Guess what they’ll hire some jackasses like my husband’s boss did when he fired him, cost him some accidents, insurance incidents and about 20K in equipment. He begged for my husband back and says now it was the dumbest thing he’s ever done when he fired him. Illinois trucking is the WORST. Truckers allowed to go 55 while “4 wheelers” can go 65…DUH! Don’t think they all speed. Most of the trucks now are set for a certain speed. There are computers being generated for trucks that will allow them to drive a certain time limit and shut down, to start up at an allowed time. There is a new MECHANICAL device that police are supposed to be testing that will tell a driver how tired he is…and whether he can be on the road, etc. Companies make empty promises…Sure you’ll be home every weekend, sure this/sure that. To just hire on and be run ragged, home once every 2 wks. IF you’re lucky. All the while the driver tries to make a living being on the road. SO therefore, if you don’t want to be typing on this computer, eating your breakfast, whatever. If you want people telling YOU how long you can drive? or when you are safe to drive? or how you can make a living? whatever…keep it up, maybe it will hit you someday. I’d trust a driver before anyone else in this world. They make their living by those 18 wheels…call the numbers, try to lobby in Washington for things to change in rights over companies that treat them like shit…or just shut the fuck up and thank the good ones. That’d be about 99.9% of truckers on the road… Rhonda ---
**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/73 "2003-11-24T07:28:23Z")
> [@](#): > > U.S. laws changed a few years back. I don’t know if it’s nationwide or regional, but they got them to allow double trailers – one cab hauling two trailers – and the industry was pushing for triple trailers. Triple! Can you imagine? Sure, they had their lobbyists arguing it was just as safe as a single trailer. Riiiiiiight. I wonder how those things would take a corner. Are you sure they meant double full-length (110’ or longer?) because I’ve seen double half-lenth (sorry, will one of our hauling comrades please give us the appropriate term for the shorter trailers, 40-50’?) hitches for a while. ---
**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/74 "2003-11-24T07:36:51Z")
TheLoadedDog, That’s the same way that most states in the US do it. I know in South Carolina, the limit on points is six. Driving while intoxicated gets an automatic suspended licence (up to a year for first offense, with second being five years suspended and 6mos in prison.) Non-moving violations (bad lights, expired tags, etc) get no points but hefty fines (driving with a headlight out will get you $200. You do the math.) Moving violations, it depends on the circumstances and often drivers are able to change how the fine/penalty goes. For instance, before my brother shipped to Ft. Knox for Basic Training, he got a ticket for going six miles over the speed limit in a 35 zone. The penalty was $175 with three points. He, in court, asked the judge to reduce the points and increase the monitary fine (for some reason, most insurers don’t care how much cash you pay so long as there are no points on your record.) He ended up paying $775 with zero points. He was pleased (even though, in the end, he lost out on the deal seeing as his increase in insurance would have been only $100 or so since he had a perfect record and drivers education classes (both through the local High School as well as an insurance company sponsored class.)) ---
**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/75 "2003-11-24T07:41:40Z")
One last thing. For determining who is at fault, I’ve seen some good arguments in this thread as to the varying degrees of incidents between truckers and regular drivers. Has anyone ever thought of installing a video camera system on a semi? I know that school busses have them, and that aircraft carry a cockpit data recorder. My question is how hard would it be to install a three camrea system on a rig (one mounted on the front bumper or grille, and two rear facing ones on the sides of the cab, say on the same coupling that holds the mirrors?) It can’t be that expensive, and I figure that insurance companies would jump at the idea of having a video record of a long-haul or short-haul trucker’s route in case of a mishap. Any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![Tinkertoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f19dbf/32.png) [@Tinkertoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinkertoy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/76 "2003-11-24T08:32:20Z")
Welcome to the Boards **dalejrfan** great first post. I hope you get as addicted as the rest of us. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/77 "2003-11-24T13:46:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Satisfying Andy Licious \* > **U.S. laws changed a few years back. I don’t know if it’s nationwide or regional, but they got them to allow double trailers – one cab hauling two trailers – and the industry was pushing for triple trailers. Triple! Can you imagine? Sure, they had their lobbyists arguing it was just as safe as a single trailer. Riiiiiiight. I wonder how those things would take a corner.** Hell, in Australia, they have trains of four trailers or more. Two trailers is nothing. And there’s a variety of benefits to multiple trailers, most notably that combinations with multiple trailers will almost invariably be lighter on each axle than single trailers, leading to less road damage. There’s also very good reason to believe that one tractor and two trailers is safer than TWO tractors and two trailers. Think about it. > [@](#): > > Sure wish we’d put more funding into railroads – maybe by taxing trucks more. That would be nice if there were train tracks everywhere. There aren’t. Look, there’s a reason that the entire continent went from trains to trucks; trucks are better. You can’t run a train up to every store if there aren’t any tracks there; even if you do ship something on a train (and the trucking and rail industry actually work together really well, you know) you STILL have to put it on a truck to get it to its end destination 99.999% of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/78 "2003-11-24T14:14:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*Look, there’s a reason that the entire continent went from trains to trucks; trucks are better. You can’t run a train up to every store if there aren’t any tracks there; even if you do ship something on a train (and the trucking and rail industry actually work together really well, you know) you STILL have to put it on a truck to get it to its end destination 99.999% of the time. \*\* That’s not really a good argument as to why the rail service in the US and Canada is not comperable to that in other countries. Take a large expanse of continent, place a huge spotting of low-density cities across it, and laying tracks everywhere becomes not very economical. Now that the density patterns in the US have solidified since the post-WW2 boom, there might be many more good oppotunities to try to expand on freight and passenger rail service. Sadly, environmental, homeowners, and other lawsuits which some would classify as “nuisance” suits are preventing that. Witness the woes the DM&E has had just trying to make their one, relatively short length of line work in the Upper Great Plains. Absolute madness from their perspective (and I’ve actually met and spoken with the President of the DM&E on two occasions on the subject) - they have no incentive to ever try getting into that mess again. ---
**Author:** ![Who\_me\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/958977/32.png) [@Who\_me\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Who_me_1)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/79 "2003-11-24T16:04:43Z")
**Equipoise** , your story reminds me of the most impressive feat of driving I ever saw. I was coming onto the Washington Beltway one night. There were several cars in front of me, the lead car going 20-25 mph. That car, without any hesitantion, merged into the slow lane of the Beltway… directly in front of an 18 wheeler doing 50-55. The truck driver (as you put it) stood on the brakes, locking up all 18 wheels. I was amazed that the driver both; kept the truck straight, and kept the truck in his lane. Smoke was billowing from the tires and I expected him to hit the car. I couldn’t see how he couldn’t, but he didn’t. And the truck behind him had enough room to make a less drastic brake. I drive a lot. I drive highways every day and drive on vacations and weekend trips often. I have many more complaints about the car drivers I see than of he truck drivers I see. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538/80 "2003-11-24T20:48:01Z")
What follows is an essay I wrote. It’s kinda long, but I thought it might be appropriate for this thread: > [@](#): > > _Originally written by me:_ > > On my way home from school the Monday before Thanksgiving, I saw the aftermath of an accident. A semi was upended on the side of the road and a new SUV was askew on the road, covered with a red tarp. I’ve seen accident wreckage before, but this was the first time I’ve seen a car covered. I thought this could mean one thing: That someone in the car had died and that the EMS personnel had not extracted the body yet. > > Sure enough, I was right. When I got home, I checked the local news online. There was a brief two-paragraph story about the accident. It had happened less than an hour before I drove past. The story said that there was “at least one” fatality. I hope that whoever else was injured will be all right. > > This was the second fatal accident to happen in Cumberland County in less than a week. Last Friday, three students from Lebanon Valley College en route to a Tae Kwon Do tournament were killed near Carlisle. The same day I saw the wreckage in South Middleton Township, I had the misfortune to read the obituary of one of the students killed in that accident. Her name was Chelsey, and she grew up in Cumberland County, not far from where she died. There was a picture in the paper. She was young and pretty. It was hard to believe she’s gone. > > I don’t know what caused Friday’s accident. From what I understand, the car carrying the LVC students somehow crossed the median and into the path of two semis. > > And although I don’t know what caused today’s accident, I’m going to hazard a guess and say that someone, not necessarily the driver of the SUV, was playing chicken with a truck. I see that all the time on my daily commute. A driver in too much of a hurry swerves around trucks, trying to make up that precious few minutes and making the roads more dangerous for all of us. Or a driver in not enough of a hurry paces a semi, staying in the trucker’s blind spot. > > I know what it’s like to be involved in a car versus truck accident. One beautiful spring day in 1997, I was on my way back to work after lunch. While waiting to turn, a semi came up behind me and hit me. My car went into a spin into the median. Fortunately, the air bag deployed, abrading my face in the process. Later on, at the hospital, the policeman assigned to the accident told me that it was a good thing that the air bag deployed. If it hadn’t, there was a good chance I would have sustained a skull fracture at best. At worst, I would have been killed. As I walked out of the hospital that afternoon, I was grateful for the seatbelt and airbag that kept me alive. So what if half my face was scraped up? I was able to walk out of the emergency room alive and relatively unhurt. Today, the only remnants of that accident are some unnoticeable scars on my arm and some jaw damage. More important, I have an understanding of how to drive around trucks and a respect for the damage they are capable of doing. It’s no contest; a semi will beat a car every time. > > The trucking industry, for its part, has a campaign designed to teach motorists to share the road with truckers. It advises that motorists leave 20 to 25 car lengths behind a truck and 10 car lengths ahead of it. Motorists should not pace alongside the truck; pull ahead or behind it. According to both the Department of Transportation and the American Automobile Association, 75% of all truck-related car fatalities are attributed to the actions of the car driver. Learn how to drive around trucks. This information could save your life. And if anyone’s interested, the cite for the statistics above is [here](http://www.truckline.com/insideata/press/sharetheroad/blind_spots.pdf). (It’s a .pdf file.) Robin [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-pit-the-american-trucker/214538.md?page=5)