So I could have died last night

[zeruty]

So, I was riding with my mom last night on northbound I5 in Washington, heading from Tacoma up to highway 18, when a tarp flew off of a semi truck with a flat bed trailer that was ahead of us, one lane to the right. This tarp, flew back and landed on our windshield, completely blocking our view. Surprisingly, my mom, while she did freak out, kept us in our lane and didn't slam on the brakes to get us rear-ended. I had to roll down the window and grab the tarp and pull it out of our way as much as I could. It was caught on the front of her SUV, and I could only uncover about half of the windshield. We passed the semi, and pulled off at a rest stop about a mile down the highway.
The truck driver, having seen the tarp covering our windshield, also pulled off at the rest stop. I almost flipped on the guy, but I maintained my composure. He barely spoke English, and his license plate was from Quebec, so I think he was french-canadian.

We ended up calling the state patrol and the driver got cited for it... I can think of a lot worse things that should be done to him. I know that he didn't load the trailer, and he didn't put the tarps on the load, but when he signed for the load it's his responsibility, and he SHOULD have made sure the tarps were secure.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

 

[Savij]

Originally posted by: zeruty
So, I was riding with my mom last night on northbound I5 in Washington, heading from Tacoma up to highway 18, when a tarp flew off of a semi truck with a flat bed trailer that was ahead of us, one lane to the right. This tarp, flew back and landed on our windshield, completely blocking our view. Surprisingly, my mom, while she did freak out, kept us in our lane and didn't slam on the brakes to get us rear-ended. I had to roll down the window and grab the tarp and pull it out of our way as much as I could. It was caught on the front of her SUV, and I could only uncover about half of the windshield. We passed the semi, and pulled off at a rest stop about a mile down the highway.
The truck driver, having seen the tarp covering our windshield, also pulled off at the rest stop. I almost flipped on the guy, but I maintained my composure. He barely spoke English, and his license plate was from Quebec, so I think he was french-canadian.

We ended up calling the state patrol and the driver got cited for it... I can think of a lot worse things that should be done to him. I know that he didn't load the trailer, and he didn't put the tarps on the load, but when he signed for the load it's his responsibility, and he SHOULD have made sure the tarps were secure.

So you were the guy with the tarp covered SUV that ran over my dog?

 

[buck]

Kudos to you for keeping your cool, as if traffic isn't bad enough in that area that some asshat lets a tarp fly off his load. Fricken idiots.

 

[Alone]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

Except when they're passing out on the highway.

 

[zeruty]

Originally posted by: Savij

So you were the guy with the tarp covered SUV that ran over my dog?

So THAT's what that bump was! You know, you really shouldn't let your dog run free on a 8 (or 10? or 12? can't remember) lane limited-access freeway!

 

[drum]

I say kudos to your mom for keeping her cool and keeping it on the road

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

no way, they wouldn't be doing 85-90 on the freeway if they were safe...and they would all be in the slow lanes.

 

[TwinkleToes77]

Originally posted by: foghorn67

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

no way, they wouldn't be doing 85-90 on the freeway if they were safe...and they would all be in the slow lanes.

and they wouldnt be tailgating you in a blizzard on the highway.

 

[Christobevii3]

Truck drivers don't load their own trailers

 

[foghorn67]

Originally posted by: TwinkleToes77

Originally posted by: foghorn67

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

no way, they wouldn't be doing 85-90 on the freeway if they were safe...and they would all be in the slow lanes.

and they wouldnt be tailgating you in a blizzard on the highway.

They do that? Holy crap, that must be scary. (me lives in a no blizzard climate)

 

[GMI]

Originally posted by: Christobevii3
Truck drivers don't load their own trailers

They don't load it, but they are the one that tie down the load and the tarp in this case

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers used to be the safest drivers on the road.

Fixed that for ya...

Not any more. It seems like they'll now let almost anyone drive a truck.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

And the driver probably isn't the one that secured the tarp in teh first palce.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: Alone

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

Except when they're passing out on the highway.

I'd trut my life with a truck driver on 2 hours sleep than anyone that is talking on their cell phone.

 

[randomint]

and the world would have changed ... how?














j/k



yeah, flying things on the highway are never a good thing

 

[Eos]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

Absolutely. I've read a few times that over 90% over car/semi fatality crashes are attributed to carelessness of the driver of the car.

I've never been almost hit by a semi while driving, but damn sure have almost been hit by cars. That's with almost 1 million miles of driving.

Imagine coming up to an overpass while running about 57 mph on a 4 lane divided freeway. I'm in the left lane passing a slower truck. I come to the crest and here comes a car in my lane. Lets hope I can stop in time... I managed to stopped. I jumped out and got her turned around. Quite a day...

And the driver 100% attempted to strap down his tarp. No one else is responsible for the securement of that load or tarp. I'm glad you are okay.

 

[Jawo]

Truckers are horrible on I81 in VA....I have gotten cut off and nearly run off the road so many times by them. They just pretend that they dont see you and get over.....

I hate them with a passion!!!

 

[Imported]

Some guy in a lifted F-150 almost ran me over today. He was making a u-turn at a light that says no u-turn, and I as making a right turn on a green right arrow.. His truck would have run up over my car had I gone any slower through the turn.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

they're also the slowest and most annoying.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

And the driver probably isn't the one that secured the tarp in teh first palce.

it doesn't matter. he is in control of the vehicle, it is his responsibility 100%.

 

[Eos]

Originally posted by: Jawo
Truckers are horrible on I81 in VA....I have gotten cut off and nearly run off the road so many times by them. They just pretend that they dont see you and get over.....

I hate them with a passion!!!

And you've never tried to pass one on the right because they didn't move back over fast enough? It's very easy as a semi deriver to check the right side mirror, see no one and then start to merge a truck back to the right lane. It's also easy for a car to jump into the right lane and make a pass during this time period. Even if the truck signals the move. I've seen it dozens of times.

Hate them? Stop buying EVERYTHING then. Cause it all comes on trucks.

 

[Eos]

Originally posted by: Pepsi90919

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

they're also the slowest and most annoying.

Awww. Did your trip get delayed by 2 minutes?

I weep for the future.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
FWIW, truck drivers are the safest drivers on the road.

I'd hope so. From what I gather, they go through a bit more training than the average person, who just tries to blow through the driver's test to get the license and get out on the road, without actually learning the rules, or really understanding that driving a car involves piloting a large block of metal at high speed. Decelerating from 60mph to 0 in a fraction of a second spells "bad news" for a fragile human body. Hell, decelerating from 5mph to 0 in a fraction of a second is still uncomfortable. Walk slowly into a wall sometime without bracing yourself. You'll probably feel some manner of pain.

Originally posted by: eos
Awww. Did your trip get delayed by 2 minutes?

I weep for the future.

I think the title should be revised to say "Careless Drivers FTL."
I was driving back to my apartment tonight after a shopping trip. I was driving up a hill that the college is situated on. Limit is 35mph, but there are multiple crosswalks, and there are drunk students around campus, as spring break just started. I was driving somewhere between 30-35mph on this bumpy road, which has multiple blind spots due to its varying steepness. Someone just passed me anyway near one of these blind humps in the road, and it's a double-yellow line down the middle. They only got about 100 feet ahead of me by the time they turned into the same parking lot I was going into.
I really hate jerks like that who will endanger themselves and others for the sake of saving several seconds. It shows such arrogance and pathetic selfishness.

 

[compman25]

Originally posted by: Christobevii3
Truck drivers don't load their own trailers

Umm, some do. I have. I've also had to unload by hand 45,000lbs. No forklift, no pallet jack, all by hand. Dollar Tree stores SUCK.