jfkmk wrote:
Something everybody seems to be missing here is the op was not driving his rv, an 18 wheeler or a stretch limo. He was driving a jeep towing an atv trailer. I ask again, just how far left did he have to go to make a right hand turn? His tow vehicle was hit, so the guy who hit him was at least past his trailer. That would indicate he was WAY left, perhaps in the oncoming lane. If I was following him, I might think he was making a left too. You might too!
Who, exactly, is missing that? Are you talking to me? Did anything I wrote suggest or even hint that he needed to swing left? Or are you talking solely to the limo driver -- which can't be since you refer to "everybody".
Since an articulated length like that should be easier to turn than a straight class A, could the answer to your question be "not at all"?
As for my comments above, I made them for the benefit of class A drivers because, unless I'm mistaken, this is the class A subforum. And I made the assumption this thread was in this subforum for the edification of class A drivers and responded accordingly. Do you think I made a mistake? Would you feel better if a moderator moved this entire thread to the Jeeps towing ATV trailers subforum?
And since I'm here, let me add a little more that might be helpful to someone: there are some streets where you should not be making a turn if you cannot do it safely. That may be because there is a car inching up on you to the right that you're going to clip. Or you are considering making a turn where you feel you need to swing out to the left and leave yourself in a situation where someone may think you're going left and be tempted to squeeze in to the right. And in a way in which you cannot see them and stop in time to prevent contact.
I suggest you don't make that turn. It's dangerous. As a professional driver I've been faced with those turns. The correct course, in my opinion, is to NOT try to force a dangerous turn like that. Do not turn right and take a chance of hitting the car on the right, running over the corner curb, running into or over the median in the middle of the right hand street, or confusing other drivers and put everyone and their vehicles at risk by having people second guess you.
So how do you safely get down that street on the right? Drive straight ahead. Make the first safe left turn that allows you to make another left after that that allows you to make yet one more left and turn onto the street your originally wanted to be on. Continue one or more blocks until you pass through the intersection where you were tempted with that unsafe right turn and continue on the street you originally intended to be on.
There. Now you know. And trust me, I am not trying to be a wise guy here. Like I said, even though some people insist we're not talking about 18 wheelers or limos, we're talking about long vehicles and unsafe right turns. Clearly not everyone knows how to do it. And, as I said in a previous post, not everyone has learned to professionally drive a bus or a big rig. And even some people who have are not sure how to handle every situation or have the presence of mind to make the right decision every time.
The truth is, many times we know where we want to go, and we know how we would do it in our car, and we just move forward with a whispered "I know I can make this" or "I hope I can make this" or, perhaps most frighteningly a "zzzzzzzzzz", which can sometimes lead to an "oh $#%!"
There's bound to be at least one person out there that recognizes the danger in driving large, heavy rigs, who will read this and think "wow, it seems so obvious now, but I never actually thought about that approach" and will keep these words in the back of their mind and will pause at the next iffy right turn and think "you know, it will take me only two extra minutes to just keep going and get on the same street at the same place by making easier left turns". And you folks make taking the time to write all this out worth it.
And Jimmy the limo guy, please think about this the next time you're on a job ;-)
