Accident I79 North of Pittsburgh
Nasty accident on I79 involving two semi trucks and a pickup truck towing a trailer.. Northbound near Zelienople PA WPXI NEWS Hope everyone is OK, news hasn't reported anything about conditio...
Forum Discussion
I have a friend who drove big rigs in the military and he constantly blames auto drivers for any accident involving a semi.
He talks about how safe the semi drivers are and how reckless the auto drivers are.
I just agree to disagree, as I have seen MANY semi drivers cutting cars off to switch lanes to make the appropriate interchange at the last minute. I have also seen them fail to anticipate slowing traffic and damn near rear end several cars.
Absolutely! The other issue is that 99% of the other drivers on the road pay zero attention to what's happening behind them. I can't believe how many will end up at the back of a jamb, due to construction or an accident ahead, stop 4' from the guy in front, and NEVER look in the mirror. I can't count the number of times I see idiots sliding to a stop behind me, since they are not paying the least bit of attention to what is going on. One day, out on RT 80, I was last in line at a dead stopped jamb, driving an F250 and a travel trailer attached. I left a good 150' in front, and immediately shifted my focus to the mirrors. Sure enough, a semi driver was closing fast, still doing 70MPH. I was beginning to take the escape route of stuffing my rig down the shoulder between the guiderail and the stopped traffic, as he started to jack knife. By the time it was over, I had used my 150 ft. of cushion, and was about to stuff the nose in the gap, while he had slid sideways a few hundred feet with the trailer sideways, and all the brakes smoking. I know for a fact that most of the cars ahead missed the show, since they never even bothered to check the mirror. Not saying that this accident was preventable, but they are a lot more survivable if you stop driving like a proctologist, and leave enough room that you aren't blasted into the back of another rig, because you aren't driving defensively.
Situational awareness is being aware of more than just what you are looking at out the windshield.
He talks about how safe the semi drivers are and how reckless the auto drivers are.
I just agree to disagree, as I have seen MANY semi drivers cutting cars off to switch lanes to make the appropriate interchange at the last minute. I have also seen them fail to anticipate slowing traffic and damn near rear end several cars.
Absolutely! The other issue is that 99% of the other drivers on the road pay zero attention to what's happening behind them. I can't believe how many will end up at the back of a jamb, due to construction or an accident ahead, stop 4' from the guy in front, and NEVER look in the mirror. I can't count the number of times I see idiots sliding to a stop behind me, since they are not paying the least bit of attention to what is going on. One day, out on RT 80, I was last in line at a dead stopped jamb, driving an F250 and a travel trailer attached. I left a good 150' in front, and immediately shifted my focus to the mirrors. Sure enough, a semi driver was closing fast, still doing 70MPH. I was beginning to take the escape route of stuffing my rig down the shoulder between the guiderail and the stopped traffic, as he started to jack knife. By the time it was over, I had used my 150 ft. of cushion, and was about to stuff the nose in the gap, while he had slid sideways a few hundred feet with the trailer sideways, and all the brakes smoking. I know for a fact that most of the cars ahead missed the show, since they never even bothered to check the mirror. Not saying that this accident was preventable, but they are a lot more survivable if you stop driving like a proctologist, and leave enough room that you aren't blasted into the back of another rig, because you aren't driving defensively.
Situational awareness is being aware of more than just what you are looking at out the windshield.
