A Safety Lesson Learned

JFNM wrote:
As a cyclist and motorist that has had to pull onto the should a time or two, I can assure you that motorists are out to kill you. They have no comprehension of the danger they are putting you in. So, anything you can do to get traffic to slow, move over, or simply pay attention is worth doing.

4X4Dodger wrote:

toedtoes wrote:

Searching_Ut wrote:
I work with a retired highway patrol officer who was hit 4 times During his 24 years in the hwy patrol. He mentioned that it was common for drivers to steer towards what they were looking at. Evidently this is especially applicable to impaired drivers so things like cop cars with flashing life's actually attract drunks etc. in some cases. It's kind of one of those no good answer situations other than try to avoid the situation if at all possible.

I was always told that same thing about "steering towards what you're looking at". Your co-worker is very lucky he's still alive; it's horrid some of the things that have happened to highway patrol on the side of the highway.

Remember to always get out of the vehicle on the passenger side and to move as far to the right of the roadway as possible. The closer you stay to the vehicle, the more danger you're in.

Wile I am not justifying ever hitting a highway patrolman (or anyone else for that matter) I do have to point out that many Highway Patrol put themselves in needlessly dangerous situations.

The CHP has this right and has had for many years. It is their policy to follow a car to a SAFE pulloff area and then stay on the Passenger side or the side of the car AWAY from the road.

Way too many times I have seen a HP pull over a car leaving the car out on part of the highway and his car parked so it does not protect him (inside or to the Right) of the pulled over car with the Patrolman standing ON the road.

This is asking for trouble. Many HP deaths and injuries could be prevented by smarter safety practices and not pulling cars off the road where little or no room exists for safety of the officer and the driver of the car.

3oaks wrote:
The law this, the law that, don't rely on the laws to keep you safe in the event of a roadside emergency. It's against the law to drive while intoxicated or high on drugs too! How well does that work? And numerous videos on U-Tube of police cars being demolished while parked on the shoulder of the road while they were assisting a disabled motorist. While parked completely off the roadway.....