Something to think about while driving
 

I witnessed something today that I think every driver should have in their mind while at a traffic light.

Just recently I joined on as a partner in my cousins trucking company.Well in this company everyone drives some (we do flatbed) so I have been riding and driving with my cousin and some of the other drivers to get some experience with flatbeds.

Well today I did a quick regional job in Kentucky the truck I am driving is a 379.Well we get off the interstate onto a 4 lane divided highway.At the first traffic light another 379 with a hopper pulls up next to me.I guess he was in a hurry cause he got up to about 67MPH cause I was going about 63.So a mile or two up the road he gets ahead and gets into the right lane there is a Honda Accord on up the road in the left lane.

So I see another traffic light down the road about 2 miles away as I get closer I start letting off because they always seem to change for me.Sure enough it does from my vantage point I'm about 400 yards away when it turns yellow the other 379 is about 110 yards in front of me and the Honda is closer maybe 200 yards from the light when it goes yellow.

So I start slowing down the Honda starts slowing down.The other 379? Hell no he keeps it mashed to floor lights been red for 4 or 5 seconds by the time he goes under the lights.:o And there are cars ready to go luckily they where either lethargic on the light change (which was green for them) or they saw "Peterkilt"(Peter-killed-it) coming and waited.

Just saying even if it is green you might want to look and see if anyone else is running the light specifically if you are up at the line.It is bad enough to get hit by a car or pickup that might run a light a semi is gonna kill you and your dog back at home and knock your neighbor into next week.

Remember everyone else "sharing" the road is an idiot and they will kill you if you let them.

What a risk that driver took and for what to arrive 20 seconds sooner.

Well, I'm glad it wasn't a green Volvo with a sleeper.

I've seen this a lot here in Cali. Funny thing, in MD where I used to live, the lights are all timed so that the time it takes for the lights on road a to go from yellow to red, it takes for the light on road b to turn green. Lots of time for clowns like that to run the light.

Here their red and your green switch at almost the exact same time. I think the other way is safer...

hey, that's my car!

I was in a similar situation a few years ago. I wasn't going that fast...but slightly above the limit. Saw the yellow light, started braking and stopped where I should. But the lorry driver behind my tail must have thought that both of us would 'make it' through the yellow.
Well, what I saw was his cabin nose-dive very, very, very deep but he somehow managed not to crash my back.

Here in the UK they are known as 'amber gamblers'.

That's when you get accident reports like...

"A green light anticipator was struck by a yellow light accelerator":huh:

Shame there was not a red light camera taking pictures so a violation notice and fine could be mailed to the owner of the truck. What I don't understand is drivers who depend on their CDL to survive drive like idiots. It does not take much to lose their safety rating and get black balled by companies offering loads to transport.

Those are known as Billy Bob truckers.

Here in PA a moving violation while driving your POV in a construction or school zone will get your CDL yanked poste haste.:huh: Because you're supposed to know better.:-?

Oh yea. Courts aside, there is one universal rule of the road, "He who's biggest wins". I don't think a lot of people realize it can take a long time for a tractor to slow down. I think this every time i see some idiot dart in front of one, especially as a light is changing. Inertia's a bitch.

Driving today holds the same advice as the X files...
Trust No One!

That happened to me back in '75. My wife and I were driving up a regular city street and were slowing down for a red light. We were still fifty feet from it when it changed green. I accelerated back to 30 mph and was crossing the intersection when a guy trying to beat the yellow light (5-6 seconds late) plowed into us, hitting the passenger side of the car just a few inches behind my wife. Nobody was hurt, and there were several witnesses to testify that the other guy was way late on the light, so I was in no trouble.

When I was first driving my dad told me "The only time you ever run a yellow light is if you are already too close to stop when it changes." My own version is "If you have to accelerate to beat the light, you're doing it wrong."

I believe my grandfather once said to my mother when she was learning to drive that one should drive as if there was the possibility to run into a copulating elephant around the next corner.

:har:

:har:

No other comment needed. Seen too much of the result.

:huh:

This is so true.
I am driving to Hamburg on a regular basis, round about 60km. The crap I see on this short trip (45-60minutes) is amazing and brought me to the very same conclusion: Do not rely on anyone here, keep your distance, keep your concentration up, enjoy a safe trip... while on the left lane a lunatic races by with ~200km/h while the streets are wet and rainy, visibility is low... wtf hello!?? :doh:

Just go and shoot yourself in some backyard if you can't wait... but don't try to kill others on the streets damnit...

I drive by the rule 'might is right'and always let the big stuff go first, unless I'm pulling away from light next to a big-rigs' cab and can out-pace him before the lanes merge into one. On a multi-laned roundabout NEVER try overtaking a lorry if you're both going right as he will very quickly take your road. I've seen this happen and the result was not pretty.