How is your week?
- Thread starter paullud
- Start date
Your wrong on this one Mac. There is a lot of reasons things like this could happen. Ever seen a black cow in the road on a dark night? You won't until it's too late. You've either hit it or not before you ever know it's there.
purgoose10
Veteran Expediter
Slow down to 5mph every time you round a curve or crest a hill. Yeah, that's the ticket.
LOL.....
LOL.....
Dude should be worrying more about learning to back up.
mcavoy33
Seasoned Expediter
I said a corner that you can't see a tractor trailer fwiw. That would have to be a pretty sharp corner imo and hence you should slow down to close to 5mp on that sharp of a corner.
If I were faced with hitting a cow or an oncoming vehicle, the cow gets it, every time.
If I were faced with hitting a cow or an oncoming vehicle, the cow gets it, every time.
mcavoy33
Seasoned Expediter
I probably am. But I personally think that if the road is that dark, you probably shouldn't be out driving your headlights. That's just the way I was taught. I took defensive driving when I was 16 and one of the things that always stuck was to always have a back up plan, always look for a route to escape in an emergency.
Then when I was 17, I fell in love with poker, so I studied it. One of the most important lessons I learnt was to always leave yourself outs. So it just reinforce the backup plan idea to me.
I use to own a sawmill and I sold cedar timbers to log home companies in the U.P., I travelled in Northern Ontario quite a bit searching for wood supplies. I've driven many a dark roads avoiding deer & mouse. I've had to swerve between them standing on the road.
Now I've never encountered this driving a ST. I've mostly stuck to the interstates at night. But if the road is that dark, I personally don't believe you should be driving that fast.
I'm all about pushing the limits but there are limits. I haven't had a speeding ticket in over a dozen years since I was young, dumb and full of c... in my early 20's. I religiously drive 5-7 mph over the speed limit in a car, nothing faster, In a truck, I stay below the speed limit because thats where my comfort level is and I don't have the same braking power as I do in a car.
I'm still a little nervous as I don't know all of the limits of a ST, so I prefer to be safer than sorry so I just believe if the road is too dark that you can't see a freakin huge cow, you shouldn't be driving that fast on a dark road. That's just my beliefs.
Even before I was a professional driver, I would drive 60 000 miles a year. The way I've managed to stay accident free is by being careful and knowing your limitations and being aware of your surroundings. I don't claim to be perfect and I don't know it all, far from it but I just think too many people take their vehicles for granted. I've known too many friends & acquintances that have died in accidents to drive stupidly.
Part of this was reinforced when I owned my sawmill. One Sunday I was getting a load of logs, well one of the truck drivers didn't show up, so there was no one to drive the boom truck, well the owner of the trucking company wanted to make his money, I wanted my logs, it was the back woods, so he let me drive his boom truck and he drove his t/t.
Well on the way back, I was carrying a load of logs in the back and I was getting more confident with the shifting pattern of a 13 speed, next thing you know, there is a sharp corner and I didn't slow down enough for a top heavy load of logs and I could feel the wheels almost leaving the ground on the one side.
I was pretty scared, after that I realized the difference between driving a personal vehicle and driving a big truck I learnt the hard way without learning the hard way but the point is, I learnt that you have to slow down in a truck and you can't drive like a car.
So if I'm driving in some back roads where its dark and there might be animals, I'll continue to drive a little slower than normal.
mcavoy33
Seasoned Expediter
I'm sorry, I didn't see your post on the first page. I was talking about somebody that posted about their aunt and how chef was talking about you can be sued for it.
Then I was responding to highway star's hypothetical situation about going down a hill or around a corner. I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean to.
I can admit I am a moran, I do stupid things all the time. I use this place to come and vent and get away from the real world and to learn a little bit here and there while I'm at it.
Again, I apologize, I wasn't talking about you or your wife, I'm glad everything is ok.
That was a great essay in post 69 and I'm glad to hear that you're focused on safety. The vast, vast majority of pro drivers share that focus. Despite that, doo-doo happens. I hit a deer 2 years ago with my truck. It was on the Ohio turnpike, which is pretty wide open for the most part. It happened at 0100. Beyond the right shoulder the terrain dipped down, putting the deer out of my field of vision as I approached. I didn't realize it was there until I saw the top of its head in front of the truck. Too late...
So, that makes me a bad driver? Irresponsible? Incompetent? I don't think so. The bottom line is, it can happen. I live in northern Michigan and I can assure you there are many times that I've not hit deer. I'm very aware of wildlife on the highway. But still, it can happen, and I assure you, that accident didn't make me question my skills for even a second.
So, that makes me a bad driver? Irresponsible? Incompetent? I don't think so. The bottom line is, it can happen. I live in northern Michigan and I can assure you there are many times that I've not hit deer. I'm very aware of wildlife on the highway. But still, it can happen, and I assure you, that accident didn't make me question my skills for even a second.
Big of you to say, Mcavoy. Accepted and let's move forward.
Myrian and I remain students of our trade. Safety is (are) the biggest skill(s) we look to hone every day. When we stop learning, or at least trying to, we'll hang up the keys.
You have to believe that this incident cycled through our minds (Myrian's more so than mine) asking ourselves what could we have done differently. We came up with nothing other than the shipper having their feces coagulated, and us leaving on schedule, instead of 6.5 hours later. Regarding the cow, we learned nothing other than our training was correct. Expensive way to be a mythbuster, but we're happy with the outcome. If anyone has any differing points of view, we're all ears. The Puerto Rican made me promise to make this a learning experience for anyone who will listen. Guess she needs the comfort in knowing the cow's death wasn't completely senseless.
On a side note, Myrian is receiving 3 CSA points. The non-preventable accident is none, but the fact that we had to be towed from an accident scene is one point, and tripled for the recent event. Yep, CSA works. Sarcasm intended.
Myrian and I remain students of our trade. Safety is (are) the biggest skill(s) we look to hone every day. When we stop learning, or at least trying to, we'll hang up the keys.
You have to believe that this incident cycled through our minds (Myrian's more so than mine) asking ourselves what could we have done differently. We came up with nothing other than the shipper having their feces coagulated, and us leaving on schedule, instead of 6.5 hours later. Regarding the cow, we learned nothing other than our training was correct. Expensive way to be a mythbuster, but we're happy with the outcome. If anyone has any differing points of view, we're all ears. The Puerto Rican made me promise to make this a learning experience for anyone who will listen. Guess she needs the comfort in knowing the cow's death wasn't completely senseless.
On a side note, Myrian is receiving 3 CSA points. The non-preventable accident is none, but the fact that we had to be towed from an accident scene is one point, and tripled for the recent event. Yep, CSA works. Sarcasm intended.
Wow... Is it going to be O.K. with the Fed? There was a driver that had his contract terminated over a deer hit.
I was thinking the same thing. I believe it was Nightcreacher?
Maybe selective standards?
How does being towed from a non-preventable accident get you CSA points? How does that enhance safety?
Going to fight those points I hope.
How does that enhance safety? Going to fight those points I hope.
If you go back and read Steve's story...he was also having "discussions" with the Feds....the deer hit IMO was just the excuse they used...
If I were faced with hitting a cow or an oncoming vehicle, the cow gets it, every time.
In my book, the cow, deer, moose get it EVERY time. You know what kind of critter you are looking at with them. But......if you try to swerve or evade....ya never know what kinda critter is waiting for you in the ditch.
Beef cow or Dairy? If it was a Dairy someone should be looking for her.