Taking care of our fellow drivers

RedBird · Nov 1, 2008

I'm not really sure why I'm posting this but I guess I need to talk about it with my fellow drivers out here to get the point across........We need to take care of each other out on the road, whether you drive a cargo van or a big truck. We're all doing the same job of delivering freight.
Normally when I'm driving, and a big truck or just a truck period, passes me by, I will always 1. get on the cb to tell the driver they're clear to get in front of me, or 2. flash my headlights. The least courteous thing to do is to acknowledge my gesture......which I will say 50% do, and the rest just don't plain give a crap! Whenever I see a big truck parked on the side of the road, I will always ask on the cb if they're alright. One time while traveling through Knoxville, TN., my altinator went out on my truck and I lost all power during a rain storm, and a fellow trucker asked if I was ok and called a service truck for me (I was in a rental unit). Folks we need to take care of each other out on the road!
The next story isn't really anything negative towards drivers but just really sad. Yesterday I got a run out of suburban Chicago to run to Ohio. I live in Joliet (south suburb) so as I was taking I-80 east to I-355 to run north to my pick up in Elk Grove, I came upon a Walmart truck on it's side in the westbound lanes just before exit 135 (Maple Ave/Rte.30). Traffic was backed up for miles. I did my trip and since I went to Toledo and figured no backhaul for a Friday night...I deadheaded home. While traveling on I-80 in Indiana, I asked another Walmart driver if the driver in the wreck earlier in the day was alright, and he sadly replied he had perished in the accident. To make matters worse earlier in the evening another Walmart driver perished in an accident on I-65. I expressed my condolences to the driver to pass on to the employees families, but I got to thinking for every accident we see on the road, and we hear the driver escaped with minor cuts and bruises, how many accidents where the driver doesn't always make it out alive. My trip on Monday to Madison, on my return home, I saw a big truck in the ditch on Rte.64 just east of I-39. I now hope and pray that driver survived.
My point is we need to allow big trucks the extra space and offer them some courtesy on the roads but really need to just be plain courteous to everybody out on the road. And Take care of each other!
I appologize for the rambling here, but I do feel better for being able to talk about this.......hey everybody take care, have a great rest of the weekend and drive safely!

chefdennis · Nov 1, 2008

Thanks for the reminder.

Turtle · Nov 1, 2008

Oftentimes the driver you are talking to on the CB doesn't have his on, might be on the phone or listening to satellite radio. When you flash your lights, at the instant you flashed yours, he may have been scanning for traffic ahead and paying more attention to that rather than having his eyes glued to his rear view mirror, so he may have missed it. When you flash your lights, I hope you mean that you flash your OFFs at him and not your brights, otherwise instead of getting a,Thanks for letting me over," you might get a, "Thanks for thoroughly destroying my night vision."

I turn mine off for 2 or 3 seconds, then back on, usually off, then back on, and then on and off a couple of times real quick. That kind of light flashing can be noticed and seen out of the driver's peripheral vision even if he's not looking at the rear view mirror.

paid vacationer · Nov 2, 2008

Yes Turtle... very important point to make about turning off lights then back on...not using brights to signal clear. Nothing I hate more hardly than being "blinded by the light". I don't know what people are thinking when they use brights to signal clear. Seems reasonable to think the passing driver just might be looking in the mirror. Guess common sense aint always common.

mrgoodtude · Nov 2, 2008

A lot of the newer company trucks don't have the option of turning off the headlamps (day time running lights) so they figure the next best option is to flash you (i guess).
What seems to be a lack of courtesy sometimes is just an overzealous courteous person.

Yes we need to help each other and back in the day (before the invent of the Qualcomm and cellular phones) it was a crime not to shout out at a broke down rig but today it is assumed that most trucks have these toys..
Don't get me wrong
I (we) stop or shout out if the truck is an Owner op in the midst of nowhere and have stopped to help same but as a rule we realize that technology has replaced the human condition.
My 2 cents (about what I can afford after Oct revenue)

ATeam · Nov 2, 2008

Yesterday at a rest area, I saw a big-rig parked and idling near the sign that said no idling. A state trooper (full grown bear) driving against traffic pulled in front of the truck, which was the only one idling in the lot, and looked it over. He then parked and went in the building. The weather was mild and there was no need to idle that I could see.

I went to the truck to alert the driver and found not only was the truck idling but the driver's door was open about six inches. My first knock was not answered and I started to think I might need to go get that cop to do a health and welfare check. My second knock was answered. The driver was sleeping and had left his truck running and door open. I pointed to the cruiser and told the driver the cop had been looking him over. The driver smiled, turned off his truck, closed the door and went back to bed.

Yes, we should take care of our fellow drivers, and often it only takes a minute to do so. But at the same time, some of these fools need all the help they can get and you really wonder if they have any business being on the road in the first place.

FIS53 · Nov 2, 2008

Well in Canada the DRL (daytime running lights) are mandated so we have the problem of only being able to flash our brights to let a driver know he is clear to change lanes. I try to make it a double fast flashing. Easy to do in the sprinter but my other buggy does not have a highbeam flash so harder to accomplish.
Rob

TeamCaffee · Nov 2, 2008

With our truck when you turn the lights off you turn all of the lights off. You have no clearance lights left on you just become a black hole. I have quit turning our lights off and did start doing a quick flash of my lights. I figured out quickly I do not like a flash of bright lights in my eyes so I no longer do anything unless the weather is adverse. To me this is not being rude it is more of being safety conscious of all of our lights going off.

We do not have our CB on unless we are on an escort load. The CB talk is just too overboard to subject myself to. We have had people pull up beside us and wave their CB at us and then I will turn it on to talk to them. Each time they have been asking a question about the truck.

We also assume that a truck or a car parked alongside the road has a cell phone and has called for help.

Will probably get hammered for this one but we also do not warn people who cannot follow the speed limit, cannot read signs of where not to park, and just flaunt the law. If you cannot do all of the above you need to pay the fine it is not my job to look out for you.

We have witnessed a bad rollover accident happen and we were the only ones on the scene. We used the truck to block the accident, we called 911, and then we went to the car to offer assistance. The couple was still seat belted in the car, pretty beat up but their belongings were scattered everywhere. We gathered up their phones and their computers and answered their questions on where other items they wanted to know about where located. As soon as the police and ambulance arrived we left the scene comfortable with how we handled the situation and that we were able to relieve their minds on getting their belongings to them.

We always use our turn signals when changing lanes we use our flashers when traffic suddenly slows down and also when backing. We turn our high beams off before they can blind oncoming cars and do everything we can to be considerate drivers out here. When possible we move over a lane when a vehicle is merging into traffic. My one huge pet peeve is when people try to cut me off in a construction lane.

RedBird · Nov 2, 2008

I should have clarified earlier, generally I do turn off and on my headlights at night and daytime as well as but will also sometimes flash the brights real quick no offense to anyone out on the road, But I will flash my brights on an oncoming vehicle with their bright lights on......It's a trick of the trade I learned while a police officer, that usually someone driving with brights on for a long period is a DUI!

Turtle · Nov 2, 2008

If you're unable to turn your DRL off, then dismissing for a moment that even the momentary flash of bright lights will kill someone night vision, you might want to just go ahead and read up on the laws that state when it is legal to have your bright lights on. Most places it's within 500 feet of an oncoming vehicle, and 300 feet behind a vehicle going in the same direction. So, if you flash your high beams to let someone know it's OK to come over, you need to make sure that they're at least 300 feet, a football field, in front of you before you do so.

morningstar55ny · Nov 2, 2008

ATeam said:
Yesterday at a rest area, I saw a big-rig parked and idling near the sign that said no idling. A state trooper (full grown bear) driving against traffic pulled in front of the truck, which was the only one idling in the lot, and looked it over. He then parked and went in the building. The weather was mild and there was no need to idle that I could see.

I went to the truck to alert the driver and found not only was the truck idling but the driver's door was open about six inches. My first knock was not answered and I started to think I might need to go get that cop to do a health and welfare check. My second knock was answered. The driver was sleeping and had left his truck running and door open. I pointed to the cruiser and told the driver the cop had been looking him over. The driver smiled, turned off his truck, closed the door and went back to bed.

Yes, we should take care of our fellow drivers, and often it only takes a minute to do so. But at the same time, some of these fools need all the help they can get and you really wonder if they have any business being on the road in the first place.

....makes me wonder....... why would anyone in there right mind go to sleep ...... with there door cracked open.??? maybe he was expecting ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh certain company??? wierd........