Danger on the Highway I recently saw a sign that read “Welcome to the most dangerous place on earth, the American highway.” That however, was not what caused me to write this piece. The following incident did. I was driving a semi configured with a tanker hauling flammable liquid chemicals. The location was I 240 east in Memphis Tennessee where the speed limit is 55 mph. I was traveling in the granny lane (trucker speak for the slow lane) on a 3 lane highway. I saw a Chevrolet Suburban with a middle aged female driver and several children coming down an off ramp. I checked my mirrors and saw another semi ¼ mile behind me. I reduced my speed from 55mph to 45mph to allow enough time for the Suburban to safely enter the highway. The semi behind me was closing the gap between us very rapidly. It appeared as if the driver was accelerating and he proceeded to bully his way into the next lane on the left, forcing a 4 wheeler (trucker speak for a 4 wheeled vehicle) into the hammer lane (trucker speak for the fast lane), otherwise the 4 wheeler would have been crushed. As he passed me at an estimated 75mph, he is screaming on his CB radio “If you are going to slow down for damn 4 wheelers, you can get the f—k out of my way an keep off my f-----g road. At mile 35 on I 40 east, I came upon an accident with a semi and two 4 wheelers. It was the trucker who claimed the road was his, with his rig lying on its side and two demolished 4 wheelers. A trucker traveling west bound was on his CB saying “Look at that, another 4 wheeler caused a wreck that will be blamed on the truck driver”. This type of thinking is all too common. The CB radio is used to bad mouth 4 wheelers, bad mouth law enforcement, verbally abuse other drivers, intimidate new drivers and notify drivers where the cops are. Unless I am breaking the law why would I care where the cops are? I seldom turn it on anymore. As I develop my point of view, let’s back up a bit and ask a couple of questions. What ever happened to the mythical Professional Driver? Was there really that mythical driver or are truckers the same today as they always were? Simply described, the old time Professional Driver had a higher skill level than an ordinary driver. They recognized a responsibility to keep themselves safe, but more importantly to keep ordinary drivers safe. They were noted for being courteous on the highway, always willing to help a motorist in need. They used their CB radios to communicate road hazards and other useful information to other Professional Drivers. They were a proud group and knew they had to uphold a positive image. You say “only in the movies”. I beg to differ. I personally knew a Professional Driver who drove more than 40 years that fit my description. He is now deceased and hadn’t driven much since the late 1990’s. He drove the eastern seaboard, Northern Maine to South Florida. There wasn’t a trucker that routinely drove that route that didn’t know this man. If I said his name there are still truckers today that would know who I am referring to. I was in Detroit recently and a trucker came up to me and said I recognize the accent. You are from Maine aren’t you? Did you know “Super Frog”? He saved my life once and maybe others. I had driven too far for too long, it was late at night and I was falling asleep behind the wheel. Super Frog recognized the symptoms and pulled up beside me in his beautiful COE Ford, slowed down and got my attention and got me on the CB. He said “Son we are going to get you off the road before you kill yourself or someone else”. He kept me awake by making me talk to him on the CB. Occasionally he would play a tune for me on his harmonica. To make a long story short he got me to a rest area where I slept the night. Super Frog vanished into the night with his load of Maine potatoes. What a great testimonial! This is fact, not a myth. You may ask, “What makes you an expert on truck driving?” I am not an expert. I continue to learn. I have held a driver license for 45 years. I have driven an estimated 1,850,000 miles with 600,000 of those miles as a Professional Driver. To this date there are no accidents and no moving violations on my record. I have formed an opinion based on observation. Let’s define the word accident. Wikipedia defines the word as follows: An accident or a mishap is an unforeseen and unplanned event or circumstance, often with lack of intention or necessity. It usually implies a generally negative outcome which might have been avoided or prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon, prior to its occurrence. Dictionary defines the word as follows: An undesirable or unfortunate happening that occurs unintentionally and usually results in harm, injury, damage, or loss, casualty; any event that happens unexpectedly, without a deliberate plan or cause. I submit to you, the word accident is frequently used incorrectly. Is it an accident if a negative result occurs when a driver knowingly exceeds the speed limit, follows too close, fails to yield etc.? The list could get rather lengthy. The incident I opened with; do you think that was truly an accident? Just one more thought on accidents. I frequently hear the cause of the accident was road conditions or traffic was heavy. I well simply say the Professional Driver will modify their driving style to handle the road conditions. Keep this in mind as we proceed. My goal here is to provide you with information that may help you be safer on the highway, especially when big trucks are involved. It is a proven fact that an 80,000 lb. rig traveling 55 mph under ideal conditions and new brakes requires more than a football field length to completely stop. At more than 55mph there is a multiplier effect that comes into play. Let’s just say it would be a lot of crushed 4 wheelers as a worst case scenario. If you have a rig pushing you and you fight back, the loser will be you. Swallow your pride and do what you can safely do to just let him go. Change lanes if you can, slow down even to make him pass you; do something to get this guy off your bumper. Daily I observe semi’s pushing 4 wheelers on the highway and complaining about how bad people drive in 4 wheelers. A very common occurrence is 4 wheelers cutting off semis in traffic. Keep your distance. Give them space. They cannot stop like you can! Flat tires are not only a danger to the trucker but also to others on the highway. You have seen the “alligators” along the highway, especially in the hot south. These generally are treads that came off retreaded tires that were overheated. If you are driving beside a semi rig and you hear tires thumping, it may be a dangerous situation. It could be a retread tire about to come unglued and file a flight plan. That tread hitting your vehicle could be disastrous. Again put some distance between you and those thumping tires. I am not a fan of retreaded tires on any vehicle, but I feel strongly they should actually be illegal on vehicles placarded for hazardous materials. A high percentage of companies use retreads. I have never had a blow out with a new tire, but many blow outs when running retreads. Tired truckers are still a problem. Lawmakers have passed stringent hours of service rules to overcome this serious problem. It may in fact be the number one problem today. I won’t get deep into the details, but basically a trucker can work a 14 hours in a 24 hour period with up to 11 hours of the 14 driving the truck. Of the 11 hours drive time he cannot drive more than 8 hours without taking at least a 30 minute break. There are continuing efforts by various groups and lawmakers to deal with this problem. I have been passing a semi when the driver fell asleep and drifted in to my lane and I have had a sleeping driver attempting to pass me and drifted into my lane. What do you think happens when two rigs weighing 80,000 each collide at road speed? Keep in mind I only haul hazardous materials. Nearly 100 percent of my loads are flammable; some can also be toxic, corrosive, marine pollutants, etc. A driver falls asleep and overcomes another vehicle and runs over it. He wakes up wondering what he hit. It happens daily on the American highway. If you see a semi weaving in and out of his lane for a period of time, the driver is sleeping, texting, on the phone or doing something to cause loss of vehicle control. Is it an accident when a driver continues to drive when he knows he is no longer safe and has a negative occurrence? You are limited in what you can do. Get off the highway if you have to. Please call the police; you might be saving someone’s life. As with all the other scenarios put distance between you and the semi. What is the real problem with all these scenarios we have talked about? Can you pass laws to eliminate all these problems? I have worked with legislation for 30 years. I have drafted legislation; I have testified on legislation, and I have prepared impact statements on more than 50,000 pieces of legislative proposals. Frequently legislative intent is not satisfied, which results in more legislation. You get the “snowball effect”, it just continues to grow. Honestly, the real problem is not always lack of driving skill. But it is almost always bad decision making resulting from an improper attitude. You can legislate that you must take a 10 hour break, but you cannot control what takes place in those 10 hours. I had one of the best driving instructors available today. I remember him saying “I only have you for a short period of time; I cannot teach you everything you need to know about driving a truck. A Professional Driver continues to learn until he stops driving. A day you do not learn something or teach someone something is a day lost. I can teach you the basics so that you have a foundation to build on. I can teach how to be safe and keep others safe and we can talk about attitude. Attitude is perhaps the most important of all. Attitude is entirely up to you; it is out of my control. ”No truer words were ever spoken. Now perhaps it sounds like I have painted a picture indicating that all truck drivers are dangerous bullies. That is not my intent. There are true Professional Drivers out there that take pride in their work and value safety. These folks never get deserved recognition. The “Highway Rambo’s” are the ones making the news. Unfortunately, the percentage of these drivers is high enough so that it seems like all truckers have gotten a bad rap. This small percentage of drivers has created a dangerous situation that could affect you every time you are on the highway. You need to be aware and try to protect against the danger. Will legislation correct the problem? My opinion is that it cannot entirely. The attitudinal problems are prevalent across the board in today’s society. Perhaps this is a barometer of where we are as a society.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 19:46:44 +0000