I Nearly Died Tonight ...

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by orange
can you diagram the intersection for us using paint or some other program?

I don't have a program like that on my computer.

Basically, it was an ordinary "cross" intersection, shaped like this (the main highway is the east-west axis, the side road the north-south axis):

+

There's an Arby's restaurant in the upper right-hand corner of the intersection and a car wash in the upper left-hand corner of the intersection. There's a park in the lower right-hand corner and a photography business in the lower left-hand corner. The intersection is completely controlled by lights that are activated when a vehicle from the side street is waiting to cross or turn and merge into traffic.

The 18-wheeler was coming from west going east on the main highway, and I was turning west onto the highway from the south half of the side road.

Gatekeeper

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
OH NO! The Brain is dead?!

The Brain, huh? Well, he came within a foot of meeting the Grim Reaper, yes, but he lived to create this thread about the whole ordeal.

Gatekeeper

[Imran Siddiqui]

.... the other Brain, GK ... as in the poster .

[Gatekeeper]

Argh. Hey, I got smarts, too, ya know.

[Adam Smith]

Gatekeeper:

Glad you are still with us.

Originally posted by JohnT
Actually, reading the DOT's Fatality Analysis Reporting System you will see that semi's are, at worst, just slightly more likely to be involved to be involved in accidents:

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/pubs/4.pdf

"In 1999 large trucks accounted for 4% of all registered vehicles and 8% of total vehicle miles driven.... In 2000, large trucks accounted for 9% of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes and 4% of all vehicles involved in injury and property-damage-only crashes."

Otoh, as one would guess, these accidents tend to be more fatal, with 12% of all auto fatalities coming at the hands of the laws of physics which argues that big, steel boxes will tend to crush aluminum framework.

In short, I just don't see the evidence that supports the assertion that truck drivers are inherently more dangerous than any other class of driver... but I do see plenty of evidence that trucks are more dangerous than any other class of vehicle.

This is actually a very misleading set of statistics due to aggregation problems, though most people have no way of knowing that. A good chunk of truck traffic is long-haul trips on interstates, which are much safer (on a vehicle mile traveled basis) than other types of highways. When you take out the relatively safe interstates, the accident involvement gets much higher, especially as you work your way down through US highways, state highways, local highways, and onto city streets as in Gatekeeper's case. Each type of road is less and less capable of coping with a mix of large truck and auto traffic.

[JohnT]

A set of statistics I wasn't able to find are percentages regarding whom was charged with the accidents in a truck vs. passenger car accident. That would really tell us who's at fault in these situations.

[Bereta_Eder]

Originally posted by Gatekeeper


Problem is, I don't carry such weapons. And even if I did, I was in no shape at that moment to be taking potshots at a steel-encased truck driver.

Gatekeeper

It was a joke of course

Glad you are OK. Got to watch for those crazed truck drivers... and also bus drivers with empty buses on their way to the bus shelter station

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Among 17,000 posters, it's always a possibility. Only a few people who aren't online junkies understand what our online communities mean, and aren't necessarily likely to notify people in the event of a death.

When it does happen, you have to take into consideration the possibility it's a hoax. It's happened on more than one occasion.

Yep. It happened once on an old forum I used to post at years ago. It certainly dealt a severe blow to the sense of trust for a lot of people there at the time. I believe a number of them had sent flowers, some money, food. The moral of the story? Some folks will take advantage of others no matter what. It's sad, but a fact of life. The good thing? Such folks are usually outnumbered by good-hearted counterparts.

Gatekeeper

[Bereta_Eder]

quote:
Originally posted by Proteus_MST
Glad you´re O.K.

Did you tell the police about it, so they at least try to find this reckless trucker?
Maybe the next person who encounters this Trucker won´t have so much luck like you.
------------

I wasn't (understandably) able to get a license plate at the time. I must have been pre-occupied with seeing my life flash before my eyes or something.




yep, in situations like these you're just glad to still be alive basically... can't really re-compose yourself in a milisecond after something like this.


Something similar was me getting in a cab whose driver was high on some kind of drug. I still thank god that I'm alive after that experience... but when I got out of that cab my mind wasn't anywhere getting his license plates... just indiscribably glad to have my two feet on the ground.

[Gatekeeper]

It appears a number of folks have horror stories when it comes to encounters with 18-wheelers, buses and taxi cabs.

Gatekeeper

[DRoseDARs]

Originally posted by JohnT
Oh, please. Believe it or not, truckers say the same damned things about you. Your problem lies that fact that you are "unwary" - your words, man.

Bite me, JohnT. The only place I speed is the left lane on the freeway (so-called fastlane). All the other lanes I slow to 65mph. I use my turn signals effectively, allow safe driving distance in front of me, I don't weave back and forth through traffic just to move ahead one car length, I don't cut people off, I let people merge in front of me, I stop at red lights and stop signs, I don't turn the ignition until all seatbelts are fastened, I slow to a crawl at RR crossings and look both ways before proceeding, I give 18-wheelers a wide berth both in front/back/and sides and so on.

How dare you acuse me of being "unwary" when you don't know sh*t about me! I've had other people acuse me of being just "another teenage driver," then retract their ignorant statment and prejudgement of me because of my age. I'm damned paranoid about other drivers on the road, so I'm never more alert then when I'm behind the wheel.

I actually paid attention during drivers' ed.

If I've got someone riding my ass, I'll move out of the way when I can, but at that time I couldn't; there wasn't anywhere for me to go because traffic was dense at that part of the freeway, which thins to 2 lanes (in Reno, "city planning" is a joke). The only thing I could do was go faster than 75mph which I'm not willing to do except in emergencies...like having an 18-wheeler riding my ass. I hit 83mph before I could change lanes safely. I'd been in the left lane for 10 miles already at that point, with no one behind me for the previous five or so minutes until that d*ckhead appeared in my rearview. He was on me in less than 2 minutes. I check my traffic situation every few seconds...just in case. Glad I saw him coming well beforehand.



(God that pisses me off when people blindly and wholly acuse me of being a bad driver when the only thing I do is speed 10mph over the speed limit on the freeway in the leftlane... )

[orange]

be so kind as to take the flamewar *****fest off of the "I nearly died" thread, mmmmkay? Thanks.

[Frankychan]

Gatekeeper-Man, really glad to hear that you're ok.

(to cut the tension with humor) At least you can say that now you're truly "The Man" for staring death in the face and giving him the finger.

I hope someone got that stupid mofo trucker's license plates.....

[DRoseDARs]

Who's flaming? People are sharing stories of poor driving, with 18-wheelers being the conversation starter, and here comes someone acusing me of being in the wrong in my story.

I have no interest in a flame war, nor shall I engage in one should it start, but damn right I'm going to defend myself against acusations. He came after me and I've set the record straight in response.



Orange, I'm sorry if you felt I've lessened this thread, but I wasn't going to let the other post stand unanswered. How would you feel if someone had quiped "Well, Gatekeeper should have stopped sooner" critiquing his driving? All of you would be taken back a little.

Gatekeeper, my apologies. It's no one's place to acuse other posters of poor driving in this kind of thread. I wasn't about to take it.

[JohnT]

When did I mention Gatekeeper?