New topic from another thread.....

[ben45750]

I didn't want to highjack TK's thread but Golfhobo had an interesting quote that I though had some legs and can into further discussion.

but, ONCE the situation gets beyond your control.... you have to go BEYOND the "average" to avoid deaths. EVEN to the point, if your willing... of personal sacrifice!

I wonder how far are you willing to go to avoid a serious collision and possibly save someone from dying only to sacrifice yourself and your company's truck, our yours if you own the truck.


Another driver was telling me a story about an accident involving one of our company drivers. He was on a 4 lane highway, 60 mph speed limit. Car pulled out in front of him coming off a side road, the driver swerved off into the ditch to avoid hitting the car and he was killed when the truck overturned and caught fire.
From what he said the driver of the car was not sited, company had to eat all the expenses of the truck and freight, and the family of the 18 wheeler could not go after the driver of the car since he was "not at fault".

Would you have gone that far?

But then if you look at this another way. 18 wheeler takes out the car, clearly because the driver pulled in front of the truck. Truck over turns in the road and the driver survives. The person who caused the accident is now responsible for the damages. But was it worth it for them to lose their life? or do you risk your life, your job and your company's equipment because of someone else's mistake?

[mad monk]

i think its a natural instinct to swerve to avoid a collision , a mate of mine a couple of years back did just that and paid the ultimate price , he was on a night run coming down the m40 ( motorway from the midlands to london ) in the early hours and came face to face with a car on the wrong side of the motorway , he swerved and went over , truck burst into flames , he was trapped inside and didnt stand a chance , he clipped the car , an elderly driver who suffered a broken arm

[Uturn2001]

To save a child I would drive the truck off a cliff if need be, other wise I am not sure what I would do.

[Rev.Vassago]

To save a child I would drive the truck off a cliff if need be, other wise I am not sure what I would do.

Your comment makes no sense. Why does a child deserve swerving, yet a young adult doesn't? Is the young adult somehow not worth it? How about a middle age person? How about an elderly person?

[shyykatt]

And what about an innocent puppy or kitty, or a hampster?

[Jackrabbit379]

And what about an innocent puppy or kitty, or a hampster?

Or, a horse with stripes. :P

[shyykatt]

or a bunny wabbit

[Twilight Flyer]

And what about an innocent puppy or kitty, or a hampster?

Small splat-spot.

Or, a horse with stripes.

Large splat-spot and a dented radiator.

or a bunny wabbit

Flapjack-Rabbit. I've made quite a few of those in the past.

Bottom line, I ain't swervin' for no one or no animal. A vehicle is another story. From the 4-wheeler standpoint, taking the ditch in a possible head-on with another car or a truck is going to be preferrable, simply because it provides a better chance of survival. But against a non-vehicle, I'm not deviating from my course unless I can do so without putting my life or the lives of my passengers in danger. Yes, I will mash the brakes through the floorboard, lay thick smoking blackmarks and steer clear IF ABLE, but I'm not going to run the risk of making my wife a widow and my children fatherless by taking the ditch, when staying on the road is going to give me an almost 100% chance of survival and my wife and children the continuing presence of a husband and father.

If that makes me cold-blooded, so be it. But when a truck driver is in a head-on that is NOT his fault and the ONLY way he could have avoided it was by putting it in a ditch, I'm siding with the driver every time. Accidents happen. They are part of life and part of the chance you take when getting behind the wheel of your car or truck or running out in the middle of the road. I don't expect everyone to agree with that stance. But then again, no one else is responsible for my wife and children, either.

[Sheepdancer]

To put it bluntly. Put trust in the laws of natural selection. The weak and dumb genes are removed from the pool. The world was designed that way for a reason. Not to sound harsh.. However, if some dumb person makes a horrible mistake and ends up on target with the front end of your truck, yes you should brake, yes you should SAFELY try to avoid.....BUT RISK YOUR LIFE TO SAVE THEM? Sorry, but no way. Yes, it would be the "honorable" thing to do and just you thinking about risking your life to save the stupid people should be commended. However, your honorable genes are much more valuable to the gene pool than their stupid genes. :twisted:

[Twilight Flyer]

The only issue I'll take with that is that sometimes, the person about to get pasted by the truck (or car) is in that position due to a complete accident...tire blowout, mechanical failure, etc. So while you can't fault them for being in that position, you also can't fault the driver that decides that his life is important enough to save by not taking the ditch.

It's a tough topic...everyone is going to feel differently about things. But in the end, we're talking about accidents. Accidents happen and people get hurt or die. Why should a driver hold his life in a lesser regard? Just curious.

[Roadhog]

I Love FlapCats.

It's a judgment call, and hard to generalize. Every circumstance will dictate your actions or reactions. I am in near-misses from time to time. If those are any indication...I generally try my best to avoid the collision...and obviously...my reactions have saved me and others thus far...what could have been a bad situation.

For one...I am extremely cautious, and defensive. I've been around the block, and have a sixth sense. But like what happened to TY, and what I experience myself...there is always the unexpected, and you will only have split seconds to react.

I am with TF, in as far as..."hold the road"...but 9 times out of 10...I see myself "give the road" and hope for the best. All I can say about that...is I am very capable, and how much I give is only what I know I can recover. If you need more than that from me...you won't get it.

I'm accident free. I pray it remains as blessed. It is getting so dangerous out there. This is on my mind far more than ever before.

[Mr. Ford95]

I'm like Uturn, I will try to avoid another car, even if they would be at fault if I see a carseat. If it's adults or young adults being stupid, then call me cold-blooded, I ain't swerving. Think they are going to hang around and tell the cops that "Hey, yeah I cut that truck off and he did everything he could to miss me." Nope, they will pull the CYA - Cover Your @ss move and tell the cop a whole 'nother story.

[Ridge Runner]

Well now that I have been driving local for the last 1 1/2 years I have had a lot more "up-close and personal" encounters but mostly with the four legged kind. The only real close call with a four wheeler was when he came out of a side road and I was on top of him. It was HIS quick thinking and driving skills, not mine, that saved his *****.

As for large animals ( deer and even a horse once ) I will brake hard but I hold the road. Small animals, well let's just say that the crows eat well around here.

Bottom line: I'm going home at the end of my shift.

[Malaki86]

The first company I drove for years ago was a pretty small family owned place. When the owners son gave me my driving test he told me he'd had 2 major collisions. In the first one he took out a family of 4 when they ran a red light. The second one ended up making a 17 year old girl lose the ability to walk (broken back).

He told me to never swerve into the ditch to avoid an accident. The reason? The cost of replacing the truck, trailer and the load of beer in the trailer.

Sorry, if someone makes the mistake of cutting me off (and yes, it happens all the time) I'll do anything I can to avoid hitting the vehicle if I think I'm going to walk away from it.

Besides, how many of you could honestly say you wouldn't lose any sleep over the thought of killing an entire family because you didn't aim for a ditch? I'm not talking about the situation where your choice is hit the other vehicle or run off the side of the mountain or into heavily wooded forest.

[Ridge Runner]

The first company I drove for years ago was a pretty small family owned place. When the owners son gave me my driving test he told me he'd had 2 major collisions. In the first one he took out a family of 4 when they ran a red light. The second one ended up making a 17 year old girl lose the ability to walk (broken back).

He told me to never swerve into the ditch to avoid an accident. The reason? The cost of replacing the truck, trailer and the load of beer in the trailer.

Sorry, if someone makes the mistake of cutting me off (and yes, it happens all the time) I'll do anything I can to avoid hitting the vehicle if I think I'm going to walk away from it.

Besides, how many of you could honestly say you wouldn't lose any sleep over the thought of killing an entire family because you didn't aim for a ditch? I'm not talking about the situation where your choice is hit the other vehicle or run off the side of the mountain or into heavily wooded forest.

I guess that is where me being a local driver helps. I know the roads I drive VERY well. I know where I can and can't take it off the road and keep it up right. I also open the doors and check my load before I head out with it. That way I also know how much I can do if I have to do it.

[ben45750]

I have thought about this alot and what I would do. I say now that I ain't swerving for nothing, if I'm ever in that situation it might change..... I don't know?

If some idiot pulls out in front of me and I see kids in the back seat..... I'm probably going to give a ditch a pretty good look. If something like that ever does happen to me and If I take someone's life I don't think I would continue driving truck.

[cclarke1268]

This is a very good question, thanks for asking it. And I think that all of you are right in your answers. I also think, none of us really will ever know the absolute truth of what we would do, until we have to do it.

I am not a driver, but I do ride with my hubby, and we see crazy 4 wheelers and other trucks all day everyday. We see them just pull right over into you or make a spot in front of you, where there is no room for a spot. We see the tired truckers that should not be out there, swerving all over the road. At any time anyone of these scenario's could go wrong and cause a huge accident, and when it is one of these, you really have no time to react. to judge what you will or won't do. I think most times it just happens with no react time.

I think my hubby would take a ditch if he had to, or that was the only option, if he had the reaction time to make that decision

I can tell you a few weeks ago in Nashville, we were just riding along on a Saturday morning, and here comes a dog across the interstate, from right to left, and we were in the third lane to the left and he was headed right for our lane and we were right there, and I just knew that dog was toast, but he turned back to the right, took a few steps and then right back in the lane we were in, cars all around us were braking hard and swerving, hubby was able to take it to the left, and the dog went back to the right and right back the way he came. How that dog lived thru that I will never know. But hubby told me, he said, I can not put others lives in danger to save that dog. I do not wanna hit the thing, but I have to take enough time to judge the situation and look around me to make sure I have somehwere to go, and if I do not then I will have to hit that animal. We were lucky that there was no one in that left lane at that particular moment and we were able to go there. But if there had been cars there we would have hit that dog. No doubt about it.

Kim

[happyhookin]

Years ago I had a wreck in my car, a pickup pulled out in front of me from a side road on my right . I tried to miss him by swerving right but still clipped the back of the pickup. Thinking about it later, if I had missed him and he left the scene there I would be in the ditch with my car messed up and me getting the ticket. My dark side is glad I made contact but no one was hurt :twisted:

[Twilight Flyer]

Thinking about it later, if I had missed him and he left the scene there I would be in the ditch with my car messed up and me getting the ticket.

Bingo.

My best friend was involved in an accident close to this around 11 years ago. He was pulling out of E. Peoria IL after getting a new trailer for his boss at the time and there was a family of 4 stopped in front of him he needless to say flatspotted all 18 on his rig. However a drunk driver coming the other crossed into his lane and hit him behind the seat of his truck and literally tore the cab and frame apart then still had the energy left after doing that much damage to a truck to bend the landing gear 90 degrees to the frame of the trailer. Needless to say that guy did not make it the sad thing is the DRUNKS wife was able to get over a Million freaking dollars out of the insurance company due to the fact that while my friend was stopping hard he got 2 inches over the centerline. Now he goes next time I see something like that ahead of me I will just run the bastards over it was a car that passed him then decided to turn right in front of him.