Something you just don't see!

[Orangetxguy]

Just read this, and found it to be impressive. It isn't often something like this happens.

Letters: Fast-Thinking Trucker, Simple Manners, TSA Fees & Red Tape | Transport Topics Online | Trucking, Freight Transportation and Logistics News

Fast-Thinking Trucker
On May 9, I was traveling north on Georgia highway 15/121 between Blackshear and Bristol at about noon. I wish to compliment a trucker for his attention to the traffic pattern and considerate (or well-taught) driving. He may well have saved a life on that day. I regret that I did not get to identify him.
I was traveling north on a two-lane highway in my private automobile, and the trucker (an unladen log truck) was traveling south, followed at safe distances by two private automobiles. The last southbound vehicle moved into my lane to pass the car ahead of him. There was plenty of room for him to do that and to re-enter the southbound lane behind the truck. What that driver did not know was that the truck planned a left turn onto an unpaved, unmarked road.
I’d seen the southbound passer pull into the northbound lane and judged that he had plenty of time to pass. However, the trucker, knowing that he needed to stop to make his left turn, pulled off the road to his right on the shoulder in a safe, deliberate move that cleared the southbound lane for the passer.
I didn’t realize what was going on with the trucker until I saw him make his left turn in my rearview mirror after all three private cars had cleared. Had the trucker not done what he did, the passer would have had no place to re-enter the southbound lane and an emergency situation would have developed where both he and I would have needed to decide quickly how to resolve our dilemma. The trucker’s action prevented that emergency situation from developing and may have avoided a collision between two or all of the three private automobiles — with attendant risk of injuries or deaths. I was totally impressed with the trucker’s awareness of a potential emergency of which he could have known only by checking his rear-view mirror and assessing the implications of what he saw there for all four vehicles. I wish I could thank him personally. Failing that, this is my best guess at how to call attention to his skill and training in a complimentary way.


Thank you for your kind attention.
Spencer Mathews
Spartanburg, S.C.

Pretty decent thing for the guy to do.

[golfhobo]

Thank you for posting this, OTX. It makes me feel better about ALL involved!

The Trucker exhibited the professionalism that I constantly harp about. He was watching his mirrors, and aware of what OTHER drivers were thinking... EVEN before he saw them do what they do! He surely was NOT "on his cell phone" and thinking ONLY about what HE wanted or needed to do. HE was aware of the fact that OTHERS wouldn't even notice an unmarked road that he needed to turn into! This is called "spatial awareness" AND "circumstancial awareness!" One NEVER knows what single moment in his ordinary day can make a difference! This trucker should make us ALL proud, and serve as an example of how SERIOUS our jobs are!

As for the northbound vehicle, I cannot STRESS enough how important it is that 4wheelers SHOULD be "taught" how to drive around trucks! Obviously, the southbounders did NOT get the memo! I'm not saying that what they did was wrong... just that they were not "considering" the options that might present themselves!

The northbound 4hweeler was paying attention! We need MORE of that! But, even HE admitted to not "seeing" the whole situation until it was over and he had survived it.

I haven't even checked the link yet, but I will. And if there is a way for me to post a thank you to him, I will do that, too! It is RARE enough that one of "them" even NOTICES an act of kindness or professionalism by a trucker.... let alone make his commendation PUBLIC!

It is a SHAME that, IF there had been a terrible accident, the video would have gone "viral" on youtube. But, this driver's DEDICATION to his profession will not even make the local news!

Well... he DID post his letter on the local news... but, I wish he had seen it "coming" and taken a video!

I KNOW this kind of stuff goes on every day... cuz, I've SEEN it (and been part of it.) But, we MUST find a way to make it VISUAL for all drivers, especially the young and impressionable ones.

And THEN, maybe.... we'll make it available to "newbie" TRUCKERS!

My goal... EVERY day... is to get home alive. And to ensure that those around me do, too!

[GMAN]

It is good to see something positive that has been written about a driver.

[silvan]

Boy that takes me back... Running those two-lane roads around in that part of the country, and all the log trucks. I can totally picture this scene.

It's rare a fourwheeler ever figures out that one of us prevented them from getting killed, because we were thinking way ahead, and had a plan.