Another idiot
 

Sit back folks, cause you aren't going to believe this. Tonight Im driving up I-75 just south of Atlanta in my little Toyota Corolla. Im in the center lane doing 70MPH in a 70MPH zone, when suddenly my rear window fills up with the lights from a speeding semi. I cant get to the right because there is another truck there. The trailing semi is so close that all I can see is his grill. Needless to say, this pisses me off. I decelerate so that I can fall in behind the truck to my right. Well this must have really pissed off the idiot behind me because he turned his high beams on and HIT ME! He fricken nudged the back of my Corolla at 65MPH! Un-believable!! Well, Now I decelerate to around 30MPH and motion foe the idiot to pull over. Nope, he decides to make a wild lane change into the now vacated right land... running an SUV off the road. as he passes me he hangs the one finger salute out the window. Oh HELL NO!! My first call was to 911 and a very nice Henry County Deputy got the jackass pulled over. I talked with the Deputy who left it up to me as to whether I wanted to file a accident report, and if I wanted the jackass to go to jail for leaving the scene of an accident. At first I said, "Hell no, he needs to go to jail for Aggravated Assault (Felony) as I was in fear for my life when I was hit". After I calmed down and I watched the nice Deputy RIP Mr Road Rage a new a$$
I felt better. We decided to do one better than arresting the jerk... So, my next phone call was to his company's safety department, and so was the Deputy's.

The company safety officer did call me back. I very nicely told him what I though of their drivers actions. I was assured that the situation was going to be taken care of, and he apologized up and down.

Now what really is on my mind. The trucking industry. Pathetic. That is the state of affairs in our business. I know that Mr Jacka$$ was not representing the majority of us in this business, but he was representing more than a few.

We are not going to get a better reputation with the public with idiots like that on the road. Problem is, there are more than a few of them out there. The industry can do a HELL of allot better at preventing incidents like this. For one, they can hire better people. A high school diploma should be required at a minimum. The driver looked like a refugee from Grizzly Adams. His clothing was in disarray. What a representative. Our industry isn't going to get any better until we up our standards and hire people with common sense and a sense of respect.

I can now see first hand why the people are calling for more regulation in our industry. We are represented by morons like I encountered tonight. What if the person that he was trying to intimidate was a lady and her baby? What if they were elderly? What if it were someone who didn't give a $hit and placed a cap in his a$$?

To tell you the truth, if he would have stopped immediately and he would have given me an ounce of lip or attitude, I would have beaten his a$$ senseless. Thats how made that made me and I'm not kidding.
This has got to stop, or we can stand by and greet more legislation like the 14 hour rule.

Wow hope they fired his ass!!!

Re: Another idiot
 

OK i am pretty much with you on this post and i understand what you are saying but i think that the above quote doesn't make a shitting bit of difference. i am not a high school graduate nor will i ever be. i dropped out for personal reasons as a teenager. this does not make me a bad person or any one else a bad person just because they did not finish high school. hell my father is in upper management and has been for a long time and he never finished high school either. i honestly think a high school diploma would have made this situation any better or any situation like this any better. what needs to be done is better screening of drivers and and people like YOU who actually care about this industry's looks. i am not trying to get into a pissing match about this but i do not think that a high school diploma should be required for any thing.

yes some people might consider me uneducated and yah so what. i really don't care what they think. i know what I NEED to know not what someone else think i should know.

there are people out here, and in the world, who do have a diploma and i swear they don't know crap. they leaned what the SCHOOL thought them not what life had to teach them. they have all the book smarts in the world but not a damn like of common sense, witch it would seem to be the problem with the driver you encountered today.

i want to know exactly what tickets he got. and no i don't neccessarily think just calling safety was the best thing to do. there's a distinct possibility that was a wasted call depending on how bad that company needs drivers. :shock: as sick as that sounds, if they need him badly enough he won't be fired depending on how the tickets turn out. :roll: will you be going to court as a witness?

we're not going to get rid of guys like this just by complaining to safety, they need to be run out by reckless driving and leaving the scene of an accident tickets. let the insurance companies and their dmv histories trail them around to make sure they stay out of the business.

you should have had him arrested the safety guy could have just been blowing smoke up you behind

Yup - he' probably still out on the road with the same company. The guy should've been arrested for that crap.

You would have been better off calling Domino's Pizza than the company's safety department. At least with Domino's you would have gotten a pizza.

It would have made more of a punishment to have him arrested than to leave it up to the company to handle it internally.

BC Basher: A minimum education requirement would ensure the industry a better quality of person in the long run. Not saying that all non-high school graduates or GED holders are idiots, but setting minimal standards for the industry would also help our knuckle dragging image. Thats my opinion, and like a a$$hole, it may stink, but it is what it is.

No offense, but I'd believe this more if you didn't have a penchant to embellish so much. Maybe that is why the Henry County Deputy didn't ticket this Driver.

I'm not saying what you claim isn't true. But just like the Deputy...I want to hear both sides, and make a judgement call.

I've seen that stress you are talking about myself out there. The Driver may have felt you were picking a fight when you slowed down under his axles. I think he was wrong YES...but I don't think your actions really are a righteous as you wish. Passive Aggressive behavior is really just as irritating.
If you choose to puch buttons...brace for the opposite and equal reaction.

You might want to get off the name calling and belittling. I think you are showing how you acted out on the road.

Again...I believe the Driver was wrong, and started this mess. But I think you enjoyed it. Sorry.

Couch, I know that by law you did the right thing by slowing down to try and get out of the way by getting behind the vehicle beside you. Had you sped up and got over and a cop pulled you for speeding, you would have heard the judge telling you that you made the wrong choice. Well, this is reality, you NEVER drop the throttle when a semi is that close to your rear end. If it were another car, that would have been fine, they can slow down a lot quicker and easier but not a semi. I'm not saying the driver was in the right to hit you, but maybe he did try to slow up. Your lucky he didn't run clean over top of you with that stunt.

If what you said is all true, he should have been in jail. I would not have let him off the hook by calling the company. You put him in jail and the company has no choice but to terminate him, going to jail is MUCH worse than being fired. As it is, he may get hit with a slap on the wrist from the judge if that because it looks like he wasn't even written a ticket from your story. You said the cop ripped him a new one, then called his company but did he write him for anything??

What was the company??

I cant tell you what happened, I was not there. I do have 1 question for the orig. poster. Why did you slow down the lane you were in just to get in behind the slower truck in the slow lane? sounds like a traffic jam is what you were causing. I think it would have been smarter to speed up a little, then move to the right! For argumentation's sake, maybe you slowed to much and helped the accident out a little. When you have someone tailgating you, especially something weighing 40 tons why let testosterone rule your judgment?
Speed up , get the license # then call the state police, very simple. I think you might have been a willing combatant in the whole unfortunate situation from reading your post. Like I said, I was not there, and am not putting you down, but this post seems to be missing something! Be aware of your surroundings. Its easy to see 40 tons going faster than you, and getting closer to you in your rear view mirror. Read the signs on the hwy, "slower traffic keep right" I don't like it when I see the tailgating going on, and have been putting up with it for 30 yrs. Just be smart and don't help a accident out with the stunts you pulled by slowing everyone else down behind you.
To the rest of the readers, believe none of what you hear and half of what you see!!! This is just my 2 cents!

The "hitting him part" I think is embellished. But if true...he is partly to blame for that. The tiny tap from a Truck this big...I think that little front wheel drive car would be all over the road. I don't know. Any fresh scratch on the rear bumper would have been enough for the Deputy to give the Trucker some Bracelets for Christmas...and impound his vehicle.

The words of my Dad always sticks in my ear. He said..."never fight over the road."

Had Couch put on his turn signal to let the aggressive Driver know he will give up the road...then make his move to get behind the Truck on his right...there may have been an all together different outcome.

I don't want to parse over Couch's speed limit either.

I don't know the details of this situation, because I was not there. So...any speculation on my part is just that.

I have seen this all too often, though. There are 4 wheelers who hog the passing lane...and stick on the side of a big truck not allowing other trucks to get around. You see this in a 3-laner too, where the Trucks are not allowed in the left lane. These are passive aggressive drivers. They in my opinion are enjoying holding back the big bad truckers. Sooner or later they will find one who is stressed out enough, he will climb up this 4-wheelers ass. Tell me you have not seen this many times yourselves. This is deliberate game playing.

Maybe it's all a big fight over a couple MPH. Brilliant...on both parties. Fight over the road...that's even more Brilliant. (what happens to the looser??....ever consider that??)
I see this genius all too often. :roll:

I won't go into all the fun and games people love to play out there. When one win's for loosing...no one win's.

I'm not excusing the actions of this Trucker. He should know better. I'm only wishing to point out...two wrongs do not make a right. I'm calling this as I see it.

You sound like a smart man roadhog. I used to do the fighting thing on the road, and all it got me was time in jail and more money in fines than all the speeding tickets I received sense I got my DL when I was a kid...lol By the way, wonderful post. You hit the nail on the head with this one...lol

Like his post said, he slowed to 30mph in a 70 mph road, I believe he was playing games!!
I believe if the truck would have hit him, he would at least have been sited. Couch would have had no say about it!!

Sorry,Im a little late here. If you were in a truck,and a Toyoter Corolla would have bumped you,and did to you what you say this truck did,I would feel sorry for ya,and back ya up. I could half-way see that. All due respect,but I agree with roadhog,and I think that this stuff is getting pretty deep. Im sure,somewhere,you can find an outlaw trucker. Too many people watch too much tv,and too many trucker movies. Maybe,you found an outlaw trucker,but most of us out there,practice safety a lot more,than we all used to. Any truckdriver that bumps the rear bumber of a 4-wheeler because he wants that lane more than they do,is either drunk,high,or just plumb crazy that should be sitting in a weirdo home,and not in a truck. Besides that,if yall are running 65-70 mph,and that truck bumped you,you wouldnt be here to tell it. Im sorry,no disrespect meant,but that sounds like I need to pull up my pants leg. What about racing? Those guys bump and grind,and what happens? One either goes to the wall,or heads for the grass. What do ya think a truck will do? Of course,racing is 200 some odd mph,but still. I think that you need to do something about the temper,and attitude,and get over this. Im sorry.

Your right ssoutlaw, that little car would have had the back bumper caved in at the very least. Semi's just don't magically appear right behind you and on your a$$ 1,2,3 Genie style. If that happened, then your one crappy liar. More than likely, this truck had been there for some time waiting patiently and you were oblivious to it's presence(can you say cellphone?? or better yet, brain unplugged??) so he decided to make his presence a little more known since you were not paying attention. Couch was obviously pulling the famous, 70.1 mph pass on another vehicle doing 70 mph. Just because your doing 70 in a 70 zone does not mean your entitled to sit in the middle lane of a 3 lane highway.

If he had hit you like you claim, where was the ambulance to check you over?? My dad used to show me what a minor impact is like at 2 mph by using our play truck(old old mazada pickup) to hit tree stumps with and without seatbelts on to prove a point. My neck hurt for a week. Trust me dude, just a 2 mph difference was enough to cause some wicked whiplash and to nearly lose grip of the steering wheel even though I knew it was coming. At 65 mph with you not knowing it was coming, you would not have held onto that steering wheel and kept that little Corolla on the road like Jack said.

Oh please, you all sound so righteous! There are plenty of outlaw truckers out there, along with those who are just plain SH!TTY drivers. This guy could be telling the truth and it is just like truckers to jump to the truck drivers defense. There is a large group of truck drivers that do not belong in a truck much less with a CDL in hand. We all deal with them day in and day out for they treat other trucks just like they do the cars. I am all for getting better training, speed restrictions and stricter consequences for the idiots who think that their BIG BAD TRUCK is a weapon.

One thing I don't agree with is the requirement for a high school diploma for I have met many high school graduates and college graduates that couldn't think their way out of a paper bag!

Nobody is saying that there aren't dangerous, outlaw truck drivers out there. However, I tend to agree that the physics involved (big truck hitting small car) would have caused more damage than it did.

Re: Another idiot
 

Re: Another idiot
 

Guess we now know what became of Crete Drvr!! :P

Sorry movinit but there are too many people out there who are already against truck drivers, someone has to back them up sometimes. This story sounds real fishy, for all we know this whole thing never happened. If he really were hit from behind, the truck driver would be in jail, that's vehicular assault, assault with a deadly weapon and a major case of road rage that is an automatic night in jail in most every state if not all. The other problem,

How was it an empty lane if he ran an SUV off the road?? What happened to the truck that was there?? If the truck really was there, why did he not stop, he had to see something going on, from the flashing headlights to the wild swerving of headlights. What about the SUV that supposedly got ran off the road, why did they not stop and say "Hey, that b@stard ran me off the road."

Your not going to get better drivers, just look around you going down the road. The 4 wheel drivers get worse and worse each day and a lot of those are the same people who have college degree's. The entire country is full of bad drivers, it's not just truckers.

He was not within the law to slow down...period. What he did by slowing down is called obsructing traffic. He said he was doing 70 in a 70. Then the story says he slowed down to 30 mph? Who in their right mind would slow down to 30 mph in a 70 mph zone? The driver was obviously an idiot, but it sounds like this poster was antagonizing the situation too. Two wrongs don't a make a right. First the truck hit the poster...then ran another vehicle off the road? And no citation? Maybe just a bit too much story telling here.

Couch why have you not responded lately? Where you at on I75 south of Atlanta? I believe if the driver bumped you and ran another vehicle off the road that other truck would have stopped and turned him in.

Jim, he said he slowed down to 65 and that is when he claimed the truck hit him, THEN slowed down to 30 to try and get the driver to pull over. I was in court one day for a window tint violation and a similar situation came thru that day. Girl was popped for speeding, her excuse was that she had a car tailgating her and she sped up to get clear of the vehicle beside her so that she could move over out of the way. The judge responded, "Well, you were doing 80 in a 65 when you were caught, I will not dismiss nor drop this because by law, you are not to break the speed limit in order to get in front of another vehicle. It does not matter that another car was tailgating you, the legal thing to do is to slow down and then merge over out of the way." In VA, if another vehicle comes from behind and flashes you, by law, if another car is already beside you, you are required to slow down and get behind them unless you have already cleared their front end and can safely merge over in front of them. Like I said, legally, he did the right thing but in reality it was wrong because it is more likely to get you killed.

Who really cares anymore, we have punched a few gaping holes in the story and nothing has been said back.

In my states CDL manual when being tailgated you are instructed to increase your following distance from the car ahead of you and the tailgating vehicle should pass........that being said, driving the speed limit in this area in your personal car generally will get you lots of aggressive drivers tailgating you.

Slowing down in front of a aggressive driver likely will result in a conflict. I have found holding your cell phone in the air will usually send a aggressive driver down the road. Being dead right is of no merit to your wife and kids, its smarter to yield than to "fight over the road".

I post on CFIDrivers also, and I do believe Couch was a Law Enforcement officer! Why would a Law Enforcement Officer slow down to 30mph on the highway??? Thats nucking futs!!!!!!!! I dont think I believe this post, like everyone else has said if a Semi hit him, there would be enough damage for that driver to go to Jail!!!!

Well, sorry folks if you think I'm embellishing. I really don't care if you think Im telling the truth or white lying about the incident. Yes, I got tapped by an idiot tailgating me. No he didnt hit me that hard, it was a tap. Yes I slowed down after being involved in a collision (being rear ended is a collision). Yes I was attempting to pull over to the side of the road just as your suppose to do after a collision.
Im a 17 year law enforcement retiree. I feel that I did the right thing. The idiot driving the Semi on my tail did not. slowing down is not called "obstructing traffic". The responsibility of a rear end collision falls to that of the following vehicle.... its called following to closely and careless driving.

As far as I know the driver did not receive a citation. I declined to file a traffic crash report because there was no damage to my vehicle. I now regret that and wish that I had. The Deputy conferred with me after stopping the truck to see what I wanted done... which is customary for LEO's do do with each other. I do not think that there was any damage to the SUV he cut off.

The bottom line here is, there are plenty of $hitty drivers out there piloting 40,000 lb ++ semi's. Thats scary. And... if you dont believe me, thats ok, I really don't give a crap.

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Think ya missed something in your training when you were still a cop. When you decide to start running at 40 mph below the speed limit, you are impeding traffic and can be held liable if someone else doing 70 were to have hit you.

Your telling us you felt a small tap?? So small that it left no damage, yet hard enough that you felt it?? :shock: :roll:

Did the SUV stop?? If I had been cut off and then saw the truck pulled over, I would be stopping to tell the police what happened. Whatever happened to the truck that was beside you originally??

Next time, if your going to slow down, put your turn signal on before you slow down so that they realize your trying to get out of the way. Best bet is to hit the gas and get on up out of the way instead of slowing down, their road rage won't be quite as bad towards you.

Oh BS....read your post! You haven't changed my mind. But I guess now you are a retired Cop..... :roll:

You didn't use your TURN SIGNAL...AND you claim to be a TRUCKER!! Your rear window is filled with Grill...and YOU SLOWED DOWN :shock:

Like I said...if you INDICATED you will get out of the way, by using your turn signal...maybe the outcome would have been different. Again...I reiterate...the Truck Driver was wrong...BUT ....well...read your post.
I know a lot of Cops...and I know a lot of Trucker's. I don't think even one without a High School education, would be this stupid....but I could be wrong about some Cops. :roll:

Here is a part I like from your last post....and I quote..." The Deputy conferred with me after stopping the truck to see what I wanted done... which is customary for LEO's do do with each other. I do not think that there was any damage to the SUV he cut off."

What the hell happened to.... :shock: Felonious Aggravated Assault? leaving the scene of an accident, fear of your life! and running the SUV off the road?????? Why didn't your fellow LEO shoot that SOB?...at least in the leg? You'd back him up...right? :lol:
You called the Cop on the scene...."very nice Henry County Deputy" :lol:

:shock: yer a retired Cop? :shock: :? :) :D :lol:
You are a Trucker ? :shock: :roll:

You know what...I feel much better now....about how I sized this up. Thanks. http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...concool5lw.gif http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...concool5lw.gif

Roadhog, Ok, I wasnt ever really a cop, and the entire post was a well concocted lie just to stir up you ignorant truckers. There never really was an incident like this, and you know all there is about trucking, police work, collision investigations and physics. Matter of fact, if you run for president I'll vote for you because of your overwhelming insight and intellect. Was the holocaust a lie too? Do aliens infest Donlad Trumps a$$?? Tell me Roadhog you God of all knowledge!!

feel better? I hope so. because you are the man. No really, you are.

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You better read your manual agian......If you are being tailgated you are to slow down to allow the other vehical to pass and increase the distance in front of you so you do not have to make any sudden moves......not speed up.....According to NYS.

db, it says that in every state manual. That is for a perfect world. In the real world, if you slow down while being tailgated, it will just send the tailgater off the deep end. By law, slowing down is the right thing to do, but the smartest and safest is to speed up and get the F out of the way in today's world where everyone wants to go go go.

That's no lie. :lol:

Last time I drove (Which was earlier today) I do believe that you have to slow down in order to pull over onto the side of the road and stop, especially after a collision.... Correct me if I'm wrong ClassAdrivers.com law enforcement and state law specialists.

I guess my 17 years of patrol law enforcement service was done all in vein... I swore that I knew what I was doing and was fairly familiar with state law. After reading the responses from SOME of you professional truckers/lawyers/physics majors/cops I stand in awe. How did I do it for all those years without your insight? I must have written thousands of invalid citations having only the knowledge I had before encountering you experts... and those crappy judges that ruled in my favor during traffic court... it must be a conspiracy, I must have lied there too!

Ok, I'm putting this to rest. If you don't like me, or my "embellished" post, the line forms to the left. I'll soon be here to drop my drawers and you can pucker up and kiss my rump.

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Nope, a retired cop. useless, I guess your not in the line to the left.

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:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

Ever hear the song there is a Diesel On My Tail :?:

The part I'm not sure I believe, is that Couch is NOW a trucker. I THINK that is what he said.

A trucker would know that the truck behind him was not allowed to go one more lane over to the left! HE, however, in his 4wheeler COULD. IF he had just DONE so.... NONE of this would have happened... OR been made up.

Of course, on the other hand, an LEO would know that driving side by side with ANY other vehicle is a recipe for disaster.

Courtesy goes BOTH ways. It seems that 4wheelers are REQUIRED to be ignorant of the fact that the second lane from the right is OUR only "fast lane!"