Four wheelers do stupid things around me every day. This is a fact of life that I have come to accept. It's up to us as the professionals to watch for these things, and be prepared for them to happen. Because they WILL happen.

Only once have I ever actually been ready to turn my wheels, and wreck to save a life, though. That was this past winter. There was nearly a foot of snow on I69, and I'd been going 35mph the whole night. A little black Nissan decided to pass while doing 55-60. Well, the driver lost control in mid pass, just in front of my tandems. If that wasn't bad enough, the direction of his drift was going to put him under my trailer. Just as I was getting ready to turn the wheels, he must have hit a rut, or dry spot, becuase the car shot out across the center ditch, and over onto the Eastbound side. I think I chainsmoked for about an hour after that to calm my nerves.

Thinking about it afterwards, I was at a loss. Sure, miscalculations, 'accidents' whatever you want to call them, do happen. But it's not like it hadn't been snowstorming all day/night long. I'd counted 20 someodd ditched vehicles over the course of 24 miles. That four wheeler driver HAD to have known that conditions were bad. And yet....

Sometimes there's just no understanding the logic of a fourwheeler driver.

All I'm saying is: "TO ERROR IS HUMAN. TO FORGIVE IS NOT WRITTEN INTO THE LAW OF AVERAGES". And, when a woman pulled out if front of me in CO, and I arranged for her to get a ride in a "FLIGHT FOR LIFE" chopper (it landed on the highway, but in the opposite lanes), one of the statements the cops made more than once was that ALL MY TIRE TRACKS WERE WITHIN MY LANE UNTIL THE POINT OF IMPACT. They DO look at that, and it IS a factor.

I'm not saying they DON'T, Wind. But, I'm not sure exactly what your point is, OR that you totally understood THEIRS.

IF..... in your case..... your skid marks showed that you were changing lanes INTO the lane she was turning into, I could possibly see you being at fault for an improper.... or, at least, UNSAFE lane change. However, if you were skidding into the lane AWAY from her, and NO VEHICLE on your left was involved..... I don't see where any law was broken! There is NO LAW (that I'm aware of) that says we can't make an "evasive" lane change to try to AVOID the accident, whether one results or not! (Unless, we involve ourselves in an accident with someone in the lane we were changing TO in an effort to avoid the collision.)

Another "POSSIBLE" explanation for his statement would be that IF your tandem "tracks" were not "in your lane," it MIGHT indicate that you locked up your brakes due to "driving TOO fast for conditions."

Other than that.... I am at a loss to explain the troopers "blanket" statement.

I'm SURE that someday a car will pull out in front of me. But NOT without me "noticing" them, and considering that they MIGHT! I ALWAYS cover my brakes when in towns or at crossroad intersections where this MIGHT happen. I try to stay in a gear, and at a speed, that will allow me the BEST braking response possible in these situations. AND.... I might add, I make a CONSCIOUS decision whether to be driving with the jakes ON or OFF in such situations, because if I NEED to stop quickly.... the jakes HELP!

I don't know how to make this any more clear. I am CONSTANTLY watching every vehicle around me.... AND considering the WORST they might do! NO ONE passes me, cuts me off, pulls out in front of me, or STOPS in front of me without the THOUGHT that they MIGHT being constantly ON MY MIND. This gives me at least 3/4's of a second quicker response time IF SUCH A THING happens. That is my JOB!

Will it work EVERY time? I don't know. It HAS SO FAR! If it ever fails me, there will probably be only one of TWO reasons..... either I was traveling TOO FAST for even my OWN responses, OR.... I slipped up and was NOT paying attention.

Either way..... "I" am at fault because "I" could possibly have PREVENTED it! I will take my lumps because I will have DESERVED them. Accidents DO happen in our business.... but, there is a REASON why companies have the tags Preventable and Non-Preventable! We are required to try to PREVENT accidents EVEN when they are not our "fault."

BTW.... I am SORRY that you were involved in a "flight for life" accident! I KNOW this must weigh heavily on you. And I am NOT questioning your actions. I wasn't THERE! NONE of us wants to be involved in something like that! All I can say is that, for ME, avoiding something like that is probably 70-80% of my job! the OTHER 20-30% occurs when I am NOT DRIVING!

I have a 'relatively' FAST truck. I DRIVE fast! I will not apologize for this. I want to be OUT IN FRONT, where the "air (and the road) is clean! So, I MUST be constantly vigilant, and MONITOR my own actions and situation.... AS WELL as that of ALL others! I generally get to ride WITH the "flow" of traffic, and try to "MERGE" myself into it as well as possible. I have NO PROBLEM getting out of the way for faster trucks or 4wheelers, and often have to HELP them understand that I need them OUT OF MY WAY! I do NOT make them "guess" at what I want to do.... and I try not to hold them up! And I NEVER pull over in front of a faster vehicle because I can't afford to "lift" for a few seconds to let them by!

I SUPPOSE you (or Twilight) might say that I am driving "on the edge," but I see an "advantage" to that! I believe one of the biggest contributors to truck accidents is the SLOW speeds of most trucks, and the AMBIVALENCE that produces in MOST drivers! I see TOO MANY drivers out there who are all but "asleep at the wheel!" :roll:

I'm sure "I" would find it hard to stay as "focused" as I am if my truck was an "elephant!" But, that wouldn't relieve me of that RESPONSIBILITY! I won't say (because I'd get FRIED,) that every day on the road is like a NASCAR race to me..... but, I WILL say that I never get on the road without that type of FOCUS! I don't "draft" other vehicles.... but, I don't want to "lift" if I don't have to! And by keeping my head in the game, and thinking a mile or more AHEAD of me, I RARELY have to! :wink: