"Speed" does not always kill...sometimes it saves!!

[Faultline]

I was driving my mother back from some relatives, and we were on an interchange of the freeway that forked 2 lanes to the right , and 2 lanes to the left..I was in the fast lane forking to the right when a big rig in the slow lane started moving in to my lane from the right....I had nowher to go! except into a bridge pylun in the center of the fork , as the right lane of the left fork was occupied...I was in 5th gear.. going around 65mph......MY mom screamed!......I slipped into 3rd...and w/ the help of a boosted motor i veerd left and sped in front of the car in the right lane of the left fork! ...accelerating waaaay fast...my mom screamed again! and...I was on the wrong freeway but safe and sound

[fuel4soul]

Did she even do that "invisible brake movement"? My mom always does this when she is with me driving and she is in the passenger side.. You can always see that foot slamming down like there is a break as they are screaming at you to stop or slow down.

[ragingfish]

One could slow down with the use of a device called a brake... I'm not faulting you...I probably would've done the same...but it certainly wasn't your only option...

[Faultline]

quote:One could slow down with the use of a device called a brake... I'm not faulting you...I probably would've done the same...but it certainly wasn't your only option...I hope the "Faulting" is a pun on my user name ...ya had to be there..I was being run off the road! braking at that point would have let the trailer of the big rig wipe me out!...the trucks lane change was rather swift and abrupt,perhaps he was avoiding something I did not see. hmmm....I am not saying that I could not have avoided the predicament , but in retrospect, my swift manuver seemed to be most affectual...or is that effectual? for my dilema..!

[Kissfan79]

Something kinda' similar happened to me the other day on my way to work. I was on I-40 and they are doing construction to expand the number of lanes so they have those concrete barriers up on the left side. I was in the left lane about 1/3 to just under 1/2 of the way up on the side of a big rig. He decided he wanted to come over into the left lane also. Well.....the only thing I could do was to stomp on the brakes. I had the rig to my right and those barriers on my left. It was either speed up or slow down. I don't think I would have made it if I had tried to speed up in front of him. I was just damn glad either way not to have to tangle with a big rig.....for my sake or my Vibe's... Jim

[KSNeptune]

Sounds like a good excuse to stay off the highways. Glad you survived! KSNeptune

[joatmon]

Just curious, did either of you two disable your DRLs?Each situation is different, and since you both escaped damage/injury, then your reactions were successful.

[Faultline]

quote:Just curious, did either of you two disable your DRLs?Each situation is different, and since you both escaped damage/injury, then your reactions were successful. umh....so what's a DRL again?

[joatmon]

seriously though, I was wondering if you had disabled your daytime running lights. I realize that there is no way to know that it would have made a difference in the situation you described, but have long contemplated disabling mine. If you did disable them and had the truck not see you, then maybe I need to leave them as is.

[Robert G]

Glad you're ok. This is the reason why I never like driving along side a semi. I stay behind and them move past when I can. You can't control the other driving, so I figure, I'll just avoid the situation entirely.

[philndz]

yep.....i know exactly what your talking about....and im not sure why peeps think you could have slowed down instead. twice every week i drive on one highway all the way across missouri....i have had just about everything happen to me....trucks are by far the worst....i had one run me and another car off the road in standstill traffic once....both lanes of the highway were bumper to bumper and im in the fast lane....the truck next to us just turns like there is nobody there...we both darted for a scary looking gravel shoulder that falls away after 4 feet! But i have had your situation happen plenty....no you can not brake....there is a car back there behind you and even if your braking got you out of the way of the truck then braking that heavily would guarantee you get the other guy in your (removed)! you did the right thing.....and sacrificing the highway you needed to be on shows how quickly your mind chose safety over direction....most people are too dense to go out of there way for a few miles for something like that and instead would have been involved in an accident.

[red]

funny...the "experts" are always saying that cars are not being courteous to big rigs (eg give them space to move in turns, cut in front of them) yet ive seen more instances like you guys have described than the other way around....maybe the cops ought to ticket trucks for aggressive or ignorant driving..trucks know that no vehicle in their right mind would take them on so they abuse the priviledge of driving..a few bad apples spoil the image of truck drivers

[philndz]

the cop/trucker problem = the reason i use a cb radio to avoid speeding tickets. If there is a cop anywhere....all the truckers in a 5mile radius know about it......so for a cop its pretty tough to bust a truck.

[dmitri]

truckers in nj are crazy. I speed around them because i hate being in between 2 of them.

[philndz]

quote:truckers in nj are crazy. I speed around them because i hate being in between 2 of them. i dont blame ya....have you ever seen what a vehicle looks like after it was caught between two trucks in an accident........you wouldnt know it used to be a car!

[ragingfish]

Agreed. The truck lanes on the NJ Turnpike are a death sentence!

[MadBill]

I've got a "speed saves!" story too:Quite a few years ago, a friend of mine was stopped in his 348 c.i. tri-power '58 Impala at a red light at the bottom of a long, steep hill. (Hamilton Mountain, for Southern Ontario residents) He heard frantic blasts of a truck horn, and in the mirror saw a big rig roaring up in his lane, flashing his lights. Gary burned rubber for a hundred feet through the red, and the truck (no brakes) got within about 20 feet before he started pulling away from it...BTW, when it's 50-50 re brakes or gas in an emergency, keep in mind that there isn't a road car built that won't stop MUCH faster than it can accelerate! (check out 60-0 in your Vibe some day.)

[Faultline]

quote:seriously though, I was wondering if you had disabled your daytime running lights. I realize that there is no way to know that it would have made a difference in the situation you described, but have long contemplated disabling mine. If you did disable them and had the truck not see you, then maybe I need to leave them as is.just to answer your Q..no..i didnot disable themm...and MadBill , I like your story even better...Its got that "run with the Bulls" flavor to it...you know where the racers run ,and they have to get to the finish line before the bulls catch up!...

[Kissfan79]

I have not disabled my DRLs.Jim

[joatmon]

Thanks, I could see where disabling them might have contributed to not being seen by some bonehead driver (that's why they are there in the first place) It's good that you both were paying attention, too bad the other guy wasn't.