Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Don't Try This At Home




This video was recently published to a trucking website. Watch it - try to ignore the incessant barking at the end, I know it's annoying.

This scenario is not at all unusual for us to encounter on the road.  In fact, the very same thing happened to me.  
It was a Saturday night in Montana.  I was driving, Ed was sleeping. It was dark and raining.

A pickup truck merged onto the interstate and I'm guessing thought I didn't get out of his way fast enough because rather than falling in behind me when the on-ramp ended, he rode the shoulder next to me and then pulled in front of me.

As soon as I saw him on the shoulder, I moved over into the left lane. Then he moved into the left lane in front of me.  
I slowed down to put some distance between us and moved back into the right lane. Then he moved back into the right lane.

Left lane. Right lane. Left lane. Right lane.

I tried to stay back away from him but he kept slowing down, decreasing the distance between us.  He slowed, I slowed.  He eventually had me down to 30 miles per hour and wouldn't let me pass.  I called 911 and described to the operator what was happening, but while I was on the phone with her, the guy exited the interstate.  She told me she'd dispatch the call locally. A few minutes later, I got a call from a Montana State Trooper.

I repeated the story to him, told him where he exited, gave him a description of the vehicle but told him because of the dark and rain, I couldn't get a plate number.  I didn't want to get that close to him.

The trooper told me I did the right thing staying back from him, but that he couldn't get to me because he was 30 miles away at a Cowboy Cookout in Lolo.

This really does happen far too often. Cars cutting us off.  Crossing three lanes of traffic to get off an exit. Driving too fast in snow and ice. Thinking they're going to teach us a lesson by braking hard in front of us. They don't realize how unsafe their actions are both for themselves and others around them.  And, like this guy, it could cause them to drive home with $600 in tickets.

Pass this post on to your friends. Post the link to it on your Facebook page. Tweet it. We need to raise awareness in every way possible.

Thank you, and drive safely!



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
2014: This Place Is For The Birds

2013: Get Your Travel On
2012: An Art Deco Tower In The Panhandle
2011: Traffic Might Just Have Saved My Life
2010: Joining The Ranks
2009: The Daily Rant Goes Farther East Than Ever Before
2008: What He Does When I’m Sleeping
2007: Now You Don’t Have To Go To The Ghetto To Get Crack
2006: Satchel Pitches A Great Question
2005: A Night In Yakima

2 comments:

Mick said...

Hmm, yes, happened to me one night a long time ago. Midnight, driving home from dropping my friend off after a gig. Very quiet road over moorland, no lights on the road, car overtakes me doing about 60 (the limit) then slows right down in front of me to about 35. I overtake, then he overtakes me again and slows right down. I'm a bit scared now and reach for my phone and consider turning around and taking another road. I pull over and stop to call the police. He stops momentarily and then drives away at speed. I waited 10 minutes and then carried on home. Didn't see him. Never happened again thank goodness.

The Daily Rant said...

MICK: It's the craziest thing, right? Like out of a movie. And for me, because this person is crazy enough to hit his brakes in front of an 80,000 pound vehicle, there's a little concern as to what they might do next. And of course, in my case, the guy didn't even get a slap on the wrist for it. If *I* did that, as a truck driver, the law would be all over me!