Truck Accident In Cali

The only thing I'll add to what the others have said is that I've been up that hill a few times myself. I have noticed that the four-wheelers are always fairly aggressive between Vegas and LA, and especially so once you get in the neighborhood of Victorville and Hesperia.

You have to assume that people are going to try to pass you on the right, even if there is a right lane being added at that point. I'm probably more likely than most here to see where the four-wheeler was at fault. Heck, I got in trouble here a while back for criticizing a four-wheeler that turned into a truck from the right. Apparently this guy was just trying to pass you and you turned into him. If you're the one changing lanes, and especially if you're driving a truck, it's your fault when there's a collision.

If the car had already gotten past 53' of your trailer and you hit him with your tractor, that means you went at least 1.44 seconds without checking your blind side mirror while making a lane change to the blind side. (70 - 45 = 25 mph = 36.6667 fps difference in speed; 53 feet divided by that is 1.44 seconds.)

As the insurance guy said, it doesn't look good for you in that situation. You're getting off easy paying a $2,000 deductible at $50 a week. I'm surprised they haven't required you to at least take some additional safety classes.

So you're getting blasted here, and rightly so, I think. It's called Trucking Truth for a reason. Hopefully you can swallow your pride, learn from the mistake, keep your job, and become a more careful driver.

We live in such a litigious society that it is easy to point to the other guy for blame. I sorta got into a similar situation the first week of training...I wasn't using all of the mirrors...including the bottom and hood. For me it was "I can see it in the top or it ain't there". I took some getting used to. Also I learned really fast that in the dark it is sometimes hard to see what's in those mirrors depending on weather and the lights of the car.

Guess what..I never almost hit someone on the right again. My guess is you aren't using ALL of the mirrors properly.

As a pro, we need to assess all potential hazards and be prepared to react which is really hard to do if the car is not easily seen to begin with.

Be sure to use either shadows during the day or the light " glow" whenbcars are too close so you know where they are.

Damn, you people really surprised me with your "vigilante" response. You all ganged up on me like a bunch of piranhas. So let me respond quickly and be done with it because I'm not gonna start a back-and-forth narrative here.

Could I have prevented the accident? ABSOLUTELY. Should I have checked the mirrors throughout the whole maneuver? PROBABLY. I admitted to this to the safety director at Stevens when I met with him. Does that mean I'm at fault? ABSOLUTELY NOT! The perpetrator tried to pass me on the right, which is against Cali state law. (Yes, I looked in their statutes before I took my stance.) Also, he went into the slow-moving vehicle lane doing 70 mph. He was BEHIND me on the LEFT, which means he shot over TWO lanes. This is an unsafe lane change, also against Cali law. He ADMITTED that he speeded up INSTEAD of slowing down when he saw me make the move. So before you people eviscerate me, educate yourselves because it is amazing that some of you here with so many years of experience run your mouths without taking the time to learn the law. Also, there are DOT traffic laws which even supercede state traffic laws. The 50% rule comes to mind. (For those of you who don't know it, look it up yourselves.) Basically you GENIUSES, if I was at fault, I would have gotten the ticket.

As far as my ego and attitude, nothing wrong there. If I am wrong, I admit it. I've always been open to accountability. I stated to the cop and to the couple that I was just happy that nothing happened to them. But you guys don't know the whole story because I am not going to write a novel about the incident.

As for Stevens, they are buffoons for a lot of reasons. But you guys wouldn't know unless you worked there. And I'm referring to how things are done, not things that have happened to me. And I am gracious enough to leave the other stuff out, so as not to bash them. The fact is, I received no notification, due process or even a phone call as to the status of the case, nor their stance. This is UNPROFESSIONAL. This website is called "Trucking Truth", but that title is a fallacy as long as you have your policy of obfuscating the realities that are out there. If you are going to show the light, you have to show the darkness as well. All is not "rainbows and unicorns". Maybe this website should be called, "Trucking Half-Truths" instead.

Could I have prevented the accident? ABSOLUTELY. Does that mean I'm at fault? ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Wow, you're not very good with reasoning things out, are you? Do you even know the meaning of the phrases "could have prevented" and "at fault"? Because I shouldn't have to tell you that one implies the other, but obviously I did have to.

And for the record, Lionheart, of course I erased the barrage of childish insults you directed at me in your last response. I mean, I get it. You're embarrassed because you made a dumb mistake that almost killed two people and then you were rightfully chastised for it by your peers. You then decided to bash your company publicly even after they stood by you and you were once again rightfully chastised for that. Now you're trying to save face and get the attention off yourself by berating me with a barrage of unfounded insults that I would be forced to defend against, thus relieving you temporarily of the negative attention. It's third grade psychology, bro. Little kids do the same thing. It's a smokescreen.

So you almost kill two people, you bash your company publicly, and then you decide to make it a clean sweep by insulting us. Man, you really know how to kick off the new year, don't ya? Is there anyone left that you haven't almost killed or made enemies of? I mean, it's only January 4th. You're on your way to one h*ll of a 2017!

Like I said...

They always have a plausible (to them) explanation, and will therefore detrimentally defend themselves to the bitter end.

The guy almost killed himself and his girl. He was the aggressor. He could and SHOULD have backed off. I was in the lane already and going to my spot, BEFORE he got there. Read up on your DOT commercial traffic laws.

Once again, could I have prevented it? OF COURSE. In retrospect, I should have kept checking the mirror. But I also had to keep my eyes on the road because it was afternoon traffic, which was my error. As truckers, I UNDERSTAND we are held to higher standards. HOWEVER, I broke no laws---he did. Did I mention he also LEFT THE SCENE and came back a half hour later, right after the cop got there? I believe that is against the law also. I wonder why he panicked...Hmmm.

As for Stevens, EVEN if I were at fault, they are OVER-CHARGING. They do this because they are accustomed to doing whatever they want to their drivers. Because a lot of them are novices and they don't expect them to fight back. There are protocols that need to be followed---they can't just do whatever the hell they want. I am pretty sure I am going to win this and when I do, I will let you guys know, just so yous can eat a little crow. And if I lose, I will post it also. There is a reason drivers are bailing out on them left and right. There is a reason there were over 60 loaded trailers in their yard two weeks ago, late because they had no drivers.

I'll give you the good also, so you can see I am not biased. They have GREAT training. If you can hack it out and jump through all the hoops, you will have a huge advantage over other rookies. That is the reason I went with them. I sacrificed money for the training program. They also have good equipment.

That's it. Peace...

OMG...you people? Really? I didn't just run a four wheeler into a wall Skippy. Probably you should have looked at your mirror again? Probably you learned nothing. You do not deserve to be in the first seat with an attitude like that. ARYFKM?

You asked for advice. You got it, but it wasn't what you were expecting. Right? You wanted us to side with you, right? You wanted us to agree with you, right? If you can't handle the truth than don't ask for it Skippy.

Next time ask us to blow puffy pink billows of smoke up your defiant a** if you don't want honest advice.

Go ahead take the gloves off and show Stevens what a tough guy you are...it sure did work here, didn't it.

People like you make this job that much more difficult for the rest of us...chose another line of work and save a life.

You want to know something Lionheart?

You are like a guy who when given a shovel and told, "here, go dig your own grave," you do it willingly and with great vigor! You amaze me.

Brett and I could not have worked together for three weeks to come up with a better script to show people how not to make a good start in this business than what you have demonstrated here for the fine folks reading this stuff.

Have you considered how arrogant and foolish you sound when you come in here with a bunch of experienced drivers after you have spent a few short weeks in a truck driving school and then a few more short months as a rookie solo driver, who just barely has the training wheels off, and try to tell us how Stevens is a bunch of buffoons? Pray, what on earth do you know about running a trucking business?

We don't act like Piranhas around here, but we do cry foul on worthless drivel from folks who do not know what they are talking about!

You guys DO REALIZE that the other guy broke the traffic laws don't you? Put it this way, in court he would LOSE. HE WOULD LOSE. Do I need to cite other cases as precedents? I can show you guys cases that would clearly side with me, yet you people would STILL villify me. Because you need to get your way. Because of your mob mentality. I am talking about LEGALITY here. Could I have made more effort? YES! But when I changed lanes HE WAS NOT THERE. GET IT? Does that mean I would lose in court? NO! And that is what my whole rant was about. ABOUT THE LEGAL SIDE OF IT. So let me pose to you guys another scenario: I DO check my mirrors throughout the whole meneuver, and notice him swing around and try to pass. HOWEVER, I can't do anything because another guy just took the hole I vacated and now I can't get back. Now what?

Lionheart, please look at this from a different perspective: I'm going to preface it with a real-world example, using my wife. We live in a foreign country where the drivers are INSANE. Yes, the laws here do state that pedestrians have right-of-way, but the traffic laws are laughingly referred to as 'suggestions.' Not kidding; people turn left against red lights, blow thru stop signs, pass in the ONCOMING traffic lane, expecting oncoming traffic to slide over onto their shoulder. Back to my wife; she will cross the street where she legally has the right-of-way, daring cars to hit her. I pull her back when I can. I tell her all the time, you're going to be laid up in traction in the hospital, all four limbs in casts, suspended in the air, claiming... "but I had right-of-way!" In a nutshell, that's you in this situation. Legally you may have been in the right, but what everyone is trying to make you understand is that you still had the opportunity to avoid the collision. My wife has the opportunity to just not cross the street until it is clear. She, by the way, initially sided with your argument. But I told her, that you should not have stopped checking your mirrors until the maneuver was completed. If this had been done you would have seen the car coming up on your right. If there's an industry where following the legal letter of the law can end very badly for you and others, it's trucking. I've read countless times in The High Road Training Course that while speed limits are posted, a truck should not be driving that fast under various circumstances (i.e. around curves). Simply being right here isn't good enough. Truckers are held to higher standards; they just are.