2 Dogs, A Motorcycle & New Underwear

Yesterday I was bobtailing back from Findlay OH & there was a road closure. I had to detour down a country road (with no lane divider) in the middle of farmland USA.

Out of nowhere 2 dogs come bolting out of a cornfield into the road (I use cornfield generically, no idea what they're growing).

I'm probably doing 45-50mph at the time. There's a motorcycle in the oncoming lane that SWERVES INTO my lane (head-on) to avoid these dogs. I have 2 options. Hit the brakes or take the ditch. I hit the jake, depress the clutch & basically stand on the service brake. The motorcycle comes within arms reach of the tractor before swerving back into his lane.

I'm a dead stop, heart beating out of my chest. I thought I was going to kill him! I hit my hazards, open the door & puke everywhere. The bike... just keeps rolling.

I compose myself & get back into the truck (which is a loaner). The red exclamation point on the Qualcomm is flashing & I have messages asking if I'm okay. The truck recorded a hard brake critical event (obviously).

My usual truck (which is equipped with a drive cam) is in the shop for service. This truck doesn't have one...which is a shame. This was the exact kind of videos they show to new-hires in orientation. I could have been famous! Lol.

Seriously though, everyone is fine & I maintained control of the truck. I have to talk to the safety dept. guy (who is out of the office for the holiday) on Tuesday. This should be a fun conversation.

I'm a little concerned with having to discuss a critical event, but All-in-all...I wouldn't have done anything differently. I saved someone's life yesterday. I'm happy with that.

Stay aware! Anything can happen, anywhere at anytime. 👍

Stay aware! Anything can happen, anywhere at anytime.

Yes, and often times in the most benign and ideal conditions!

Thank God things turned out well. Wow. That's the second story of a very close call in the past couple of days. And the math involving a truck and a motorcycle is terrible.

What are the chances something like that would happen when you're in a different truck without a dash cam? That's crazy.

My closest call lately was the deli getting ready to close before I got my ham sandwich. And I didn't have a dashcam on my grocery cart either!

Seriously glad it turned out well for everyone though. Man, that woulda been bad.

Glad you are okay Charlie. Totally agree with you, expect the unexpected, no matter what time of day or night.

I've had similar incidents,...unnerving to say the least.

Thanks guys, very unnerving! I thought I was gonna be picking teeth out of the grill.

I mean, I kinda get why he did what he did. Hitting a dog on a bike would most likely end with him on the asphalt...but I'd like to think I would've chosen the cornfield over the grill of a Freightliner.

Out of the clear blue sky...nuts.

My motorcycle encounter a couple days ago wasn't quite as exciting but no less unnerving. I was heading towards my appointment and this kid on a crotch rocket passes me doing 60 while I'm at 58. He only passes me by 50 ft or so and then just hangs there. Of course he all tucked in like he's doing 120 mph. LOL

I'm like "get the F out of here you little squirrel". LOL

So I slow down, he slows down. I slow down some more, he slows down. Holy crap, it was like having a gnat buzzing a our in one of your nostrils. LOL

I was in Oregon so it was 55 mph speed limit bit I'd finally had enough. I sped up to 62 and blew the little fuggers wheels off...LMAO!

JJ

I had a similar experience on a two lane road with oncoming traffic and bicyclists.

Imagine: a mile of straight road, no traffic except the oncoming pickup truck, two bicyclists and my semi, and they all have to come together at the same place! I squeezed by with inches to spare.

Oh. You've experienced this.

I had a similar experience on a two lane road with oncoming traffic and bicyclists.

Imagine: a mile of straight road, no traffic except the oncoming pickup truck, two bicyclists and my semi, and they all have to come together at the same place! I squeezed by with inches to spare.

Oh. You've experienced this.

Yeah, just last week in Kansas on US-54. Not a lot of shoulder. "I want to ride my bike along the Santa Fe Trail. It looks like this road will keep me close to it!"

I know, I know, they have a right to be there too. Dumbasses.

I think people who rides bicycles on narrow shoulders are crazy. Especially the ones who actually follow the law and stay on the side going with traffic. You're going to ride for miles with your back to traffic as it passes you from two feet away hoping you don't get hit? Geesh! I'd rather ride against traffic so I know if I have to bail out if someone's texting and swerves into me.

"It's against the law to ride against traffic"

"Yeah, but it's against my survival instincts to bank on hope without an opportunity to bail out and save myself"

11 years ago my other half was involved in a fatal accident. An 18 year old on a motorcycle pulled out directly in front of him and stopped. It was deemed non preventable as five witnesses all gave the same story. He rolled the truck in a ditch attempting to avoid this kid and totaled it out. Suicide attempt maybe? We'll never know.

He didn't drive for over 6 months as he went through couseling to attempt to get over the​ mental anguish of seeing this kids feet sticking out of the grill.

Despite being not at fault, they went through all his logs and truck records with a fine tooth comb and the kids family still attempted to sue him for wrongful death but they were unsuccessful, thank God.

I'm glad your incident was a near miss and not the fatality it could have been. Your incident is the stuff nightmares are made of. Very happy you're ok and your safety department will see it that same way. Nothing to worry about. They'll likely want a statement from you regarding the event and that'll be the end of it.

I had a similar experience last night with a couple amish buggies, and 2 lane roads at midnight.

After a near miss i had to pull over, collect myself, reflect on what just happened, and ask myself what could have happened.

Glad nobody was hurt. But if a motorcycle served in front of me like that i would have done what you did, and If the panic stop didn't look like it would work, I'd start planning on eating some ditch, lol.