Trooper Sideswipes Truck Driver, Cites Him Anyway (dashcam!)

Well, this is getting interesting!

A big issue here is DEFENSIVE DRIVING. Did the truck driver (box truck, not semi, right?) exercise defensive driving technique? Doesn't look like it to me. Neither did the idiot in the red car. This seems to be the perfect storm of bad driving. Truck driver, red car driver, trooper.

Rainy correctly pointed out that the truck driver should have slowed WAY down and put on his flashers. But in the video he looks completely unconcerned about what was happening in front of him and to his right side. Was he checking his right side mirror? Not unless I missed seeing it.

Educational benefit: I never heard of or have seen a LEO doing the "slow down" maneuver. Now I will know it when I see it.

The lesson: If we see something 'strange', 'unusual', 'LEO vehicle emergency lights', immediately slow down, focus and be ready to stop if necessary. Oh, and if a LEO sideswipes you, be very polite. Those guys have guns.

Both Utah and California highway patrol, at the least, not sure of other states (and I don't see it very often in Utah at all), do this rolling block.

Truth be told, despite the fact that the LEO hit the truck (somehow???)-- I think this is almost entirely the driver. He should *not* have been that far forwards relative to the trooper until absolutely positive the trooper had returned the highway to a normal status. Flashing lights were still on and by this point the officer had to have been cutting across lanes for a little while.

Thanks all!

I don't disagree!

(I just posted this... titles were as taken from CDL Life. I just added DashCam note).

Yes, Driver did nothing RIGHT! (as pointed out by several here).

My question is "Is this a common LEO maneuver?" Seems risky and a bit stupid!

Rolling Road Block

Truck driver’s fault all the way and clearly a preventable accident on his part. When he saw the emergency lights of the cruiser, he should have slowed down a lot. Maybe if he had, then the contact would have been avoided. I also think that LEO should have checked his side mirror better, and not darted in front of the speeding truck, too. 90% truck at fault and 10% LEO is my summary of the video.

PackRat, welcome back. Where you been? Was gettin' worried.

Off the grid for a few days.

I may have missed it, but again agreeing with Rainy, I don't remember seeing Terry even try to move to the left... actually, I believe he was surprised by the hit, which would mean he wasn't even aware that cruiser was coming at him.

That was exactly my thought. I do think the cop shares blame, since he did actually just drive right into the side of the truck, so apparently he wasn’t looking either.

I may have missed it, but again agreeing with Rainy, I don't remember seeing Terry even try to move to the left... actually, I believe he was surprised by the hit, which would mean he wasn't even aware that cruiser was coming at him.

That was exactly my thought. I do think the cop shares blame, since he did actually just drive right into the side of the truck, so apparently he wasn’t looking either.

Reminds me a bit of a conversation I once had with a private pilot cousin (who tragically later died and killed 3 passengers during bad weather in Alaska when he couldn't find his airport and didn't have access to "approach plates" (instrument approach settings) to his alternate airport).

We were talking about a small plane colliding with another small plane carrying skydivers (which he always found amusing, having almost hit one or more as they fell past his plane). Anyway... I said this sounded like a failure of the one pilot to monitor the local airport frequency (or he would have know about the presence of the "jump" plane in the area). My cousin Alan responded "this sounds like a failure of EITHER PILOT TO LOOK OUT THEIR WINDOWS!"

RIP CUZ!

Maybe the truck driver should have tried a 'citizen's arrest' on the LEO. I wonder how that would have gone over?