Run off the road by a Semi

[majorairhead]

Originally Posted by Caffeinated

Read it and weep.

https://auto.howstuffworks.com/traff...pper-merge.htm

Mike

A most important link. Deserves it's own thread. The more drivers that understand this process, the quicker we get to our destinations.

Zipper merge!

[OTRA15]

"Zipper merge" works when the new single-lane traffic is still moving, as in that demo video.

If that single lane is stopped, "zipper merge" is only a theoretical concept, stuck in mental traffic, like a real-world zipper which has some fabric caught in it IMO.



Like many mental constructs, "zipper merge" works best in a cerebral world like this Internet forum IMO.

Peter

[Caffeinated]

Originally Posted by OTRA15

"Zipper merge" works when the new single-lane traffic is still moving, as in that demo video.

If that single lane is stopped, "zipper merge" is only a theoretical concept, stuck in mental traffic, like a real-world zipper which has some fabric caught in it IMO.



Like many mental constructs, "zipper merge" works best in a cerebral world like this Internet forum IMO.

Peter

Respectfully disagree. If both lanes are stopped, ie gridlock, zipper merge still works IF everyone knows and follows the construct. The idea isn’t that you won’t be slowed down, but that it’s still the best way to move traffic along.

This is hard concept for me, as it does seem like I’m cheating as I pass slowed traffic on the right to get to the merge point. But I trust the traffic engineers know what they are doing, and the zipper merge seems to be a thing.

Mike

[rintintin]

Originally Posted by Dave Park

I'm a retired accident investigator. I have a couple of observations.

First, this is steering input and not a wind deflection. The cab shifts quite wildly and the trailer follows. If it was wind, the wind would push on the trailer, and the cab would not even move on its suspension.

Secondly, the steering input was quite sharp. Not the sort of steering input that comes from lack of attention, which tends to be sloppy and then with a deliberate correction. This steering input is a set of three left/right cycles. It sets up a motion in the cab relative to the truck chassis. The trailer follows.

Third, people observed the trailer wheels did not cross the line. Of course they didn't. A series of high frequency steering inputs at the front will create the greatest movements, and the trailer's wheels will always travel inside that arc of movement. They're basically damped follower motions.

While I can't divine the intent of the truck's driver - what motivated them - I can say with a high degree of certainty that the actions were deliberate.

I have appeared as an expert witness in multiple court cases. I would feel confident about testifying the above - I have looked at all the realistic alternative explanations and found the behavior of the truck and trailer did not fully match any of them.

Drivers distraction is probably the culprit and you can’t say that’s impossible

[rideair]

perri,

You're welcome to go ahead and ride next to trucks all day long, I'm just trying to give a few words of wisdom from a person that's driven an 18 wheeler for over 45 years. Base on your comment, sounds like you know far better than he does.

Good luck to you when you're riding next to a truck and the truck has a blowout and either the tire or the entire truck comes over in your lane.

Hope you're as lucky as this guy was going down the road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ll7sAEoVgU4

[AirstreamJim]

Originally Posted by rideair

Even my brother-in-law, who has been driving trucks for over 45 years has two very simple rules:

"If you're passing a truck, pass it" "If a truck is passing you, let it pass"

And he will tell you,

"The worst thing you can do is ride along next to a truck or allow one to ride next to you"

I’ll wade in here, a bit reluctantly, but nonetheless, here I go....

Let’s say for a moment I agree with the implied premise that somehow commercial truck drivers are a notch above those of us with only 4 (or 8) wheels (I subscribe to the concept that we’re all equal on the road and we should treat each other respectfully...which the vast, vast majority of truck drivers do...but I’ll suspend that notion for a moment.)

One of my pet peeves about other drivers is when they fail to maintain a consistent speed on an otherwise wide-open road. It annoys me. Yes, there are worse driving behaviors, but that’s my pet peeve.

If I’m driving in up-and-down hilly territory at 60-65 mph and a tractor trailer comes up from behind doing 65-70, s/he’s going to want to pass me. Have at it, I’m not there to slow him/her down. But that driver knows damn well that on that next uphill right in front of his/her eyes, they’re not going to be able to maintain that 65-70, and then they can’t complete the move they initiated. I’m still tooling along at 60-65—not slowing, not speeding up—and now they’re alongside me, unable to pass. This is my fault? This is something *I* have to correct? No. You started to overtake me when you *knew* you wouldn’t be able to complete the move, it’s on you to adjust your speed to not be stuck alongside me.

Sorry, that’s just respect. I’ll adjust my speed when I do something stupid, but I’m not going to adjust my speed because you didn’t think 30 seconds ahead when you pulled into the left lane. That’s on you, no matter how many wheels are under your rig.

If your brother-in-law believes I should slow down to let him pass in that situation, your brother-in-law is a disrespectful driver and maybe it’s time for him to retire.

Jim

[SteveSueMac]

Jim - you waded in carefully so I’ll do the same. Would you rather be respected and in an accident or disrespected and live to enjoy your camping trip?

I hate the way selfish drivers (professionals or civilians) disrespect everyone on the road. I hate narcissistic drivers. The world does not revolve around them though they think it does and the wreak their havoc on everyone else. And I’m RIGHT about this! I just don’t want to be dead right, if you know what I mean.

I never play games with an 80,000# vehicle - no matter how much of an a-hole the driver may be....

Just my $0.02

[AirstreamJim]

I agree completely, Steve. I’m not suggesting that I should put myself or anyone else into an unsafe situation. I completely respect that driving an 80,000 pound rig is vastly different than me in my little Jeep or pickup pulling an Airstream. I have all the respect in the world for these guys, and I show that respect by being deferent to them on the road. But I also don’t subscribe to the idea that the truck driver thinks it’s my fault if s/he can’t complete the maneuver they initiated and we end up rolling alongside each other. If you can’t complete the maneuver, abort and try again when you can.

YMMV.

Jim

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Caffeinated

. . .
. . . zipper merge still works IF everyone knows and follows the construct.
. . .

In other words . . . . . never in the real world.

See earlier Post #122 . . . a mental construct stuck in cerebral gridlock IMO. AKA analysis paralysis.

[Adventure.AS]

Originally Posted by AirstreamJim

...
One of my pet peeves about other drivers is when they fail to maintain a consistent speed on an otherwise wide-open road. It annoys me. Yes, there are worse driving behaviors, but that’s my pet peeve.

If I’m driving in up-and-down hilly territory at 60-65 mph and a tractor trailer comes up from behind doing 65-70, s/he’s going to want to pass me. Have at it, I’m not there to slow him/her down. But that driver knows damn well that on that next uphill right in front of his/her eyes, they’re not going to be able to maintain that 65-70, and then they can’t complete the move they initiated. I’m still tooling along at 60-65—not slowing, not speeding up—and now they’re alongside me, unable to pass. This is my fault? This is something *I* have to correct? No. You started to overtake me when you *knew* you wouldn’t be able to complete the move, it’s on you to adjust your speed to not be stuck alongside me.

Sorry, that’s just respect. I’ll adjust my speed when I do something stupid, but I’m not going to adjust my speed because you didn’t think 30 seconds ahead when you pulled into the left lane. That’s on you, no matter how many wheels are under your rig.

If your brother-in-law believes I should slow down to let him pass in that situation, your brother-in-law is a disrespectful driver and maybe it’s time for him to retire.

Jim

Jim, I have to respectfully disagree. If you let off the gas for a few seconds to let the semi complete the pass you will have shown courtesy to that driver (and all those behind him.) It would not have cost you any time or other inconvenience.

As a side benefit, you won't have the large rig beside you for so long with a risk if one of his tires blows out. I would rather have the large rigs ahead of me rather than beside me (or behind me on a downhill.)

[J. Morgan]

Whatever maneuvers happened there didn't have anything to do with the loss of that wheel.

It may be that the Prime driver was inattentive or just a bad driver, and it might be that the driver did a really bad job of trying to warn the Airstreamer that the wheel was loose, but the bottom line is that the wheel was going to fall of whether the driver encroached into the right lane, or performed a brake check or not.

[Renascence]

Ephraim, I read your original post and subsequently watched the videos. I have also read all the subsequent posts by everyone and now can no longer stay silent.
I believe you are in the right - you were established in a legal driving lane prior to the truck trying to pass you. Regardless of the situation with your trailer tire there are many ways to signal an issue without being offensive if that is what the driver was trying to do - alert you to an issue. We have done so for more than 125,000 miles of summer vacation driving when others had issues with their towed or driven vehicle.

Armchair observers, on both sides of the fence, have provided their input as to what you should have done. I will not do that. I do know what I would and have done in the past and will not try to tell others what to do.
New Mexico is a wonderful state and some places are priceless.
Glad you are safe and sound, that is what really counts.

[Halford1]

The Zipper Merge is only for when 2 lanes are merged into one lane whether the road is under construction or not. This Zipper Merge has nothing to do with what Ephraim experienced. Ephraim has done his best judgement and adjusted the speed as needed. I had a fair share of a few bad truck drivers but I am aware that most truck drivers drive professionally and safe. The professionals put aside their anger and drive on. While it is not a good idea to retaliate against bad truck drivers but can do something about it by reporting to proper law enforcement with concrete evidence such as dash camera(s). Just do good defensive driving and you will have good and LONG camping trips.

[SilverWind]

Need to close this thread. This is not the place to charge and prosecute a truck driver who is not able to give her side of the story.

[Scott S]

A couple of thoughts here...
1. In 40 years of driving I have only seen a truck driver behave like this when he had a valid reason...(I cut him off). In this time I have also noticed that sometimes wind currents when being passed by a semi tends to "suck" my Airstream towards the truck. Is it possible that she overreacted to a situation like this? This would NOT have been caught on your dash cam. Clearly the truck driver was not acting in a professional manner!
2. If there was no contact and all you did could be considered within the normal (but usually avoided) range of driving (braking hard, running onto the berm) I see no way that it can possibly be the truck driver's fault that you lost the tire...weirdly broken studs or not.

[xyzabe]

Don't condemn the semi driver until you have driven in that seat. I won't try to Tuesday morning quarterback on who was wrong. The OP was correct in notifying the company and the gendarmes (they act the same way in France, don't call us, we'll stop you).

But having driving big rigs and dragged a house behind the pickup, sometimes things have a bad feel. There are bad big rig drivers, bad RV drivers (5th wheel, TT, MH) and a lot of drivers who I would swear got their licenses out of a soggy box of Cheerios. Just keep the tires on and round, the shiny side up and pavement under you, pay attention and take a deep breath. You will get there, eventually.

[rbs]

there are so many more trucks on the road today, and the industry is growing so fast, you are going to see some people that don;t belong behind the wheel of an 80,000 lb rig

Trucking industry in the United States - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trucking_industry_in_the...
Driving is relatively dangerous work, as truck drivers account for 12% and the highest total number of all work-related deaths, and are five times more likely to die on the job than the average worker. Drivers lead generally risk-prone lifestyles due to smoking, lack of exercise, unhealthy eating and work-related injuries.

meanwhile, we stay off the Interstates as a rule

[Isuzusweet]

For a millenium, car drivers have loathed camper drivers pulling RV's for going too slow, or weaving about; camper drivers who loath semi drivers for going too fast and throwing off tires; big rig drivers who detest car drivers that cut them off. What are we going to complain about when autonomous cars and semi's take to our highways?

Autonomous technology will come to the automobile first, then big rigs, and you Airstreamer RV pullers will be driving amongst a sea of vehicles that could technically do no wrong; because I can't see any manufacturer designing an autonomous TV for pulling a camper based on the infinate amount of variables out there, (trailer models, hitch setup, driver health and competency.)

Goodluck then complaining it was their fault.[emoji53]

Cheers
Sidekick Tony

[OTRA15]

By then, of course, human beings will have implanted chips which obviate the need to complain.

[crispyboy]

Ephraim,
I reviewed your video a couple of times. My conclusion is the trucker was screwing with you. That truck kept running parallel with you without passing and pushing your rig around. The other trucks didn't seem to have any trouble passing as they were all going much faster than you. You did the right thing by reporting them.


It was my turn last Wednesday when out camping on my daughters fall break from elementary school. We were traveling on I-65 on the south side of Louisville, KY. The highway is 3 lanes wide and I was in the center lane due to the congestion of the entrance/exit ramps. Left lane was clear. Truck was tailgating us then in a wink of an eye passed me on the right side absolutely hauling A$$. By the time the rear wheels of the semi-trailer were even with our windshield he moved over in our lane and hammered down on the accelerator. I would have had to run 85+ mph to keep up with the semi-truck to get information to report him. I'm not going that fast with my Airstream in tow. All I can say is thank goodness our truck/trailer brakes were working good and the left lane was clear. If he would have hit us we would have bounced off the concrete barriers in the median..
I need to get a front/rear dash cam.....