Reason to be scared...

[Valentinian]

...when the car cutting you off in a merge and generally being driven like an idiot has the front bumper held on with what looks like masking tape, plus dings and scratches all down one side. That twerp isn't going to care if he hits you.

(This post brought to you by my morning commute. *sigh*)

[Kittish]

As an added bonus, it's at least even odds that said twerp does not have insurance, having been dropped by his carrier for.... wait for it.... causing too many accidents.

[wolfie]

How do you know the vehicle only had scratches and dings down ONE side?

Sooner or later he's going to cut off a semi after passing it on the right (a.k.a. "blind side"), and discover a few interesting facts

- A car's side impact beams are made of relatively light-gauge metal (I believe around 1/32" thick) stampings.
- A truck's frame is made out of "U" channel formed from plate somewhere in the neighbourhood of 3/16" to 1/4" thick.
- The strength of the side impact beams is irrelevant, since a truck's frame is at "greenhouse" height on a car.
- Trucks have longer stopping distances than cars.

[Valentinian]

How do you know the vehicle only had scratches and dings down ONE side?

'Cause mister twerp driver was on the right as our two lanes merged (zooming up from behind because he just had to pass) and I got a good look at his left side... no dings. Then after the merge and some more lane-shuffling I got a look at his right side... scrapes and scratches like he'd gotten very friendly with some concrete. We ended up passing him a couple of minutes later, which was when I got to see the tape on his front bumper.

Don't you just love it when the guy who drove like an ass to get in front of you ends up in the slower lane?

I'm very careful around trucks - one nearly changed lanes over the top of me when I was passing it. They have too many blind spots and too much inertia for anyone else to depend on the truck driver to keep all the little squishy cars safe!

[Kittish]

Thing is, far too many of the squishy little cars just don't realize that a big truck can't stop as quick as they can, can't turn as small as they can, can't get going as fast as they can.... and they also don't realize what it is a big truck CAN do. Squish them.

[dalesys]

SheVa 9's like Bun-Bun called M1 Abrams "crunchies" and used them to fill potholes...

[ADeMartino]

realize that a big truck can't stop as quick as they can,

Oh, yes they can! Eighteen wheels means they can stop 18 times faster!

Actually had that argument with a guy once. He INSISTED that 'more wheels' means 'a faster stop'. His theory failed to account for the additional mass of a large truck.

[Chromatix]

And a freight train can have upwards of 800 wheels. Good luck getting it to stop in less than a quarter mile.

[wolfie]

Thing is, far too many of the squishy little cars just don't realize that a big truck can't stop as quick as they can, can't turn as small as they can, can't get going as fast as they can.... and they also don't realize what it is a big truck CAN do. Squish them.

You left out another thing big trucks can't do - SEE a car that's too close behind, too close in front, or in the wrong spot alongside on the right.

[otakuneko]

Don't hang out in the no zone.

[Valentinian]

Oh, yes they can! Eighteen wheels means they can stop 18 times faster!

Actually had that argument with a guy once. He INSISTED that 'more wheels' means 'a faster stop'. His theory failed to account for the additional mass of a large truck.

Sweet mother of Murgatroyd, had that idiot never seen a large truck braking?!

[wolfie]

All other factors being equal, it takes a large truck half a second longer to stop than it does a car. Why is this? Cars have hydraulic brakes, so when you stomp on the pedal you have usable pressure at the hubs IMMEDIATELY. With air brakes, it takes a bit of time from opening the valve until you have usable pressure in the brake chambers.

Of course, all other factors are NOT equal. In North America, it's pretty much standard for cars to have front disc brakes (and 4-wheel discs are becoming fairly common). Discs are fade-resistant, since thermal expansion brings the rotating surface closer to the linings and they dissipate heat better due to roughly 4/5 of the friction area of the rotating surface being exposed to the air for cooling. Trucks in North America use drum brakes, where thermal expansion moves the rotating surface away from the linings, and heat has to be conducted through it since the friction area is in a "dead air" space (and most of it is in contact with the linings anyway).

Another misconception about trucks I've heard is from someone who didn't realize the truck they drove behind was backing up - after all, it didn't have its backup lights on. There is NO backup light circuit in the standard 7-pin trailer plug.

[kmariem]

I'm reminded of this: http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast....html?_s=PM:US

Extra info not in this article: the car was at fault. It was a teenaged girl who CUT OFF the fuel truck. For a bit, it was thought the truck's driver was lost in the explosion. He'd just managed to run away almost immediately, as he knew what was going to happen, therefore saving his life.

[Sapphire Silk]

Oh, yes they can! Eighteen wheels means they can stop 18 times faster!

Actually had that argument with a guy once. He INSISTED that 'more wheels' means 'a faster stop'. His theory failed to account for the additional mass of a large truck.

Not to mention momentum.

"An object in motion tends to remain in motion . . . "

[retro]

For some reason, I thought of this, taken from a Russian dashcam.