Dude, what are you doing? DUDE WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?

[Gawdzillers]

To the driver of the 18-wheeler on I-24 today,

Standard driving procedure for any motor vehicle, including a GIANT DAMNED TRUCK, is to turn on your blinker BEFORE you change lanes, not AS you change lanes. First, you cut off the Mustang next to me, then you decided to switch back to the other lane and cut ME off.

You're the reason I can't buy spray paint. They lock it up because of huffers like you.

[MnR]

I feel your pain. Last week coming home from school the roads were snow covered, not horriblely but enough that you couldn't make out the lane markers. I'm in the passing lane when this truck apparently thinks my lane is his and comes veering over, I go into the berm to avoid being hit, running over chunks of snow/ice and pop one of my week-old tires. I was NOT a happy camper. I was thankful when the tow guy told me that since I was within my 100 mile tow radius, he'd tow me home, since the roads were a little too dangerous to drive 90 some miles on a donut.

[LillFilly]

That sucks. I think most truckers are pretty considerate; the ones that understand exactly how big they are and the space they need.

With me, they just get grumpy when I tell them they can't sleep in our parking lots...but that's another story!

[Mytical]

It also is not limited to truck drivers. Sadly a lot of people seem to think blinkers are suggestions..not necessary. Of course, I've had semi's actually push me off the road..despite me holding the horn down as if my life depended on it. I know I wasn't in the blindspot, because I could see the driver CLEARLY.

[greek_jester]

Gawdzillers, this is where you call the company the driver's from. This way, even if he doesn't get reprimanded, when he does cause an accident they'll know who to blame & whether to bother keeping him on.

It also is not limited to truck drivers. Sadly a lot of people seem to think blinkers are suggestions..not necessary. Of course, I've had semi's actually push me off the road..despite me holding the horn down as if my life depended on it. I know I wasn't in the blindspot, because I could see the driver CLEARLY.

This is where you call the police, then the company the driver's from.

[Andara Bledin]

A friend of mine had a semi push her off the road and into a center divider, which caused her car to flip.

I'm not sure but if it was a choice between me going into the center divider to avoid being hit by a semi, or me going into it because a semi hit me first, I think I'd take my chances and make the semi hit me. At least then I would at least get a little bit of insurance payout.

^-.-^

[Reyneth]

A friend of mine had a semi push her off the road and into a center divider, which caused her car to flip.

I'm not sure but if it was a choice between me going into the center divider to avoid being hit by a semi, or me going into it because a semi hit me first, I think I'd take my chances and make the semi hit me. At least then I would at least get a little bit of insurance payout.

^-.-^

If you have the truck's plate info and ESPECIALLY if there is a witness (or more than one), you should be able to get it regardless if they actually struck you or not. You should not be penalized for evasive actions taken due to an emergency situation caused by another driver's improper actions.

(damn, even when I'm not at work I fall into work phrasing!)

Unfortunately, "should" is the operative word but there is a reason that a third party company exists to decide insurance company disputes and why my company has multiple attorneys on staff in every state.

[Andara Bledin]

Unfortunately, "should" is the operative word but there is a reason that a third party company exists to decide insurance company disputes and why my company has multiple attorneys on staff in every state.

Unfortunately, my friend was SOL on getting the truck's info. She's lucky the only damage was to her car and her glasses.

Also, in California, if you hit something else while avoiding getting hit, you end up being at fault. You're supposed to let them hit you.

Although, I imagine if it were to avoid something patently reckless, like wrong-way driving, that particular issue would be irrelevant.

^-.-^

[Mytical]

Oh yes, if there was not an open field beside me, they would have to have hit me. Not going into another lane of traffic and end up hitting somebody else. I wasn't thinking of getting the license number..getting my heart beat under a thousand was top priority (ok so a thousand is an exaggeration, but it sure felt like it was that high)

[PepperElf]

and sometimes those insurance companies can be downright nasty.

i've mentioned my coworker who hit a semi at 2 am cos ... the truck driver had forgotten to turn the lights on and my coworker didn't see him in time... his insurance company tried to fight my coworker and intimidate her, claiming it was her fault (despite the police report). took a while for her to get anything.

[EvilEmpryss]

Also, in California, if you hit something else while avoiding getting hit, you end up being at fault. You're supposed to let them hit you.

QFT.

California, 2003: I had some little old lady barely able to see over her steering wheel, much less out the back window of her 1980s Cadillac steel-plated land yacht, cause an accident. This woman made a blatantly illegal maneuver, backing out into a one-way street from a parking lot without looking. I swerved to avoid slamming into the ass end of her car (which would have been made my fault) and wound up slamming into the ass end of the guy in front of me who was stopped for a light. I didn't see him because I was avoiding getting T-boned by the old biddy as I passed her.

Old biddy gets her boat turned the wrong direction down the street and takes off, turning at the next corner so she's out of sight before I can get out of the car. There was no one behind me so it was only my word that I was avoiding a different driver who was the direct cause of the accident.

My insurance paid for the guy's new bumper.

[Andara Bledin]

I swerved to avoid slamming into the ass end of her car (which would have been made my fault) and wound up slamming into the ass end of the guy in front of me who was stopped for a light.

Actually, in California, since you were going straight and had right of way, it would automatically have been her fault (even if it actually wasn't) because she was merging.

I had a friend that was making a right turn out of a driveway onto a strip of road with three lanes going the direction he wanted, and 100 yards before an intersection with a side street. When he checked for clearance, there was a single car coming in his directly in the left-most of the three lanes. So he pulled out.

Well, that single car decided that it had to turn right at the intersection up ahead and ended up crashing into his front end because he was pulling out of the driveway. Since the other car had right of way, despite having made an unsafe maneuver, it was judged my friend's fault because he was merging.

The only time merging traffic is judged a priority over non-merging traffic is when the lane in question ends, in which case the through traffic must provide a place for the merging traffic to merge into. This is most prevalent with freeway onramps. If someone doesn't let you onto the freeway, you would get off better by merging into someone who won't make space as opposed to either driving off the road, crashing into a barrier, or stopping. Of course, if you could change speed to take another position to merge, then it's all back on you.

^-.-^

[EvilEmpryss]

Problem is, no one else saw her. It would have been my word against... well, a major lack of proof. We all know how insurance companies are about proof.

I was driving a clunker, anyway, and the damage to the other car was minimal. My car was considered totaled, so I got about a grand to put against a new used car. It wound up working well for me: the old clunker was having engine problems anyway.

[BrenDAnn]

All I'm gonna say is this: It WASN'T my father! He's a truck driver. He's also known to not only USE his turn signals, but to leave them on for miles, and miles, and miles, and MILES...Until it makes noise alerting him that they're on. Other than that he's one of the safest truckers you'll meet. He's also liable to chase your ass down and tell you exactly how stupid you are if you pull a maneuver like the idiot in the OP! No really...He's done it before, when some f-tard passed us on the right in a semi, and nearly killed me when he cut in front of us. **sigh** Stupidity. I swear.

[Mycroft]

Many cars have capacitor-charged turn signals. So they blink each time the RC circuit charges enough. They start charging when you put on the signal. So the first click or two you see/hear on the dash? doesn't light up the turn light.

A lot of people look, flip the switch, then move over. *They* think they've got a couple of clicks in, but nobody else does.

I'm trying to be generous, as opposed to those who think that signal lights are for other people. But it is true.