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The disadvantage to having a little car
Today I was driving in to work on 495. I was in the middle lane doing the
speed limit. In the low speed lane was a large truck that had a small fire
department pickup truck following it.
In front of me was another pickup truck and behind me another big truck.
In the high speed lane was yet another pickup truck coming up on me fast.
As I was going past the fire department pickup truck in the slow lane, it
started coming into my lane. There were trucks all around me so I could do
nothing to get out of its way without hitting another truck.
I honked my horn. It kept coming.
I moved over as much as I could in my lane so I was almost touching the guy
in the high speed lane and started honking my horn over and over.
Finally the guy looked over at me and moved back into his lane. It was
fairly clear he never saw me at all in that lane. He had seen all the
trucks, but not my little car and thought he could just move into that
“empty” space.
If my car had been any wider at all he would have hit me.
I understand there was a major fire in Boston yesterday and two
firefighters died. So, I’m sure there was a lot on that guys mind. I’m
sure there is a lot on the mind of every firefighter and their families
today.
But, don’t change lanes without looking. And, it shouldn’t take half a
dozen or more honks of a horn to get your attention.
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He had no idea why I was upset because the only damage was to my licence plate. It did not occur to him that he had scared me shitless or that that was anything to be upset about.
I'm not fond of people driving big vehicles.
Although, 18 wheeler trucks seem to be more careful than the average. I think it's the training.
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Sadly that was some time after he hit my front bumper.
Most of the accidents I've been in have been with bigger vehicles. SUVs, pickup trucks and vans have all whacked me over the last 34 years I've been driving.
Only once was it a regular car. And it was a young woman who hadn't been driving long and misjudged how long it took her car to stop.
All the others were bigger cars that either didn't look where they were going or didn't care.
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Multiply your experience by a factor of 4X and you'll know what it is like to ride a motorcycle in heavy traffic - hardly anyone sees you! I do agree that the big rig drivers NORMALLY are much more alert than most car/SUV drivers, but sometimes they've had too little sleep and not enough caffeine..
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It's still morning. I'm not very human yet.
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Glad you are OK.
I could sort-of-maybe-see where this guy couldn't hear your horn or realize you were 'talking' to him.
But it doesn't excuse not paying attention to what's going on around [him].
having a "365 head" is something my driving instructor-teacher from HS hammered into me.
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That's a safety feature!
Glad you didn't get hit.
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Now, my orange Jeep scared the crap out of people!
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The dented-up neon green Subaru was a great help when i was learning to drive in MA traffic, though! Especially when I wore mirrorshades. I looked like I had nothing to lose.
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Glad you and your car are OK!
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The logical conclusion to this, of course, is that we will eventually all be driving these:
(my kayak has a flag on top for visibility, it's fluoro yellow)
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