As we were passing a semi-truck, Dad imposed some wisdom on me. He told me, "now, if you're ever driving and you start to pass a truck, you don't have to accelerate to get past him. If you're already passing him, your current speed will continue to make that happen." I'm pretty sure he was trying to teach me something about velocity and science or something. He certainly never taught me to actually drive (a story for another day). Seemed pretty logical to me, but I never really gave it much thought after that. Except for the weird fact that I always remembered him sharing that tidbit of advice. :) But I have already digressed.
The main subject of this post is How to Share the Road and Drive with Others. Specifically: semi-trucks.
As soon as I got my first car, I discovered the love of the road trip. This wasn't until much later than most of you, I'd reckon. I was 23 or 24, graduated from college with another year removed from working on a bus line where I didn't need one. Sure, I drove before then, but not having a car of my own, didn't have the luxury of just picking up, filling up and taking myself where my whims could take me. That changed almost immediately after I got Cassidy (yep, I name my cars). At first, it wasn't far: just within state to visit old college friends or down to Chicago to catch the Cubs or whatnot. Later, as I met friends throughout the country and then moved 1000 miles from home, it became much greater distances. But each time, it involved interstates or at the very least 4-lane state highways: the places you typically find semi-trucks utilizing the same roads as you.
I don't know if they do it in Driver's Ed today, but back in my day, we never got instructions on the differences between passenger vehicles on the interstates and commercial big-rig ones. I'm pretty sure it's still not well taught, as I sometimes see on long trips those signs along the highway that indicate if you're passing a truck like that to leave more room, assuming that's the education instead. Do you know which ones I mean? Love those signs! I have faith they educate some. In any case, it was only the road trips I took myself that, over time, helped me to develop the driving skills to work with semis.
Imagine you're on a long stretch of a four-lane interstate. Yeah, you're probably in Texas and I'm sorry for that, but imagine it anyway. You're cruising along in the left lane, a semi-truck is 100 yards ahead of you or so in the right and you're fixin' to overcome him in a few but also notice you're also approaching and exit/on ramp? The right thing to do is to survey that on-ramp and slow the heck down and alert that semi, via your lights, that he can come in front of you. If someone's coming on, that truck is probably going to have to make way for the incomer and the best way for him to do it would be to move over into your lane as opposed to braking. (More on that in a bit.) Notice the interloper, flash your lights quickly so the truck sees you see the circumstance too and then slow the heck down so he can move in front of you for the duration of the entire exchange. Trust me, he'll move back again and you can pick up your speed after. He'll often thank you with a flash of his own lights (oh! I so love when they do that! but that's for later too).
Because although YOU, in your passenger vehicle, could slam on your brakes and stop in a fairly safe distance most of the time, *semi-trucks cannot.* Again, going to throw some velocity and science out here: the weight and momentum behind them will carry them much further than you probably ever thought about if they had to do that. And they have no way of judging how fast that person will actually merge, so it's best for them just to get out of the lane and keep it free in the first place. Right? Logical when you think about it. The thing is, I don't think most folks think about it and I think it's because it's not taught.
I don't know if they do it in Driver's Ed today, but back in my day, we never got instructions on the differences between passenger vehicles on the interstates and commercial big-rig ones. I'm pretty sure it's still not well taught, as I sometimes see on long trips those signs along the highway that indicate if you're passing a truck like that to leave more room, assuming that's the education instead. Do you know which ones I mean? Love those signs! I have faith they educate some. In any case, it was only the road trips I took myself that, over time, helped me to develop the driving skills to work with semis.
Imagine you're on a long stretch of a four-lane interstate. Yeah, you're probably in Texas and I'm sorry for that, but imagine it anyway. You're cruising along in the left lane, a semi-truck is 100 yards ahead of you or so in the right and you're fixin' to overcome him in a few but also notice you're also approaching and exit/on ramp? The right thing to do is to survey that on-ramp and slow the heck down and alert that semi, via your lights, that he can come in front of you. If someone's coming on, that truck is probably going to have to make way for the incomer and the best way for him to do it would be to move over into your lane as opposed to braking. (More on that in a bit.) Notice the interloper, flash your lights quickly so the truck sees you see the circumstance too and then slow the heck down so he can move in front of you for the duration of the entire exchange. Trust me, he'll move back again and you can pick up your speed after. He'll often thank you with a flash of his own lights (oh! I so love when they do that! but that's for later too).
Because although YOU, in your passenger vehicle, could slam on your brakes and stop in a fairly safe distance most of the time, *semi-trucks cannot.* Again, going to throw some velocity and science out here: the weight and momentum behind them will carry them much further than you probably ever thought about if they had to do that. And they have no way of judging how fast that person will actually merge, so it's best for them just to get out of the lane and keep it free in the first place. Right? Logical when you think about it. The thing is, I don't think most folks think about it and I think it's because it's not taught.
The other thing not taught and which leads me to this blog posting today was an incident that happened on my way home from work tonight. Trucks like these make *wide right turns.* I'm sure most of you drivers out there have seen those kind of messages on the backs of city buses and semis on the interstates, but I'm not sure if it really registers sometimes, considering the amount of accidents I see because of this exact thing. Your turn radius on your car? Probably pretty good, right? Now image your car is 4x as long as it really is. Think it would be the same? (A hint: if you do? You really shouldn't be driving.)
So today I'm on my way home from work and I'm going to reference Atlanta city streets here but I'm sure you can imagine streets the same in your own city: I'm on Piedmont Road, heading into the city. It's a four-lane city road with no divider and, being the heart of the city, the lanes aren't very wide to begin with. In this case, it crossed my mind that the semi driver might actually have been lost and GPS-ing it because no semis should be on this street to begin with. That being said, I knew he was headed for a very sharp right hand turn in about a mile where both lanes turn (it becomes a one-way street there) and there's no other option but to turn right. (14th street at the park, for those of you playing locally)
Got that? You're heading down a street two lanes in one direction where both y'all are turning right in about a half a mile. A tight, sharp right.
So I see the truck. He's in front of me afterall and I usually drive with my eyes open. He's in the left lane of this, which is why I believe he must've had GPS, knowing there's no way in hades he could make a mandatory right turn from the right. I usually like being in that lane myself as my next turn on the connecting street is a left a few blocks up, so I was behind him, being patient and keeping a safe distance. But the closer and closer we got to that dreaded turn, cars kept flying by me in the right and since that turn is actually at a traffic light, I knew in my heart that that truck was going to get stuck. Cars would line up along side him at a red and there would be absolutely nowhere he could go as he could only watch car upon car zip past easily in the right turn while he was stuck in the left, not being able to do a darn thing about it. Because he NEEDED that lane too in order to turn his truck. Shoot, as it would actually happen, he actually needed not only that lane but the curb and sidewalk next to that lane to do it. But instead of noticing the truck and surveying the situation and thinking about how to help, these drivers noticed the truck and moved around it to benefit their own needs instead...because, let's face it. Who wants to be stuck behind a semi? Especially on a local road.
But it all kind of pissed me off. Like, all I could think was that this poor truck driver probably accidentally got himself in this situation that he certainly would not be able to get himself out of and I'm pretty sure he had places to go and people to see just like the rest of us. So, still enough far behind him for him to maneuver? I switched to the right lane and STOPPED. Just stopped. Let all the right handers in front of me go through the green light but stopped myself yards before it, knowing he'd need my lane (er, and the curb. and the sidewalk). Flashed my lights at him to let him know that "yep, I ain't moving here even though it's green-- it's all you buddy" and when he started his turn, I knew he understood my message.
However -- right at that time, when I couldn't block the whole right lane anymore, a car pulled up behind him, sharply maneuvered in front of me (almost hitting me) into the right lane in order to beat the light still green. The passenger of that car even had the gall to look at me and mouth something nasty because she didn't understand why I was stopping 30 yards from an intersection when the light was green. I gestured calmly palm-up at the semi situation in explanation and I can only hope that after the fact it might have all come together like puzzle pieces for her and she realized my motive. But, sadly, I doubt it.
Fortunately, no more cars were coming up behind us and I light-signaled Mr. Semi that I was still on board with our original plan. I stayed close enough to his back end to let him make the turn but not let any other cars do the same bone-ass move. And he made the turn, using his lane and mine...and the curb and the sidewalk. :)
At this point, I had to get back over into the lane he was originally in to make my next turn, so he ended up a few vehicles ahead of me to the right where I was never able to pull up along side him to get his wave and smile of thank you. Because I'm sure it would have come. Especially because, even cars behind him, I saw him flash the "thank you" lights with his brake lights. It's crazy how it warms my heart when they do that kind of thing.
So today I'm on my way home from work and I'm going to reference Atlanta city streets here but I'm sure you can imagine streets the same in your own city: I'm on Piedmont Road, heading into the city. It's a four-lane city road with no divider and, being the heart of the city, the lanes aren't very wide to begin with. In this case, it crossed my mind that the semi driver might actually have been lost and GPS-ing it because no semis should be on this street to begin with. That being said, I knew he was headed for a very sharp right hand turn in about a mile where both lanes turn (it becomes a one-way street there) and there's no other option but to turn right. (14th street at the park, for those of you playing locally)
Got that? You're heading down a street two lanes in one direction where both y'all are turning right in about a half a mile. A tight, sharp right.
So I see the truck. He's in front of me afterall and I usually drive with my eyes open. He's in the left lane of this, which is why I believe he must've had GPS, knowing there's no way in hades he could make a mandatory right turn from the right. I usually like being in that lane myself as my next turn on the connecting street is a left a few blocks up, so I was behind him, being patient and keeping a safe distance. But the closer and closer we got to that dreaded turn, cars kept flying by me in the right and since that turn is actually at a traffic light, I knew in my heart that that truck was going to get stuck. Cars would line up along side him at a red and there would be absolutely nowhere he could go as he could only watch car upon car zip past easily in the right turn while he was stuck in the left, not being able to do a darn thing about it. Because he NEEDED that lane too in order to turn his truck. Shoot, as it would actually happen, he actually needed not only that lane but the curb and sidewalk next to that lane to do it. But instead of noticing the truck and surveying the situation and thinking about how to help, these drivers noticed the truck and moved around it to benefit their own needs instead...because, let's face it. Who wants to be stuck behind a semi? Especially on a local road.
But it all kind of pissed me off. Like, all I could think was that this poor truck driver probably accidentally got himself in this situation that he certainly would not be able to get himself out of and I'm pretty sure he had places to go and people to see just like the rest of us. So, still enough far behind him for him to maneuver? I switched to the right lane and STOPPED. Just stopped. Let all the right handers in front of me go through the green light but stopped myself yards before it, knowing he'd need my lane (er, and the curb. and the sidewalk). Flashed my lights at him to let him know that "yep, I ain't moving here even though it's green-- it's all you buddy" and when he started his turn, I knew he understood my message.
However -- right at that time, when I couldn't block the whole right lane anymore, a car pulled up behind him, sharply maneuvered in front of me (almost hitting me) into the right lane in order to beat the light still green. The passenger of that car even had the gall to look at me and mouth something nasty because she didn't understand why I was stopping 30 yards from an intersection when the light was green. I gestured calmly palm-up at the semi situation in explanation and I can only hope that after the fact it might have all come together like puzzle pieces for her and she realized my motive. But, sadly, I doubt it.
Fortunately, no more cars were coming up behind us and I light-signaled Mr. Semi that I was still on board with our original plan. I stayed close enough to his back end to let him make the turn but not let any other cars do the same bone-ass move. And he made the turn, using his lane and mine...and the curb and the sidewalk. :)
At this point, I had to get back over into the lane he was originally in to make my next turn, so he ended up a few vehicles ahead of me to the right where I was never able to pull up along side him to get his wave and smile of thank you. Because I'm sure it would have come. Especially because, even cars behind him, I saw him flash the "thank you" lights with his brake lights. It's crazy how it warms my heart when they do that kind of thing.
The point in all of this? I guess it's really nothing more than to remember that you *share the road* with others. Remember that others don't always have the same capabilities that you do in your vehicle. On the opposite end of this situation, I can also go on about being very cognizant of motorcycles and bicyclists too and what to do there, but that, too, is a story for another day.
None of us own the roads out there. And all of us are in this thing called life together. Be aware of others. "Help" when you can. Choose safety and kindness over your own needs to be somewhere and get somewhere.
I may be naive in this, but I like to think that this semi driver actually got to where he needed to go safely and that with all the drivers he experienced -- whether jerks or just uneducated -- that he knows that at least one person understood him today and knows how to drive courteously in Atlanta. I will never, ever meet him. This I know. But I smile just a little bit thinking that this incident might be something that makes him smile too perhaps.
Be kind, people. Be alert. Help others when you can. Share the road.
None of us own the roads out there. And all of us are in this thing called life together. Be aware of others. "Help" when you can. Choose safety and kindness over your own needs to be somewhere and get somewhere.
I may be naive in this, but I like to think that this semi driver actually got to where he needed to go safely and that with all the drivers he experienced -- whether jerks or just uneducated -- that he knows that at least one person understood him today and knows how to drive courteously in Atlanta. I will never, ever meet him. This I know. But I smile just a little bit thinking that this incident might be something that makes him smile too perhaps.
Be kind, people. Be alert. Help others when you can. Share the road.
