Let me first quality what I am about to discuss here. I am not against travel trailers so please don't anyone get upset with me for this. We were in the slow lane traveling down I-5 in Oregon when I noticed a guy towing a trailer coming up pretty quick in the fast lane. As he approached his speed seemed to quicken and as he passed me he had to have been doing at least 75 mph as I was doing 60 and he came by me like I was dragging my anchor. No sooner than the rear of his trailer passed the front of our coach, over he comes, no signal, not indication whatsoever that he was going to change lanes and cut right in front of us. My co-pilot actually let out a yell as she said for sure he was going to take our front end off. He missed us by a mere couple of feet. I just don't understand why some folks insist on driving like idiots and performing a stupid maneuver such as this one was. Are people really that crazy? I guess they are as this guy certainly proved it. And to make matters worse as he cut back over into our lane he started swaying back and forth and damn near lost it but managed to correct himself before he did spin out and off the road or into traffic, etc. I backed way off and let him get way up ahead. I'm sure many have experienced this type of driving by various RVers. I saw him a few miles up the road pulling into a rest stop and was sorrily tempted to pull in and have a few words with the idiot but my co-pilot asked me nicely to please not do that and just keep on going, so I did. Really got the old pacemaker to working overtime and raised the old BP a few notches also. Think perhaps I may go ahead and mount those dual remote control paint ball guns up under the front cowling after all. A couple of bursts from both barrels should add some color to the back of the next guy who does that wouldn't you think. One trigger, both barrels, yeah that's the ticket alright............. Drive with caution, always, BankShot...............(aka Terry)
Since we've been cut off a number of times by cars not pulling trailers of any sort pulling back into our lane too close, it doesn't surprise that some of them are also out there when they do have a trailer in tow. Or driving a Class A or C. Telling them they're idiots does no good, they're not smart enough to learn from it until someone gets seriously hurt by their actions.
What bothers me the most is these types of folks that do this sort of thing seem like they are oblivious to everything going on around them and that common sense has simply gone out the door, never to return. And you are corect NYDutch, telling them they are idiots means nothing to them, they just go on down the road and do it to someone else................... They drive amongst us, BankShot.............(aka Terry)
Terry, you did mention they pulled into a rest area a few miles up the road. As an over 60 male who thinks rest areas are spaced too far apart, I've got an uncomfortable feeling for why he could have been driving erratically!
You know RickB, I never even thought of that but you might be on to something. Reminds me of the book "Race to the Outhouse "by Willie Makit................ Slip slidin' away , Terry...............(aka BankShot)
Normally when travelling down the highway or interstate I'm towing somewhere around 60 - 65mph (96 - 105 kph) and I'll keep it fairly consistent at that. With a 40' 5er and a full sized truck my overall length is nearly 60'. I do have a rear view camera which helps me enormously but if the sun is strong it may not be the easiest screen to view. I don't know about you guys but whenever I get overtaken by an RV or 18 wheeler I tend to give them a flash of headlights once they are far enough past the front of me and safe (IMO) to pull in to the same lane in which I am travelling. If I'm overtaking someone I'll look in my wing mirrors for a similar response so that I know I'm safe to move back in. On occasions it doesn't work that I get a flash of lights but it does help when I do. I'll also then give a very short burst of rear light flash or hazard lights to acknowledge the courtesy just afforded to me by the driver I have just passed. Having just driven from Calgary to Toronto across Canada and then returned through the mid-west states this had about a 70% success rate from other drivers - mainly the 18 wheelers.
Whenever a truck or other RV passes me I always wait till they get far enough in front so I know they can make a change back into my lane and then I give them two quick double flashes from my high beams. I'd have to say that only about 2 out of 10 trucks will acknowledge and flash me back about three times using their emergency flashers. As for cars and other small vehicles I have yet to have that acknowledgement. The odd thing is that when I am the one passing a truck and put my signals on to change back into his lane rarely if ever do I get a a high beam flash letting me know to go ahead, so I just wait till I am sure it's been a safe distance and move on back over. So many different types of drivers you just never know what you're going to run into under a given situation so I always try to use caution and be as safe as possible. So far, we are still in one piece and makin' it on down the road............. Regards, BankShot................(aka Terry)
Some trucking companies have prohibited their drivers from flashing clearance signals due to potential liability issues. Apparently there have been a few related lawsuits...
I can remember only one time a truck flashed his clearance lights back at me, all the others that do flash a "thank you" do so using their brake lights only. So what you say NY Dutch must be correct. Funny how the difference in lane changing makes when you do something courteous to another driver and they acknowledge and say thank you back, etc. Puts one in a entire different frame of mind as opposed to when someone does something like cut you off or almost run you off the road, etc when doing so............. Regards, Terry...................(aka BankShot)
I've thought about doing this but just haven't gotten around to it yet. This last "escapade" may be what puts me over the top and checking into installing one. Thanks for the tip HappiestCamper.. Regards, BankShot...............(aka Terry)
Within a few days, I delivered a CD to the police department where it recorded a wreck. One driver was obviously entirely at fault and I wanted to make sure the other wasn't charged 40 seconds in - opposite direction Another time we witnessed a car chase at night - it was U-Haul box van that the police had shot out the tires and one of the local news stations used it (not sure what foul language they are referencing) link to news story I also posted on FB one time of a driver that sped through a right turn only lane to pass everybody in line going straight when light turned green. Tempted to get a second for rear window.
I'm betting what happened was that when he got to the front of your coach the trailer got sucked over. Instead of fighting it and risking bad sway he just went with it and changed lanes (albeit stupid and dangerous). And if he was swaying that bad after he cut you off that proves my point. On my trip out west I had my cruise set at 70-75 depending on conditions. I normally set it at 65-67. But in he areas of 70-80mph zones you have to adjust to conditions. I never cut anyone off and my setup is solid. When I pass a truck or RV I don't get that push-pull some get. And I have a rear view camera so I know when I can safely change lanes. Sounds like this guy just didn't know better about anything.
I was watching him as he approached on my left side and he wasn't wavering a bit, even as he was passing us. I think what caused him to start fishtailing back and forth a tad was that he simply swerved and pulled over in front of us way too soon and way too high a speed. We are a full height Class A and I know we cause some turbulence for other smaller vehicles when we pass them or vice versa but he was hauling a trailer of at least 28 feet long with a Dodge 3500 dualie so he was also capable of causing turbulence himself. Again, I agree with you, I think he simply didn't realize what he was doing until he had made the move in front of us and then it all came together. I'll bet his britches needed a good cleaning after he finally did get the rig back under control.................. Takes all kinds and one has to be watchful and careful out there amongst them...................... Safe and happy RVing, BankShot....................(aka Terry)
We were on I-81 in Va today and witnessed the same thing. The driver of a pickup truck from Ca pulling a travel trailer NEVER gave a signal when moving from lane to lane. Traffic was everywhere but it didn't seem to matter to him/her. Accident waiting to happen.
I've never flashed my lights to tell someone to pull back over because I've never had one wait longer than I wanted. It's FAR more often that they pull in and I have to back off in order to keep the following distance I want. I have a rear-view camera, but used it to figure out what pulling back in safely looks like in my rearview mirror. I can see the vehicle I'm passing disappear from view in the camera, but that's too soon to pull back in. So I wait until what I see in my rearview mirror looks right.
There are crazy idiot drivers everywhere in every type of vehicle. I've learned to drive defensively and go on my way. It's best to ignore them to avoid road rage. It's not worth your effort or time to give them any attention. It must be a male trait to obsess over bad driving because my hubby does the same thing.
Bev, if you think it's only a male thing, think again. We have one friend that cusses up a storm if she even sees another driver do something she thinks is stupid even when she's not involved and another that will chase an errant driver for miles just to give them the finger. We usually to hear about the incidents for the next few days. Oh, and one of them 78, the other 84...
