A safe driving tip for y'all.

[gridlore]

I've mentioned before my annoyance with tail gaters. Not only do they freak me out because they vanish from view when they get too close, and if I suddenly brake they will die, no they annoy me for another reason..

Things fall off trucks. Today, it was my rear gates. My brand-new, formerly shiny gates.

I was coming down 580 E. I hit a big bump, and heard an odd crashing sound. I look in my mirror and see that the two lift gates in the rear had come loose, and were both hanging by a thread. Emergency flashers, and as fast as possible I begin slowing and moving to the shoulder.

Not fast enough, as I angled over I heard two clangs as the gates hit the road. Luckily, they hit flat and didn't bounce. And since I was already heading towards the side of the road the gates skidding out of traffic. Neither was bent, and I didn't lose my load, but...

Had someone been close up on my truck, they would have run over a gate. That will kill a tire or two. Had the gates bounced, a close-following car would have eaten it. These are the nightmares a truck driver has. People crowding us, tailgating, not understanding that in any argument between even a small truck like mine and a passenger vehicle I will win.

So please, give us some space, OK?

Once I reassembled my truck, I got caught in a thunderstorm coming up Vasco Road. Had there been room to stop safely, I would have stopped and enjoyed the rain and the show.

Comments

[claidheamhmor]

Scary stuff! I'm always wary of trucks; I'm especially careful not to nip in front of them. Having driven trucks in the military, I know how long it takes them to stop.

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

One would like to think truck drivers know this too, but I've had way to many pull up so close that I can't read their license plates (less than a car length) and hit the horn.