My 93LX teaches 18-wheeler a lesson

[WADS56]

I was driving back to my g/f house Saturday night (Sunday morning 4:00 am) in a blizzerd on I-57. Only the right lane was plowed (sort of) and the left was all drifted over. There were very few people on the road and the people who were, were driving in the right lane going about 35mph.

I was behind a Blazer, giving him about 9 car links between us...pacing him. Then this big truck with 1000 watt head lights and about 4 sets of fog lights comes up behind me, riding my tail. He kept about 1/2 to 1 car link of my bumper for about a half mile. There is no point in this, the weather is bad and there is nowhere to go so he should just sit tight and back off unless he want's to pass in the left lane.
I'd had enough of this!

I told my g/f to hold on, then I hit the brakes - hard. The truck was sliding all over the place trying not to hit me and then the trailer swings out into the left lane taking up the whole interstate. He didn't crash, but he got it stopped sideways across I-57.

I just kept going while my g/f was chewing my ear off Maybe he'll think twice before he tries to push a little car around when the weather is bad.

[1965GTO]

I would have just ran over your little butt. I wouldn't have been tailgaiting though. He probably thought you would speed up if he ran close to you, but he should have got in the left lane and passed you. He should know about stupid people like you but maybe he is a rookie like you.

[WADS56]

O.K.

OK, you know what? You're really retarded. Sorry to be so harsh, but that's what you are. What if he hadn't hit his brakes? Would you be sneering right now, or would you be in the hospital? Do you even have any idea how much an 18 wheeler can weigh? You're lucky you're not dead right now, or in the hospital. No, I'm not condoning what he did, but what you did was just as stupid, if not more so.

[WADS56]

No, I wouldn't be in the hospital we were doing 35 on ice with nothing but flat land for miles. My car slowed down about 3mph when I hit the brakes, it was about as effective as letting off the gas. If that caused him to go out of control it is obevious he was to close.
I guess me and all the other cars in front of me just should of pulled over and let him pass because he must own the road He was being a ******* and was endangering me and the other cars in front of me. What if there was a reason I had to stop, lake an accident in front of me or something, he would of smashed me between him and what ever could of been infront of me.
I gave the car infront of me lots of room and so did he for the car that was in front of him. We all had enough room and time to react to anything that came up except the truck behind me. There was no reason for what he was doing, and if he wanted to screw with me he picked the wrong person.

[lx mike]

I hit the breaks hard

On an icey road you hit your brakes hard??


what would you have done it he had overturned?? gone back to tell him he got what he deserved? or just laughed at him and drove on?? all it would have taken was a tap from him and you would have been the one that was sliding all over the highway.

[LowDown]

Not that he was right, but I hope he finds you at a gas station some day so that he can thank you for teaching him such a valuable lesson.

[Smokedawg]

I would have prob done the same thing...well, maybe if it wasnt a semi..

[fiveohpatrol]

damn Wade I don't see why everyone is jumping on your back. I would have done the exact same thing.

These guys must either all be truck drivers (yay for you) or related to them.

I had the same thing happen to me last night, I'm sure it wasn't as snowy as it was up there but it was still pretty slick and this *** in a silverado rides my bumper about 4-5 feet from me as we're going 45 on a snowy interstate. I just hit my pedal enough to flash the brake lights but not enough to really slow down so he passes me in the emergency lane and almost loses it.
I hate idiots, especially ignorant ones that call you stupid and tell you they are gonna run you over

[Fox Body]

WADS56, GOOD JOB. You may have prevented a much more serious accident that could have occurred from this truck driver's stupidness. Out of all the drivers on the road, truck drivers are some of the best, but there are of course a few that are just idiots (esp if he was really only 1-1.5 car lengths behind you). I'm sure he was pissed, but I'm also sure he had second thoughts later about riding on people's butts in blizzard conditions. I say good job b/c while something worse could've happened, it didn't and a warning, that could save lives in the future, was given to the retard truck driver .

On your part however, a friendly tap of the brakes (just so he would see your brake lights for a second or 2), just so he could know that you wished him to BACK OFF, would've probably gotten it through his head. If not, a slightly more aggressive tap of the brakes might have. I would not advise the same type of behavior on your part in the future b/c the accident you may be trying to avoid may be 10x worse b/c of your slightly over-reaction (if that's a word). It was "blizzard conditions" so perhaps slamming on brakes going from 35 mph to 3mph with an 18-wheeler behind you at about 1-1.5 car lengths wasn't the wisest thing to do--- ya think?

Your girl was angry at you b/c you endangered her (and other people on the road) life. What if the driver was looking to the side or something or for some reason wasn't able to stop in time? What if he plowed into the back of you? Even at 35mph? remember, you were going 3 and that was a semi..... Your day would've been screwed in the LEAST.

Your idea was good, but taken just a little to an extreme. Really think b4 you decide to do something like that in the future. Think about the possible consequences of those actions and how you could maybe refine your actions to avoid something worse then you might expect. I'm pretty sure you didn't count on the whole truck sliding to the side and almost wrecking. You were probably scared as crap as it was happening and was like "oh crap this guy is gonna wreck and turn over and it's gonna be my fault", but it didn't happen so you felt you did the right thing. Well, sorta. Just try not to be so extreme next time. All in all, I would advise against you slamming on brakes to get people off your tail. Try a different/safer approach.

[Mr 5 0]

Lets see; you're on a snow-covered, icy highway at 4:00 a.m. and driving slowly in the right lane due to snow and road conditions. So far, so good.

An 18-wheeler comes up on your bumper and tailgates you, which is very annoying.

To 'teach him a lesson', you hit the brakes, hard (in your words) and the 18-wheeler locks up his brakes and starts fishtailing before he finally gets it under control - and ends up sideways on the highway.

That about it?

Well, the truck driver was an idiot and you were no better.
If I was a cop I would nail you both for reckless driving.

Lot's of 'what-if's' to consider here, too. Had the truck not been able to stop and hit your little LX you and your girlfriend would have probably been injured and the car wrecked. Yeah, his fault, legally, but you're still in the hospital (or morgue) and you still lose your car. For what? To 'teach a lesson' to some anonymous idiot in a blizzard on a slippery road? Dumb.

You showed a serious lack of good judgement in a potentially dangerous situation that you made much worse. You brag about this?

This kind of "I'll show YOU!" attitude is juvenile and makes driving more dangerous for everyone.

See a few wrecks with young, very dead bodies (often ripped apart) and realize that they were doing the same kind of foolish driving and maybe you'll get the point. Until you do, don't expect compliments from this corner for driving recklessly and being smug about almost causing a wreck.

[joe4speed]

I respect truckers all the time, but they can be THE biggest asses out there. They are constantly riding people. I woiuld have been mad too! I'm glad no one got hurt though.

[1969Mach1]

Wow, Crazy stuff. I'm not sure what I would of quite done in that situation. Maybe the same thing, but only if I was alone. I don't want to take or hurt anyone for my chances of stupidity. But sometimes you have to let some things go. Especially if your risking others life. He could of jackknived and taken out other cars including you. If you don't care what happens to you that is fine but think of others and there familys.

Either way, keep it safe.
§am.

[WADS56]

Fox body- What I meant to say is that I only slowed down 3mph from 35mph, not only doing 3mph. It was slick out and brakes were almost useless.

As far as I can see this was my only option. Here was the choices that I could think of.

Speed up and let the trucker push me past my ability, and then I would be to close to the blazer or in the ditch.
NO!

Keep there and ignore him. NO!

Slow down and pull over on the drifted sholder which would still cause me to use my breaks resulting in the same thing. NO!


Or - step on the brakes while I still have a clear path in front of me to let him know he can not stop safely. YES!

I feel that this was a good choice because if I had to stop for something he would of crushed me. I wasn't trying to make him crash, but if he did that's his problem. He had no reason to endanger me or other people. This way he was only endangering himself. I explained to my g/f what happened and now she agrees with me. She was just scared at first because she didn't know what was going on.

As far as the guys that called me retarded... stay out of people's asses and it won't happen to you!

It's that simple.

Wade

lowdown: I almost forgot. I would like it if I saw him at the gas station to thank me. I would be happy to teach him some more stuff if he would want to.

These guys must either be all truck drivers (yay for you) or related to them.

Fiveohpatrol, would you like to explain what you mean by that?? Is there something wrong with being a truck driver(Yes, I am one...)? Quite frankly, I am disturbed by your flippant attitude towards the men and women who keep this country moving.

[fiveohpatrol]

I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. I wasn't trying to say that I thought bad of all truck drivers. Yes most are courtious but some can be asses, like the one in this story.
The only reason I said that was because of they way people seemed to be backing the truck driver.

I'm sorry if I offended you or anyone else.

[WADS56]

I don't think that he was insulting truckers because there truckers. He was saying that you guys are just sticking together because you are truckers.
I have no problem with them either. My grampa was one for CF, my uncle is a private driver, and my dad drove for Union Pacific before he passed. I will usally give a truck driver more respect then cars on the road, but a jerk is a jerk no matter what you drive.

[Unit 5302]

Originally posted by 1965GTO:I would have just ran over your little butt. I wouldn't have been tailgaiting though. He probably thought you would speed up if he ran close to you, but he should have got in the left lane and passed you. He should know about stupid people like you but maybe he is a rookie like you.

That's great, then I'll see your sorry *** in jail for vehicular homicide. Hopefully you'll just be in the hospital for rolling first.

Originally posted by lx mike:On an icey road you hit your brakes hard??


what would you have done it he had overturned?? gone back to tell him he got what he deserved? or just laughed at him and drove on?? all it would have taken was a tap from him and you would have been the one that was sliding all over the highway.

I would have laughed myself. No remorse. Psycho rig drivers. Get what they deserve in my opinion.

Originally posted by LowDown:Not that he was right, but I hope he finds you at a gas station some day so that he can thank you for teaching him such a valuable lesson.

I hope somebody beats the living hell out of you for no good reason. Care to make an *** out of yourself further?

Originally posted by fiveoboy01


Fiveohpatrol, would you like to explain what you mean by that?? Is there something wrong with being a truck driver(Yes, I am one...)? Quite frankly, I am disturbed by your flippant attitude towards the men and women who keep this country moving.

I HATE rigs. I'll tell it straight up as it is. You jerks are dangerous as all hell out there. NO respect for other cars, no respect for anything on the road. I've been run off the road by trucks more than once, and nearly wrecked dozens of times because of crazy *** rig drivers in the snow.

For those of you who don't live and drive in the snow with trucks, you can SHOVE IT. You have no fricken clue how psycho ALL the drivers I've encountered are. One after another they come flying down the freeway at 70mph while the rest of traffic is doing 35mph pushing through snow. They fill up the tracks with slush and snow giving not a crap about any other vehicles on the road. I've made hundreds of trips like this, and every single rig I've EVER encountered is pulling that. Then you've got the jerk who thinks his rig is a sportscar, rolling on the cloverleafs backing traffic up forever. My commute literally doubles when weight restrictions are lifted in the spring. Rigs clogging up traffic. They should be outright BANNED from the roads during rush hour. 6-10AM, 3-7PM. NO rigs. Fix traffic problems right there.

I've even been blamed for accidents where rigs were tailgating and they rammed into cars in front of them.

Quite frankly, I'm not about to kiss feet on this topic. Politically correct, no way in hell. Most rig drivers need to go back to driving school.

[Unit 5302]

Just for the record, I don't really condone the action as the psycho rig driver could have killed somebody else when the moron jackknifed.

The idea the rig would directly injure WADS56 is pretty unfounded. A 3mph collision isn't going to kill anybody. Now he could have rolled, and that could have been trouble, but the rig running over him is just a moronic argument.

[1965GTO]

A person driving a Tractor-trailer can see over the top of your car and farther down the road than you can, so if you had a real reason to hit the brakes he would probably know it before you would.

If you read your Illinois driving manual you would have known the correct option is to slow down if someone tailgates you. Slow down, not jump on the brakes!

Unit - you said the guy wouldn't be killed so how in the heck would I be charged with vehicular homicide.

Yes, I use to drive big trucks and have had people pull in front of me and purposely hit the brakes and guess what ? After a few times I learned to ignore them and not hit my brakes. If they wanted to get hit that is up to them. It wouldn't be my fault because they pulled in front of me and hit the brakes knowing that I can't stop - or even if they are stupid enough to not know I couldn't stop.

Somehow I never hit one though. I guess they weren't as brave as they thought because they would quickly get back on the throttle before I hit them. They may be stupid enough to hit the brakes for a second to get a truck to hit his brakes but they aren't stupid enough to actually stop in front of you so I quit hitting my brakes. A lot of the time I would floor the accelerator instead. Believe me I'm not getting hurt because of a car. Which means I'm not hitting the brakes just to avoid some moron and take a chance of turning over in a ditch.

I had a Blazer run into the side of my tractor once and I didn't feel a thing!