True scenerio

It's early afternoon. Roads are dry. Speed limit is 50 mph. You're following
behind a propane delivery truck. The tank is separate from the cab. The
truck slows down and moves into the breakdown lane, and while you begin to
pass it, it comes to a complete halt for a moment and then starts to turn
left, right into your path and it seems the only way to avoid a collision is
to turn left also. As you turn you stomp on the gas even more to avoid the
front of the truck and wind up going so fast you end up hitting a brick
wall. You demolish the wall.
Propane driver refuses to show his license or registration but does call the
police on his cell phone. He tells police he did pull over but signaled for
a left. Police turn to you and say you should have waited enough time to be
sure he was stopping for good. You say to police the road's speed limit is
50, there's no way you could spend 5 or 10 seconds waiting to figure what
this guy was going to do. And besides, you didn't see him signal because you
were too far up alone side of him.
Eye witnesses told the police they were impressed that the driver was able
to swerve and not hit the truck. Nobody could vouch the driver used his
signals.

I was asked my opinion. I said if the truck pulled entirely into the
breakdown lane then the whole accident was his fault. I asked what the
insurance companies think and was told they're working on it. I said it's a
single narrow lane and the driver couldn't manage to pass unless the propane
truck was far enough over to the right.

Sorry for Top posting, at work now:

Well, I'll tell you, the Deerfield Police are on YOUR side.
This EXACT SAME THING happened to me in my Tercel on Route 5 just out of
Greenfield 2 years ago, but in this case it was a Landscaping truck with a
trailer.
Fortunatley, I DIDN'T hit a brick wall, just wound up on some guy's lawn
still doing 50, hit some ice, straightened out and went right to the police
station.
They called to a cruiser in the area but by that time the guy must have
gotten back into Greenfield.
But the Desk Officer ( a sergeant) was REALLY interested in whether he used
a turn signal or not. i told him, if he DID, it wasn't working on the
trailer, and that i didn't recall seeing one on the truck, either. That's
when he called the cruiser.

I feel /kinda/ bad for getting out of my car and calling the guy an idiot;
he did look to check that I was ok.
But, then again if he had USED A DAMN TURN SIGNAL AND LOOKED CAREFULLY IN
THE FIRST DAMN PLACE...!!!!!


"mark_digital©" <976XXX@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:YvKdnf_8eIhK2b3ZnZ2dnUVZ_tGdnZ2d@comcast.com...[color=blue]
> It's early afternoon. Roads are dry. Speed limit is 50 mph. You're
> following behind a propane delivery truck. The tank is separate from the
> cab. The truck slows down and moves into the breakdown lane, and while you
> begin to pass it, it comes to a complete halt for a moment and then starts
> to turn left, right into your path and it seems the only way to avoid a
> collision is to turn left also. As you turn you stomp on the gas even more
> to avoid the front of the truck and wind up going so fast you end up
> hitting a brick wall. You demolish the wall.
> Propane driver refuses to show his license or registration but does call
> the police on his cell phone. He tells police he did pull over but
> signaled for a left. Police turn to you and say you should have waited
> enough time to be sure he was stopping for good. You say to police the
> road's speed limit is 50, there's no way you could spend 5 or 10 seconds
> waiting to figure what this guy was going to do. And besides, you didn't
> see him signal because you were too far up alone side of him.
> Eye witnesses told the police they were impressed that the driver was able
> to swerve and not hit the truck. Nobody could vouch the driver used his
> signals.
>
> I was asked my opinion. I said if the truck pulled entirely into the
> breakdown lane then the whole accident was his fault. I asked what the
> insurance companies think and was told they're working on it. I said it's
> a single narrow lane and the driver couldn't manage to pass unless the
> propane truck was far enough over to the right.
>[/color]

mark_digital© wrote:[color=blue]
> Police turn to you and say you should have waited
> enough time to be sure he was stopping for good. You say to police the
> road's speed limit is 50, there's no way you could spend 5 or 10 seconds
> waiting to figure what this guy was going to do. And besides, you didn't
> see him signal because you were too far up alone side of him.[/color]

Umm, you could have always slowed down until you knew what was really
happening. Sounds like you painted yourself into a corner. <G>

Excellent driving means having a safe way out of the situation.

"mark_digital©" <976XXX@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:YvKdnf_8eIhK2b3ZnZ2dnUVZ_tGdnZ2d@comcast.com...[color=blue]
> It's early afternoon. Roads are dry. Speed limit is 50 mph. You're
> following behind a propane delivery truck. The tank is separate from the
> cab. The truck slows down and moves into the breakdown lane, and while you
> begin to pass it, it comes to a complete halt for a moment and then starts
> to turn left, right into your path and it seems the only way to avoid a
> collision is to turn left also. As you turn you stomp on the gas even more
> to avoid the front of the truck and wind up going so fast you end up
> hitting a brick wall. You demolish the wall.
> Propane driver refuses to show his license or registration but does call
> the police on his cell phone. He tells police he did pull over but
> signaled for a left. Police turn to you and say you should have waited
> enough time to be sure he was stopping for good. You say to police the
> road's speed limit is 50, there's no way you could spend 5 or 10 seconds
> waiting to figure what this guy was going to do. And besides, you didn't
> see him signal because you were too far up alone side of him.
> Eye witnesses told the police they were impressed that the driver was able
> to swerve and not hit the truck. Nobody could vouch the driver used his
> signals.
>
> I was asked my opinion. I said if the truck pulled entirely into the
> breakdown lane then the whole accident was his fault. I asked what the
> insurance companies think and was told they're working on it. I said it's
> a single narrow lane and the driver couldn't manage to pass unless the
> propane truck was far enough over to the right.
>[/color]
Here's a similar scenario with a propane delivery truck and this actually
happens to be true.
Picture it: regular two-lane highway speed limit 55
Mother went to pass someone and out of nowhere, this propane truck comes by
to the left of us on the gravel going about 75mph while we were passing
another vehicle. We had about two inches of space on either side of us.
The gravel hit and chipped the windshield and cracked the Chevy emblym on
the vehicle. Any slight wrong move and that would have been it. We would
have either exploded from the propane truck or would have hit the ABC siding
vehicle to the right of us that we were passing.

On Tue, 21 Mar 2006 13:24:16 -0500, mark_digital© <976XXX@nospam.net>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>It's early afternoon. Roads are dry. Speed limit is 50 mph. You're following
>behind a propane delivery truck. The tank is separate from the cab. The
>truck slows down and moves into the breakdown lane, and while you begin to
>pass it, it comes to a complete halt for a moment and then starts to turn
>left, right into your path and it seems the only way to avoid a collision is
>to turn left also. As you turn you stomp on the gas even more to avoid the
>front of the truck and wind up going so fast you end up hitting a brick
>wall. You demolish the wall.
>Propane driver refuses to show his license or registration but does call the
>police on his cell phone. He tells police he did pull over but signaled for
>a left. Police turn to you and say you should have waited enough time to be
>sure he was stopping for good. You say to police the road's speed limit is
>50, there's no way you could spend 5 or 10 seconds waiting to figure what
>this guy was going to do. And besides, you didn't see him signal because you
>were too far up alone side of him.
>Eye witnesses told the police they were impressed that the driver was able
>to swerve and not hit the truck. Nobody could vouch the driver used his
>signals.
>
>I was asked my opinion. I said if the truck pulled entirely into the
>breakdown lane then the whole accident was his fault. I asked what the
>insurance companies think and was told they're working on it. I said it's a
>single narrow lane and the driver couldn't manage to pass unless the propane
>truck was far enough over to the right.[/color]

If the tanker truck was pulled over to the curb and stopped, then he
pulled out into the traffic lane again, IMNSHO it's 100% the tanker
truck driver's fault. Could be called unsafe merging into traffic, or
an Unsafe Lane Change. It might fall under an illegal U-turn - they
are often restricted on state highways or in "business districts".

There might be a 'Failure to yield to overtaking/passing traffic'
type charge also - study the state vehicle code book for more ideas.
I'm going by the California rules - there are often many valid charges
to select from, they have to pick the ones with the best odds of
sticking in court.

And unless he was brain dead OF COURSE the tanker driver will say he
used his turn signals, looked to see that the road was clear in both
directions, etc. "Of course I was not making a left or U-turn from
the right lane Officer, that would be illegal! I was merging back
into traffic after allowing this guy who was tailgating me to pass -
Yeah, that's it! That's the ticket! I let him pass and was merging
back into traffic, but even though I stopped he didn't pass me!"

If nobody else there can prove him a liar, why should the tanker
driver tell the truth and get into more trouble? And more than likely
fired, too - they won't give a guy driving a rolling bomb a second
chance to level a neighborhood and potentially kill dozens.

If the tanker driver didn't present license and registration and
proof of insurance upon demand at the scene of an accident, he has now
added Hit And Run to the list if the Police and DA want to push it.

Often when a person driving professionally doesn't want to provide
this information they are already in trouble over their driving
habits, and they know the next report, accident or ticket will get
them fired.

--<< Bruce >>--

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.