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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.

Reply to
mark digital©
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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...!!!!!

Reply to
Hachiroku

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

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

Reply to
B A R R Y

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.

Reply to
Travis King

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.

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Reply to
Bruce L. Bergman

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