Let's See Of This Forum Is As Friendly As It Says!!

John,

You came here to TT for some advice and answers and some of the best drivers anywhere have given you solid answers to a potential deadly accident. Two wrongs never make a right and the reckless driver created a bad situation for you but also made the wrong choice to pass other drivers in the median.

You should have dropped back, took the license plate number and informed the State Police. If your wife was in recovery she should have been in your immediate thoughts for both your safety.

Sorry if you didn't like the responses and advice that was given by the great drivers here. I hope that you really take their advice and see the help that was given to you.

I appreciate the advice but I think that I did the right thing however since I avoided a conflict. When a 35000 lb. truck runs you off the road I don't think that the driver is looking to be your friend. Dropping back to not get run off the road was not an option because I was already past the center of the truck length when he ran me off the road. Off the road was the only place to go. Sorry if I offended you by not agreeing but you weren't there and did not have to react instantly. My advice to you all is maybe you should leave the law in the hands of the police and not try to police the road on your own. What advice I will take away from this is to that next time I will drop back and will immediately call 911. Also, if anyone is blocking lanes on purpose in a construction zone I will do the same. I will have a dashcam in a few days so there will be evidence next time. Have a good day!

Thank you for the advice but what I did was the correct response at the moment. When a 35,000 lb. truck runs you off the road I don't think that the driver is looking for a friend. The truck ran me off the road when I was already half way past him so there was no time to drop back. I could have dropped back afterwards but just wanted to get away. This seems to be the only thing that you are criticizing me for. Ok, if that is what you are looking for. I made a decision at the spur of moment. Maybe truckers shouldn't try to police the road with their own form of justice? The advice that I will take away from this is is that next time I will drop back and I will also have a dashcam. I will report aggressive incidents like this to 911 and I will also report lane blockers but next time I will have video evidence....

And one more thing. When the truck ran me off the road we were probably going about 34 mph. When I tried to get back on the road the traffic was stopped and inching forward. I wasn't passing people on the median at speed. I was probably going 3 to 4 mph. I hope the approver on this site posts my previous replies also. I appreciate the advice but maybe better merging skills need to be taught during CDL training also. I can take advice but maybe there should also be some on your side.....

For every one of us that can't merge, there are 10 that have cut my truck off because they can't figure out how to merge. If you are going to paint us all with the same brush, perhaps you should research that with witch you are complaining. Fully loaded is 80k lbs.

As for "policing" the roadway, I laugh, because what exact are YOU now going to do? Get a dash cam for your own insurance protection. Drive in a manner to protect yourself and those in your vehicle, and try not to be the ****** canoe that wrecks someone else's day.

And one more thing. When the truck ran me off the road we were probably going about 34 mph. When I tried to get back on the road the traffic was stopped and inching forward. I wasn't passing people on the median at speed. I was probably going 3 to 4 mph. I hope the approver on this site posts my previous replies also. I appreciate the advice but maybe better merging skills need to be taught during CDL training also. I can take advice but maybe there should also be some on your side.....

I've held off on commenting on this as well. Both the trucker and you are right and wrong at the same time.

Technically, yes, the signs say use both lanes, and in a clinical setting where both feeder lanes are traveling the same speed, with equal spacing, acceleration, breaking capabilities and most importantly adequate depth perception and spatial reasoning of all drivers, the merge would work successfully.

But the reality we all know is that it doesn't work, semis are much larger, take more room to stop while most car drivers are generally unskilled and have horrible reaction time coupled with a crippling lack of spatial reasoning. The professional driver and the safe driver understands and anticipates other drivers lack of skill and accommodates for it.

You can be right or dead right. Meaning both you and the trucker need to step away from your vision of how things should merge and accommodate other drivers bad decisions. For you both, your egos in assuming you are "right" in your approach have gotten the better of you.

This whole situation could have been avoided by you getting in the right lane much sooner, irrelevant of what the signs say. You've driven enough to know that the zipper merge doesn't work in real world environments.

The semi driver needed to accept that many drivers will try the zipper merge because it's "supposed" to work and it's ordained by the left leaning authorities. He needs to accept than many cars will cut him off and merge horribly. The cars are the sheep, we are the shepherd. But you can only control yourself, not him.

Stop trying to control others and enforce what you feel should be. Focus on controlling yourself, and de-escalation.

Good luck

No load about 35,000 lbs. Yes, I plan to report bad drivers especially ones that did what this trucker did to me. I assume that when you run someone off the road that you are trying to injure them. No? Why else would you do it? Just to scare them? This trucker didn't know what could happen. I would also expect a trucker to have a higher lever of right and wrong on the road. They are trained commercial drivers and not just yahoos that have a driver's license. As Joey says "C'mon Man"!

Sorry, but that is not true. I followed the rules whether you like the rules or not. Do you think that the trucker was right in running me off the road? It sounds that way. And by the way I purposely got away from this trucker so things would not escalate. You can try to make excuses but I did exactly what I was supposed to do to merge. Zipper merging does work when done correctly. Everyone needs to learn how to do it correctly. No vigilantes though!!!!!

John, we thought you came here for advice. We were obviously mistaken. You already know everything!

I don't know how much longer we will put up with your charade. It started out somewhat entertaining, and it opened a door for an intelligent conversation about issues when driving. It's since gone downhill with your claims of victimization and your complete unwillingness to listen to reasonable advice.

Everytime someone offers help you take offense as if you're being attacked. You present yourself as a snowflake who can't comprehend they could possibly be wrong. I don't think there is any help here for you.

I guess your site coordinator won't publish any more of my posts. Charade. Really? It seems that you can't accept criticism. You like to hand it out though. One good recommendation from this site is that next time I should call 911. I do have a dash cam now and I will be reporting aggressive behavior and lane blocking. So be careful out there. Now it is my turn to be the highway police (but not judge and jury as one of your compatriots did)....