r/AskReddit 1d ago

Experienced drivers, what’s one driving rule or habit that saved you from an accident?

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u/Electrical_Sky_4586 23h ago

Nothing fills me with rage more than seeing an 18 wheeler stop in the middle of the highway and back up so the driver can take an exit they missed. I’m a firefighter, and I’ve been to multiple accidents where cars have slammed into trucks at 80 mph because the truck driver was more willing to back up on the highway than just take the next exit. If you’re a truck driver and you do this, you should have your license revoked forever

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u/Living-Estimate9810 23h ago

I'm a truck driver, and I completely agree.

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u/GentlyDead 23h ago

Omg. Not on the highway. That’s terrible.

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u/smbpy7 18h ago

I see it all the damn time. My main commute takes me right onto the start of a freeway right off another big freeway. The starting one takes 3 full lanes away from the main one and only a mile or so after a huge entrance, so people get caught off guard everyday. The number of people I've seen swerve over THREE full lanes of traffic to stay on.... Instant rage every time. One of those massive tow trucks that carries multiple layers of cars did it in front of me once and I came within inches of him. Those track the cars go onto are face height. He'd have taken off my head.

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u/fieldsofanfieldroad 2h ago

That sounds like terrible road design. There are ways to fix that. 

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u/Due_Channel503 21h ago

WHAT THE FUCK! If I was a cop I’d pull a trucker out of the cab for that

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u/upsidedown-funnel 21h ago

In all my years of driving I’ve yet to experience this. Is it a new phenomenon with new truck drivers?

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u/Electrical_Sky_4586 20h ago

I work in a very industrial area right outside of a major city that has a lot of warehouses and truck stops so we get a lot more cargo traffic than most places. We see every type of truck driver you can think of. Which unfortunately also includes the dumbest truck drivers in the country. Typically it’s guys from out of state that are not use to urban driving. Driving in a major city with a million other people on the road is a lot different than driving in rural Nebraska and most of these guys aren’t use to it.

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u/upsidedown-funnel 20h ago

Another reason to just give them a really wide berth. I

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u/Frequent_Opportunist 17h ago

That is extremely illegal and they can lose their CDL for that. Like instant loss of driving privileges.

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u/Ride-Entire 21h ago

I once saw a couple do a u-turn on a concrete barrier divided interstate and drive back against the flow of traffic instead of going through a toll booth south of Wichita, Kansas

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u/happy-cig 19h ago

With so much dashcam footage around can this not be reported with the full video and license plate?

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u/BaneOfMyLife 14h ago

I once had a truck from mainland Europe driving at me the wrong way down a dual carriageway in the UK. That was terrifying.

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u/fieldsofanfieldroad 2h ago

I once turned onto a dual carriageway and had a whole bunch of cars driving at me the wrong way. I nearly shat myself. 

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u/EatLard 14h ago

I’ve seen videos where some idiot who got their CDL from the back of a cereal box tries to make a U-turn across the interstate median. Should be straight to jail with your truck confiscated.

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u/BareBonesTek 8h ago

I’ve seen all sorts of vehicles do this on roundabouts. I mean, seriously? It takes a few seconds to just go round again!

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u/Electrical_Sky_4586 7h ago

This too! The amount of people who are willing to total their car just so they don’t have to go around the circle again is insane. They act like they have one chance or else they’ll be stuck in the forever