Death Wish

Since I am usually driving, the “death wish” involves vehicles and often it is a car and then at times I think a truck has a “death wish” for a car.  After seeing some of these maneuvers I am glad that all of the vehicles around the person with the death wish were paying attention.

A couple things scare me badly when driving and one in a vehicle on the shoulder that comes out in the lane of traffic from a dead stop and I have nowhere to go. This creates a hazard as this is a good way to set up for a fatality accident i.e. “Death Wish.”  As a conscientious driver when I see a vehicle parked on the shoulder I move over into the other lane and if it is an emergency vehicle along the shoulder I will force my way into the other lane.  Moving over is for two reasons to not have the wind generated from our truck rock the parked vehicle hard and also if the person decided to step out of the vehicle that I do not run them over or take their door off.  The other reason to move over is our safety so if the vehicle does decide to take off and move into the lane of travel I do not rear end them.  When a truck pulls onto the roadway, it is double frustrating as it takes the truck much longer to get up to speed.

Walking and looking at our phones is another form of a “death wish” as we walk through a truck stop or even along a sidewalk concentrating on our phones instead of our surroundings. When walking around large vehicles where the driver is not looking, are not concentrating on walkers we need to pay attention to the trucks not to our phones.  When a truck runs over a pedestrian in the parking lot no matter whose fault it is the pedestrian is dead.   Even walking on a side walk looking at my phone has caused me to trip and fall to my knees but I did save my phone.  What about walking out in front of cars while looking at our phones?  No matter who is at fault the walker is going to pay the price for being hit and hurt.

Motorcycles that use the line in between our truck and a vehicle to pass at a high rate of speed seem to have a “death wish.”  Often, we do not see them until they are way out in front of us, all I think is what if I had wobbled in my lane?  If we were to hit the motorcycle who really pays the price in the long run?  Joey just wrote a blog about motorcycles splitting lanes called "Watch Out for Lane Splitters" 

People walking in to close to trucks that have just finished fueling.  When walking in front of a truck very close to the grill where the driver of the truck cannot see you when ready to pull forward is just asking to be run over.  What about the story of the child who was ran over by a truck in the fuel islands?  In such a dangerous situation with so many blind spots letting a child or even a pet run around loose around fuel islands is asking for trouble. 

We have to be responsible for our own safety and not expect others to watch out for us.  Think before pulling out into traffic, looking at our phone, or in the fuel islands about our safety and not expect others to watch out for us.  Bottom line we are responsible for our own safety.