As I pulled off the interstate a truck followed me going to the same truck stop. As I stopped at the fuel island this truck pulled beside me and rolled down the passenger window. “Ma'am, your break light on the passenger side is bright and it is not going off”, I thanked him and off he went. His short message saved us a lot of headache. While we were in the shade of the fuel canopy Bob was able to look at the light and figure out what was wrong and fix it.
I remember while in our personal vehicle passing an older pickup pulling a even older trailer and he had blown a tire. This had happened a while back and he just lost the tire and was now rolling on the hub. I pulled up beside him and kept telling him to pull over and pointing. He gave a look of “What?” I again motioned and stayed beside him till he pulled over. I had to go back to town later and saw him and another vehicle working on changing the tire. I hoped that I had got his attention before he ruined the hub.
When talking to friends on the phone I have had them tell me hang on a minute as they get on the CB and try to get a driver’s attention that something is wrong with the trailer or the load. If the CB doesn’t work I have they do what I did pull up beside them and try to get their attention. From what I hear and the drivers I have tried to call on the CB most of them are like me and leave the CB off unless needed. Driver react differently to another truck pulling up beside them and pointing, some immediately get it and pull over to see what the problem is and others do their best to try and ditch the helping truck.
It seems to be force of habit when going down the road to pre-trip the truck and trailer we are passing. I do not even pretend to be as good as this as Bob is but I still notice when something is blaringly wrong with the vehicle beside us.
Take the time to let another driver know if you see something that is going wrong with their vehicle as it just might save a life or a lot of hardship on the other driver’s part. Pay it forward.