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Having experienced a winter car accident on a highway involving a semi truck where the truck wasn't damaged but my car was totaled, I am extremely grateful the

Having experienced a winter car accident on a highway involving a semi truck where the truck wasn't damaged but my car was totaled, I am extremely grateful the truck stopped and its driver allowed me to wait in the heated cab while waiting for police to arrive. The idea of all these massive trucks autonomously operating on our highways strikes me as a very dystopian future. I appreciate the humans in the machines accompanying me on cross-country road trips. Without the truckers, much of these vast spaces will become far more desolate and dangerous to travel through. I'm fine with technology assisting truckers, but am hopeful there will continue to be a requirement of people being present with ultimate authority over the vehicle.

cdolan 8y ago
Great point. Out of curiosity, what happened in the accident that the driver was comfortable inviting you into his car? In many environments/scenarios that would seem risky, particularly after a traumatic event like a car accident.
- newnewpdro 8y ago
  He had almost crashed into me by suddenly changing into my lane on a snow-covered highway. I braked to avoid the collision, he swerved back into his lane having seen me brake, but my car rotated from the too-agressive braking. I was able to prevent a spin, instead limiting it to some highway-speed unpleasant fishtailing, but the whole ordeal had brought my car awfully near his trailer which was now next to my car again due to his decelerating. There was a lot of snow/slush accumulated between the lanes, and this kept pulling the right side of my car closer to his trailer, regardless of what I did, before the tires of his trailer struck the rear corner my car, violently forcing my car under the trailer, shattering the driver and passenger windows from the compression. At that point it was pure chaos from above and the steering wheel was ripped from my hands by a frontal impact with the landing gear. Somehow after what seemed like an eternity my car broke free from captivity under the trailer and shot out the side and off the highway, through the air, before landing on an embankment and sledding down to a frozen water retention pond where it circled a few times before coming to a stop in complete silence. I can't speak to what was going through the trucker's mind when I knocked on his passenger window and told him I was the luckiest person on the planet, and asked if I could wait in his cabin until the police arrived. My car was not even visible from the highway. He claimed to have no idea what happened, just that he saw my headlights disappear after he swerved. He had no idea my car had been under his trailer. Typing this story has been surprisingly emotional.
  - a3n 8y ago
    I'm a truck driver, and I was a little sickened reading it. Still am. Back in driving school one of the other students was out on the road with an instructor and two other students in the back. A driver was texting, and ran into the back bumper of the trailer (the iron work below the back door), embedding the car by the engine under the bumper. The car was dragged from that point until the truck stopped. The story the student and instructor told literally involved the phrase "... did you feel something?"

cdolan 8y ago

Great point. Out of curiosity, what happened in the accident that the driver was comfortable inviting you into his car? In many environments/scenarios that would seem risky, particularly after a traumatic event like a car accident.

newnewpdro 8y ago
He had almost crashed into me by suddenly changing into my lane on a snow-covered highway. I braked to avoid the collision, he swerved back into his lane having seen me brake, but my car rotated from the too-agressive braking. I was able to prevent a spin, instead limiting it to some highway-speed unpleasant fishtailing, but the whole ordeal had brought my car awfully near his trailer which was now next to my car again due to his decelerating. There was a lot of snow/slush accumulated between the lanes, and this kept pulling the right side of my car closer to his trailer, regardless of what I did, before the tires of his trailer struck the rear corner my car, violently forcing my car under the trailer, shattering the driver and passenger windows from the compression. At that point it was pure chaos from above and the steering wheel was ripped from my hands by a frontal impact with the landing gear. Somehow after what seemed like an eternity my car broke free from captivity under the trailer and shot out the side and off the highway, through the air, before landing on an embankment and sledding down to a frozen water retention pond where it circled a few times before coming to a stop in complete silence. I can't speak to what was going through the trucker's mind when I knocked on his passenger window and told him I was the luckiest person on the planet, and asked if I could wait in his cabin until the police arrived. My car was not even visible from the highway. He claimed to have no idea what happened, just that he saw my headlights disappear after he swerved. He had no idea my car had been under his trailer. Typing this story has been surprisingly emotional.
- a3n 8y ago
  I'm a truck driver, and I was a little sickened reading it. Still am. Back in driving school one of the other students was out on the road with an instructor and two other students in the back. A driver was texting, and ran into the back bumper of the trailer (the iron work below the back door), embedding the car by the engine under the bumper. The car was dragged from that point until the truck stopped. The story the student and instructor told literally involved the phrase "... did you feel something?"