Old 06-14-13, 11:12 PM
  #30  
Tom Stormcrowe
Out fishing with Annie on his lap, a cigar in one hand and a ginger ale in the other, watching the sunset.
 
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Originally Posted by SmellTheSmug
I've been driving and apparently missed the argument. I'll fill in a little more info.

1. I've been riding on the rode for decades, so the normal wind blast, horns, shouts of "get off the road", fingers, and all the rest don't really get me excited. Absolutely no exaggeration involved in my description of the incident.

2. The roads I ride are normally very lightly travelled at mid day and are a combination of residential and rural highway. No shoulders, but the roads are straight with rolling hills. Good visibility and good surface. Occasional truck traffic on the highway, but usually absolutely no issues other than the close pass and wind blast once in a while.

3. Where this incident occurred was a residential street that crosses the high traffic highway with a 2 lane overpass. Really no good reason for a semi to even be on that road, but whatever. Speed limit is 35mph. I was doing 18. I heard him approaching and made sure I was hugging the edge. There wasn't even any oncoming traffic. If he needed to pass, there was tons of room. An entire lane was open actually.

4. As for the judge and jury comment, my word carries weight, so absolutely it was taken as it should have been.

I'll just say this, a driver that can be that reckless with a heavy truck is a menace and needs to be corrected, harshly if necessary to correct behavior. Act like a temperamental child, and you will be treated like a child. The difference is a child isn't driving a commercial vehicle capable of causing death.
As a retired professional driver after 20+ years on the road ion various conditions, as well as a trainer and member of many safety review panels as part of my job, I have to agree totally. I was on a safety review panel where a driver did a close pass like that and the cyclist went under the trailer wheels and was instantly killed. The results were a foregone conclusion where the driver was concerned......he was going to be terminated, and was in the process of being prosecuted. Our main review function in this panel was to discuss how much compensation to the cyclists family. We recommended and they got the maximum of $5 million. Small recompense for the loss of a family member, but it was the best we could do short of a resurrection miracle.
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