"TALES FROM THE ROAD"...(4)
And... As Always....It Continued To Be... Another Of Those Weeks Of Driving Across.... Good Ole "America"And...As I Suspected All Along..It Always Comes Out Just The Opposite Of My Thought Process
That Being...."I Think Ive Seen It All"....Nothing Could Possibly Be Any Different...But As Ive said,,,I Was Wrong
When One Thinks What One Thinks Cant Happen...It Usually Does
Unfortunately..It isnt Something For Me To Be Proud Of
And Of Course..Its Mostly Happens In The State Of Pennsylvania...As It Did This Week
When Your Driving A Tractor Trailer...With A Combined Weight Of Nearly 77,000 Pounds
(Some Times It Can Be Up To The Legal Limit Of 80,000 Lbs...(40 Tons)
And Doing 68 Miles An Hour...There Isnt Much That Can Be Done To Avoid Any Problems.... That Just Come Up On You Without Any Warning
(And Even if There Was A Warning..That Warning Would Have To Come To Any Truck Driver...About...And... At The Least..A Quarter Of A Mile...For The Driver To Even Have A Shot Of Avoiding The Situation)
It Was Dark..Around 1030PM ...On Route 80 West.... In Pennslyvania
I Was Coming Down A Steep Grade...(About A Mile Long)
And With The Weight Behind Me...Pushing....I Mustve...At That Point..Been Doing...More Like 80MPHs...With The "Engine Brake" On...All The Way Down
Anyway...As I Was Careening Down The "Grade"... And On A Curve That Was Veering Towards The Right
And As I Entered Into... Where The Curve Was About To Straighten Out
My Head Lights Allowed Me To See This Deer
And What Was He/She Doing In The Lane I Was In?
Just Standing There....And Looking My Way
(Remember)..That When The Brain... Sees Whatever It Sees..It Takes..At The Least... A Second Or Two..For The Brain To Digest What It Has Just Seen
Then..It Takes Another Second Or Two..For The Brain To Tell The Foot..To Apply The Brakes
In This Case..It Was All Over Before Anything Could Be Done
BANG!!!!....Was The Sound Of The Front Of The Truck Meeting This Deer...(Which Rocketed The Deer About 50 Feet In Front Of My Truck..And Then?.... The "Thud" Sound... Of The Back Wheels Proceeding Over The Poor Deer...As I Went Over Him/Her Once More
I Couldnt Come To A Complete Stop... For Almost A Quarter of A Mile
And When I Did...And Got Out To Look At "Miss Anna"...(Thats The Name I Gave My Truck)....I Could see That
The Impact Broke My Right Parking Light On The Front....Put A Walloping Dent In The Right Front Quarter...
And Tore Part Of The Bumper Off
But There Are Just Some Times.... When There Is Nothing Which One Can Do
And This Was One of Those Times
Its a Rotten Feeling...Knowing That "You".... Just Ended Another Life
And...I Know This Incident Will Stay Within My Memory
For Quite Some Time............... Im Sure
Comments (9)
Gee,Sorry Nam this happened Glad your ok
Sometimes things happem that we do not have control over
And know how you must feel
but in this case Nam it was good your brain was a little slow to react or the sight too quick to be seen other wise you may not of lived to tell... knowing you it will live with you but what to say, its better you still live with us
Many lives here have been lost to deer crossing the roads mainly at night. Kudu being the main 'night roamer' it seems.
Im Fine
It Takes A Lot More Than A Deer To get hurt Out here...................
You Make A very Good Point
If One Is In A Car?
Then One Can Possibly Avoid A Situation As What Happened Here
But Not In A Tractor Trailer...No Way
We Are Trained From Birth..(Getting A CDL License)..Commercial Drivers License
That If Theres Anything In The Road...To Not Use Our Natural Instincts To Try To Avoid Or Swerve
As This Would Cause The Trailer To Flip Us Over
And For Most Drivers Who Have Tried To Do This??
They Got..... At The Least...Hurt Real Bad
And For Some?..........It Was All Over...........................................
Thanks For The Concern................As Some Of The Others Have Voiced
But
Only The Good..............Die Young........................................
You Speak Of The Kudu
Theyre A Pretty Big Animal
I Think There Counter Part Over Here Would Be ..........Our Moose
Hitting A Moose Here
Even With A Tractor Trailer
Would Destroy The Front End Of It................ At The Least........................