Road Safety

[John Harrison]

Road Safety: Now that spring is just around the corner and the weather is getting warmer, out thoughts start lingering more and more on getting our RV's out and enjoying them again. As a professional truck driver I have a request that I would like to pass on to both the new hands and the old timers out there BE SAFE! I know most of us have older rigs and we have to baby them a bit. If you are not able to maintain the flow of traffic, PLEASE get in the right lane. Most states have truck restrictions and when we run up on someone in the second or middle lane going 65 in a 70 mph zone it makes it real hard on us to pass you. We can not just jump into the far left lane and pass you there like the cars do. For us it is a min. $250 fine. I know I can hear some of you say just jump into the right lane then, this is even worse since we have usually lost our momentum, so it will take us awhile to build it back and not only do we then have to deal with people entering the highway but 99.9% of the time you are not expecting something huge coming up on your off side and we really don't want to scare you and cause you to jerk your wheel, that is real bad. It is a whole lot safer and quicker if when you see one of us who is NOT on vacation and trying to make a living coming up behind you if you will just be nice and move over to the right, we will be past you before you know it and you may have prevented some poor trucker from having high blood pressure.

Please do your pre-trip inspections and make sure all your lights work. Just because they were all working last fall doesn't mean they will work next week. Improper tire inflation will cause the tires to overheat and blow, causing not only a ruined tire but also body damage to your vehicle and a safety hazard to those around you. Speaking of tires blowing that is why truck drivers HATE when someone rides right beside or just behind the trailer tandems, if one of those recaped tires blow, you could lose your head literally. I have seen a recap go through a windshield and it killed the woman riding in the car.

Sorry if I sound like I am preaching, but I really just want us to be able to share the road and both of us get to our destinations safely.

[Bob Glasson]

Appreciate it, John. Solid advice.

[Lakota Wolf]

Very well put,,,,Good advice.

I have chosen to be extra careful while pulling my RV, (5th wheel with a toad and pup trailer)

(doubles and triples). I have driven tractor trailer and know the frustration with losing momentum and jacking the knee to regain the speed.

When Im traveling with my *caravan,,, I always hunker down in the right lane,, plus Im in no hurry to win the interstate 500 race to the next fuel station,lol.

I have gone the extra mile with safety and wanting to know whats around me and have 6 video cameras installed on my Rig assembly. 2 on the very back of RV 1 on the pup trailer, 1 on the toad and 2 on the tow vehicle. ( I have 2 on the underside of the RV criss crossed to view the

5'ers wheels and axles. (I like to know all (4) 5'er wheels are doing good),, and as you mentioned Blowing a tire does serious damage to other vehicles and the rig.

Now only if we can get the other 70% of the 4 wheelers to L@@K UP from their phones and I-pads and actually pay attention to the road,, we should all be safer.