Laura & Charles
Well-known member
In our 7th year full timing and had our first panic stop a couple days ago. I’ve had to stop suddenly before, but nothing like this. Driving along doing my usual 62-ish mph on a four lane US hwy. An 18 wheeler tanker had passed me and was back over in my lane when I saw his brake lights. I got on my brakes right away but, until I saw his tires smoking, I was just going for a ‘regular’ stop until then. There were cars in both lanes so I couldn’t go around. I was standing on my brake pedal and watching the flammable liquid placard on the trailer get bigger and bigger in my windshield. I would guess we stopped about an inch from contact. We were towing the car and were oh-so-glad for the auxiliary brakes on it.
The reason? There was a car who was turning right, then decided they really wanted to go left… so they just stopped in the right lane to wait until the cars in the left lane passed. The truck thought the car would be turning right and would clear his path until he realized they were dead stopped and locked his brakes. I was a little closer to him than my ‘usual’ clear distance because he’d just passed me.
You just never know what’s gonna be thrown your way. We were fortunate how it turned out: any number of things could’ve made the outcome so very much worse.
The reason? There was a car who was turning right, then decided they really wanted to go left… so they just stopped in the right lane to wait until the cars in the left lane passed. The truck thought the car would be turning right and would clear his path until he realized they were dead stopped and locked his brakes. I was a little closer to him than my ‘usual’ clear distance because he’d just passed me.
You just never know what’s gonna be thrown your way. We were fortunate how it turned out: any number of things could’ve made the outcome so very much worse.
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