![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Work was work. We found a problem in the new build. I'm still testing in the lab to try to narrow the trigger and the cause, but the build with all the other fixes precedes this one and is clean. So it could be worse. Had a slightly less-scattered day than the others, but, I also got to work on fewer things that sounded fun, so it's sort of a tradeoff. One of our people got us the wrong setting data for their site, months ago. Now they need to update it. (Actually, there's no "wrong" - but the two systems need the same settings and they told us the other settings wrong, or didn't tell the other people, or something.)
They want our system to be the one to change. Is fine; I sent them instructions on how to do so. It is not deeply complex, just nuisance-level. Nifty nuisance, however.
Anyway, the really interesting parts of my day were before and after work. After work, I met dad at Home Depot and he helped with the hauling back of shelves. (Thanks, Dad!) We found that the six-foot unit, in its box (it comes disassembled, so no, I don't have it up yet...probably not till this weekend soonest, maybe next week when I am on call and can't do as much out of the house anyway), it is just long enough NOT to let his truck close while it is in there. And we both stared at it like this is a problem for a couple before it occurred: it is MUCH narrower than the truck bed, and easily fits set at an angle...even if we get the other three all at once, they'll stack.
So all things considered, that went very much painlessly. If the assembly is as kind to me, I will be very pleased...but somehow I doubt it will be quite as good. ;)
On the way to work, I think I prevented an accident (that would have involved me and probably 4-5 other vehicles...). On the freeway, 65 zone but no one was doing more than 55 by this point (too much traffic, and the semi trucks are restricted to 55 anyway). There was a semi truck to my right. The car in front of him was (keeping in mind that I was back by the back end of the truck and am not that great at distance estimates, so may be off) maybe 3 carlengths up from the truck, and 3 behind the car in front of them. (This guy had just cut over a few moments before, into what was already too little lead-space, really.) The car in front of me was about a car-length past the front of the truck at most (looked like half of one to me, but see the disclaimer) and I was just coming even with the rear of the truck (my side mirror to its bumper, I think).
And the guy in front of me put his right turn-signal on. My eyes got very big but, even while I was staring, reflex had my brakes on.
I am often astonished, watching people driving around semi trucks, by how mean and stupid they can be. Mean is predictable, and not terribly harmful, although sometimes surprising. Stupid, however...stupid like this can get people killed, the stupid person included.
How the driver of this car missed the fact that this is dangerous, I dunno. Unloaded, that truck would be what, probably 25,000 pounds? Loaded, 80,000. I think. It's substantially more than your car, trust me. And if it's unloaded, while it has better stopping ability (less weight to haul down in speed), it's got less control. Think of the difference between driving on the ice if you have the trunk loaded full of stuff and if you don't. You've got better traction (but you need more time to stop) if you're loaded. Not quite the same for the truck, but the trailer will move more easily when empty. And in a 'quick' (for a truck) stop, the trailer will tend to move, y'know, in ways you don't want it to. It can still do that if loaded, but at least it's a bit more predictable, if harder to slow.
Stop and think, people. I'm talking here about a single-trailer semi. The double or triple trailers increase weight predictably, and they add MASSIVELY to the 'trailer is not easy to control' factor. Triple trailers scare the crap out of me, and I prefer to have them well away from me on the road. Not because they're horrible creations, but because if they do lose control, it will be a mess. And drivers don't seem to think about the fact that the semi has slightly (!) different parameters for how they handle than your compact car.
As far as the whole 'mean' part...I have seen an awful lot of trucks squeezed out of merging. I know, they are slow if they're loaded and they're hard to see around regardless. But these guys have a bitch of a time merging safely, and if they all stopped hauling goods, we'd all feel the pinch in one area or another. It is not that hard to let them in. (On the way home today, I cheated: I let one over so he wouldn't get shunted onto a freeway he didn't want. Then I cut over and passed him. Nothing says I have to stay at his speed when he's still ramping up and has only managed 40 in a 55 zone....)
The other day, I was travelling down a normal city road (the Tualatin-Sherwood road near to Tualatin if you know the area) and there are a lot of companies in the area with trucks. And sure enough, one turned into the center lane, just a bit ahead of me. If I kept speed, I couldn't help but go past before he could get in. I checked my rear-view: there wasn't a gap for probably 20 cars. Maybe one of them would let him over, but not likely. So I braked and dropped below the speed limit, making it obvious that I wouldn't pass him, and he swung over and flashed his lights twice (not sure if he used brakelights alone or was using the headlights to trigger them).
You're welcome, sir. And I hope, I really hope, that a few of the people behind me understood at least in part why I did that. Because more people should do these things. It's about courtesy, and safe driving both. Try letting them over now and then. Try opening up a gap in the lane when they need over. And for heaven's sake don't cut them off, or creep up on their back bumper (if you can't see their side-view mirrors, they can't see you). It's not safe. If you see someone else cutting them off, open space if you can. If you can't, get the hell away from it. Switch lanes; speed up; slow down. Most of the time, the trucker will retain control of the situation. But in case he doesn't, get the hell outta dodge, if you can't give him an avenue out of it. Semi-involved accidents are generally nasty.
Now, back to the original topic....
Anyway, I think his turn signal flashed maybe 2-3 times before he was completely in front of the truck, very little warning and he may have been too close to the truck for the signal to be easily visible given the height differentials and short distances.
He went in right under the front bumper (probably a car-length out, actually) as best I could see, and the trucker braked. He must have been loaded - he didn't slow very quickly, but I could see the trailer shift and the change in motion as he eased up on the break to keep from losing it - there was a notable point there where the cab shifted one way and the trailer the other, but only just enough that I could see it at all, not a real loss of control.
He got it under control, and I think he must have looked left about then and seen the hole I'd opened (and that, blessedly, no one in the left lane had pulled into). It wasn't much of a hole yet since I had been doing 55 or a bit better, as was the guy ahead of me - the middle lane had opened up a bit. So braking is good but I hadn't opened a ton. It was enough for him to recognize that it was open, though.
This is good, and I know it, because at this point one of the cars ahead of him hit the heavy traffic that always develops at the merge-point where the 205 traffic comes in, especially in the right lane, that bears the brunt of the merge. And a chain-reaction brake came back (we were still well back from the exit, but having driven in that lane thoughtlessly many times, I'm quite confident where it came from). Meaning the IDIOT in front of the truck had to break.
Fortunately, since so many idiots had cut over in front of the truck (okay, only two) and I had dropped back, he was able to pull over into the center lane - and he didn't have a lot of room to make that call in, but he did it (I was afraid he might not because I wasn't sure he could tell I was far enough back - but he was coming into the lane as my hand was reaching for the light controls to flash my lights for him, so I didn't bother - and I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me to do that when he was first cut off, to signal, except that I think I was afraid to take my hands off the steering wheel just then).
Which gave him the lovely stretch of open lane to slow down in properly.
They want our system to be the one to change. Is fine; I sent them instructions on how to do so. It is not deeply complex, just nuisance-level. Nifty nuisance, however.
Anyway, the really interesting parts of my day were before and after work. After work, I met dad at Home Depot and he helped with the hauling back of shelves. (Thanks, Dad!) We found that the six-foot unit, in its box (it comes disassembled, so no, I don't have it up yet...probably not till this weekend soonest, maybe next week when I am on call and can't do as much out of the house anyway), it is just long enough NOT to let his truck close while it is in there. And we both stared at it like this is a problem for a couple before it occurred: it is MUCH narrower than the truck bed, and easily fits set at an angle...even if we get the other three all at once, they'll stack.
So all things considered, that went very much painlessly. If the assembly is as kind to me, I will be very pleased...but somehow I doubt it will be quite as good. ;)
On the way to work, I think I prevented an accident (that would have involved me and probably 4-5 other vehicles...). On the freeway, 65 zone but no one was doing more than 55 by this point (too much traffic, and the semi trucks are restricted to 55 anyway). There was a semi truck to my right. The car in front of him was (keeping in mind that I was back by the back end of the truck and am not that great at distance estimates, so may be off) maybe 3 carlengths up from the truck, and 3 behind the car in front of them. (This guy had just cut over a few moments before, into what was already too little lead-space, really.) The car in front of me was about a car-length past the front of the truck at most (looked like half of one to me, but see the disclaimer) and I was just coming even with the rear of the truck (my side mirror to its bumper, I think).
And the guy in front of me put his right turn-signal on. My eyes got very big but, even while I was staring, reflex had my brakes on.
I am often astonished, watching people driving around semi trucks, by how mean and stupid they can be. Mean is predictable, and not terribly harmful, although sometimes surprising. Stupid, however...stupid like this can get people killed, the stupid person included.
How the driver of this car missed the fact that this is dangerous, I dunno. Unloaded, that truck would be what, probably 25,000 pounds? Loaded, 80,000. I think. It's substantially more than your car, trust me. And if it's unloaded, while it has better stopping ability (less weight to haul down in speed), it's got less control. Think of the difference between driving on the ice if you have the trunk loaded full of stuff and if you don't. You've got better traction (but you need more time to stop) if you're loaded. Not quite the same for the truck, but the trailer will move more easily when empty. And in a 'quick' (for a truck) stop, the trailer will tend to move, y'know, in ways you don't want it to. It can still do that if loaded, but at least it's a bit more predictable, if harder to slow.
Stop and think, people. I'm talking here about a single-trailer semi. The double or triple trailers increase weight predictably, and they add MASSIVELY to the 'trailer is not easy to control' factor. Triple trailers scare the crap out of me, and I prefer to have them well away from me on the road. Not because they're horrible creations, but because if they do lose control, it will be a mess. And drivers don't seem to think about the fact that the semi has slightly (!) different parameters for how they handle than your compact car.
As far as the whole 'mean' part...I have seen an awful lot of trucks squeezed out of merging. I know, they are slow if they're loaded and they're hard to see around regardless. But these guys have a bitch of a time merging safely, and if they all stopped hauling goods, we'd all feel the pinch in one area or another. It is not that hard to let them in. (On the way home today, I cheated: I let one over so he wouldn't get shunted onto a freeway he didn't want. Then I cut over and passed him. Nothing says I have to stay at his speed when he's still ramping up and has only managed 40 in a 55 zone....)
The other day, I was travelling down a normal city road (the Tualatin-Sherwood road near to Tualatin if you know the area) and there are a lot of companies in the area with trucks. And sure enough, one turned into the center lane, just a bit ahead of me. If I kept speed, I couldn't help but go past before he could get in. I checked my rear-view: there wasn't a gap for probably 20 cars. Maybe one of them would let him over, but not likely. So I braked and dropped below the speed limit, making it obvious that I wouldn't pass him, and he swung over and flashed his lights twice (not sure if he used brakelights alone or was using the headlights to trigger them).
You're welcome, sir. And I hope, I really hope, that a few of the people behind me understood at least in part why I did that. Because more people should do these things. It's about courtesy, and safe driving both. Try letting them over now and then. Try opening up a gap in the lane when they need over. And for heaven's sake don't cut them off, or creep up on their back bumper (if you can't see their side-view mirrors, they can't see you). It's not safe. If you see someone else cutting them off, open space if you can. If you can't, get the hell away from it. Switch lanes; speed up; slow down. Most of the time, the trucker will retain control of the situation. But in case he doesn't, get the hell outta dodge, if you can't give him an avenue out of it. Semi-involved accidents are generally nasty.
Now, back to the original topic....
Anyway, I think his turn signal flashed maybe 2-3 times before he was completely in front of the truck, very little warning and he may have been too close to the truck for the signal to be easily visible given the height differentials and short distances.
He went in right under the front bumper (probably a car-length out, actually) as best I could see, and the trucker braked. He must have been loaded - he didn't slow very quickly, but I could see the trailer shift and the change in motion as he eased up on the break to keep from losing it - there was a notable point there where the cab shifted one way and the trailer the other, but only just enough that I could see it at all, not a real loss of control.
He got it under control, and I think he must have looked left about then and seen the hole I'd opened (and that, blessedly, no one in the left lane had pulled into). It wasn't much of a hole yet since I had been doing 55 or a bit better, as was the guy ahead of me - the middle lane had opened up a bit. So braking is good but I hadn't opened a ton. It was enough for him to recognize that it was open, though.
This is good, and I know it, because at this point one of the cars ahead of him hit the heavy traffic that always develops at the merge-point where the 205 traffic comes in, especially in the right lane, that bears the brunt of the merge. And a chain-reaction brake came back (we were still well back from the exit, but having driven in that lane thoughtlessly many times, I'm quite confident where it came from). Meaning the IDIOT in front of the truck had to break.
Fortunately, since so many idiots had cut over in front of the truck (okay, only two) and I had dropped back, he was able to pull over into the center lane - and he didn't have a lot of room to make that call in, but he did it (I was afraid he might not because I wasn't sure he could tell I was far enough back - but he was coming into the lane as my hand was reaching for the light controls to flash my lights for him, so I didn't bother - and I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me to do that when he was first cut off, to signal, except that I think I was afraid to take my hands off the steering wheel just then).
Which gave him the lovely stretch of open lane to slow down in properly.
no subject
~ Denise