A few weeks ago I was driving up I95 towards D.C. when I noticed a tractor trailer coming up fast behind me. I was in the center lane (of three) and had nowhere to go to get out of the trucks way. He pulled up so close to me I had my friend take a photo of the truck using my cell phone. The tailgating was bad enough, but when he eventually passed me in the left lane - and pulled along side of my five-month old Prius - he purposely moved in to the center lane and forced me in to the far right lane where a motorcycle and a trike were riding. I hit my horn and the bikes got out of the way so no one had any damage. Right after he pulled that stunt he moved on to the shoulder and stopped. I parked my car about 100 yards in front of him to get his tag number. He jumped out of his truck and was running up to my car – and then I pulled away. I never even considered staying around and talking to the guy – or fighting, though I’d have loved to beat the snot out of the dude. I called the dispatcher for Delgado Trucking to report the incident and the driver first denied that anything had happened until the dispatcher said I was on the phone listening to their conversation. He eventually said I was playing games with him by slamming on my brakes. I’d NEVER do that to a car – let alone a truck that close to me! The dispatcher told me that since it was my word against the driver he wouldn’t do anything. I called him back once I got to work to get his email address so I could send the photo. During that call he told me that someone else had called him to report that incident and that the driver of the truck was in big trouble. Lastly, two other people from my work saw the truck pull to the right from the far left lane and cut off a car – and they didn’t know it was me until they saw me pull off the road. I don’t know what my point is to this post, just needed to vent! Thanks for lending your ears.
Call the police and file a report. That guy needs to be taken off the road, and with your evidence and witnesses, it can happen. You'll be doing society a favor. Nobody in their right mind would do what he did, leading me to suspect that he might have been under the influence.
If the police don't care (which is usual because no physical contact occurred and no police on hand witnessed it), make a complaint also to your local DMV Safety Office. Reference any witness and ancillary information you can add. That'll probably get more done.
I keep a camera in my dash in the event of an accident. I want to be able to hop out and snap some pictures before the scene is disturbed. More than that, I plan to run around and snap pictures of the people and plates of all witnesses. In the event of "my word against his," I can submit the pictures to the police and tell them to look up the plates and the witnesses. Good job with the picture and for reporting him. Several years ago, a semi changed lanes into me. His lug nuts dug into my driver door. Let me tell you that it's pretty darned scary when you see a 5-foot tire literally pushing your car into the other lane. At the scene, after we pulled over, he was extremely apologetic and said that he simply didn't see me and wanted to take care of everything. That all changed when he told his Manager and his insurer that we both merged into the center lane at the same time. By his story, it was a mutual-fault accident and my insurance paid for my car's damage. When people drive like that, do whatever you have to in order to have them taken off the road. Of course it helps when multiple people call to confirm your story.
The picture says it all you can see how close the truck was to the rear of your Prius. Drivers like that are in danger of loosing their CDL and the liability they can represent to their company is not worth it to many trucking companies considering their insurance and rising fuel costs. I have several friends and persons I know who are truck drivers (although you would never guess it when speaking or meeting with them) and they always talk about good drivers and bad on the road and often complain more about their fellow truckers than the average driver on the road... some of people are just plain nuts. I think it was a very very good idea to simply drive away and hope his employeer does the right thing.
That brings to mind something that happened a few months ago. Some moron was driving like crazy and he had a 4 sale sign in his car with a ph#. I got close enough to get the number. I then did a reverse search on the number and found out the address. I went to the house at night and saw the car there. I put a note on the window saying a few choice words. There...I vented too. I hate animalistic drivers!!!
Since I am still waiting for my Prius I have a forsale tag up on my car with my phone number I have been extra prudent in my driving sice I imagined someone might do something like that to me (unlikely based on my driving) but not to say if I was driving like a moron I wouldnt deserve a call telling me so or a note saying so... some drivers deserve a wake up call I think, common courtesy is often lost on drivers.
in my state the police do care and very much. we have new laws concerning both cars and big rigs providing safe following distances and not cutting any vehicles off.
I'm glad that both you and your Prius are safe. Along with everyone else here, I hope that the trucking firm takes action against the driver. One of my pet peeves is tailgaters, and it seems as though it gets worse each year. Be safe, be sensible, be smart.
Don't you just hate it when you're doing 65mph on the center lane and somebody decides to tailgate you JUST because you have a "Prius"? And worse of all, all other lanes are clear and they pull in front of you and tap on their brakes. What is going on morons? People have nothing to do but bother Prius'es. I even had people pull in front of me, open their sunroofs, and try to dump coffee or water to me... but of course the wind blew those liquids onto their roofs or back windows (ha!). I have definetely noticed a lot of "Prius harrassment" since day 1 or maybe day 2. Maybe it is time to buy a triple air horn system...hmmm...
For a second there, I thought this was going to turn into that "anger management" joke where the guy simultaneously gets revenge on the BMW-driving jerk who steals his parking space, as well as revenge on the guy who was rude to him when he accidentally dialed a wrong number.
More trivia... it was filmed in California along Sierra Highway between Newhall and Palmdale. The final scene is along Vasquez Canyon Road in Saugus. Last week a car went over the edge at that very point and was destroyed. Don't know if a truck was involved...
Thanks for sharing with us. This sound like an attempt to assult with deadly weapon. I have some of those close call moment too. I just pull over and exit to the nearest gas station and report to the highway petrol. If too many people report, the highway petrol will keep a close eye on the perp. Hmm maybe somebody could come up with camcorder like device for the Prius and just mail the whole tape to the police department. --Hilore
That could be a good enhancement to the backup camera option. Allow it to be turned on when you're not backing up, and to take pictures. Shouldn't be too hard to do.
