The cellphone has made driving of any vehicle much more dangerous than in the past. I have ‘retired’ after almost 20 yrs of rowing gears (van, reefer, flat, oversize, construction, hopper, etc. Got out clean, no wrecks, one speeding ticket (2005), no CSA points on my record. I truly appreciate the courteous drivers that I would encounter each, but their numbers are dropping every day. A month away and I don’t miss the big city logjams. The open road, especially between ol’ Muddy and the Rockies I will miss.
I’ve always done two things when sharing the road with trucks: 1) If the driver signals for a lane change, I try to make room to let them in, and 2) after passing a truck, I always give them plenty of room before moving back into their lane in front of them. It’s incredible the idiocy I’ve seen from other drivers around trucks. The worst is people who cut right in front of them, oblivious to the fact that that truck can’t stop on a dime and WILL run your little car over if you don’t give them enough room and you have to stop suddenly.
As a teenager, I became a licensed pilot before I got around to getting my driver’s license. I think that experience has always helped me to make sure that as a driver I maintain situational awareness at all times. I’m always looking not just at what’s in front of me, but also well down the road to anticipate problems before they happen. And no matter how many mirrors and cameras they put on cars, I always turn my head to look over my shoulder before changing lanes. That last one was ingrained into my brain by my flight instructor, because a mid-air can make for a very bad day. It’s also saved me numerous times while driving.
I mention all of that just to say that the biggest problem I see with the typical automobile driver today is a complete lack of situational awareness. So many of them have no clue what is going on around them. It seems all that they’re thinking about is themselves and where they want to go at any given moment. And if solid objects like your vehicle (or road signs, light poles, pedestrians, etc.) happen to be between them and the point they’re trying to aim at, then look out.
And of course there’s the out of control distraction factor from phones and whatnot. I was watching “bad driver” videos on YouTube, and I think the most shocking thing was how often someone driving down a straight piece of multi-lane freeway would suddenly, for no apparent reason, just lose control of the vehicle and crash. No other cars involved (at least not as a cause), just driving straight one second and then inexplicably swerving all over the road the next.
As you said, there are a lot of fools running around out there today, and I can’t blame you for wanting to stay away from them.