Posted on 05/15/2016 7:35:19 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
A driver spoke out Sunday evening, two days after recording a truck hauling scrap metal as it tipped over and lost some of its wheels on the Tappan Zee Bridge.
The crash happened around 9 a.m. Friday on the northbound side of the bridge. Images from the scene showed the overturned truck with pieces of scrap metal and debris all over the roadway, and the video showed truck sending debris and two wheels flying across the road.
The trailer and flying debris narrowly missed the car behind it.
As CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez reported exclusively, Qing Chang of Ardsley was driving that car, and his dashcam took the video. But Chang said he didn’t get scared.
“I have no time to get scared,” he said.
Chang said he was on his way to work Friday morning when the accident happened, driving from the Westchester County side of the bridge toward Rockland County.
He said he has a personal rule not to drive next to tractor trailers. So when this one caught up to the right side of his car, he said he pressed on the brake – and the accident happened.
“I just hit my brake as tight as fast I can, and I barely just dodge that kind of disaster,” Chang said.
Chang stayed remarkably calm despite being just inches away from a potentially deadly collision.
State police believe the truck’s axle broke. The rear wheels broke off, and struck Chang’s car before rolling in front of him.
Surprisingly, no one was hurt.
“I was pretty calm. I just take action,” Chang said. “Panic doesn’t work, right? So I just take action.”
The accident led to massive traffic delays for hours. But that was a small price to pay considering how much worse the accident could have been.
Chang said he got a dashcam after getting into a car a year and a half ago. He said he thought the dashcam would have helped prove his case.
I’ve always tried to avoid running side by side with traffic in neighboring lanes myself, for the reasons your father provided. In all but the heaviest traffic, I prefer not to have a vehicle beside me and will accelerate to pass or slow down and fall back to avoid it. It’s gotten more difficult in recent years to do this because other drivers appear to be judging their speed by other cars, and pace you. You speed up, they speed up, you slow down, they slow down. I blame cell phones.
Logging trucks in the south scare me. Those big heavy logs are chained to axles.
Editing is getting to be a lost skill.
This guy is VERY lucky. Last year a semi truck wheel broke lose and killed a driver a couple hundred yards ahead of my car on I-95 here in Florida. Those wheels are BIG and heavy. It happens so fast at 70 MPH there is nothing you can do but pray it doesn’t hit you.
Yeah, never stay in the blind spot of a tractor trailer ever. You either pass them or allow them to pass you.
Wow I also have the heebee jeebies about driving next to a truck
This just adds to,it
Lucky guy
About 30 years ago a similar incident on Rt17 in Paramus, NJ. A semi going southbound lost a wheel, it jumped over the “Jersey barrier” amazingly did not hit any oncoming traffic but rolled into a McDonald’s parking lot on the northbound side and killed some poor guy just getting out of his car.
On the back of many trailers, they have placard, “If you can’t see my mirrors, I can’t see you”.
Mighty Horrific.
3 Things My Dad Taught Me About Driving (There are more, just keeping it short)
1. When driving a manual, ease into it. Don’t “pop” the clutch.
2. Never drive in the blind spot of a tractor trailer. If they initiated the pass, let them pass. If you initiated the pass, pass them.
3. If you miss your exit ramp, don’t pull over and reverse down the shoulder.
Yeah, I’ve seen them. And I don’t like them, as even if you see their mirrors doesn’t mean they are angled to see you. The placard should say “If you look at my mirrors and can’t see me, then I can’t see you.”
What I do not understand are the drivers—and there are many of them in this area—who do normal freeway speed until they come up to a semi, then slow down to maybe one MPH or so faster than the truck and take forever to pass it. Why on earth do they want to prolong the time they are next to the truck? That practice is not only dangerous, but it slows down traffic as drivers like that keep slowing down next to trucks, holding back traffic, then speeding up as soon as they get around the truck, so no one can pass them.
I always get past trucks as quickly as I can. Today, I had to change lanes because the truck I was about to pass suddenly decided to get into my lane.
When I go to pass, I floor it. I don't care how fast I have to go.
When they need to pass me, I stand down to get it over with as quickly as possible.
And I always do the courtesy flash of the headlights when they are clear.
But slamming on your brakes like he said he did? Not generally a good idea.
At the time, the risk of getting rear-ended was less than the risk of that overturning trailer dumping tons of scrap metal on top of him. I’d say he did the right thing, given the circumstance.
Me too. Talking on the phone only leaves about 50% of your attention on the road and surrounding vehicles.
I went to youtube video - he was along the trailer for quite a ways, then slowed down for a car in front of him, and the trailer on his right kept going. It looked to me that as soon as the trailer started going over he slowed down even faster (he didn’t slam on the brakes).
But then - he drives over to the left shoulder (to get out of the lane I suppose) but drives right into all the debris.
A person comes over and asks him if he is okay. “Yes - okay, but something wrong with my car - something is underneath it.”
(Well, um yeah...!)
BTW, remarkable technology. I've got a camera but never put it on the dash yet. Good reminder to do so.
You’d think they’d want as wide a berth as possible given the distraction, but the opposite appears to be the case for some reason. I try very hard not to use my cell when in heavy traffic. Others never appear to put it down, no matter where or what time of day.
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