Why do people who drive Cars and Pickups slam on their brakes in front of Tractor Trailer Rigs?

Question

So often times drivers of lower profile vehicles do not see what is happening in the road ahead.

Answer 1

Being a truck driver I see this constantly. Fortunately for these mental midgets a truck driver can usually anticipate something like this happening because of experience and the fact that we sit high above traffic and can see a problem develop far ahead giving us enough time to react. Here's a little tidbit of information for everyone...the legal weight limit on just the steering axle of a 5 axle rig is 12,000 pounds. Do the math...divide by 2...that's 6,000....SIX THOUSAND pounds on just ONE front tire. Does your car weigh as much as just that one tire on the front of a big truck? Not hardly. Think about that the next time you want to play chicken with an 18 wheeler!

Answer 2

Most folks don't know jack about physics. Some can't even spell it. They don't understand that a loaded tractor weighs 40 times more than their car and takes about 40 times the distance to stop.

Most folks don't understand that the faster they are traveling, the longer the distance involved to stop. And they really don't understand that just because your SUV allows you better traction when you want to go, especially on snow and ice, it doesn't make stopping any easier, better, or faster.

Let's face it, the average driver is dumb. We accept whatever advertisers want use to believe and we think we are invincible behind the wheel. Unfortunately, we are usually having a conversation with St. Peter by the time we figure out how wrong we are.

Answer 3

Its a give and take.

Sitting higher (large vehicle) gives you a better visual of things down the road but you probably need that in a bigger vehicle so that you can respond with adequate time. Sitting lower (small vehicle) does not give you the visual, but in a smaller vehicle, you'll need less time to react.

Drivers to slam on the brakes in front of a big rig are just idiots who do not realize 80,000lbs. do not stop on a dime.

Answer 4

four wheelers generally do not take into consideration that a fully loaded semi behind them, although the semi has more stopping power initially, due to the weight and whatever the speed of the semi might be, as you would know - takes much longer to come to a complete stop.

most four wheelers are completely ignorant to that fact and will use whatever space you(semi driver) have left for a safe stopping distance to get 1-2 car lengths ahead and get home 2-3 seconds faster at the risk of losing their car and life.

Answer 5

because they're inside their little bubble of safety and no one else in the world matters one iota. They also have a potentially fatal disrespect for the amount of room a loaded semi needs to stop. I drive a semi, but I assume the one of these no mind jerks is going to rush in front of me while I'm stopping at an intersection and approach very slowly. For those of you who don't know, there is an area in front of a semi called the kill Zone, it's the amount of room a rig needs to stop. If you get into that area and stop, you are going to be run over, the driver can do very little to avoid it, physics takes over, you just can't stop 80 tones of truck on a dime.

Answer 6

Slam on the brakes. Where I live, it would 1 in 100,000 times for me to hit a turkey or A Deer!

Answer 7

Anyone dumb enough to have no fear of being flattened by a semi is too dumb to drive.

I've seen cars that were hit by a semi. Looks about like me stomping a pepsi can with my size 12EE boot.

I have seen them do and cannot understand the thinking.

Maybe they are like what a friend of mine says.
When they sit down to drive, it puts so much pressure on their brain they can't think clearly.!!!?????

Answer 8

They are testing the theory of evolution - the weakest and dumbest are eventually removed from the gene pool.

Answer 9

got a problem with--lowriders? sorry we like our brakes-