Wrecks and incidents are like scars that never fully heal to drivers. You’ll always trace over them from time to time and think what could you have done differently.
From the sudden shock of feeling something collide, the sensory overload of hearing metal and plastic crumple and break apart, flying everywhere, and the self doubt of if it was your fault, drivers get post-traumatic stress when they are involved in situations even if they were cleared of wrongdoing.
Having to deal with that worry of a civil suit from an overprotective parent and verdict-thirsty lawyers haunts independent truckers. They don’t have the million-dollar war chests that corporations have to simply pay off and make things go away.
Sometimes drivers can find peace of mind in the most unlikely of places. Reddit, a site known well for its dismantling of those deemed guilty in the court of public opinion, took the side of the driver after his son posted a video from a collison back in late May.
As the truck in question moves through an intersection, a car is seen attempting to weave between it and a slower truck traveling in the right lane. The car collides with the truck in the left lane, causing it to rotate and impact the other truck’s trailer skirt.
The trucker maintained control of the truck, shifting it over to the left to not crush the car, and not hard enough to overturn himself in the soft median. As bad as the situation was, the driver spoke to his son about feeling guilty for the incident and what he could have done differently.
I, myself, agree with the Redditors in saying that was the best you could do with the hand dealt. The driver of the car made it out only with a cut on the forehead. Both truck drivers are alive and well.
Sure, decades of safe driving are now considered non-existent, but the main point is the driver went 40 years without an incident beyond his control.
Things will happen that you cannot control. That’s when you need to say to yourself that you went that long and that far in a professional manner, doing your job and being the epitome of a professional driver.
We can only hope that if the day an incident involving harm happens, we can handle it in the manner that you had. Staying aware of our surroundings, maintaining focus through the crisis, and rapidly assessing the situation and making proper decisions should be something all drivers strive for.
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