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Hi there smart drivers Rick with Smart
Drive Test talking to you today about
that heart-pounding, adrenaline rush when
you have that near miss in your vehicle,
and you're just like, "what happened?"
The point today is be predictable on the
roadway. I was going down to Kelowna, BC, Canada to
pick up a truck so that I could do some
videos tomorrow on air brakes, and how to
hook up trailers, and those types things. And
I was driving back in the dark and had my
dash cam on and pulled over to the left
hand lane to get past the car that
wasn't driving very fast. So I was going
to pass him and I see the car up at the
intersection--as you can see here in the
footage--it's at the intersection making
a left-hand turn. And I didn't know at
that point that they're looking for the
hotel--the airport hotel--which is the
next light up. They pulled into the
intersection --left signal-- you can see the
left signal. And the traffic clears and
I'm expecting them to turn left.
Well they didn't turn left because
they figured out that where they wanted
to turn was not there. So they sat in the
intersection and then took off.
Well the heart-pounding was the truck
being locked up - it didn't actually lock
up because the ABS (Anti-lock braking system) engaged. But you can
see the truck start to deviate to the
right because I'm trying to move the
truck over to the right to get around
them because there was no way that the
truck was going to stop in time.
Fortunately just as I was coming up on
them at a hurdling speed and I'm bracing
for imminent impact they realized that
that was not where they wanted to turn
left and took off. At that juncture I
also realized that there was a Manitoba
licence plate, so obviously they were lost. So one
tip for professional drivers--bus and
truck drivers--always look for
out-of-province - out-of-state license
plates because that's a good indication
that they could potentially be lost. Now
I probably would have picked up on the
plate had it been daytime. And knowing that
they might have been lost, but being dark
I didn't see the plate until I was right
on top of them and then I noticed that
it was a Manitoba plate from out of
province.
That's the other thing is being
predictable - DO NOT STOP in an
intersection! You are just asking to be
rear-ended, especially when those
circumstances culminated that the traffic
cleared coming from the other direction
and I was expecting them to turn left. So
I didn't let off the hammer, I just kept
on the throttle--kept on going--which you
know is probably bad on my part as well,
so you know I've got some responsibility
in this as well. But anyway, the point of
all of this is be predictable in your
actions.
It's better to go around the corner
and turn around and come back out then
to sit in that intersection on a highway
where the speed limit is 80 kilometers
an hour (50mph) and people are doing much higher
than that in the traffic flow. So we've
all had those experiences where, "oh my
god! Impact is imminent!" And that's what
it was. So
you can see here in the footage that I
just about clobbered that person. So be
predictable - out-of-state; out-of-province
license plates are good a indication to
professional drivers that the other
person could potentially be lost. So take
note of that. Question for my smart
drivers: tell me about your near-miss
experience that got your heart rate
going and your adrenaline pumping?
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test. Thanks
very much for watching. If you like what
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comment down in the comment section. All
that helps us out. As well, hit that
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yes they're over there. Check out those
great videos for those of you working
towards getting a license or endeavoring
to get your CDL license or starting a
career as a truck or bus driver. Thanks
again for watching. Good luck on your
road test. And remember, pick the best
answer not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day. Bye now!
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