FedEx Brake Checks a Semi and Causes Fender Bender
Here's the back story:
Driving along the interstate I see a FedEx truck coming down an entrance ramp wanting to merge into my lane. Unfortunately I couldn't move left. I was heavy and going slower than the other traffic that was rapidly catching up to me, so a move to the left would have not only been a bit dangerous but also rude to those approaching drivers in the left lane. No one likes it when a slow truck gets in front of you. Mr FedEx honked and me so I knew he got angry but I had no idea just how mad (or stupid) he really was.
When he passed and moved to the right, it was much closer than it looks in the camera's wide angle lens. If you listen you can hear the air brakes making some hissing sounds as I am trying to carefully apply the brakes to avoid locking up the wheels. Locking up the trailer wheels in a semi is very dangerous. Often the trailer will swing to the side and if a car is there, they will get hit.
To keep the video short and to avoid showing the driver's face, I cut it right after we stopped. Funny thing is when he got out, he was a little guy and was not all screaming mad. He was like, "Well you did it now, you rear-ended me so you're going to get a ticket." I replied, "Call the police. Don't even talk to me, just dial 911."
He called his boss who came out shortly after the cops arrived. By that time I had already shown the video to the officers and they told the man he was at fault, not me. His boss sure didn't appear to be very happy about the whole situation once he learned who caused this.
I was offered the option to file charges against him but declined. There was only a small dent on our trucks, (steel bumper hitting steel bumper) so no fiberglass was broken or anything like that. I figured no need to go through all that since the guy was clearly in a lot of trouble from his boss. I would rather be in trouble with the cops than with my boss who can fire me!
So that was how my day started. It's a crazy world out there on the highways.