Has everyone become blind?

Tunnel vision seems to be awfully common.

I've been driving trucks and larger vehicles for over 30 years. They have big blind spots, and limited rear vision. A fact, I've noticed, that people seem to pay absolutely no attention to.

My dd is a full sized truck with a commercial style utility body on the back. When I am backing out of parking space, of course I am careful to check first, then proceed slowly. But I am amazed that with a great deal of consistency, I will catch a glimpse (at the last second) of a car crossing behind me while I am backing up.

Don't they see they big white truck in motion? Are they clueless that I can't see them?

I get the same treatment when I am towing a trailer.

This is not an occasional occurrence. It happens almost daily. It usually ends with me slamming on my brakes and them continuing apparently completely oblivious to their surroundings.

One day I while hit one of them.

It wasn't always that way. Seems to be a by-product of the cell phone/ technology age.

I'd sure like to know the drivers around me are paying attention.

honestly, people do it all the time. It is not just big trucks they do it to. I have been homked at by people in parking lots when I start to back out in my car.

I, like you, have driven large commercials for a LONG time and always make sure nobody is coming before I back out.. but it does not matter, somebody still has to get around you before you pull out and block their path.

It's not so much cell phones.. but the "me me me!" generation that can;t see the world beyond the edge of their nose

It sounds like you may have had an encounter with my mother-in-law today. I swear that woman was trying to kill us last time she came for a visit.

This is why I always try to back in to a a parking spot when I arrive. Got in the habit at little league ball games.

mad_machine wrote: It's not so much cell phones.. but the "me me me!" generation that can;t see the world beyond the edge of their nose

That's your answer right there.

I drive a E150 cargo van daily. Look up blind spot in Webster's and there is a picture of it. I really love the people that I try to pass and they speed up to cruise on my right rear quarter. That blind spot is big enough to hide a Fleetwood Caddy.

Edit: I really love the parking lots with the angled spaces, like a rest area. That puts the entire lane in that blind spot. Backing out becomes a religious experience.

Who has the right-of-way?

Parking lots are not roads. No right-of-way.

But even if there were, who cares? Is it worth getting hit by a truck???

mad_machine wrote: It's not so much cell phones.. but the "me me me!" generation that can;t see the world beyond the edge of their nose

There's an extremely close association between the "me me me" generation and cell phones.

SVreX wrote: Parking lots are not roads. No right-of-way. But even if there were, who cares? Is it worth getting hit by a truck???

Yeah dude. You may be correct, the driver of the vehicle backing out may get the ticket, but come on. You could probably sue and win if you hit a kid on a bike that was riding on the wrong side of the road, too, but there's common courtesy as well.

Then again if I had a dollar for everytime a big truck tried to back over me while I am not moving I would be rich. I also don't think it has anything to do with generations. My dad never looks when he reverses. He back my brother's car into a light pole and his truck into my mom's car.

SVreX wrote: Parking lots are not roads. No right-of-way.

Yup, parking lots are private property, no road rules apply. Mostly, parties sort out the details and fault between insurance companies.

And the insurance companies grant right of way to the vehicle in the roadway. The one backing has the "greater duty". Just back into spots and it will make your life easier.

Parking lots are tough but don't be afraid to fight.

15 or so years ago I was backing out of a angled parking slot near the end of the lane w/ a minivan covering most of my exit. A two week old Caddy comes rolling in the lane (and big time on the horn) and gets creased from the front to rear quarter by my rear bumper, I stopped immediately btw. Exchange info etc., but no pleasantries due to his talk down, motherberkeleying elitist attitude.

By the time I drop the GF off and return home MY insurance agent had already left a message on my machine: WTF did YOU do? Do you know who that was? My agent was acquainted w/ him.. a well to do business owner in the community which employed hundreds. So I scheduled an appointment at the agent's office to provide my side of the incident including my written account and lot/ vehicle diagrams.

Bottom line: My agent was convinced I was 100% at fault until my diagrams and account proved otherwise. Mr Big/ gold chain wearing/ talk down motherberkeleyer could hit the horn but not the brakes in time... I was stopped, he kept going. It ended up 50/50 fault.

Agent was actually pretty impressed... and confided he thought the guy was a dick too.

I always treat it as though the person driving has the right of way, and the one pulling out of a space should yield. Within reason, of course.

Joey

NOBODY has the right of way. The law does not GIVE the right of way to anybody.

It does however, tell who does NOT have the right of way.

The laws in PA are written like this so there is leeway. Both people can be at fault this way. If somebody had the right of way, only the other person could be at fault.

I trailer my race car hundreds of miles to go to some of the Lemons races. People don't give two E36 M3s about giving you a little room or not riding right beside you on a windy day in the rain with construction barriers right beside you. <-- I get to look forward to this today on my tow home.

See and accident involving a tractor trailer and you will gain respect. People just don't understand the laws of physics. 80,000 lbs does not stop or change direction like a 3,000 lb car.

I have no sympathy for people in cars that get run over by trucks. They are bigger than you & can not react in the same way as your Prius. Always give the truckers room, I'm even that guy that will hold up a lane of traffic to let them merge.

Heck my lifted Cherokee was totaled because some woman "didn't see me" & turned into my rear door as she was pulling into a market. I drove over her hood but the whole rear suspension of the Jeep got tweaked or snapped as well as tearing the driveshaft out of the yoke. How she did not see a lifted "clean" white Jeep with chrome wheels in bright daylight still confuses me.

I was getting a haircut the other day... I'm sitting there in the chair and the guy across from me is just finished. He pops up, pays, hops in his car and BANG!. Backs right out in front of a car driving across the lot and gets smacked right in the rear quarter.

Neither one of them saw the other but I sat there looking out the window and both had more than plenty of time to avoid the other. They were both not looking where they were going but held a shouting match over it anyway.

Tools.

While driving schoolbus. Stopped to let student off, all lights flashing. A woman backs out of her drive way right into the bus. Said she didn't see me. At least she got a ticket and a bent car. Twice last week, I had young people drive right out of an intersection in front,could have been the side, of me. Never looked and they had the stop sign, I didn't. Fortunately I am observant.

Backing out of parking spots from between SUV's and mini vans, you really can not see what is coming until your almost past them. I usually back out pretty slow and still have had some close encounters. People just dont get, that if you can not see me(the person not the car) I more then likely can not see your car.

Like mad_machine said, its all about me, me, me these days.

Sometimes if I'm walking through a parking lot near someone that is backing up I do two things. - if they see me, I stop and let them back up or they let me walk past. Or if I notice that they are not looking, I tap the back of their car with my hand. They usually stop quick if you do that.

One time a lady was backing up while not looking and I was walking past carrying my son who was probably 6 months old at the time.I gave her car a tap, then stopped walking. The look on her face when she saw the car seat I was holding was priceless

TRoglodyte wrote: This is why I always try to back in to a a parking spot when I arrive. Got in the habit at little league ball games.

In the Army, we called that "Combat Parking". Park so the first motion to get out is forward. It's also common practice in the oil field, presumably for "jump and run" emergencies. I use it when practical, especially when I can just pull through one space into another.

Reversing is just so gauche ... There is no dignified way to do it.

I am always impressed when I visit my inlaws in japan. Nearly everyone backs into their parking space. I have to say, it makes it a lot easier to leave.

Well, your problem is that you use a parking space for parking in. Duh, those are for crossing to other aisles at high rates of speed without looking. Next time just park in the aisles, no backing out required.

Every day I am genuinely surprised that I haven't witnessed more deaths on the roadways, as most people are just motherberkeleying idiots these days.

I think it is more a symptom of the "I am the center of the universe and my time is more important and I can do whatever I want and it is up to you to watch out for me" epidemic that has gripped this nation.