Free Press –
Route 611 Trucker Incident
Dear Friends,
Good morning. Every sane motorist dreads road rage. Unfortunately, road rage has become commonplace. I have a friend who witnessed it first hand as he was returning to his home in Florida. Fortunately, he had a cooler head than the villain who nearly caused a terrible accident.
He’s requested anonymity because he fears that people in high places would act against him. I can tell you that I’ve known him for more than forty years and can vouch for his veracity. He has an excellent reputation.
Here’s the story.
My friend is a retired Upper Bucks industrialist who often travels through the highways of Upper Bucks County. On December 13, he was traveling south on a scenic and winding stretch of Route 611 near Revere. Icy conditions made the roads hazardous. He had just passed a traffic accident due to the weather, so he drove cautiously but at the posted speed limit.
My friend told me that a tractor-trailer driver, tailgating his vehicle, began to flash his lights and blow his horn in an effort to make him drive faster. When this failed to intimidate my friend, the tractor-trailer driver pulled over the double yellow line, marked with a “No Passing” sign. He cut my friend off and attempted to smash him against the guardrail. Fortunately, my friend saw the tractor passing him. He quickly braked and pulled off the road, stopping against the guardrail. The side of the trailer missed my friend's side mirror by inches. “It was a deliberate attempt to injure me or smash my car,” my friend told me.
A short distance later, the tractor-trailer driver realized that my friend’s car was not disabled but was following. Suddenly, the driver stopped his rig across the road, blocking all traffic. He dismounted from his cab, rushed to the driver’s side of my friend’s car, and beat upon his window with both fists. Threatening my friend with bodily harm, the truck driver ranted on with a barrage of filthy language in spite of the presence of a woman in my friend’s car.
My friend had just been released from the hospital the day before this incident. It took considerable self-discipline to sit calmly while the angry truck driver threatened his life. Incidentally, my friend had served on the Governor’s highway safety committee when living in Bucks County. He’s also been a deputy sheriff in Bucks County and New Hampshire.
My friend’s passenger used her cell phone and called the state police at the Dublin Barracks. In the meantime, he moved his car close to the trailer in order to copy the license number. My friend told me that when the truck driver saw him writing on a piece of paper, the truck driver yelled, “You can copy all you want, but the police won’t touch me.”
In the intervening weeks, my friend has had several conversations with Dublin Barracks of the State Police. The case is pending in district court.
As most of my readers know, I
travel daily to Philadelphia on the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania
Turnpike. My commute begins at
What is important to remember is that truck drivers occasionally become enraged and when they do, they can use their rigs as lethal weapons. There’s no difference between a driver using his tractor-trailer to cause harm and someone shooting a person with a gun. My advice is to remain cool, just as my friend did. Get on the cell phone and summon help.
Fortunately, he’s still in good health. But he worries that the Pennsylvania truckers’ lobby has friends in high places. My bet is that the Troopers at the Dublin Barracks are good people and will pursue the matter.
How will road rage be reduced? It will diminish only when drivers read stories about convictions accompanied by severe penalties.
If you have ideas about calming road rage, let me know.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith