Why tourists turn right in front of trucks?

**rocketman1** · 21st April 2016, 18:19

I have a concern at the recent fatalities involving tourists turning in front of trucks / or any vehicle, because Im a caring kiwi

Heres my reasoning. And it has nothing to do with looking left or right.
After driving in the USA I think I can figure the fatal logic of doing this tragic manouvre.
What I reason is that all is well when you are in a foreign country driving on the other side of the road.
The problem arises at right hand turns (in NZ ) and left hand turns in say, USA

What happened to me was that when turning left off the main road in the USA you instinctively look in your left hand rear vision mirror,
expecting a vehicle to be coming up from behind, ie in the left hand lane, you tend not to look ahead in the left hand lane ( because In NZ any traffic in that lane is going away from you, not towards you) and if you see a vehicle ahead in the other opposite left lane it doesnt immediately become an oncoming threat. This is real weird, and I have been in this situation for the first few days driving in the USA. You do get over it and sort it out in your brain. BUT it can cause a little confusion especially when you dont really know where you are going and trying to check out all the traffic signs etc. Several others I have spoken too have had the same thoughts.
How do you fix this temporary mind set I dont know, but it seems interesting that the tourists who have been killed here have only been here a day or so. Maybe its my small brain, but I sympathise for those involved.

**EJK** · 21st April 2016, 18:30

There was a similar case with crows vs trucks.

Number of road kill study showed that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car. The crow's behavioural study found out that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of approaching vehicle.

The conclusion was that while all the lookout crows could say "Cah," none could say "Truck.”.

**rambaldi** · 21st April 2016, 19:46

Originally Posted by EJK

There was a similar case with crows vs trucks.

Number of road kill study showed that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car. The crow's behavioural study found out that when crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of approaching vehicle.

The conclusion was that while all the lookout crows could say "Cah," none could say "Truck.”.

Also the look outs would sometimes develop a taste for crows...

MD · 21st April 2016, 21:22

I can sort of see what you mean in the OP. Tragic loses this week and those drivers will forever suffer from their mistakes. But sadly that's what they were - their mistakes. I've driven in USA and yes, it's bloody difficult and therefore demands 100% concentration.

However, using a little common sense I quickly figured out 1. concentrate 100% and 2 LOOK bloody everywhere before turning anywhere, and most importantly be totally aware of my surroundings and what other vehicles were doing at all times. My eyes were always scanning around, reminding myself how I should be driving esp. on what side

No matter what side of the road you usually drive on, no matter what side of the road you are currently driving on - a truck bearing down on you is a truck bearing down on you! What part of that is hard to comprehend? The Waikato one this week and the Twizel one, from the pictures of the intersections, both had good visibility in all directions. Maybe it's just me but whenever I see 10 tons of metal speeding towards me I notice it and my brain defaults to 'whatever you are planning make sure it doesn't involve being hit by that truck.

If people don't have the common sense to realise that they need to exercise more care in a given situation then maybe they should take the bus.

**Gremlin** · 21st April 2016, 22:08

Not just tourists, there was that case where a mother pulled out in front of a truck in the Waikato.

You simply have to look. I did 14k ish in 6-7 weeks in the USA, and on the road I had no issues. The only place I got a little confused was in parking lots and exiting gas stations on the wrong section of tarmac. You simply gotta be careful... For the most part, all the other vehicles were pretty good clues.

Even in NZ, right turn at traffic lights, Christchurch has a lot more give way but free right turn whereas Auckland is constantly giving you green or red. You simply have to pay attention and as the driver/rider your responsibility...

**BMWST?** · 21st April 2016, 23:16

this is human.Shit happens.I consider my self a careful attentive driver and rider .However recently in Melbourne i was so busy looking for lanes,signs,etc i drove through a red light.!I had no trouble out on the great Ocean road etc,but for a Wellingtonian driving in Melbourne was a real strain!The thought of having to do a hook turn dominated my thinking!I knew i had to turn right up ahead and was really looking for the lane markings,turning bays etc.

**PrincessBandit** · 22nd April 2016, 08:59

Originally Posted by rocketman1

.............. you instinctively......,
expecting....., you tend not to...... especially when you dont really know where you are going.....

I think I have summarised your OP succinctly.

**Katman** · 22nd April 2016, 09:50

I came within a hairs breadth of pulling out in front of a large truck while driving around Europe.

I know exactly how easy it is to do.

**Bassmatt** · 22nd April 2016, 12:21

Yep, walked out in front of cars the first time in a right side of the road driving country. Didn't even think just instinctively looked right.

I never really adjusted to it I just had to keep reminding myself and I still managed to do it again a couple of times.
just as well I didn't do any driving probably.

**rocketman1** · 22nd April 2016, 18:01

Originally Posted by Bassmatt

Yep, walked out in front of cars the first time in a right side of the road driving country. Didn't even think just instinctively looked right.

I never really adjusted to it I just had to keep reminding myself and I still managed to do it again a couple of times.
just as well I didn't do any driving probably.

Yeah think of what will happen with a few Budweisers under your belt?

**eldog** · 22nd April 2016, 21:31

We may look but sometimes we don't see, the brain doesn't expect something and can blank it out. Sometimes there are things on our minds and we take shortcuts and then shit happens.

poor buggers.....

**rocketman1** · 24th April 2016, 10:53

Originally Posted by eldog

We may look but sometimes we don't see, the brain doesn't expect something and can blank it out. Sometimes there are things on our minds and we take shortcuts and then shit happens.

poor buggers.....

Agreed, It seems that looking and seeing are two different things.
I remember watching a documentary on the box, that shows a screen with little black dots popping up randomly all over the screen , one after the other, ie the size of motorcycle at 50m. The subject had to push a buzzer if they saw a dot. There were some people that only saw about 80% of the dots. Bloody amazing. It was nomally the older brigade that failed , but not always.

They put it down to the the floaters on your eyes, that block out the view of things.
Get rid of the floaters

Look twice , has some merit. Has to be pretty big floater to block out a truck !!!

**BMWST?** · 24th April 2016, 11:28

another culprit is the wide A pillars in most modern cars,I try to keep all stickers etc well out of the way on the right hand side.only the wof stays there,i get rid of service stickers etc to the middle.The comnbination of a pillar and mirror can really block the view in some situations

**eldog** · 24th April 2016, 11:35

Originally Posted by rocketman1

Agreed, It seems that looking and seeing are two different things.
They put it down to the the floaters on your eyes, that block out the view of things.
Get rid of the floaters

Look twice , has some merit. Has to be pretty big floater to block out a truck !!!

Yes, but there are a lot more things that affect our vision, like size/threat/distance perception etc heaps more....

Lately I have forgotten how many times I have been following or watching some one corner. They have already made up their mind to go around the looking is only superficial they were going round no matter what."it's their right, I am more important, I'm a good driver... Etc

Its why I added more lights to make me look visible to those around, the fact that I can't ride in a straight line/weave all over the place helps to

Basically boils down to the old adage 'look out for yourself' - the hi vis jacket will alert the better drivers. not the others and definetly won't protect you in an incident

**neels** · 25th April 2016, 23:29

Originally Posted by BMWST?

another culprit is the wide A pillars in most modern cars,I try to keep all stickers etc well out of the way on the right hand side.only the wof stays there,i get rid of service stickers etc to the middle.The comnbination of a pillar and mirror can really block the view in some situations

This is a valid point, I've driven rentals of the currently fashionable design, and the visibility in some of them is awful. Add to that the aforementioned disrupted sense of where the danger is coming from and it's easy to see how it happens.