don't tailgate the truckers...

[space cowboy]

the minivan rear ended the trailer and was dragged along for 16 miles until the cops pulled over the truck.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/deperate-911-call-semi-drags-minivan-16-miles/story?id=28068729

 

[Sideways]

Dam big trucks are always in the way

 

[DainBramage]

best gas mileage he ever got

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I have been on the road in some pretty damned bad storms but NEVER have I been driving fast enough in those storms to run into a big rig in front of me. Even in white outs I have slowed down. Apparently the trucker doesn't check his mirrors either. I can't imagine how fast the idiot car driver was going to smash into an already moving truck that hard.

 

[543_Dallas]

I have been on the road in some pretty damned bad storms but NEVER have I been driving fast enough in those storms to run into a big rig in front of me. Even in white outs I have slowed down. Apparently the trucker doesn't check his mirrors either. I can't imagine how fast the idiot car driver was going to smash into an already moving truck that hard.

I don't think speed is as important as playing with your cell phone if you want to pull something like this off. The trucker might not be able to see the car in the mirrors unless he turned right but you'd think he would have felt something.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

The trucker should've noticed something wrong.
I've been driving a mixer truck For 27 years and believe me,you're supposed to be watching and listening and psychically feeling for anything out of the ordinary truck wise.
Back several years ago someone in a second generation Nissan Altima sheared into my flimsy safety bumper(wasn't damaged) ,it peeled backed the Altima's front fender like it was aluminum foil. I felt the safety bumper through the truck's frame go twang!
Maybe snow conditions hid the car from view?! :O


Note: the tractor trailer may have air ride suspension that may have muted the sensations that trucker may have felt. I wouldn't know firsthand because the stuff I drive isn't as posh and comfy.

 

[StrangeBrew]

Trucker may have assumed the guy was a hyper-miler drafting him.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Running into a stopped vehicle is one thing but running in the back of a vehicle moving in the same direction as you are and to do that much damage means the speed difference was fairly significant and usually the truckers are rolling right along.

 

[Sideways]

At 2 a.m. its dark, snow peppering. The trucks windows and mirrors are probably snow and salt covered. You see headlights run up behind you and disappear, nothing out of the ordinary, they may have gotten off at the last exit. I can totally see this happening. If the trailer is loaded especially, that car hitting you in the ass would feel like a bump in the road, if you felt it at all.
In the driver of the cars defense, the trailer lights were probably snow covered and unable to be seen. Just a guess. That'd be a scary situation for sure.

 

[Lil'Yeshua]

Here's a few more details.
http://q13fox.com/2015/01/08/family...miles-behind-semi-in-michigan/comment-page-1/

 

[psycho]

I looks like that little car tried to do a PIT maneuver on that 18 wheeler and failed.