Wherein another driver's bad choice on the interstate nearly caused a massive pileup!

I had remarked this morning to my traveling companion that we had not seen many combination rigs on the freeway during our journey like I remembered from my youth.

- cue ominous music to instill a sense of foreboding

The speed limit on the Montana interstate along that section was 80 mph, and traffic was flowing at that rate, so my cruise control was pegged at 80. The road was steep and winding, with jersey barriers on each side obstructing visibility even when there was a gap in the scrub pines dotting the hillside.

Suddenly, as we rounded a curve on one of the grades, I saw all the traffic in front of me swerving into the left lane. I was driving at the time, and assumed there had been an accident, so I followed suit.

Then there were also brake lights everywhere, as cars, motor homes, and trucks towing travel trailers all screeched nearly to a halt ahead of me. I hit the brakes and steered toward the shoulder on the leftmost side of the road, intending to steer into the grassy median ditch should I not be able to stop in time. There was no time or room for any other course of action.

Once I had made sure I hit no one, and discovered that I had avoided being hit in turn as well, I had time to assess the situation.

Up ahead, one triple trailer rig was crawling up the hill at what seemed like about 20 mph in the right-hand lane where he was supposed to be, but another rig at the breakneck speed of perhaps 25 mph had tried to pass.

credit

It should come as no surprise that there was a massive attempt by everyone to avoid this sudden roadblock, and it is a miracle everyone was paying enough attention to avoid an accident. I myself made some speculative comments regarding the intellectual capacity of that semi driver attempting to pass on that hill in that traffic at those speeds. However, such language as I was considering ought not be repeated here.

The moral of the story:

Make sure your brakes are in good condition, maintain safe following distances whenever you drive, watch what other drivers are doing, and always try to have alternate plans beforehand for ways out of a bad situation.

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I am now home safe, but I have more stories to post about my recent travels even while I return to my usual hobby-related content, political posts, and library tales!

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