Smart defensive driving prevented this driver from getting into a collision with an enormous boom truck.
Presumed Tennessee resident and Redditor /u/Bonza1t shared some shocking dashcam footage from I-24 in Pleasant View, TN showing the moment when a heavy-duty boom truck swerved out of the way to avoid potholes and almost inadvertently slammed into the side of /u/Bonza1t’s Honda.
Check out the dashcam footage for yourself below.
Got run off the road today on I-24 outside Clarksville. Potholes making some big trucks swerve with absolute disregard [oc]
byu/Bonza1t inIdiotsInCars
The incident happened on near a stretch of I-24 that runs across McMahan Hollow Rd (exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
According to OP, he’s a remote worker, but was called in to his home office in Clarksville.
“This was my first commute up to Clarksville since the snow. And there were some sections that were absolute chaos, feeling like I was in a video game of avoiding obstacles. I think I saw 6-7 people with popped tires today.”
As you can see in the dashcam footage, he’s driving along I-24 in the fast lane and is in the middle of overtaking a Boom Truck.
The truck is from Crane Works, a heavy equipment rental company with one of four locations in Nashville, TN.
All of a sudden, the driver in the boom truck swerves out of the way to avoid something (OP thinks it’s potholes) in his lane.
OP moved out of the way, half his car in the sliver of a breakdown lane next to him, but it’s not enough.
“I tried to give him space, assuming he would come halfway into the lane, but then he just full sent all the way to the yellow line.”
As to why he didn’t honk his horn,
“Normally I love a good long horn blast, but my hands were glued to the steering wheel trying to not lose control”
As many pointed out in the comments, it’s questionable that the boom truck driver would’ve heard a horn honk from his Honda anyway.
“…Brain stopped working when it happened, and couldn’t honk or swear!“
Thankfully, there was an open, grassy medium next to OP where he’s able to gently drive into, avoiding a collision.
“Got lucky it happened after the guardrail ended, and I had some nice grass to pull into.“
“The way the truck jumps and shakes, plus the top heavy nature that was swaying, he was just happy to not lay it over, likely didn’t even know you were there,” /u/DieselTeach, a supposed large truck driver himself commented.
“Yup, you can def see the wheel hop and then it slides over. The driver of the truck was just as puckered as you,” /u/PunchClown agrees.
Thankfully, OP didn’t suffer any damage that he could see and, after traffic died down, he did his best to merge back onto I-24 and headed home.
“After I looked around and didn’t really see any damage, the hardest part was getting back onto the highway from the middle. There was a tire up ahead, so I couldn’t get any speed. Had to just wait for traffic to die down”
Other Redditors recommended reporting that boom truck driver to the DOT and the company.
Regardless of what OP does, it looks like several Redditors already submitted reports for him.
“I filed a complaint on your behalf. The more, the better,” /u/GameyTaint commented.
Driving defensively is not a part-time job behind the wheel, and this video shows exactly why that is.
Even when the conditions seem optimal, the unpredictable can happen.
