How do truckers handle vehicles that pull out in front of them?

[AutoMechanic]

My dad is a truck driver. He has told me he has had quite a share of dealing with not so smart drivers on the road. He had a lady with her kids in the car pull out in front of him at an intersection in Pennsylvania and he didn’t know how in the world he avoided them because she pulled out and was cross ways in front of him trying to get in the left lane. He was not prepared to stop as the light was green. You can’t slam the brakes on in a big rig like that he said she moved just in time because he cleared the back of her car by maybe an inch and was halfway in the shoulder almost against a wall trying to downshift and miss her. He did manage to hit the horn and she threw her hands up in the air like she had no clue she has pulled out in front of him. He said I knew I was going to hit her so I was doing everything I could to make it at an impact point where it wouldn’t hit the kids in the back. But amazingly he missed the back of her minivan so everyone was thankful for that.

 

[Barkleymut]

You can't get far enough behind one of them to not take a rock to the windshield...much rather just be in front of them.

Same in Virginia, landscape, construction, big rigs always dropping rocks. 2 ladies in my office get their windshield replaced at a minimum 2x a year (one busted hers last week and before she got it fixed got a 2nd crack from another rock). We all take the same route home and I see them tailgaiting trucks all the time. In the 5 years we have worked together I got one small hit that caused a starburst that i fixed that night with the 3m kit from walmart. The difference is I get in the right lane and go the speed limit. You can ALWAYS go slower and increase distance from a truck that is obviously dropping rocks. And there will always be idiots that will get in between you and that truck to be your blocker.