Mexican Truck Drivers

As we were heading from San Luis Potosi to Zacatecas we found ourselves in a construction zone with the speed reduced from 80 Kph down to 40. In Mexico NOBODY does the recommended speed so traffic was moving nicely along at 60 or 70 with some hotheads passing at 100 or so. As we rounded a long, blind corner I glanced in my side mirror to see that I was being passed by a semi with two trailers! As his cab pulled even with my drivers door, a car came round the bend heading towards us only a few hundred feet away. I immediately took my foot off the gas as the oncoming car started frantically flashing his headlights. By now the truck had pulled ahead a bit so I was about half way back of his front trailer as he started turning back into my lane! There was no real shoulder but there was a piece of dirt and rock maybe five feet wide beside the pavement with a six or eight inch drop off onto it. My other alternative would have been to get sideswiped by the truck and pushed into the ditch so I dropped my right wheels into the dirt and remembered enough from my BC Tel Defensive Driving Course to not hit the brakes but to just "ride it out". The car dolly axle has only about three inches clearance so it started dragging on the lip of the pavement, keeping the right dolly wheel off the ground as the Honda bounced along behind it. The side of the trailer was just about touching the drivers side mirror at this point. I do not know how he missed the dolly, which is about eight inches wider than the motorhome.

I eventually managed to find a place to get back onto the highway and carry on and I have no idea what happened to the oncoming car. The truck was long gone, not slowing down at all. When I could pull over to inspect everything I found no damage aside from a little more paint scraped off the dolly which is an easy repair. Just another exciting day on the Mexico highway System!