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I am hoping that posting this here will have it fall upon the right set of eyes where real corrective action will be taken. This instance occurred sept 29, 2023, and still one month later I am having traumatic flashbacks thinking about the event that unfolded.
On sept 29. i was driving down a 1 lane highway after 8pm in the dark near winter park, co. I was driving the cautiously at the speed limit due to abundant wildlife in the area. Then entered the STI Driver (trailer 1133) driving an 18 wheeler truck transporting FUEL. He was following behind me so closely that I had to run through a red light. If I would have tried to slow down or stop he would have rear ended me, and potentially injured all 4 people in my vehicle. He proceeded to follow closely at my bumper and flash his high beam brights at me repeatedly, making it even harder for me to drive safely. As we were on a one lane, solid lined highway I was unable to move or let him pass me. The moment the lanes opened to two, he did not allow me any time to get over into the right lane to let him pass, he passed me on the right in an extremely narrow lane with metal barricades lining the highway. This felt VERY scary and unsafe for my entire car of passengers, as he nearly took off our side mirror with how closely he passed us. The lane went back down to 1, and we watched as he tailgated and flashed brights to the car now in front of him. When we arrived into the town of winter park, I flashed on my brights behind him to get his truck information, and I am assuming this is what really set him off over the edge and this is when the real danger begins…..
We were soon arriving to a restaurant destination and attempted to take get into the left lane from behind the truck to take a left turn (he was in right lane). He proceeded to recklessly turn the entire fuel truck into our lane fully attempting to run our vehicle into oncoming traffic. I quickly called 911 as this now felt like WAY more than just a little road rage aggression. while giving police our location information, the driver swerved his vehicle towards our car again, this time much closer and much more aggressively while hanging out of his window screaming and flipping us off. It was TERRIFYING. By the time the police dispatcher had all of the info gathered, we were leaving their jurisdiction and heading over the pass out of winter park. We decided to stop and turn around, very overwhelmed and stressed about how he might threaten others while driving this way over a mountain pass at night.
I then called this company, and spoke with someone named Theresa who did listen to our concerns in my moment of panic and heightened adrenaline. She stated that it would be addressed. However, I called back 2-3 times in the following days (and left voicemails), in attempt to more calmly explain what exactly happened and to get an update on what disciplinary action was taken to prevent this reckless and aggressive driver from repeating this behavior. Have not received a call back. Called someone else who said they would follow up, did not get a call back…. Called again a few days later and she said “he received a 3 day suspension” THIS IS INSUFFICIENT. This guy is a liability and literally out driving to kill people. Felt compelled to report this to DOT, as I feel this company is not taking these reports seriously, and this may end up resulting in death of other innocent drivers if this person is allowed to continue driving a fuel truck this way.
