State Trooper Charlie Caplinger was driving the Tennessee Highway Patrol's big rig on Interstate 75 Thursday when a Chevrolet truck sped past his flank, then cut in front of him.
"That's the things truck drivers go through," the 40-year-old former commercial driver said. "Truck drivers get a bad rap sometimes because they go so slow, but they have to go kind of slow because the slower they're going, the quicker they can stop."
Caplinger, who was a professional truck driver for 11 years before joining the Highway Patrol, gave people rides Thursday to show them what it's like being a trucker.
He said one rider recently asked him how often each month he's cut off by other drivers.
"I said, 'It's not on a monthly basis; it's on an hourly basis.'"
The demonstrations at the rest area near I-75's Exit 1 were part of the Highway Patrol's Holiday Safety Blitz, a day-long highway safety tour around Southeast Tennessee.
The themes of the blitz are simple, said Highway Patrol Lt. John Harmon: Don't drink and drive, wear your seat belt, mind speed limits and be respectful of commercial truck drivers.
"Everybody's in a hurry," Harmon said. "We've just got to slow down and pay attention. We've got to make sure that everybody drives defensively because everybody else is driving so offensively."
The holiday season and a recent spike in traffic fatalities in Southeast Tennessee are the two main reasons for the blitz, Harmon said.
Harmon said about 120 people have died in traffic crashes in the 12-county Southeast Tennessee area so far this year. He said 22 have been killed since Oct. 1.
"Our fatality rate has increased in the recent weeks, and we're just trying to get that [safety] message out," Harmon said.
Many of those who died weren't wearing seat belts, he said.
The Highway Patrol had two other special vehicles at the rest area on Thursday. A car with a giant nail sticking out of the trunk symbolized that anyone who drinks and drives will get "nailed."
In another demonstration, the cab of a pickup truck spun in circles, the flopping mannequins inside demonstrating what happens to people who aren't wearing seat belts in a rollover crash.
Shad Holland, a 37-year-old commercial truck driver from Holland, Ohio, watched one of the demonstrations while taking a break. He said he's had plenty of close calls in his truck.
"Those times actually made me more aware to pay more attention to other people around me because how close of a call they were," he said. "Especially in a commercial vehicle, it's a different sort of job where someone could get killed."
TRAFFIC FATALITIES
County: 2009/2010*
Bledsoe: 1/3
Bradley: 11/12
Coffee: 7/5
Franklin: 7/4
Grundy: 4/9
Hamilton: 40/32
Marion: 8/12
McMinn: 11/20
Meigs: 3/6
Polk: 6/5
Rhea: 3/6
Sequatchie: 6/5
Total: 107/119
* Jan. 1-Nov. 18 for each year
Source: Tennessee Highway Patrol