Truck Driver Rant

[CaptainThrifty]

WOW! a whole section just for us drivers! Let me tell you I've had just enough today to take advantage of this section too.

1) It's a left turn not a left oblique. If your wheels touch any part of that center line when making a left turn you're turning too sharp!

2) That left turn lane stop line is back further than the right lane(s) for a reason! Many times tractor trailers have to pull way up before turning to make sure the trailer clears the corner with its buildings/power line poles/stop lights/signs. The stop line is back so that we have room to swing in. When you cross that line to be closer to your right lane buddy, you block us out and then block up the street because we probably also had to do a buttonhook!

3) When the tractor trailer in the left lane in front of you has his right turn signal on and is not getting over, it's usually one of two reasons: The car in front of him or the car in back of him. You can help by being behind him and flashing your lights that he won't hit you. But also look ahead, he may not have clearance at the front of his rig. Whipping around to his right and zooming ahead means it will take him that much longer to get out of the way of the people trying to go faster in the left lane.

4) A rig has a looooooong stopping distance, especially in wet weather. Don't whip out in front of him from another lane just because there is a large gap there in front of him. He's probably made that gap so that he has enough stopping distance if the car in front suddenly stomps on the breaks. You've just put yourself in the kill zone!

More later when I can think of them. I'll edit them into this post because I know a lot of people (like me!) mostly read only the OP.

[greek_jester]

Nice to hear this from a truck driver's perspective.

I sometimes get honked/flashed at on the dual carriageway on my commute to work because I understand the laws of physics & have no desire to end up the filling in a car sandwich. When I overtake a lorry going up a hill 15mph under the speed limit I give them at least twice the braking distance I'd normally give a car before pulling in. Yes, Mr Flashy Car Driver, that does mean you'll be stuck doing 70mph in a 70mph zone for 30 seconds longer than normal. Suck it up.

[Exaspera]

I could never do y'all's job.

[ditchdj]

The only main peeve that I have about truck drivers is when you're on the interstate approaching a construction zone. Why do some truck drivers feel the need to "Play Traffic Cop" and block BOTH lanes side-by-side going 20 mph. They may be trying to make the road "safer" by stopping people from cutting in, but they're breaking the law too.

[bhskittykatt]

I remember once, whilst merging onto the interstate, a trucker towing TWO FULL TRAILERS kindly merged left to let us on. The SUV ahead of me on the on-ramp repaid the favor by immediately cutting into said left lane, going about 45mph on a 60, mere feet in front of the truck. The trucker slammed on his breaks and was slowing as well as one could with TWO FULL TRAILERS, but it wasn't until he'd crept up to about a foot away from the SUV's bumper that idiot SUV driver finally found his gas pedal. (Meanwhile, myself and all surrounding traffic had been backing far off in anticipation of an accident.)

[CaptainThrifty]

The only main peeve that I have about truck drivers is when you're on the interstate approaching a construction zone. Why do some truck drivers feel the need to "Play Traffic Cop" and block BOTH lanes side-by-side going 20 mph. They may be trying to make the road "safer" by stopping people from cutting in, but they're breaking the law too.

Sometimes that is not the case, i.e it's not intentional. One time back in my training days, I was catching up on another rig an went to pass him. Then we hit a hill. Due to our weights we were both slowed down. My trainer wouldn't let me back off and get behind him. He said that was potentially more dangerous. So we spent the next several miles at under 30MPH side by side. Yeah people were angry. But experience has taught me that indeed it was safer to do what we did.

[Geek King]

But experience has taught me that indeed it was safer to do what we did.

I'm curious, why is that? I've not driven anything that large, except in that videogame, so I don't understand everything involved.

[Kaylyn]

Generally it's safer because the fewer lane changes one makes, the fewer chances there are for an accident. So yeah, as a trucker, I do the same thing. If I know that my truck is going to be able to overtake that company's (some companies govern their trucks at a slower speed than others, meaning they will not go over a certain speed unless going downhill) then even if we get stuck going uphill and riding neck and neck for a while, I won't switch back to the right lane.

Having said that, I try to be as courteous as I can and not try to overtake another truck unless I'm fairly certain I can do it as quickly as possible. But sometimes conditions creep up that make me seem like an asshole. I promise, for the most part, we don't do it on purpose!

[ditchdj]

Sometimes that is not the case, i.e it's not intentional. One time back in my training days, I was catching up on another rig an went to pass him. Then we hit a hill. Due to our weights we were both slowed down. My trainer wouldn't let me back off and get behind him. He said that was potentially more dangerous. So we spent the next several miles at under 30MPH side by side. Yeah people were angry. But experience has taught me that indeed it was safer to do what we did.

Well that I can understand. But I'm talking about this.....

http://www.topgear.com/blogs/planett...ddle-with-you/

[Dips]

You've asked that same question of every truck driver who's posted here.

CaptainThrifty has answered it and told you he doesn't do that, just like all the other truck drivers who post here. He even offered a reasonable explanation for what you may have observed on the road.

Time to drop it and move on.

[Sleepwalker]

When I learned to drive, it was mostly self taught in an extremely rural area. When I moved somewhere where 'driving' meant more than 'not going off into the woods by accident', I copied what I saw the big rigs doing. I figured if anyone knew what they were about, it was them. Bit of a steep learning curve going from 1.5* lane rural routes to driving to interstate to and from work, but I made it out alive.

Thank you for this post.

*They're two lanes when new, but a 4-5 year repair schedule with no shoulder means that the winter takes half a foot off the edges every year...