So Annoying

[blas]

This happened yesterday morning on my morning commute home on the freeway. My mom was right in front of me, as she was going to work and her work is nearby where I live.

There was a semi with a "Wide Load" sign, hauling what looked like a large chunk of a bridge or some big slab of concrete.

There was an SUV type thing that was following it with flashing lights on the roof of the vehicle.

The problem was that everyone wanted to pass the semi, because it couldn't come even close to the 65 mph speed limit, and for some reason, every so often (and eventually, after one exit, the rest of our ride), the SUV would get into the left lane and go the exact same speed as the semi, therefore blocking anyone from getting past.

This happened at every single exit/entrance, and it made for a huge mess. I was honestly almost to the point of pulling my hair out, and my mom missed her exit because she was still in the left lane and couldn't get over because of the SUV, and came very close to where the freeway ends and becomes the way to either the boonies or Madison

This was morning rush hour, and no one was able to merge the way traffic should merge and flow because of not only the semi going hardly over 50 mph, but the SUV blocking anyone from getting around.

What gives here?

[Stormraven]

I would venture to guess that the load was wide enough to cut into the other lane, so the SUV was simply protecting the load. That's just off the top of my head.

[blas]

Nope, it wasn't that wide.....the reason I think it was part of a bridge was because the slab was long and thin and on it's side going the long way.

Either way, we are fortunate enough to have two highways that take you around these parts, one is the "business" highway with a speed limit of 50 mph and one is the actual freeway that goes all the way up nort' but it becomes a piddly boondock bum egypt highway after my city going south. So, if the load were that big of a deal, they could have taken the business highway and gone that slow and had been just fine.

No, they took the freeway, speed limit 65, and the SUV plugged the damn thing up for miles playing traffic cop.

[Geek King]

That, or the SUV was keeping the lane open in case the semi needed to get over to avoid an idiot on the merging ramp. Lord knows I've been run out of the lane by people not willing to adjust their speed, or trying to get up in front of me and running out of merge space, or even not even looking and just pulling into traffic. Its probably worse for big rigs.

[blas]

There was a huge accident last Friday because a semi truck (alebit, not one with a wide load) would not move over to let a car merge in. Thankfully, no one was killed, but everyone in the car, including a child, was injured. And yes, it was even said on the news that the trucker did not want to get into the left lane.

My dad works for a trucking company, I am pretty respectful and understanding of their size and the issues they face with people treating them like crap, but I also have no tolerance for some stunts they pull, and neither does my dad or moreso, his boss.

I'm not sure the real story on the SUV. But him clogging up the left lane, forcing everyone behind him to go as slow as he was, kept the left lane clogged, and didn't help anyone merging, because they all had to crawl to get onto the freeway to get behind the semi, which caused a clog at every entrance.

[Geek King]

There was a huge accident last Friday because a semi truck (alebit, not one with a wide load) would not move over to let a car merge in. Thankfully, no one was killed, but everyone in the car, including a child, was injured. And yes, it was even said on the news that the trucker did not want to get into the left lane.

Not sure of the laws where you are, but here the trucker would be in the right. In my state, it is the responsability of the merging traffic to adjust their speed. Assuming the trucker wasn't playing games to block the incoming car, the driver should have slowed and pulled in behind the semi.

Then again, maybe I'm misunderstanding the situation described.

[Cymberleah]

I've had one instance where a semi truck drove me off the road. I was on the on-ramp and ahead of the semi going towards the merge point when the traffic ahead slowed down. I pulled up to about six feet off the back bumper of the car ahead of the semi and tried to merge in, but he was having none of it. I had to literally stop on the side of the road and wait for him to pass me.

Sometimes it's jerk cars, and sometimes it's jerk truck drivers.

[ditchdj]

My dad works for a trucking company, I am pretty respectful and understanding of their size and the issues they face with people treating them like crap, but I also have no tolerance for some stunts they pull, and neither does my dad or moreso, his boss.

Yeah a former cop that I know said that he didnt particularly enjoy having to clean up body parts from stupid shit that some of them pull.

I'm sure not all of them are like that, but the ones that are, I'd consider anything BUT "professional".