Thoughts on truck drivers

Yup, I can't help voicing my opinion on idiots on the road that I deal with for 12 hours a day 5 days a week.
Not to mention on-road time in my personal vehicle.

If I almost got banned, I never heard about it.
If I ever sent you an apology, it was from the goodness of my heart.
I'm actually one of the nicest mother fuckers you could ever have the pleasure of meeting.

I'm not alone in my opinion.
Leave earlier, be patient, and pay attention to the road.
Sit back and enjoy the ride, you don't have to be first in line all the time..

Good luck to you.

 

Sage words.



Cell phones/social media has fundamentally shifted the safety factors of road travel.

don't be one of those selfish folks that are on the cell phone.

Drive with extreme attentiveness. because the rest of those fools are on their phone.

 

I understand that there's a danger due to differences in velocities but I'll never interpret that as a rationale to speed. Rather, everyone else should slow down to the speed limit and stop being reckless and selfish.

 

LOL I guess we got off on the wrong foot then. I admit I don’t understand your approach, seems like its rude to me but not to you, but if you’re honest in saying you’re not trying to be rude and that’s just how you are, then I just need to learn that’s how you are. We are definitely different haha.

I never use my cell phone when driving, nor eat or drink, just all focus on driving. I’ve never been in an accident and my only speeding ticket was over 20 years ago. Not patting myself on the back, just giving context about the type of driver I am.

 

The reality is, it's just too damn easy and cheap to get a driver's license in the US.
My guess is because the auto industry is the driving factor. Get as many people into a vehicle, as quickly and often as possible.
Not just any idiot is allowed to jump in a tractor trailer, or operate heavy equipment, or any other machinery, simply by answering 15/20 questions correctly and paying a few $.
Vehicles are machines that require spacial awareness, judgement of speed/distance, critical thinking at speed, and most importantly, physical coordination. And you need all of them, not 1 or 2.
How many people do you know that possess all those abilities in their everyday life? Yet, everyone jumps in vehicle and operates them. Like it's just something everyone can do and have, like a cellphone, or a toaster. (I know people that shouldn't even have those things).
Sorry, it should cost a few grand and require a year of strict testing and training before you're given a license to operate a motor vehicle.
Car sales would take a hit, but life on the road wouldn't be a wild west clown show like it is.

 

From this thread it seems to me truck drivers have a short fuse and are primed to go off with the least bit of provocation. Not that I blame them. If I was driving truck I'd be bashing idiots off the road left and right. I'm tempted to go full "Earnhardt Mode" and lay the chrome horn to all the dumbasses as it is, and I don't even have to deal with them 12 hours a day 5+ days a week.

 

Plus, they've made vehicles too safe. It doesn't hurt when you do something stupid.

 

Well, and there's something to be said about that. Not only am I the same way - I drive very well, I don't tailgate, last ticket was over 20 years ago, etc., but I also had a Class B CDL for 15 years and drove anything from a small passenger bus to a dump truck to a deuce-and-a-half/5-ton (for those of you who are current or ex-military). So, while no, I don't know what it's like to drive an 18-wheeler, I DO know that there's a vast difference between a regular truck/car and a dump truck loaded down with gravel or what have you; and I'd imagine the difference is greater still with an 18-wheeler.

Given that.... it's my observation that there are plenty of douchebag truck drivers, just like there are douchebag motorcyclists or douchebag car/truck drives. I don't think there are more of any type of drivers, personally.

I WILL say that if you're driving a truck with 50K# strapped to your butt, I'd expect that you'd want to have an innately greater responsibility to exercise caution. I say this because where I live (along I44 in mid-Missouri) I can't tell you the # of times I'm driving along, passing someone going 75-80MPH in the fast lane (I do indeed punch it to pass someone; then I get right back in the slow lane) - and I have an 18-wheeler *tailgating* me.

I don't care who you are. If you're driving a fully loaded 18-wheeler and you're TAILGATING SOMEONE WHILE GOING 80+ MPH....you're in the wrong, full stop. There's no blaming that kind of idiocy on anyone else.

With that said, if you're in a car, and you cut some 18-wheeler off, you're just as much in the wrong.

 

Don't get me started on the overpopulation problem.
Stop bubble wrapping every damn thing so the morons can survive and breed!!!

 

I think maybe another thing with truck drivers versus passenger vehicle drivers is that truck drivers are actively driving while most passenger vehicles nowadays can drive themselves, which makes the driver that much more passive of a driver and almost a passenger in vehicle such
as a Tesla.

I guess now that I’ve learned a little bit more from this thread, my question is, what can I do as a passenger vehicle driver to make driving on the road easier for truck drivers?

I can’t just stay in the left lane though and completely avoid trucks.

I’m all ears.

What I currently do is stay in the far right lane and sometimes middle lane and pass trucks as needed and then go right back to the middle or far right lane.

 

That's a great point (concerning the active vs. passive driving), and honestly that does tip the scales in favor of truckers, IMHO.

Truthfully, though, regarding your question, other than simply following the rules of the road, I'm not sure we CAN do much else. E.g., if we passed people, then got in front of them, in conjunction with how correct driving rules say we should, then a) we'd be in accordance with the law and b) we'd be giving plenty of notice/space, and at that point anyone who dislikes it has an issue with the law/rules, not with the driver.

 

Man this thread has gotten interesting. I've been driving around awhile and have been reckless in my younger years I will accept that and have the tickets to back it up. One thing I've never messed with are big rigs, I try to stay away from them, as much as I can, If I can't pass them, I'll slow down so I don't get boxed in, until I get a big enough gap, so they don't have to slow down, and I get out of their way quicker. I got my feet wet on a Class B CDL driving spec ed kids of all things. During my training route I got a quick glimpse of the inattentiveness of drivers, I had already witnessed while driving around, but it was more apparent when you've got other people's precious cargo with you. Quite often with full red stop lights and signs out drivers would drive right passed like nothing was there. They would hit the brakes right after they passed the bus, which was pointless because if a kid was crossing the street, they'd been hit already. Seen people jump the curb and on to sidewalks to evade the stop signs... Like no one is going to walk out to their car while this maniac is on the sidewalk, crazy.

Arizona was probably the 2nd worse place I've seen people drive, they love to merge in those buffer zones, so if you'd have to brake, they're the buffer zone. NorCal bay are more specifically between San Jose and Fremont, is just a little worse. Every other week after I got off my graveyard shift, I would see tow trucks towing extra crispy cars in flat beds. It got to a point where I took another route to evade that area.

Speaking of Teslas, LOL... my friend showed me a video of him hitting an object in the fast lane. He blamed the car in front for hitting an object first, but there was about a 1/2 mile distance between him and that car since the video he showed me you could see sparks coming off the 1st vehicle and the car swinging to the right rapidly. I'm sure he was probably napping, as he had admitted to it previous to this conversation. He hit that wheel full force, shredded his suspension, wheel, wheel hub, bumper and fender, he said he never saw it coming. When your eyes are closed, not sure how you could've missed it. He coped with the car behind him, who also clipped the sign from the 1st car and escaped with a flat tire. From the video it appears he hit a wheel that was flat on the ground and shot straight up in the air. After he hit the object the rear camera didn't catch any object on the ground, just the sparks and trailing smoke.

 

To me, the reality is everyone on the road is prone to selfishness. Being in your vehicle out on the highway affords some degree of anonymity, and it's too easy for the selfish jerk to come out in all of us, especially when we see someone driving in a way we disapprove of. I see truck drivers wait to get over to pass the truck in front of them until someone is close enough for them to cut off (it has happened to me a LOT on the interstate). I also see other drivers get all offended that a truck is going slow, so they pass on the shoulder. I know truck drivers personally who say they mess with people who are acting impatient or when they see someone coming up in the left lane faster than they think they should be going. Neither group (truck drivers or people in personal vehicles) is without its assholes.

The people obeying the law are arguably more dangerous than those who are disobeying the law? Really? I understand it's due to the difference in vehicle velocities. Those differences would be less if the speeders weren't illegally speeding. The onus is on them to slow down, not on law-abiding drivers to break the law, too.

 

Eh, it depends. I drive the speed limit where I live...and I can't count the # of times I've come around the curve, and laid down serious rubber...because some elderly person is going 10MPH (yes, seriously) and I couldn't even see them until I rounded the bend.

But generally I'd agree. I think both are dangerous, but I'd say if poeple drove more responsibly in general, accidents in general would go down.

 

My impression is that we are talking about the highway, where most interactions with 18-wheelers occur. If you're doing 10mph on the highway, where there are usually posted minimum speeds (generally 40mph) you are breaking the law just like the person speeding, and you are just as dangerous.

 

And again, soap box..

My miles were regional or local so NO , wrong again..

Funny how your opinion comes to the top on a subject you know very little of, except for the FEW bad apples you happen to drive around...

Bring your wisdom back here in 5-10 years when the motoring public is actually still driving like idiots..

There are NO guarantees on any test for the "Privilege" of a drivers license and to keep a CDL of any kind the requirements are staggering, either

for the Company or the individual driver ..

You missed my "POINT" !!! either by diversion or just to Stir some more ...

1000000 million miles of safe driving surely does not make me the "Crazy Driver" but it is a Childs poke to induce such an idea....

You have a good day because the one truth you have spoken, no one can change your attitude except the person staring back from that mirror..

60 plus years of walking here in God's Country has taught me he forgives everyone including the infatuated with ones own words ..

 

You’re acting like a dog behind a fence that keeps barking incessantly. Just ignore it and keep walking, anything you do will just make it bark louder.

 

Not quite,

When you start something you know little of, back it up or move on..

Categorizing a whole career to just make a post ..

Barking dog is cute... my 2nd grade grandson would think of that !!!

 

Ok, boomer.

 

Driving truck was a honorable profession until one too many 3 letter agencies got involved ICC,DOT,ATA,EPA and Homeland Security. They ran off all the English speaking people with their E-Logs and no hill too steep and no freight to cheap BS

 

Now this Shows true colors,

Kindergarten with the BIG words

And you have the "Nut" to call other people out on this forum..

I truly stand by my infatuated comment,

Thank You...

 

There’s nothing I can say or do that will calm you down or make you less pissed off. You’re even going to respond to this comment with vitriol.

 

I don't think he wants to play well with others and that's part of his charm. He tells you what he thinks. If you don't agree with him, he doesn't give a shit. When he agrees with you, he's your biggest defender. I can respect that because I always know where I stand with him.

For me, I usually only have issues with aggregate trucks and dump trucks. I give all trucks plenty of space and I make sure that if I'm behind them, I can see their side mirrors. When I'm driving through bad fog or some other low visibility weather, I tend to let the truckers lead the way and I give them plenty of room to do it. I've had way more issues with idiots in pickup trucks than with people driving the big trucks.

 

No, I'm done for now..

one of my Safety teachers left us with one thought that holds true..

No matter how hard you try, wasting your time trying to Fix Stupid never works..

 

Take care man, if you’re a true christian then pray for me. I’ll be praying for your anger issues.

 

LOL I just don’t know what else to do. He’s upset that I made a comment that some truck drivers are bad at their job and then he rages at me? He can’t be stopped LOL.

Does he want an apology? That’s not how the internet works

 

Yeah, it doesn't look like you accept apologies or give them. Why can't the internet work that way? As far as him being upset, I read it more as him trying to explain there are two perspectives involved.

 

Yeah I stopped when the insults started flying. All I did was ask a question and his first post directed at me he went flying off the handle. I’m not wrong in saying that some truck drivers are bad at their job. All professions have their dum-dums. He’s upset because I pointed out the dum-dums in his profession? Doesn’t make sense to get upset that much over my observation.

I used to work in IT and can tell you there are a lot of idiots working in IT, I’m not going to get pissed off that someone points this out. Dude can’t control his anger.

 

Worst drivers in the world, truck or passenger vehicle, are in the 604 area code of British Columbia. Fact.