I’m sure when you were in truck driver school they told you, “You can drive wherever you want, because your truck is big. Don’t worry if you have to deliver nuclear reactor parts to a light industrial park. Use all of the driveways, parking lots, etc. Don’t bother to drive around several blocks to be able to make a turn from the right direction. Do U-turns wherever you want. You are visible from a long way away, so cars will stop. No one else has a job to do. They don’t mind waiting for you to do yours in the quickest way.”
Sigh. Now then, I understand that to some extent every other driver on the roads inconveniences me to the degree they are proximate. I don’t expect to have green lights all the time, just for everyone to follow the rules. Er… I am right about that, aren’t I ? Or are traffic laws different for tractor-trailers?
I spoke to a truck driver this morning, in a politer tone than this, but of course he did not apologize and promise to driver better. I realize speaking to him is mildly aggressive, even were I a world-class negotiator. I am curious about the general topic of reprimanding other drivers, or strangers in general for things like line cutting. Is honking at egregious driving behavior on average counter-productive? I am not talking about an intensity of interaction that would verge on road rage. That is obviously not worth it, but all chastisement of a stranger is producing a Public Good in that a large group benefits, but the actor bears the costs. If I could see some good Social Psychology research on the subject, it would make it easier for me to keep my cool.
There’s actually an economic explanation for this sort of thing; there aren’t enough truck drivers.
The USA and Canada are - and have been for years - perpetually short of truck drivers. A low estimate for the shortage is in the area of 40,000 unfilled positions in North America.
If you’re wondering how the hell a job that doesn’t require a lot of education or a long apprenticeship can be so starved of talent, the straightforward answer is that it’s just not a very glamorous job, and it’s hard. While for-hire carriers (“carrier” being the term of art for a company that runs trucks) have done their best to increase pay and benefits, the business is low margin, so you can’t pay someone a ridiculous sum. Truck drivers already make pretty good money. If you really need a job that pays well, seriously, drive a truck; with a few week’s training you can pass the driver’s test and get a job.
Which, of course, is why you had some trouble with the truck; the guy was probably inept. Carriers have to get people to drive their trucks and their turnover rates are absolutely staggering; it is not at all uncommon for a GOOD company to have annual turnover well over 50%, since a driver can get another job in ten minutes if you piss him off. A company can’t let its trucks sit empty for too long - those things are goddamned expensive - and so eventually they can and do reach the point where they will put anyone behind the wheel who technically meets the legal requirements.
So to fix this problem we need to figure out how to get more kids interested in driving trucks for a living and actually making it their vocation. Since every effort in the last twenty years has failed, I am not sure how to do that. Until then, Crazy McWeaverson is going to threaten you with the 35-ton trailer he’s careening around the road.
Of course, self-driving trucks could solve or mitigate this problem, but we’re a ways off from that.
A lot of truck driver actions are a defense against really stupid people and a lot of people don’t really understand how a truck drives and handles.
A truck will take up two lanes and everybody gets pissed but the driver knows he needs to make a wide right and if he doesn’t grab the lanes some douche is going to try and jump in next to him.
A truck will slow down early at a light because he’s hauling a bunch of weight and he knows a couple of idiots are going to quickly change lanes and brake ahead of him, just so they can get the jump on the next green.
A truck will slowly pass another on the going up a hill on a freeway because the driver knows that if he loses even a few miles per hour he might drop a gear and there is no way to get it back and before you know it he’s doing 15 with his flashers on.
I give people doing their job a lot of leeway whether it’s truckers or somebody else who works out in public. Not saying I don’t get pissed, but I try and remind myself that they are just trying to earn a living.
Here in Panama right of way is determined purely by size. And no one will give you the right of way: it has to be seized like a pirate crew seizes a merchant ship. Trucks and buses change lanes as the whim takes them, without signalling. And I swear they think there must be a requirement to make your turn from the lane farthest from the direction you’re turning in.
The thing that pisses me off above everything is that trucks on small winding mountain roads routinely drive with their left wheels a foot or two over the center line. This not only makes it impossible to see around them to see if there is space to pass, it also is incredibly dangerous when you come around a curve to find one coming in the other direction (especially when you have to squeeze over and there are pedestrians or horse riders in your lane).
I once had an opportunity to drive some windy mountain roads in Mexico and it was EXACTLY the same. In fact some trucks would pass other trucks up hill, on a curve with absolutely no opportunity for any oncoming traffic to get out of the way. I backed way the hell off when that shit was happening.
ETA: When you see headlines of “Bus Plunge Kills 50 in Mexico” this is the reason.
So… You’re upset that this driver made a u-turn instead of entering from some other direction which would not necessitate a u-turn? Is that correct?
Were you kind enough to have it engraved on The Grand Stone Tablet Of Universal Knowledge that the apparent and intuitive entrance to that industrial park is not actually correct? Surely you have been there a gazillion times and it seems obvious to you, but why would anyone else instinctively know what you have learned over time?
And why should he apologize and “promise to do better”? I think you’re overestimating your own importance and authority if you expect a stranger to “promise to do better” after stopping them to criticize their driving. “Golly Assistant Principal Jingleheimer, please don’t put this on my permanent record! Don’t call my daaaaaaaad! I pro-ho-ho-homise I’ll do better! Pahleeeeze!”
My experience seems to be the opposite: truckies are usually the best drivers on the freeways, and the cars driving around them are more likely to be the jerks. It is extremely common to see a truck signalling for a lane change…and the drivers of the cars in the destination lane won’t let it happen.
(It’s hard enough for an ordinary car to change lanes, sometimes, when drivers are such stinkards as to refuse to allow it. Ten times worse for a truck.)
Guy today had that exact kind of “I own the road, so fuck everyone else” attitude. [sporty silver Mercedes] He pulled out so as to get access to the backed-up middle lane. Problem was that he blocked everyone else wanting to get into the right turn lane, with me at the front of the line. No honking, revving, or blinking of my brights got him to back up, even tho he had the room to do so. Must have waited there for over a minute until he finally got his worthless ass into gear.
I’m willing to give truckers a lot of slack. It’s a hard, unglamorous, and somewhat dangerous job and they’re driving something that simply doesn’t accelerate or handle all that well. I’ve been really impressed seeing the skill of some drivers being able to do things I couldn’t manage in a car. And I realize that sometimes they have no choice but to block a road or the like to maneuver. But still, there can definitely be bad ones and those deserve all the opprobrium a bad driver in a car gets.
Yep. Without details on a specific incident, my default assumption, when hearing complaints from car drivers, is that the trucker was acting correctly for the situation, and the car driver is just missing something.
U-turns are fucking illegal. If you have to perform a u-turn, then you inherently did not have a valid entrance. Turning around so you don’t have to make a u-turn is always the correct way of handling a situation.
And the guy should apologize because he did something horribly dangerous and could have hurt a lot of people. U-turns are illegal for a reason. And they are far worse in a fucking truck, as they will take up much more of the road.
But I wouldn’t expect someone who thinks you only apologize when someone can hurt you to understand that. It’s so seriously disheartening to find out how many people only do what’s right because they can’t get away with doing what’s wrong.
I don’t understand the desire to give truckers slack. They are professional drivers. If anything, they should be given less slack. When a small vehicle breaks the laws of the road, it’s not nearly as dangerous as when a truck does it.
I see this like saying cops should get more slack with how they handle guns. No, they should be even better with them than anyone else.
And, yes, I know that the problem is that we expect them to get places faster than would be possible if they traveled the speed limit or actually took their time instead of taking dangerous shortcuts.
But giving truckers slack is what causes businesses to think they can get away with this, and it ultimately makes the road a more dangerous place.
I believe there is a more accurate psychological explanation for this sort of thing; people are jerks.
What to do about? Well, if they’re blocking a traffic lane, I like to lean on the horn until they move, with a distant and mild expression on my face. Unless they can actually hear me; then I politely congratulate them on remembering to take their asshole pill. I make a show of taking pictures of license plates; or staying one car behind, until they worry that I’m really following them. And if by chance traffic works out that they are behind me, I drive the speed limit. Like I said, people are jerks.
Unless, of course, I’m listening to good music; I’ll sit in the car happily for hours listening to good music.
We may be using two different kinds of slack here.
I agree with what I think you’re saying: if a truck driver does something wrong, we can judge him more harshly than J. Random Commuter-Driver, because the truck driver is supposed to be a trained experienced professional.
But…when something goes wrong and I can’t tell who’s at fault, I will more likely presume it isn’t the truck driver’s fault, because he is a trained experienced professional.
As an example, a city bus (much akin to a truck) pushed across the divider and part-way into my lane. Gave me a start! Now, he may have just been stupid or careless…or he might have been forced to do it to avoid a bicycle, or a car might have stuck out from a driveway, etc. I’m willing to “give him the slack” of presuming he had to do what he did, even though I never saw what it might have been.
I once dated a woman who thought the reason the truck had that long space in front of it was for her escape from the stalled traffic in the next lane over.
She learned (kinda) that the space is his braking lane - those things can weigh 80,000 lbs - and they do NOT stop quickly, even is you are a really, really important person and shouldn’t be stuck in traffic with the commoners.
I have great sympathy for those drivers - at least the long-hauls. Now that tractors have sleeping quarters, you are expected to spend a week in the damned truck - and sleep at the local Wal-Mart parking lot.
And don’t try to sneak a visit to your family - there is a GPS tattle-tale recording every spot you take the thing, and at what speed.