I fucking HATE most truck drivers. My fantasy is to punch one of these redneck tweaker pieces of shit right in the fucking face.
Earlier this week as a matter of fact I had a bad experience with two asshole truck drivers this week on 78 eastbound.
Earlier in the week on 78 East in NJ, there was a left lane closing, and JUST AS I was about to merge with other cars from there left to the right lane, this asshole truck driver decides he wanted to pull out in front of me in the left and I didn’t let him, and I could see him yelling and cursing at me in his cab. Normally, I hit my brakes and flash my blinkers and let the driver pull ahead when I see he is in trouble, but clearly in this case he was riding hard. A mile down the road in my rearview, I could see him blocking left lane traffic so there was no reason for him to take over the lane other than to be an ass.
Yesterday there was a long line of cars merging from 78 east in PA onto 309 south, I wasn’t expecting it because of a hill, so in the middle of three lanes on 78 south I slowed down to merge, and this tractor trailer who wasn’t even on my ass blew his horn at me. I rolled down my window, gave him the finger, and even waved for the pussy to pull over, but like a typical truck driver, he kept speeding along, waiting to kill off his next victim.
Long Haul drivers get paid by the mile. Company drivers make around $0.42 a mile and Owner/operators make $0.88 or so. Of course, they have to make tractor payments and pay for non-warranty repairs and other stuff out of that.
Remember the 2 second rule? Drivers are taught to go by the 7 second rule. Frankly, I preferred 12 to 15 seconds between me and the vehicle in front of me.
Except for when I was on dedicated runs when I could usually be home on weekends, I was usually on the road for 3 weeks, then home for 5 1/2 days. And yeah, they know where your truck is, how fast it’s going, and where it’s been. The home office gets it via a satellite transmitter/receiver mounted on top or the back of your tractor. It also provides 2 way text communication.
Oh, to the OP, drivers don’t take all the road they want, but they will take the road they need. They swing wide because they don’t want to scuff their tires or drive over a curb when they make turns. Yet they have to do it an a way that a 4 wheeler doesn’t try to pass on their right and make their own right turn inside the right turn you’re trying to make.
Giving big trucks a bit of space and consideration is just proper courtesy and common sense. Those things don’t have the handling, braking, or acceleration that a car has and if they run into you for whatever reason your life is probably going to be for the worse.
At least in my anecdotal experience it seems when I’m out there on the roads and highways that 90% of the truck drivers are really good drivers, but you will definitely notice and be inconvenienced badly by a huge semi driven poorly by the other 10% of my made up statistic.
Every truck driver on the road knows several things , starting with , It is expected of him to drive/stay in the ‘slow lane’ ,which of course is the lane needed to get off at an exit. Most of the ’ personal vehicle 'drivers on the road are clueless to the fact that , NO, he can’t stop on a dime and NO , he can’t whip out into the other lane to avoid running right up and over their rear bumpers when they whip in front of him immediately hitting their brakes and signals because ‘oh shit’ here’s their exit . And that he expects /knows while that ass wipe who has just whipped right in front of him hitting their brakes and signal ,there will be two or more cars coming up beside him and who knows how many right up behind him. #it’s called a ‘rocking chair’ ,BTW# in layman’s terms ,he is ‘boxed in’ .And he also knows they all expect him ,to not only know what they will do next , keep up with traffic , miss the ass wipe that just whipped in front of him and above all else, be polite and professional enough to not inconvenience them when their exit comes up.
And go figure, there is just one reason he is even out there on that road , so when all those other drivers need to replenish their supplies for home and office , their retail store of choice will have a large selection of merchandise on their shelves for them to choose from .
You might take a few moments and give a truck driver a bit of slack , if for no other reason , so you won’t be inconvenienced with empty shelves on your next shopping trip .
FYI, every truck driver on the road knows from experience that every exit along the freeway is a potential death trap, thanks to all those clueless 'personal vehicle 'drivers with no desire to give a truck driver some slack.
I couldn’t drive a truck. I get nervous when someone honks me. I am embarrassed if I change lanes then have to change back, it feels like everyone’s watching me. I could not drive a truck and block traffic as I would feel too socially conscious standing out like that. Its like walking into a packed classroom late and everyone looks at you, I’ve had to just skip that day because I couldn’t take everyone looking at me.
Me too. I read the DMV link you provided. Some things surprised me. It says that you can make a U-turn across a double yellow line “when it is safe and legal”. It is the additional “legal” qualifier on the end that has me wondering. I do read that a U-turn from a center left lane is legal. Does this manual apply only to passenger cars, not trucks? For example, I have seen trucks doing U-turns here which does technically have a left center turn lane, but it is safe only because the truck is visible from a long distance and can force drivers to stop.
Some posters are missing the point OP. I realize that some car drivers don’t drive well and don’t allow large-inertia vehicles the room to stop, etc. Some truck drivers can be jerks to you, especially when you were jerks to them. My beef is that I expect them as professionals or putative professionals to be willing to sacrifice some amount of time for safety. Drive around several blocks so you can make the turn from the side of the road you need to rather than jackknife your truck in the road just because it is big.
Howdy, neighbor! Alas, the map is of too large an area to show individual driving lanes, so I can’t exactly see what you mean.
Agreement. Passenger car drivers can get away with little stuff that big truck drivers can’t. I once saw the Peeps Bus try to make a U-Turn where there wasn’t room: he got stuck and shut down three out of six lanes. If he hadn’t tried it, he would have been on a Freeway on-ramp, and would have had to go on a three mile detour to get back…but by that time, he pretty much should have. His last-minute attempt to bail out was a big stinking mistake.
ETA: Appropriate, I suppose. Peeps are a big stinking mistake, in themselves.
Don’t blame the drivers unless they’re relying too much on their GPS to find an alternate route. Blame the idiots who have the drivers on such a tight schedule that an alternate route loses them revenue or blame the state for laying roads which require the drivers to choose between a U-turn or losing revenue.