# Why are truckdrivers such assholes? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 19, 2021, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922 "2021-09-19T11:38:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/101 "2021-09-26T03:37:09Z")
I’m conceding that this is a once-in-a-lifetime possibility. Being an asshole everyday in response is not reasonable. You are literally reversing my point. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/102 "2021-09-26T04:07:31Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I generally assumed that if they have temporary plates **and** are driving idiotically, they got a new car because they crashed the last one. I just say to myself, "Welp, _that’s_ not gonna stay shiney-new for very long. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/103 "2021-09-26T04:17:28Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I’m conceding that this is a once-in-a-lifetime possibility. But it isn’t necessarily that rare. As Czarcasm responded to you in post #89, > [@Czarcasm](#): > > It isn’t about beating that particular truck-it is about beating all the other trucks heading for that dock. Serious delays at unloading are much more common than a “once-in-a-lifetime possibility”, according to reports like [this one](https://www.foleyservices.com/news/whats-hold-fmcsas-audit-load-unload-times/): > [@](#): > > […] the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) […] has announced that it has begun an audit of the delays associated with the loading and unloading of freight that drivers are experiencing at shippers, docks, and other pick-up and drop-off spots. […] > > According to a 2014 DOT study, truck drivers are detained an average of nearly 1-and-a-half hours – that’s time beyond the expected 2-hour load/unload standard – in roughly 1 out of every 10 stops. I’m not saying that truck drivers ought to behave like assholes. I’m just saying that if a little lateness, enabling other drivers to beat them to the dock, can significantly increase their risk of serious delays—and evidently it can—then I can see why they might feel motivated to behave like assholes to save a little time. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/104 "2021-09-26T04:23:17Z")
Neither what Czarcasm said nor what you quoted supports the idea that it is routine to have an hours long delay because of a few seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/105 "2021-09-26T04:41:26Z")
ISTM that it doesn’t have to be “routine”, or even very frequent, in order to be enough of a realistic possibility to motivate drivers to drive aggressively. And I don’t see why you are even insisting that it’s so rare. A busy dock does have trucks coming in all day, and there doesn’t seem anything surprising in the prospect of one truck getting nosed out by another with an arrival lag of just a few minutes or even seconds. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/106 "2021-09-26T05:49:53Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > If they’re doing this “for miles”, then the truck in the left lane should be ticketed. The term in Illinois for that violation is, “lingering in the left lane”, and I actually saw someone stopped for that on the way to work, and this was on a 4 lane interstate. When that occurs on a 2 lane interstate, it can back up traffic a long way and is a hazard. Just by the nature of things, most violations are not going to be witnessed by a cop. A cop can be in only one place at a time, whereas a violation can occur anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/107 "2021-09-26T07:19:59Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > And I don’t see why you are even insisting that it’s so rare. A busy dock does have trucks coming in all day, and there doesn’t seem anything surprising in the prospect of one truck getting nosed out by another with an arrival lag of just a few minutes or even seconds. We’ve now gone from 2 seconds to a few minutes, with nothing to show except for goalposts moving faster than a Vikings kicker can miss them. As pointed out before there’s things that happen with near certainty that we expect truck drivers not to be assholes about, but we’re still arguing the same stupidity of “two seconds could mean HOURS later” like it’s a realistic concern. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/108 "2021-09-26T12:29:52Z")
I worked somewhere where people were assholes about getting out a few minutes early- you would get to the timeclocks at 4:24 and not only was there already a line, there was already one person at each timeclock with their card already in the clock waiting for the clock to tick over to 4:25 to push it the rest of the way down. (because there was a five minute grace period) And they wouldn’t budge even though some of us weren’t punching out for the day but rather because we were leaving the building to do field work or otherwise leave the building but still working. ( Timecards were used to keep track of who was in the building as much as they were used to track work hours) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/109 "2021-09-26T17:41:45Z")
If we are supposed to accept as fact that two seconds passing translates to hours waiting at a loading dock, then that justifies pee-bottles on the side of the road, and taking a dump in the truck stop parking lot, and rolling stops, and it means truck stops should, nay, MUST have NASCAR-style refueling, with coffee passed through the window, because time is just so important. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/110 "2021-09-26T18:21:20Z")
Why take bathroom breaks at all, even ones in truck stop parking lots, when we have adult diapers that they can wear? Honestly, every truck driver who cuts me off with the rationale that every second counts had better be wearing a heavily-soiled diaper as he sprints to the window so he can punch in his time two seconds sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/111 "2021-09-26T19:59:50Z")
Truck stops have expedited fueling procedures, but they are also in the business to make money. They oft have time consuming cafes and shops attached for this purpose, for example this one very close to where I live, [Jubitz Truck Stop, Marketplace & Fleet Services - Portland, OR](https://jubitz.com/). ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/112 "2021-09-26T20:33:21Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > We’ve now gone from 2 seconds to a few minutes AFAICT, you entered this discussion back in post #65 talking about “a minute or even two” of driver delay, which you then pulled back to “a couple seconds” in post #67 for purposes of rhetorical exaggeration. Of course, there’s not really all that much difference between a couple seconds and a minute or two anyway. Especially when you consider that small delays aren’t just a once-per-trip phenomenon. If you’re worried about a possible significant delay due to being a few minutes late, you try to clip off a few seconds every chance you get. I really can’t see why this is being considered so controversial. We’re certainly all in agreement that truck drivers shouldn’t drive aggressively just to save a few seconds here and there. But it seems quite plausible that they have some financial incentive to do so, given the reality of frequent and significant delays in loading and unloading that I cited previously. ---
**Author:** ![Stanislaus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stanislaus/32/3391_2.png) [@Stanislaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stanislaus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/113 "2021-09-26T21:48:14Z")
It might be worth asking at this point what an acceptable explanation would look like. It seems to me that: “A combination of mechanical limitations and economic incentives in a highly time sensitive environment” is a perfectly good general explanation for the observed behaviour. For people who are sceptical, what would a better explanation look like? If you don’t believe that pressure to never a miss a delivery slot is a root cause, what kind of explanation would you believe? I don’t mean, what kind of explanation would make you think slow overtaking was okay behaviour. I mean, what kind of explanation would make you think, “yes I suppose that is the reason, these are the factors that cause this behaviour”. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/114 "2021-09-26T22:32:58Z")
> [@Stanislaus](#): > > I don’t mean, what kind of explanation would make you think slow overtaking was okay behaviour. I mean, what kind of explanation would make you think, “yes I suppose that is the reason, these are the factors that cause this behaviour”. I don’t think there is one. It’s very difficult justifying the act of being a selfish asshole, potentially breaking the law as well. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/115 "2021-09-26T22:39:59Z")
Reason is not justification. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2021, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/116 "2021-09-26T22:47:51Z")
Sounds like my time in Bavaria. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/117 "2021-09-27T00:58:47Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > AFAICT, you entered this discussion back in post #65 talking about “a minute or even two” of driver delay, which you then pulled back to “a couple seconds” in post #67 for purposes of rhetorical exaggeration. You should go back and read that post again. > [@](#): > > Just out of curiosity, how much would it cost the slower driver to slow down 1 MPH for 2 minutes, thus giving the faster truck about 180 feet of extra room to pass? Now I understand math may not be a strong suit for some people, but slowing down from a guesstimated 60 MPH to 59 MPH means it takes you an entire extra second to go a mile. Multiply by 2, and you have 2 seconds. Have you figured out what you’ve wildly misrepresented yet? Now, again, in the comment you didn’t-understand-yet-or-lied-about, we have > [@](#): > > I’ll be honest, a truck taking a minute or even two doesn’t bother me. But I’ve been stuck behind a truck taking over ten miles to pass, and that shit’s ridiculous. If that’s a constant occurrence everywhere (very long pass times), then all truck drivers are complete assholes all the time, because that’s almost certainly causing massive backups for the rest of traffic in perpetuity. But it’s not. Shit, if it happens five times in a single shift, I’d be surprised. That’s literally one hour in eleven sitting next to less than half a dozen other trucks. And the total time lost by slowing down by a whole 1 MPH? Ten seconds. Less than taking a shit from too much gas station food. I don’t know why it’s controversial, either. But I’m not the one arguing that maybe doing a little something to help relieve the fairly rare incidents that cause significant traffic congestion will cost Christmas at home or end up in hours of waiting. But then, a couple seconds is totally the same as several minutes, pigs fly, and you understanding what you’re talking about. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/118 "2021-09-27T01:25:23Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > …not only was there already a line, there was already one person at each timeclock with their card already in the clock waiting for the clock to tick over to 4:25 to push it the rest of the way down. (because there was a five minute grace period) Reminds me of the one factory job I had in my youth, watching guys in the morning dancing around, holding their crotch until they could punch in and take a piss on company time instead of their own. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/119 "2021-09-27T01:34:29Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I find truck drivers to generally be some of the most polite drivers on the road, really. Yeah, generally the driver who think they just have to overtake all the cars right fucking now are the bigger assholes. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2021, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922/120 "2021-09-27T02:15:09Z")
> [@Chisquirrel](#): > > slowing down from a guesstimated 60 MPH to 59 MPH means it takes you an entire extra second to go a mile. Multiply by 2, and you have 2 seconds Fair enough, sorry to misrepresent you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-truckdrivers-such-assholes/950922.md?page=7)