This is my sense as well. Trucks seem to pass at the same speed (discounting hills, of which I know there are many along I-81) as they are cruising at. Which means if they are going 66 in a 70 zone and want to pass a truck going 65, they will do so at 66 mph. Or such has been my sense of things.
Understanding this, I have actually found truck drivers to be among the most… I won’t say “polite,” but… I suppose “predictable” is the word. They are the most predictable drivers on the road. Which is perhaps more important than politeness at highway speeds. And they do seem to consistently get back into lane when they are done passing, however long it takes them, which is also nice (in a predictability way).
What pisses me off is the phenomenon where a car will be cruising along at 75 or so, but then slow down as they pass a truck, creating a ten-car train of cars trying to pass the truck but stuck behind the one idiot. Then, when they’re finally past the truck, they speed up again (and stay in the left lane, natch) so you can’t pass them. And then they catch up to the next truck and do the same shit all over again.
They also do it to piss off fellow truckers. Somewhere on YouTube is a clip of this but I don’t know if I can find it again so here’s a FedEx double blocking another truck all by itself:
Us truck drivers live and work on the road, y’alls just tourists
It’s already been said, there’s all kinds of personalities in truck drivers. Some good some bad, but drivers do tend to have superiority complexes. They’re out there on the road responsible for themselves, their rig, the load and the lives and safety of all those cars and people around them. If a problem happens, they can’t just run back to the shop, they have to handle it. A lot of drivers own their tractor, so it’s not just a job, it’s a business they have, and they work hard and are very good at sqeezing pennies out of everything.
What @Akaj talked about…cruisers and pacers(a variant of the cruiser who paces along side another vehicle while in the passing lane) while I’m working doesn’t bother me, but when I’m in my pov trying to get to my grandson’s 1st bday party 400 miles away, these idiots make me stabby. It’s a passing lane, not a cruising or you lane🤬
On my recent road trip there was one making numerous unsafe lane changes ahead of me-2 times he merged back right after a pass then immediately veered left again. I caught up to the bastard at long last, was about to punch it to get past him ASAP-and he about flung me into the center ditch.
Apparently convoys are pretty much a thing of the past, unless they’re part of the same fleet. People talk about gas consumption, but drafting the guy in front of you would be more economical, no? (without tailgating him per se) But not anymore I guess.
It’s even worse than that, tho. Whenever one of these bozos goes for their slow motion pass, everyone behind them has to queue up, natch. Except for those entitled assholes who absolutely HAVE to zoom past everyone else up to the front in the right hand lane, then suddenly cut over because hey their time is more important than worrying about causing a multi-vehicle wreck. I had one do that 2 years ago, but had a nice bit of schadenfreude when I saw him by the side & nailed by a trooper 15 miles later.
Just the ones who pay for the roads. Semi’s pay more taxes on their gas, car drivers buy more gas so pay more taxes. Its OUR roads, you need to learn how to share.
Twenty years ago, truckers did seem to be polite drivers. That was twenty years ago. Now they all seem to be assholes.
There is a truck stop down the road and it is always covered with trash. I’ve seen those low-life assholes taking a shit in the dirt instead of walking a whole 50 yards to the restrooms.
The roads where trucks are supposed to leave the left lane clear? Putting those signs up is a waste of money because they are ignored. Passing on the shoulder? Pretty common. Ignoring signs warning that the road is closed? I laugh at the pics of trucks stuck in the mud after ever single storm. Ignoring signs warning of a rough road? I laugh at those pics too.
Truckers are very predictable. They are going to cut cars off, pass at 10 under the speed limit and take 4 lanes to make a right hand turn. I’ll be so glad when trucks get automatic driving and all those assholes are out of work.
Exactly!
Like those working at Peterbilt, Cat, refineries, truck stops, tire manufacturers, and of course all the ladies and men of easy virtue that make their living at truck stops and waysides across this great land of ours.
And that doesn’t even get into all those working at places that sell everything hauled by trucks, which truckers will gladly remind you of at the drop of a hat. Somehow, the thought that if people weren’t driving to places to buy those things, truckers would be out of business escapes them. (yes I’ve heard truckers complaining on the CB about all those “tourists” clogging the freeways in the middle of Chicago!)
Since I rarely fly, I see a lot of the US by freeway. I hate bad car drivers, too. But truckers pride themselves on their professionalism, so I expect better.
Same principle as a peloton of recreational cyclists blocking not only their lane but the oncoming lane, blowing through stop signs etc; motorists who view traffic as competitive not cooperative; and pedestrians with or without children and pets in tow who… (words fail me); all with not only zero concern for others but no worries of law enforcement:
I worked at a trucking firm for over 25 years, and a lot of what you are seeing is the result of unofficial company policies. The truckers that get the job done fastest are rewarded with choice loads so if they are able to break rules and get away with it the company is willing to look the other way, or even bury complaints if they can get away with it.
Oddly enough, I recently ran across a reddit post complaining about this very phenomenon (I call it the “1mph pissing contest”) and someone commented that in Germany it’s called an “Elefantenrennen” which literally means “elephant race.” This made me giggle because it’s so perfect.
what @Czarcasm said.
My own company with look the other way or be very lenient if it doesn’t reflect back on the company, but there are limits because they know it’s going to eventually splash back on them.
@JaneDoe42,
yep, those truck stops exist. They’re getting to be fewer though. Most truckers go to those stops because their company has a maintenance contract (TA for example does this for several carriers who get discounts on fuel oil etc in exchange for guaranteed patronage), otherwise drivers try to avoid them(nobody wants to get loadjacked).
As far as the wide right turns, automating trucks won’t change that. passing at 10 under the speed limit, who are they passing? another semitruck thats going even slower? someone pulling an rv or driving a motorhome? Gramma and Grampa Smith who really shouldn’t be driving anyway? Ever notice that there are two speed limits these days? one for cars and one for the big rigs? which one is lower?
Why would it matter who they are passing? Isn’t it a little hard to be able to see that its Grandpa and not some young kid driving Grandpa’s car? Does that change the value of the driver that much in your mind?
If the signs say no vehicles with more than X axles in the left lane, no vehicles with more than X axles should be in the left lane. I don’t know about places with two speed limits, we don’t have them here. We do have signs that say Slower Traffic Keep Right. I guess to truckers, that means that even if they are going slower than 99% of the vehicles, its OK for them to stay in the left lane because they are going faster than 1% of the vehicles.
I don’t care why those assholes are afraid to use a restroom or take their garbage to the trash cans, other people live here and we shouldn’t be forced to clean up their shit. Slobs like that are the reason that trucks aren’t allowed in certain areas in town. The people who live there are tired of cleaning up after assholes who shit and leave, so passed ordinances and blocked lots that truckers use for breaks.
Living in the same town as a truck stop has taught me that most truckers are even bigger assholes off the road than they are on the road.
Decades ago when hitchhiking was still a thing I picked up one (on I-81!) in my VW Bug. As we were traveling along we were passed by a four-wheeler.
“Didn’t you pass that guy a bit back?”
“Yup. We got about a quarter mile in front of him when he decided he didn’t like being passed by a 4-banger. He’ll get about a quarter mile ahead, slow down to his usual cruising speed until he sees me coming up behind him, then speed up again.”
Things happened as I predicted and over the next half hour we watched him oscillate closer and farther in front of us. “How’d you know he was going to do that?”
There are a total of eight states that have split limits on rural interstates, and three that have split limits on limited access highways and urban interstates.
I work for a company with hundreds of truck drivers. Our rigs are monitored to the max for the sake of insurance rates (if you’re cynical) or concern for safety (if you’re less so). We have financial incentives for accident reduction that overwhelm those for cost reduction.
In talking with our drivers the people they are pissed off the most about are other truckers. I’ve never heard of them denigrating passenger car drivers, but maybe that’s because their bosses are usually in the room who ARE car drivers. They do complain about drivers who don’t seem to understand the limitations in maneuverability and visibility of a big rig, but don’t seem to have any attitude that they own the road or are there to bully others.
Our trucks are often on the road in very bad weather conditions.
Maybe long distance truckers are very different. I used to have Yellow Freight as a customer ~30 years ago. Those guys also seemed to be fairly responsible guys, whose primary concern was getting there and back home safely.
From what I remember, if you want decent hauls and holidays off with the family you fudged on the regulations, slipped your dispatcher some quality booze at Christmas, or both. Not kidding about the booze, btw-bribery works like a charm in the trucking biz.
I’ve never understood that mentality, although I’ve encountered quite often. Do such individuals not realize that there are still thousands, if not millions of cars on the road and quite a lot of those cars will be in front of their “winning” self?
Kind of reminds me of some drivers in Germany on the Autobahn back in the '70s. Someone driving a Benz would freak out if someone driving a VW deigned to pass the Benz. It’s childish–and dangerous.
