Driving tractor 20 miles on road

[D7E]

You might have to break it down for me in SIMPLE terms. Are you telling me truckers hate cars because they refuse to be intimidated or forced to break the speed limit to avoid being dangerously tailgated. Speeding up 5 over the limit will not stop a tailgating truck in my CONSIDERABLE experience, it will just get you tailgated while driving 5 over. It doesn't stop tailgating it encourages it by rewarding it.

I never pull in front of a truck and slow down but they do it to me. I never pull in front of a truck at a stop because I respect the fact that trucks needs the space to make a controlled (non-panic) stop. I give trucks their space and NEVER do any of the things that typically irritate truckers and contribute to hard feelings EXCEPT REFUSE TO SPEED at their convenience because they run up on my bumper and try to intimidate me. The truckers who do this are in a small minority. I think the vast majority of interstate truckers are very professional and safe in their operations.

If the posted speed limit isn't fast enough to permit a trucker to maintain his sanity perhaps he should consider alternate employment (if serious professional counseling doesn't help. Anger management?)

Are you telling me that a mismatch between equipment and speed limits is at fault and not a small dangerous minority of drivers? The problem I report happens where the posted speed limit is 65 and where it is 70 but doesn't seem to happen where the speed limit is 45 or less. Maybe you could give me a little more detail about the mechanical situation with an 18 wheeler that prevents maintaining either 65 or 70. My cruise control, speedometer, and GPS agree on my speed and I have tested them against accurately measured distances so it isn't as if I was driving 62 in a 65 zone but then that is perfectly legal and not justification for assault with a deadly weapon.

Remember, assault isn't hitting someone, that is battery. Assault is giving the indication that you are going to hit someone. Attempting to intimidate someone by running up on them intentionally with a motor vehicle is assault with a deadly weapon. Do you condone irresponsible bullying that is assault with a deadly weapon as appropriate actiion because other wise you'd have to drive the speed limit for a while?

Now, for all you REAL Knights of the Road out there, I admire and respect your profession and appreciate the service you perform for all of us. Too bad that a few JERKS spoil the image.

Pat

Most truckers are proffessionals but There are "like any job" idiots and they are few (just like car drivers),But if a truck is involved in any accident the truck gets the blame ,40 ton (speeding or not) does not stop like a honda civic and when some car driver has apoint to prove and slams on the brakes or cuts you up the outcome is potentially disasterous ? In europe "ALL" trucks are fitted with speed limiters and accident rate is equivalent ?

 

[D7E]

So, assaulting drivers who are driving the posted speed limit, thereby risking a deadly accident is actually A SELFLESS PUBLIC SERVICE!!! They risk killing the few to selflessly serve the needs of the many.

What sort of truck are you MOST familiar with, a manure hauler?

Pat

How many cars pass me on the wrong side when i am signalling or pass me at 130 and realize there is a narrowing ahead and can't read signs and cut me up or have lipstick or a phone in their ear ,The blame is on both sides ,Truckers drive cars too ,The opposite can't be said ?
When trucks crash it is usually bad for the driver (nature of the vehicle) Do you think they have a disregard for their own life ...We have wives and kids too?...A life dead from the waist down is not that attractive ?

 

[gemini5362]

How many cars pass me on the wrong side when i am signalling or pass me at 130 and realize there is a narrowing ahead and can't read signs and cut me up or have lipstick or a phone in their ear ,The blame is on both sides ,Truckers drive cars too ,The opposite can't be said ?
When trucks crash it is usually bad for the driver (nature of the vehicle) Do you think they have a disregard for their own life ...We have wives and kids too?...A life dead from the waist down is not that attractive ?

OK I am going to jump into this thread.

D7E have you ever been in a small car stopped because the car in front of you is making a left turn and waiting for a traffic to clear. YOU look up in your rear view mirror and see a semi with his front bumper headed at a level for your head and he is not stopping because he was looking somewhere besides the road in front of him. I have and I can guarantee that it is not fun. or let me see have you ever had a semi trailer pass you just before a curve on a two lane road knowing that if something was coming around the curve he was going to have to run you off the road to get back over and then having a car come around the curve towards you and make for the ditch before the semi hit you. or maybe be listening on the cb to the drivers talking about the drugs they were taking to stay awake. Or driving in the snow and not being able to see both headlights of the semi behind you because he was too close for you to see both of them. I can keep going for hours and hours on this topic. A LOT and I mean that with a capital LOT of semi drivers intimidate cars deliberately to get them out of their way. They are only concerned about how many miles they can put on their vehicle so they can make more money. If tailgating is not a problem for trucks why do some big companies put devices to measure the distance from cars that are in front of them and then record this distance versus speed. I am not saying that there are not a lot of courteous considerate semi drivers out there but there are a lot that only consider passenger cars something in the way of a larger paycheck.

 

[gemini5362]

How many cars pass me on the wrong side when i am signalling or pass me at 130 and realize there is a narrowing ahead and can't read signs and cut me up or have lipstick or a phone in their ear ,The blame is on both sides ,Truckers drive cars too ,The opposite can't be said ?
When trucks crash it is usually bad for the driver (nature of the vehicle) Do you think they have a disregard for their own life ...We have wives and kids too?...A life dead from the waist down is not that attractive ?

OK I am going to jump into this thread.

D7E have you ever been in a small car stopped because the car in front of you is making a left turn and waiting for a traffic to clear. YOU look up in your rear view mirror and see a semi with his front bumper headed at a level for your head and he is not stopping because he was looking somewhere besides the road in front of him. I have and I can guarantee that it is not fun. or let me see have you ever had a semi trailer pass you just before a curve on a two lane road knowing that if something was coming around the curve he was going to have to run you off the road to get back over and then having a car come around the curve towards you and make for the ditch before the semi hit you. or maybe be listening on the cb to the drivers talking about the drugs they were taking to stay awake. Or driving in the snow and not being able to see both headlights of the semi behind you because he was too close for you to see both of them. I can keep going for hours and hours on this topic. A LOT and I mean that with a capital LOT of semi drivers intimidate cars deliberately to get them out of their way. They are only concerned about how many miles they can put on their vehicle so they can make more money. If tailgating is not a problem for trucks why do some big companies put devices to measure the distance from cars that are in front of them and then record this distance versus speed. I am not saying that there are not a lot of courteous considerate semi drivers out there but there are a lot that only consider passenger cars something in the way of a larger paycheck.

 

[D7E]

OK I am going to jump into this thread.

D7E have you ever been in a small car stopped because the car in front of you is making a left turn and waiting for a traffic to clear. YOU look up in your rear view mirror and see a semi with his front bumper headed at a level for your head and he is not stopping because he was looking somewhere besides the road in front of him. I have and I can guarantee that it is not fun. or let me see have you ever had a semi trailer pass you just before a curve on a two lane road knowing that if something was coming around the curve he was going to have to run you off the road to get back over and then having a car come around the curve towards you and make for the ditch before the semi hit you. or maybe be listening on the cb to the drivers talking about the drugs they were taking to stay awake. Or driving in the snow and not being able to see both headlights of the semi behind you because he was too close for you to see both of them. I can keep going for hours and hours on this topic. A LOT and I mean that with a capital LOT of semi drivers intimidate cars deliberately to get them out of their way. They are only concerned about how many miles they can put on their vehicle so they can make more money. If tailgating is not a problem for trucks why do some big companies put devices to measure the distance from cars that are in front of them and then record this distance versus speed. I am not saying that there are not a lot of courteous considerate semi drivers out there but there are a lot that only consider passenger cars something in the way of a larger paycheck.

Exactly...You see something bigger than your car in your mirror and you assume that it is intimidating you or out of control ,Why..It is big..It makes a lot of noise ...Get over it,He knows you are there ?
You obviuously don't know trucking ..Probably the worst paying job available...As i said these drivers are but a few (like car drivers )Taking drugs is bu(($#it, is that worth your licence ..This aint "convoy" and our wives ,kids,family travel in "cars" so rareley do this deliberateley ? There are just as many *****#@le car drivers so this is a pointless discussion .. ...Motoring is dangerous ,How many reps,doctors,Couriers fall asleep at the wheel after working 36 hours ...We all feel sorry for them ....Occupational hazard ?

 

[MikeD74T]

Legalities aside, give some thought to the other drivers on the road. Many are in a hurry and not expecting to come up on something moving 1/5th their speed. Some are also young, exuberant, and inexperienced and haven't seen what can happen on the road. To them, a country road is the perfect excuse to 'cut loose'.

If the roads were level and straight, it wouldn't be much of an issue....but that's not Vt. Blind curves and down-grades will hide you until the last moment. Someone flying along at or above the legal limit could have his hands full avoiding you. Even if no harm is done, you've likely pi**ed someone off. Do it enough and someone will start pushing for laws that restrict our access. If damage is done, you'll be giving them live ammo to fight that battle with.

I've come to hate roading tractors and do it as little as possible with my own. It's necessary, however, when helping the neighbor. Still, while doing it, I always feel like I'm turning my back on a kid with a loaded gun.

Be very careful with left hand turns; especially if towing something bulky that you can't see around. They're the worst.
FWIW
Bob

Bob is absolutely right -yahoos own all rights to country roads & should not be inconveinced. Pull a loaded manure spreader so after you've pi**ed them off you can ***t all over them !! MikeD74T

 

[patrick_g]

There are plenty of stories about cars and trucks and the difficulties that may have passed between them. Who is the bad guy and who is the good guy, if that determination can be made, varies with the telling and personal baggage of the story teller. Listing all the transgressions, real or imagined, doesn't make a case for either side if there are in fact "SIDES."

Just because there are lots of idiots driving cars doing BAD things to truckers doesn't give any trucker a free hand to commit assault with a deadly weapon on me because it would serve his opinion of what is best if I would speed at his convenience.

I have trucker friends and have no problem with truckers per se but what I don't like is the infantile mind set of the few.

So far as the money goes, I don't think anyone is an indentured servant and I haven't seen shackles on any truckers. Anyone is free to change jobs if they are willing to do what is required to get a different job where they can make a living without having to threaten the lives of others. (I didn't mean to make the description sound like a mugger but it gets close.) I know things change and what seemed like a good idea at the time may not seem so lucrative now. I have changed professions more than once.

It is not valid to state that truckers are trapped irrevocably behind the wheel and are forced to commit assault with a deadly weapon in order to feed their families.

Why don't we see the Teamsters on TV news lobbying for special dispensation to assault the drivers of smaller vehicles to intimidate them and get them out of the way? Could it be because it would be real hard to get support for such lunacy?

All the stories of idiot auto drivers doing all sorts of insane things to poor innocent truckers, if true and were just the tip of the iceberg, still would not justify roaring up on a car driving the speed limit to "scare" it out of the way.

I prefer to never brake hard with a truck near my bumper as I know trucks are hard to stop. When they tailgate me I just ease off the throttle a little bit at a time or take the cruise down a notch every little bit. If the trucker backs off to a safe distance I immediately return to the speed limit or the flow of traffic which ever is less. I suggest that if everyone did this the tailgating would cease as it would be counterproductive.

Behavior that is rewarded positively is behavior that is usually repeated. IF a behavior has negative outcomes then it is usually NOT reinforced. Truckers are "TAUGHT" to intimidate cars because it works so well for them. If it didn't work it wouldn't be repeated.

I in no way wish to precipitate a confrontation with a truck or the driver out of the truck but I do not wish to be illegally tailgated by someone trying to intimidate me through assault with a deadly weapon. No amount of sad stories about long suffering truckers being mistreated by dumb car jockeys justifies these actions being applied to me.

Pat

 

[JerryG]

So, assaulting drivers who are driving the posted speed limit, thereby risking a deadly accident is actually A SELFLESS PUBLIC SERVICE!!! They risk killing the few to selflessly serve the needs of the many.

What sort of truck are you MOST familiar with, a manure hauler?

Pat

There is no call for that. Just because someone is trying to explain why something is happening, not necessarily upholding it, just telling you the reason. It's just like a lot of people will make statements like, "trucks have air brakes, they can stop on a dime" without any idea what they are talking about. Most of the time, the trucker is just trying to maintain speed and isn't trying to get under anyone skin. AND no I have never driven a manure truck but I did drive a truck for a large company when I was much younger for a few years. There will always be a few hotdogs truck drivers just like there are many hotdogs driving cars.
Two wrongs don't make a right.

 

[patrick_g]

There is no call for that.

There is sufficient idiocy to go around on all sides. Defending the illegal acts of one set of idiots or another is not a service to the law abiding. Making excuses for intentional lawbreakers is not a public service announcement.

Gee, it is inconvenient for XXXX to abide by the law so lets all relax and let him endanger our lives so he feels better or makes an extra dime.

Sometimes a spade is... well, a spade.

Note, my comments are directed at the written communications, not at the author. Similarly I would expect (and welcome) someone to take my STATEMENTS apart if they disagree.

If there is some way to make a touchy feely excuse for lawbreaking that endangers the lives of others needlessly then by all means post it. Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes it.

To agree with me and come out on the side of obeying the law is NOT TO TAKE A STAND against all truckers. All truckers don't need to be defended as not all are guilty of the practice. The highways are shared for the common good. Laws to regulate conduct and promote safety are there for the common good. It is inappropriate to assume that perceived needs of the few should be allowed to invalidate the safety of the many. This is a nation of laws (sometimes too many laws) but if a law is JUST WRONG there are legal ways to get it changed. This is not an antiwar protest in the 60s and the traffic laws are not being violated out of an overwhelming desire for world peace and the betterment of mankind.

Pat

 

[DuaneW]

Ok.. back to the tractor on the road question.

several have expressed concern over left hand turns but none has given a solution (except to stop ??? first). This is how I do left turns wether pulling tandom grain wagons or nothin.

As you approach you left, look behind you, if no one is passing AND there is no oncoming traffic, drift left of center, not giving anyone room to pass, signal your intentions, slow down and make the turn. You do NOT WAIT UNTILL the VERY LAST SECOND to look and turn. Just like cars, drive ahead of where you are.

DuaneW.