After two years of putting up with that crap, I'd had enough. He was illegally blocking traffic more than a mile before the lane closure. All I wanted to do was merge in with the flow of traffic and he was preventing me from doing what I had a right to do. Honestly, the extent to which you will go to defend idiots is beyond reason. I get my car wasted and I'M the agressive driver?!
Like I said earlier, What if there was someone who had to get to a hospital in a hurry, like a pregnant woman, someone having a asthma attack etc, I believe it is illegal to block the emergency lane weather you like it or not, I saw this happen once and a guy in a car ended up riding on the side of a ravine, almost tipped him over.
One good reason to have a camera phone at all times, LOL, just don't be talking on it
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After two years of putting up with that crap, I'd had enough. He was illegally blocking traffic more than a mile before the lane closure. All I wanted to do was merge in with the flow of traffic and he was preventing me from doing what I had a right to do. Honestly, the extent to which you will go to defend idiots is beyond reason. I get my car wasted and I'M the agressive driver?!
Exactly where am I defending anybody's actions? What I see are guys trying to defend their aggressive and dangerous driving style by blaming everybody else on the road, which is by definition aggressive driving. If you feel that just about everyone else on the road is a stupid asshole that is in your way, you've got a problem. If you think your driving skills are far superior than just about everybody else on the road, you've got a problem. If you think it is a big game of who owns the road, you've got a problem. If you feel it is your responsibility to enforce traffic laws on people who are disregarding them, you've got a problem.
What is beyond reason, is the length you will go to defend pulling something like passing on the shoulder of a congested highway just because you don't feel like you should have to wait in traffic like everyone else. It does not matter who is breaking the law, it does not give you an excuse to break the law, or a pass on the consequences that result from you breaking the law, no matter how justified it may seem.
You are taking my comments the complete wrong way. It is not a competition about who owns the road, that is a very poor approach to driving. It is about staying alive by not putting yourself in harms way. Keep jacking around with big trucks and you will eventually come across an idiot behind the wheel of one, (sounds like you already have with the tailgater). You will end up being dead right about the physics of big trucks, key word being dead. The whole point of my musing is to stay way out of harms way, not make it easier for truck drivers speed. You have the right to go to violent areas of town and hang out on street corners taunting gang members. Doesn't make sense from a personal safety standpoint does it? Same applies to driving in close proximity to big trucks, which can be just as dangerous.
Even if you don't run across an asshole driver you still need to worry about all kinds of ways to die around a big truck. I've seen all kinds of stuff fly off trucks that can kill you deader than hell in a blink of an eye. Not just improperly secured loads, but even a lowly gator (tire tread) flying off can end your life. Just look sometime, how many gators do you see laying around on the highway? I've seen guys with extremely safe driving habits and spotless driving records make just ONE small mistake in twenty years of driving. Problem with making that ONE small mistake in a big truck is that usually somebody in a car ends up dead.
Much as I try not to make long posts, I just can't seem to help it. Here is another.
First, with regards to the picture, at first glance the Mustang appears to have been doing something illegal simply because he felt he was above traffic laws. It looks as if he thought he was better than everyone else and chose to illegally drive on the shoulder at what was obviously a high rate of speed, judging by just how far he ended up under that trailer. If that is the case, even in the unlikely event that there was some emergency and, as in the example earlier, he was taking his pregnant wife to the hospital (with the top down? - I didn't notice the top among the materials in the wreck and it appears to be safely tucked away, but I could be wrong), that means that he endangered not only himself and everyone else on that stretch of road, but, in the rushing to the hospital scenario, his wife and unborn child, as well. That trailer is wholly on the shoulder of the road, not just kind of pulled over to block passage, as the Mustang did not hit the right corner/side of the semi with the left corner or side of his car, but hit smack on in the middle. If this accident actually occured on the shoulder of the road, it looks to me like the semi driver was pulled over and stopped. Maybe his rig was overheating or he had a flat, etc. The Mustang must have been going pretty fast to trash his car that badly. I see no skid marks - was he paying attention - did he even hit his brakes?
I would argue that the accident took place in a legal lane and then the semi pulled over (or was moved) to the shoulder to get out of the way of traffic flow, dragging the Mustang with it. The story that goes with this picture never mentions anything about the accident happening on the shoulder. In fact, the story is about the Interstate reopening. Why would the Interstate close if the accident had happened on the shoulder, unless there were hazardous materials aboard the semi (I see no one in hazmat suits)? More likely, the Mustang was in the fast lane going 70 or faster and the guy in the semi, going much slower, pulled over in front of him with little or no warning. In that case, the Interstate would have to be closed to clear debris and allow time while the vehicles were moved to the shoulder.
If someone is a few yards from an exit and there is a traffic jam, it is understandable that a person would take to the shoulder to get to the exit. If you are a couple of miles from the exit, that is different - especially if you try to do 75mph on the shoulder to the exit. Even worse, taking to the shoulder just to try to get ahead of everyone else in traffic and merge back over further up the road is inexcusable and the person doing that deserves whatever they get. What would you think if you were standing in line to, say, buy a movie ticket and some guy just walked past you, past the five people in front of you, and pushed his way into the front of the line? People talk about 'road rage', but if that guy gets his butt kicked, is it 'movie rage' or is it just some idiot getting what he deserves? Passing on the shoulder then trying to merge back into traffic is no different than pushing your way to the front of an established ticket line, except that it is several times more dangerous.
Saleenowner, I would like to applaud you for logging so many accident free miles. As I have mentioned before, my dad was a long haul trucker off and on for as long as I remember, until he got sick in the early/mid nineties (mostly for Southwest Motor Freight but later for an independent car dealer who weekly bought cars from the big auction in Houston and brought them to his dealership in Alabama), including much of the seventies when the trucker mystique was so much a part of popular culture and calling somebody 'good buddy' was not an insult. That was before the days of three week long driving schools and people driving semis who couldn't even drive cars properly. I also agree with you that, in a perfect world, the best thing to do would be to stay away from semis. However, we don't live in a perfect world, but more on that later.
That being said, pcfrisch does have some good points. I have a couple of real-world examples, both relating to the same stretch of Interstate, that I think illustrate those points:
1. I-40 and I-75, the main East/West and the main North/South routes in the central Southeast United States, merge on the western edge of Knox County, funneling a large percentage of traffic, including semi traffic, right through Knox County. The first exit after this merge heading east (or before the split heading west) is Watt Road. There are four truck stops at Watt Road, so there is increased semi activity in that area and people are generally pretty good about moving left to allow semi traffic to merge. It is rare in East Tennessee to see a straight, flat road and the Interstate is no exception. Just past the Watt Road exit heading east, there is a rather long hill. This hill has about a 40-50 degree grade and is approx. 1.1 miles long (I checked this morning on my way to work). At the top of this hill, just after it levels out, there is a weigh station. The Interstate in this area is three lanes wide and the speed limit is 70mph. As you can imagine, semis, especially the ones that are just merging from Watt Road, have difficulty building any real speed on the aforementioned hill. Therefore, there will be a semi, understandably, going 45mph in the slow lane. No problem. Then, however, the guy behind him, who is doing a 'blistering' 47mph can't live with the idea of slowing down a whole 2mph, so he has to pass the guy in the middle lane. Finally, there will be an absolute speed demon behind the second driver doing and amazing 49mph or so who of course has to pass the second guy, and so moves into the fast lane. You now have three lanes of traffic effectively blocked and doing, at best, twenty miles an hour below the speed limit because moron #1 and moron #2 couldn't just slow down a little bit and live with it. It's not like it matters that much, anyway, because they have to stop at the weigh station at the top of the hill. There are signs alerting those drivers who aren't already aware of the weigh station to its existence, so it's not like they are surprised to see it. Of course, this means that they have to start jockeying for position to get back into the right hand lane to get to the weigh station. This is not an isolated incident. I drive that stretch of Interstate every workday and see this happen 60-70% of the time, including during the morning rush hour when I am there.
2. The second example happens going the other direction, down the same hill. Once again, you will get a semi in all three lanes, but this time, down the hill, they are trying to break the sound barrier. If you are in the fast or middle lane and a semi is behind you going faster than you, let them pass. That is the only sensible thing to do. When, however, you have a maniac in a semi in all three lanes, there is nowhere to go to get out of their way. I have been coming down the hill going 90mph in the slow lane and still had semis tailgating me. What are folks supposed to do, run out of the road so the almighty semi can pass? And why is a loaded semi trying to do 100mph in the first place? I realize that gravity effects them and the weight causes speed gains on a downhill run, but that is why the truck is equipped with cab brakes, trailer brakes and a jake brake. Again, this is not a theoretical situation or an occasional incident, but something that happens a majority of the time.
As you said, staying away from semis is the best idea. As alluded to in my sig, I often try to 'outrun' trouble by accelerating away from clusters of semis (or bad drivers in cars, etc.) and simply staying out of their way but sometimes people do not have that option. Sometimes, the semis themselves will not allow it. This is especially true in this area where, because of the Interstate situation, there are often nearly as many semis on the road as cars, if not more. I really think it would be a good idea to have two lanes on the Interstate just for semis - cars (except police) would not be allowed there and semis would not be allowed outside of these lanes. Wherever possible, those lanes would be divided from regular traffic by concrete barriers. I realize that this would be too expensive and not practical, but it would solve a lot of problems. In fact, I think I remember seeing years ago that some European countries (or maybe it was Asian countries) had a similar setup, but maybe I am mistaken. The bottom line is, there are many good drivers behind the wheels of semis, but there are also many (sadly, sometimes it seems more) who have ricer-type attitudes and literally street race in vehicles that weigh as much as several ricer cars. Staying out of their way is fine in theory, but not always possible in practice. Also, while ultimate responsibility for each individual driver, be it car or semi, lies with that driver, we should expect semi drivers to be held to a higher standard in a very real sense by traffic enforcement authorities and society in general (beyond just requiring CDLs) due to the fact that the machines which they drive are so much heavier, more powerful and difficult to maneuver than other vehicles on the road.
By the way, if semis scare you (and I think they scare us all sometimes), consider this; there are RVs out there which are just as capable of destruction as a semi but which require no CDL - people with a regular DL can legally operate these things on the Interstate - they don't even have to test specifically in an RV. These folks may only drive the RV a couple of times a year and sometimes think they can operate an RV the same way they operate their car. Consider, also, that a large number of these RV drivers are older and may have diminished reflexes, eyesight, etc. My dad used to say that, in his experiences driving in all 48 continental states, Canada and Mexico, Winnebagos, etc. caused more serious accidents than any other type of vehicle on the road. Of course, along with the high number of semis, we also live close to the Smoky Mountains, so we see pretty large numbers of RVs heading there at certain times of the year. I, myself, have driven an RV my wife's grandfather used to own from Loudon to Reelfoot Lake on the other side of the state. Any time we planned to take the RV anywhere, we made it a point to take it out a day or two before we left for our trip and drive it on less crowded roads near our house just to readjust to driving it. I also learned to drive a stick by driving a 1946 International (I think it was a 1 1/2 ton) that my dad had and learned to drive it fully loaded with logs fairly early in my driving experiences because dad wanted me to learn to back up using only my mirrors, etc. Neither may quite be a semi, but they certainly aren't regular vehicles and require the use of much greater caution, awareness and basic driving skills.
One final word to those who hate semis and semi drivers: Like it or not, without these men and women, our economy would fail. If you look around at everything you have in your daily life, be it food, furniture or even the computer you are using to read this, a majority of those things were probably carried, at some point, in the back of a semi. We don't need semis gone altogether, we just need tougher regulations and better enforcement of the regulations already in place.
Much as I try not to make long posts, I just can't seem to help it. Here is another.
First, with regards to the picture, at first glance the Mustang appears to have been doing something illegal simply because he felt he was above traffic laws. It looks as if he thought he was better than everyone else and chose to illegally drive on the shoulder at what was obviously a high rate of speed, judging by just how far he ended up under that trailer. If that is the case, even in the unlikely event that there was some emergency and, as in the example earlier, he was taking his pregnant wife to the hospital (with the top down? - I didn't notice the top among the materials in the wreck and it appears to be safely tucked away, but I could be wrong), that means that he endangered not only himself and everyone else on that stretch of road, but, in the rushing to the hospital scenario, his wife and unborn child, as well. That trailer is wholly on the shoulder of the road, not just kind of pulled over to block passage, as the Mustang did not hit the right corner/side of the semi with the left corner or side of his car, but hit smack on in the middle. If this accident actually occured on the shoulder of the road, it looks to me like the semi driver was pulled over and stopped. Maybe his rig was overheating or he had a flat, etc. The Mustang must have been going pretty fast to trash his car that badly. I see no skid marks - was he paying attention - did he even hit his brakes?
I would argue that the accident took place in a legal lane and then the semi pulled over (or was moved) to the shoulder to get out of the way of traffic flow, dragging the Mustang with it. The story that goes with this picture never mentions anything about the accident happening on the shoulder. In fact, the story is about the Interstate reopening. Why would the Interstate close if the accident had happened on the shoulder, unless there were hazardous materials aboard the semi (I see no one in hazmat suits)? More likely, the Mustang was in the fast lane going 70 or faster and the guy in the semi, going much slower, pulled over in front of him with little or no warning. In that case, the Interstate would have to be closed to clear debris and allow time while the vehicles were moved to the shoulder.
If someone is a few yards from an exit and there is a traffic jam, it is understandable that a person would take to the shoulder to get to the exit. If you are a couple of miles from the exit, that is different - especially if you try to do 75mph on the shoulder to the exit. Even worse, taking to the shoulder just to try to get ahead of everyone else in traffic and merge back over further up the road is inexcusable and the person doing that deserves whatever they get. What would you think if you were standing in line to, say, buy a movie ticket and some guy just walked past you, past the five people in front of you, and pushed his way into the front of the line? People talk about 'road rage', but if that guy gets his butt kicked, is it 'movie rage' or is it just some idiot getting what he deserves? Passing on the shoulder then trying to merge back into traffic is no different than pushing your way to the front of an established ticket line, except that it is several times more dangerous.
Saleenowner, I would like to applaud you for logging so many accident free miles. As I have mentioned before, my dad was a long haul trucker off and on for as long as I remember, until he got sick in the early/mid nineties (mostly for Southwest Motor Freight but later for an independent car dealer who weekly bought cars from the big auction in Houston and brought them to his dealership in Alabama), including much of the seventies when the trucker mystique was so much a part of popular culture and calling somebody 'good buddy' was not an insult. That was before the days of three week long driving schools and people driving semis who couldn't even drive cars properly. I also agree with you that, in a perfect world, the best thing to do would be to stay away from semis. However, we don't live in a perfect world, but more on that later.
That being said, pcfrisch does have some good points. I have a couple of real-world examples, both relating to the same stretch of Interstate, that I think illustrate those points:
1. I-40 and I-75, the main East/West and the main North/South routes in the central Southeast United States, merge on the western edge of Knox County, funneling a large percentage of traffic, including semi traffic, right through Knox County. The first exit after this merge heading east (or before the split heading west) is Watt Road. There are four truck stops at Watt Road, so there is increased semi activity in that area and people are generally pretty good about moving left to allow semi traffic to merge. It is rare in East Tennessee to see a straight, flat road and the Interstate is no exception. Just past the Watt Road exit heading east, there is a rather long hill. This hill has about a 40-50 degree grade and is approx. 1.1 miles long (I checked this morning on my way to work). At the top of this hill, just after it levels out, there is a weigh station. The Interstate in this area is three lanes wide and the speed limit is 70mph. As you can imagine, semis, especially the ones that are just merging from Watt Road, have difficulty building any real speed on the aforementioned hill. Therefore, there will be a semi, understandably, going 45mph in the slow lane. No problem. Then, however, the guy behind him, who is doing a 'blistering' 47mph can't live with the idea of slowing down a whole 2mph, so he has to pass the guy in the middle lane. Finally, there will be an absolute speed demon behind the second driver doing and amazing 49mph or so who of course has to pass the second guy, and so moves into the fast lane. You now have three lanes of traffic effectively blocked and doing, at best, twenty miles an hour below the speed limit because moron #1 and moron #2 couldn't just slow down a little bit and live with it. It's not like it matters that much, anyway, because they have to stop at the weigh station at the top of the hill. There are signs alerting those drivers who aren't already aware of the weigh station to its existence, so it's not like they are surprised to see it. Of course, this means that they have to start jockeying for position to get back into the right hand lane to get to the weigh station. This is not an isolated incident. I drive that stretch of Interstate every workday and see this happen 60-70% of the time, including during the morning rush hour when I am there.
2. The second example happens going the other direction, down the same hill. Once again, you will get a semi in all three lanes, but this time, down the hill, they are trying to break the sound barrier. If you are in the fast or middle lane and a semi is behind you going faster than you, let them pass. That is the only sensible thing to do. When, however, you have a maniac in a semi in all three lanes, there is nowhere to go to get out of their way. I have been coming down the hill going 90mph in the slow lane and still had semis tailgating me. What are folks supposed to do, run out of the road so the almighty semi can pass? And why is a loaded semi trying to do 100mph in the first place? I realize that gravity effects them and the weight causes speed gains on a downhill run, but that is why the truck is equipped with cab brakes, trailer brakes and a jake brake. Again, this is not a theoretical situation or an occasional incident, but something that happens a majority of the time.
As you said, staying away from semis is the best idea. As alluded to in my sig, I often try to 'outrun' trouble by accelerating away from clusters of semis (or bad drivers in cars, etc.) and simply staying out of their way but sometimes people do not have that option. Sometimes, the semis themselves will not allow it. This is especially true in this area where, because of the Interstate situation, there are often nearly as many semis on the road as cars, if not more. I really think it would be a good idea to have two lanes on the Interstate just for semis - cars (except police) would not be allowed there and semis would not be allowed outside of these lanes. Wherever possible, those lanes would be divided from regular traffic by concrete barriers. I realize that this would be too expensive and not practical, but it would solve a lot of problems. In fact, I think I remember seeing years ago that some European countries (or maybe it was Asian countries) had a similar setup, but maybe I am mistaken. The bottom line is, there are many good drivers behind the wheels of semis, but there are also many (sadly, sometimes it seems more) who have ricer-type attitudes and literally street race in vehicles that weigh as much as several ricer cars. Staying out of their way is fine in theory, but not always possible in practice. Also, while ultimate responsibility for each individual driver, be it car or semi, lies with that driver, we should expect semi drivers to be held to a higher standard in a very real sense by traffic enforcement authorities and society in general (beyond just requiring CDLs) due to the fact that the machines which they drive are so much heavier, more powerful and difficult to maneuver than other vehicles on the road.
By the way, if semis scare you (and I think they scare us all sometimes), consider this; there are RVs out there which are just as capable of destruction as a semi but which require no CDL - people with a regular DL can legally operate these things on the Interstate - they don't even have to test specifically in an RV. These folks may only drive the RV a couple of times a year and sometimes think they can operate an RV the same way they operate their car. Consider, also, that a large number of these RV drivers are older and may have diminished reflexes, eyesight, etc. My dad used to say that, in his experiences driving in all 48 continental states, Canada and Mexico, Winnebagos, etc. caused more serious accidents than any other type of vehicle on the road. Of course, along with the high number of semis, we also live close to the Smoky Mountains, so we see pretty large numbers of RVs heading there at certain times of the year. I, myself, have driven an RV my wife's grandfather used to own from Loudon to Reelfoot Lake on the other side of the state. Any time we planned to take the RV anywhere, we made it a point to take it out a day or two before we left for our trip and drive it on less crowded roads near our house just to readjust to driving it. I also learned to drive a stick by driving a 1946 International (I think it was a 1 1/2 ton) that my dad had and learned to drive it fully loaded with logs fairly early in my driving experiences because dad wanted me to learn to back up using only my mirrors, etc. Neither may quite be a semi, but they certainly aren't regular vehicles and require the use of much greater caution, awareness and basic driving skills.
One final word to those who hate semis and semi drivers: Like it or not, without these men and women, our economy would fail. If you look around at everything you have in your daily life, be it food, furniture or even the computer you are using to read this, a majority of those things were probably carried, at some point, in the back of a semi. We don't need semis gone altogether, we just need tougher regulations and better enforcement of the regulations already in place.
Very good post, I just want to say that I don't hate semi's or their drivers. Just that they can cause more damage than just about any other vehicle because of a few idiots. Sorry this has bugged me more since my brother in-laws kids were killed by a propane semi crossing the line and hitting their van. I have driven the same route where the accident happend in northern michigan, never been in that area before. The roads were just like you described, very hilly and winding. There are a lot of truckers up there, especially logging trucks full of Trees, now you can imagine how much they weigh. I was surprise at their speed, I was going between 70-80, they were right on my tail, two lane road, no passing, what am I supposed to do? pull over to the side of the road while these idiots pass?? I told my brother in law in should try to get a hold of a radar gun and camp along side one of these roads and take a video for a while and send it on to the local news station. This really has to stop as more and more trucks, cars have to share the road.
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There are a lot of truckers up there, especially logging trucks full of Trees, now you can imagine how much they weigh. I was surprise at their speed, I was going between 70-80, they were right on my tail, two lane road, no passing, what am I supposed to do? pull over to the side of the road while these idiots pass??
And you were probably scared to death - with good reason. A normal human response to fear is the good, old 'fight or flight' response. Sometimes, flight isn't an option (for instance, no matter how fast you go, they match your speed), so that leaves only fight. Is this 'road rage' or a natural response? Sorry, I think the term 'road rage' is just tossed around too much. 'Road rage' refers to violent reactions to a vehicular situation quite in excess of the original impetus for the reaction. Shooting someone in the head for cutting you off in traffic is road rage. The urge to beat the crap out of a person, someone who just nearly killed you and others out of complete disregard for the fact that they aren't the only person on the road, is natural human behavior. It is when that urge causes you to try and use your vehicle as a weapon, barrier or battering ram that this natural behavior becomes, once again, road rage.
Much as I try not to make long posts, I just can't seem to help it. Here is another.
I know you have an insane amount of 'cowboys' where you are located, I won't mention any names, Loudon County Trucking, but I know what your talking about. Petition state and local officials to restrict lane use in this area. Many areas have restricted lane policies, and the local police love them at $500 a pop for a violation.
Don't take actions like being tailgated by a semi down hill at 90 mph lightly. Those who do this are threatening your life just the same as if they put a loaded gun in your face. Get truck numbers and company names, DEMAND action from state and local law enforcement.
I know you have an insane amount of 'cowboys' where you are located, I won't mention any names, Loudon County Trucking, but I know what your talking about. Petition state and local officials to restrict lane use in this area. Many areas have restricted lane policies, and the local police love them at $500 a pop for a violation.
Don't take actions like being tailgated by a semi down hill at 90 mph lightly. Those who do this are threatening your life just the same as if they put a loaded gun in your face. Get truck numbers and company names, DEMAND action from state and local law enforcement.
On a positive note, in the last couple of years there have been lane restrictions established in some spots in this area. Unfortunately, they are not enforced. I have been driving in one of these areas ('trucks use two right lanes' signs posted) and observed a semi cruising along in the leftmost lane and speeding with a police car behind him. My thought was, "Ha, he's got that guy. Who says there is never a cop around when you need one?" My feelings of vindication turned to disappointed disgust, however, when the truck pulled over into the middle lane and the police car (with no lights, sirens, etc. turned on) blew right on by him. It's hard to get drivers to take restrictions seriously when the authorities won't. Also, the restrictions all seem to be in spots where the Interstate runs through lighter traffic, non-urban areas. The restrictions always end as you approach more heavily congested areas. To my mind, it should be exactly the opposite. Oh, well, at least it is a step in the right direction, I suppose. What Knoxville really needs is a bypass so that semis going through the area don't have to pass right through the middle of downtown. Unfortunately, all proposed plans for a bypass are routed through places which should be preserved (high residential areas with historical homes or some of the few areas of untouched, working farmland left in the area) rather than making the bypass just a bit wider around to avoid these areas. You're right, though. We can't all just throw our hands up in defeat or it is certain that nothing will ever be done.
Truckers/ dirt haulers esp. (the amphibian poop of truckers) should have their own lane on all interstates and high usage highways.
If they are caught in any other lane for ANY reason, they should be executed by the person with the best shot/ or closest to them with a weapon.
Truckers are, in general, a menace to other drivers. They tend to drive without caution, or care for anyone around them. I've been cut off by truckers more times than I can count (and that's pretty high) in my Screaming yellow 'Stang, which I know they can see.
My usual retort is to get in front of them and drive 10 or 15 under the speed limit, let them start to pass, hit the gas, get in front again and slow down again. I do it 2-3 times then go about my business, just enough to piss them off.
Dirt/gravel/rock haulers need to be inspected for "load leakage." If they fail, they should DIE!!!!!!!!!!! Slowly!!!!!!!!
I hate chips in my windshield and paint. They are usually caused by run down dirt haulers that have leakage issues....
Death to them!!!!!!!!!!!
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Truckers/ dirt haulers esp. (the amphibian poop of truckers) should have their own lane on all interstates and high usage highways.
If they are caught in any other lane for ANY reason, they should be executed by the person with the best shot/ or closest to them with a weapon.
Truckers are, in general, a menace to other drivers. They tend to drive without caution, or care for anyone around them. I've been cut off by truckers more times than I can count (and that's pretty high) in my Screaming yellow 'Stang, which I know they can see.
My usual retort is to get in front of them and drive 10 or 15 under the speed limit, let them start to pass, hit the gas, get in front again and slow down again. I do it 2-3 times then go about my business, just enough to piss them off.
Dirt/gravel/rock haulers need to be inspected for "load leakage." If they fail, they should DIE!!!!!!!!!!! Slowly!!!!!!!!
I hate chips in my windshield and paint. They are usually caused by run down dirt haulers that have leakage issues....
Death to them!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree that there should be some stiff penalties for load leakage in gravel trucks, etc. The 'not responsible for damages' signs are b.s. I can wear a sign that says, "Having a bad day. Not responsible if you make me mad and I break your nose," but that doesn't make it true. Those signs, if you have a good judge, aren't worth the material used to print them. This isn't exactly the same, but similar: I had a friend in college who had parked her car in a WalMart parking lot while she shopped in the store. She came out of the store to find her car pretty badly damaged by run-away shopping carts. When she talked to the manager of that store, he refused to even discuss it, so she took the store to court. Little did they know she worked part-time in the office of one of the most well-known (and feared) barracuda lawyers in Knoxville, Herb Monsieur. Of course, in small claims, lawyers aren't really involved, but that did not stop the lawyers from giving her friendly advice on what to say. It also didn't stop most of the staff from showing up and sitting on her side in court. I actually saw a video-tape she had of the proceedings. The representative for WalMart argued that the store wasn't responsible because they had signs up declaring that they weren't responsible. The judge basically said (paraphrasing), "I don't care what your signs say. You can put up all the signs you want. This damage happened on your property and was done by your shopping carts. You have a basic responsibility to make sure those carts stay under control and do not damage cars whose owners are shopping in your establishment and I am finding you negligent in this case."
That being said, not all truckers are a menace to other drivers. Many will go out of their way to allow for the mistakes of drivers of 4 wheeled vehicles. Case in point: Several years ago, my dad was in Oklahoma in the Winter driving on his way to deliver some freight. He was driving at a reasonable speed because weather conditions weren't the greatest. He topped a hill and what should he see at the bottom of the hill but a small Volkswagen Rabbit sitting in the middle of the road, just sitting there sideways. Apparently, the car had spun out on some ice. Dad's first reaction was to ease down on the trailer brake because he knew that if there was ice, and he hit the cab brakes too hard, they might just lock up and slide and he would then probably lose control of the rig. The only result was that the trailer started sliding around, getting ready to jack-knife. Dad knew that if he hit that little Rabbit, there would be nothing left of the car or the driver. The road was covered in black ice, so he had but one choice to avoid killing the driver, and in a split-second, decided to take that choice. He took his rig out of the road, over the shoulder and completely off the pavement. It ended up laying on its side and jack-knifed with the cab lying on top of the trailer. He later told me that a trucker's greatest fear in such a situation is having the trailer come through the back of the cab and crush him. In the middle of the accident, dad's sleeper cover came out of the sleeper and hit him in the back. He told me that scared him more than anything because he was sure beyond doubt, at that moment, that it was the trailer coming through and that he was dead. That was about a week before Christmas, twenty or so years ago. The guy in the Rabbit was in the Navy and was going home on leave. Turns out that the car had spun out a few minutes before and the driver should have had time to move it, but he was stunned and just sitting there. My dad risked his life to avoid killing someone, even though it would not have been his fault, nor was any fault attributed to him on the accident report. Luckily, the only injuries he received aside from bumps and bruises were some cracked ribs which he got when he climbed out of the cab and onto the trailer to get out of the wreck, slipped on the icy side of the trailer and landed on his side. Well, that and a bad cold after walking up and down the side of the road for a little while trying to recover the Christmas presents he had in the truck. I remember him handing my mom a silver and turquoise necklace he had bought on the Cherokee reservation out there not long before the wreck. He had put it in a paper bag in his truck and still had it in what was left of the bag to kind of hide it. He said, "I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to wrap it." I remember my mom crying when she saw how badly that bag was shredded and realized that it was in that condition because it had gotten torn up in his wreck.
Truckers/ dirt haulers esp. (the amphibian poop of truckers) should have their own lane on all interstates and high usage highways.
If they are caught in any other lane for ANY reason, they should be executed by the person with the best shot/ or closest to them with a weapon.
Truckers are, in general, a menace to other drivers. They tend to drive without caution, or care for anyone around them. I've been cut off by truckers more times than I can count (and that's pretty high) in my Screaming yellow 'Stang, which I know they can see.
My usual retort is to get in front of them and drive 10 or 15 under the speed limit, let them start to pass, hit the gas, get in front again and slow down again. I do it 2-3 times then go about my business, just enough to piss them off.
Dirt/gravel/rock haulers need to be inspected for "load leakage." If they fail, they should DIE!!!!!!!!!!! Slowly!!!!!!!!
I hate chips in my windshield and paint. They are usually caused by run down dirt haulers that have leakage issues....
Death to them!!!!!!!!!!!
I hope this is a joke, if not this is most likely why truck drivers would hold passenger cars in low esteem.
__________________
1995 GT 5.0
CAI, American Thunder Cat-back, Mac O/R H-pipe, 180* thermostat, Steeda Tri-Ax shifter, Steeda rear swaybar, Urethane bushings, MSD coil, King Cobra clutch & flywheel, GT40 Intake Manifold, ~1800 watt sound system
No my Cajun brother, it's my response to jerks who cut me off, or cut in front of me with no signal and not enough room for me to give way like a normal driver.
I don't go out looking for truckers to piss off, it's retribution for ashholish behavior.
__________________
I Hate GM, deal with it.
One shot, One Kill! Don't waste ammo, it's pricey!
2005 GT Screaming Yellow: SLP Loudmouths
Ibanez guitars, S&W revolvers, Glock Semi's
Republican write in Presidential Candidate 2012
I think that most @$$hole drivers are in four wheelers. I think that the big truckers are getting somewhat of a bum rap here. I always drive a car - my 'stang, and I think that alot of the transgressions outlined here are more often perpetrated by suvs in the city, than the bigriggers. I'd rather see this thread bash the sheeple who drive trucks and suvs, I mean the ones who have nothing more cumbersome to haul around than their self-perceived image... I've been flamed hard on this, in another forum, but it didn't change my opinion one bit.
I'm pretty sure that a much larger percentage of semi and large truck drivers have the proper respect for the size of their vehicle than amongst the suv'ers.
TRUCKS ARE FOR WORK!!!
__________________
1992 Deep Emerald Green Mustang GT Hatch, 5 speed, 2.73s, Mac fenderwell cold air intake, '93 Cobra MAF, Mac 70mm throttle body & spacer, Explorer intakes, Mac unequal headers & offroad pipe, Magnaflow catback, Walbro 110lph fuel pump, Jet adjustable FPR, MSD Blaster coil, Accel 8mm wires, FRPP aluminum quadrant, UPR firewall adjuster, stock cable, Granatelli upper control arms.
Waiting to go on: Granatelli lower control arms, and GT40 Iron heads!
Last edited by meangreen92; 01-06-2006 at 04:07 PM.
Oh yeah, they have great respect for everyone else. Just like last night's experience, after posting on this thread.
I'm on the interstate going home. 11:00 at night, very few cars on the road.
Several of the 18 wheelers are just cruising along, at 70 or under, in the left lane. Actually, most were. Nobody on the right, they're just there cause the road belongs to them. One of the idiots I passed on the RIGHT, only to be blasted with his brights. Yeah, he was just minding his business.....
Then, not 13 miles up the road, two trucks, both going under 70, next to each other. Ones passing, the other is in the right lane. They are doing less than 1 mile difference in speed. Tell me know, how long did it take the idiot to pass the other idiot who wouldn't adjust his speed to let the truck passing get in front?
Too damned long. I did my pull in front and slow down on BOTH of those guys. AND I ENJOYED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I hoped like hell that one would be stupid enough to follow me when I got off the interstate for a confrontation.
Hello Mr. uneducated Florida high school dropout with three teeth driving a run down Freightliner too damned slow in the fast lane. Meet Mr's Smith, and Wesson!!!!!!!
No, to truckers nowadays, it's all just fun and games. I remember when truckers were the nice guys on the road. Those days are gone.
I blame the teamsters. It's all their fault. Damned unions.
__________________
I Hate GM, deal with it.
One shot, One Kill! Don't waste ammo, it's pricey!
2005 GT Screaming Yellow: SLP Loudmouths
Ibanez guitars, S&W revolvers, Glock Semi's
Republican write in Presidential Candidate 2012
I think that most @$$hole drivers are in four wheelers. I think that the big truckers are getting somewhat of a bum rap here. I always drive a car - my 'stang, and I think that alot of the transgressions outlined here are more often perpetrated by suvs in the city, than the bigriggers. I'd rather see this thread bash the sheeple who drive trucks and suvs, even though they have nothing more cumbersome to haul around than their image... I've been flamed hard on this, in another forum, but it didn't change my opinion one bit.
I'm pretty sure that a much larger percentage of semi and large truck drivers have the proper respect for the size of their vehicle than amongst the suv'ers.
TRUCKS ARE FOR WORK!!!
In the city, I think you are probably right. Most of the maniacs I see in semis are on the Interstate, and there is no shortage of them. There are good semi drivers, but then there are those that will get all wired up on White Crosses or 357 Magnums, etc. (or cocaine, crack, meth, and so on) and drive their loaded semis as if they were in a Porsche - weaving in and out of traffic, cutting people off, spastically crossing two or three lanes at a time, gearing down and gunning the motor, just like some ricer in a Honda. I have even seen them do fly-bys!
As for SUVs and trucks, I think we can even further limit the 'bashing' to people who drive ridiculous-sized SUVs and trucks when there is no practical reason. Ford Escapes, Rangers, etc. are just as valid, in my opinion, for daily driving as our Mustangs. My previous vehicle (forgetting the unfortunate month with a VW) was a factory raised Ford Ranger 4X4 sportside with a V6. It had a factory tonneu cover which allowed me to use the bed as a very large 'trunk' (I still don't know how I am going to carry all my fishing gear in my Mustang next summer). It was much easier on my back and knees than the Mustang, not to mention it had the most comfortable bucket seats I have ever sat in (other people who road with me also commented on them). Also, due to riding slightly higher, visibility was better in some situations. Don't get me wrong, I love my Mustang and am glad I made the trade, but I wouldn't have minded being able to keep the Ranger, too. Sure, folks don't need pickups for daily driving, but why do we need a V8? Many people would accuse muscle car drivers of needing a car to boost the ego. We could find smaller cars that are much more environmentally friendly, practical and cost much less in insurance, not to mention lessening the chance of travelling at dangerously high speeds. Why do we need horsepower upgrades, exhaust systems that can border on noise pollution, etc.? Is it really necessary to have a car that will go 0-60 in 6 seconds (or less) and top out around 150mph or so just to get to work? Personally, I'm not in that big a hurry to get to work! As for trucks being strictly for work, I think that as far as some guy buying a Ford F350 just to drive to his job as an accountant when he has no intention of ever putting anything in the back, you are right. However, some people simply prefer the ride, height and room in a truck. You have said in another thread that you have 'little man's disease' or something to that effect, referring to your small stature. Sometimes, for people who are very tall, big, etc. a truck or SUV can be much more practical that trying to stoop into and climb up out of a car. Myself, I don't see the problem with Rangers, Dakotas, S-10s or even F150s, Rams or 1500s as long as the driver knows what he or she is doing and makes allowances for the fact that their vehicle is lighter in the rear, shouldn't be driven like a car, etc. The big problem comes when a person who has always driven a compact or subcompact suddenly decides that their status requires that they get an Avalanche, a Navigator or a Hummer, but they still want to drive it like a Miata. We require different types of licenses to be allowed to drive a motorcycle, car or semi, so why not take it a step further? If someone gets their license in a Focus and decides they want an Explorer, this should be considered a change in class of vehicle and he or she should have to take the driving portion of the test in the new vehicle to prove driving ability again. Once obtained, that person could switch back and forth from the two classes of vehicle at any time without needing to retake the test. An SUV, a full-sized pickup, a mid-sized pickup, front wheel drive, rear wheel drive, etc. all drive differently and I do not think it unreasonable to require drivers to prove skill in any class of vehicle they plan to drive. As it is, I can legally drive anything from a compact car to a pickup or SUV (towing a trailer) up to a very large truck or RV, all with the same license. In fact, I have my F endorsement because of my last job, so I can legally drive a Taxi or carry passengers in an 18 passenger van (which, if you have never driven one, feels like a small bus). The F endorsement is the same written (or, nowadays, computerized) test as a regular DL and, if you already have your DL, you don't have to take the driving portion. Basically, the biggest requirement is that you pay an extra $5.
Finally, people should have to retake the vision and driving portion of the test every five or ten years. This would cut down on the number of accidents caused by people driving who are no longer able.
I think that most @$$hole drivers are in four wheelers. I think that the big truckers are getting somewhat of a bum rap here. I always drive a car - my 'stang, and I think that alot of the transgressions outlined here are more often perpetrated by suvs in the city, than the bigriggers. I'd rather see this thread bash the sheeple who drive trucks and suvs, I mean the ones who have nothing more cumbersome to haul around than their self-perceived image... I've been flamed hard on this, in another forum, but it didn't change my opinion one bit.
I'm pretty sure that a much larger percentage of semi and large truck drivers have the proper respect for the size of their vehicle than amongst the suv'ers.
TRUCKS ARE FOR WORK!!!
I could not agree more. And that's the first time I've heard of "sheeple"
And JB, as far as vehicle classes and retaking the driving test periodically...have you ever considered running for public office because you sure as hell have my vote.
__________________
1995 GT 5.0
CAI, American Thunder Cat-back, Mac O/R H-pipe, 180* thermostat, Steeda Tri-Ax shifter, Steeda rear swaybar, Urethane bushings, MSD coil, King Cobra clutch & flywheel, GT40 Intake Manifold, ~1800 watt sound system
