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Darn trucks, darn trucks, darn trucks. I just don't want to go get in my darn truck and go fight the fourwheelers.
Lane restrictions in Fla only apply in Florida I-75 as far as Cigar City. Another stretch mm89 at Jupiter on I-95 and south, but it is 7am to 7pm. Tennesee full grown explained why lane restrictions in the gourge on NC side to the big curve. Keep the trucks in the right lane and the slowest ones set the pace. Therefore, everybody makes the curve at a reasonable speed. Let trucks get in the left lane, and the lighter ones go faster, and the inexperienced ones , with half a load don't make it around the curve, but end up down the hill, causing a massive traffic jam.
Heavy rain, you will find me in the left lane, since I keep fresh wipers on the truck, and am up high enough to avoid the spray that causes fourwheelers not to be able to see. Plus my eyesight hasn't gone yet.
Southern born and raised, but I run the snow (or ice)rather than sit. Been lucky so far, hope that Angel keeps riding with me.
Over 2 million miles behind a truck steering wheel, but most 4wheelers average about 15k a year. I usually do that in a month.
Don't agree with trucks tailgateing, but ever wonder why your in the left lane and they tailgate you? Maybe because you need to be just one lane to the right???? If a truck tailgates you, try moving just one lane to the right and give him a couple of minutes and see if he isn't out of your hair.
Signal the truck with your lights? If you have the "flash" for high-beams installed on most newer cars, don't bother. If you can turn them off for just a second, thanks, but I really don't appreciate your bright lights in my mirror, just about the time I am looking to see if I have cleared your vehicle.
7mm, good post, keep the shiny side up. Sandman2234
Offeror, is it ok for cars to travel that fast and not trucks? That is what you are saying, it is ok for one and not the other. The state you live in has lane restrictions and split speed limits, you like that I bet, you love it to death because it makes the car driver feel more important that the truck, well turn the tables and see how you like it. Make all cars drive in the right lane and do 60 instead of 65, don't like that at all do you????? Cars have no more rights than trucks, but people like you seem to think cars do, laws like your state has encourage aggressive driving and many bad habits around trucks, but you like that because it makes you feel better in that hammer lane doing 70 and passing those "damned trucks".
sandman, thast looked like a slam and a handshake!! Hey I admit there are some good restricting laws as the one you point out but lets look at lane restrictions in general, ATLANTA, CHICAGO, LA, NYC THE CAROLINAS AROUND CITIES, those are the ones I * about. The laws made to keep trucks out of some dimwits way. Left lane in bad weather, I do that alot, not because of greed but for the safety of them darn nondriving idiots who get a little rain or snow on their windshield and slam on the brakes. Wanna drive slow in bad weather? Fine, move over before you cause a wreck. there are bad drivers in trucks as well as cars, but I think the bad car drivers outnumber the trucks 10-1, they screw up and we pay.
7mm --
This is why you shouldn't come back to this topic (unless maybe it helps to talk you down). You get too hot under the collar. It's crazy to think it could ever be the reverse, or should be.
If you can't see the big truck/freight train comparison, that's the beginning of the problem. People always talk about how it takes a freight train a mile to get stopped. If a big truck is 80,000 to 120,000 pounds, that's all on the side of extra caution for trucks.
And the fact that they close the door on the down-the-road view means that the rest of traffic (even other trucks) can't see around them the proper number of car-lengths, per most states' driving manuals. This is why semis in both lanes of a four-laner are such a problem until they get passed and back to the right.
In your fantasy, everybody would leave x number of car-lengths, but in the traffic of the real world, if somebody leaves a couple of extra car lengths, somebody else pulls into the space. The only reason top speeds are lower for trucks is because the people who write the regulations know that braking distance from 65 would be longer for trucks and is a little closer to even when trucks go only 60 if cars are going 65. Match the number of feet for stopping distance and you'll see the gap widens when trucks stop from 65. This is not an argument for your side, but for the side of the current regulations. They are sensible in the real world, given real traffic conditions. Heard of bullet trains? They have their own tracks. We can't share the road with trucks piledriving along like Saturn missiles, unable to stop in tandem with the cars in traffic.
If we all took our own advice and relaxed a little behind the wheel, that 5 miles an hour can be factored into the trip. One of our state cops recently said something that I can't get out of my head: "Some people drive like they were in a time machine." You can't shorten the distance or the time. If you're running late, you're just running late. It happens.
You are the fella who marvelled at the late-night caravans of trucks who run with the hammer down at over 100 mph, nose to tail, in lines of a dozen or more. It may be adventurous, but it ain't reasonable. None of those guys is qualified to wave a triple A study in our face and tell us what safe drivers they are. They just haven't encountered that elderly couple pulling out from the side road in the old sedan with the dim headlights yet.
Settle down, please?
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
You see, I have rode in your saddle, ride in mine. If split speeds are so good why are there only 9 states with them?
Ohio
Michigan
Indiana
Illinios
Arkansas
California
Idaho
Washington
Oregon
Texas raised the speed limit for trucks in 1999, read the crash stats from texas back then and look now. Read the crash stats for your state, infact read the crash stats for Cal and Ohio, you will not believe them. I'm not going to post them but I just looked at the stats for all split states and then the non split states, I know where I found them, I'm sure as smart as you are you can find them also.
Untill trucks are treated like a cancer, people will die on the highways, instead of looking at the cancer, look at what causes it.
Stay off this subjsect, never. This is my life, I live it and it needs to change. Offeror I can show you things that happen in the trucking industry that would make you sick if they happened to you, you wil not believe the discrimination towards trucks and the MONEY that the local goverments and the federal Government makes off of us. Truckers represesnt freedom, and the government with the help of the media and you will destroy us, that is what is happeneing right now as we speak, the industry is in dire strights and if you enjoy the life here in this country, defending us will help you.
Thats it, I'm done for now. I got writers cramp. Be back in 1 hour, phew!
Offeror, if thisd link still works, read all of this. It is the end of the econmy as we know it, this country will stop if this passes. This is what we are dealing with, and when it backfires on THEM we will be blamed. It is on its way back to session and we are in trouble. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Another way to look at this topic...Until the truckers start understanding our fears about the way you guy's drive...
Why should we care how you feel about ours??
I see a lot of safe and unsafe driving on both parts..(i drive 1200 miles a month myself)
And to the guy who said just get over one lane to the right why don't you guy's do the same i have seen more truckers keep lanes blocked up with this BULL then i have cars because most cars will get out of the way ...But i have been cut off by more truckers when they could have just stayed in thier lane and let me go...I even slow down and blink lights so you guy's can safely change lanes..I am doing the speed limit when i merge onto the roads..Most car drivers and most truck drivers i know mean well but they will always be the bad apple's in anything we do in life
I will only drive 75 MPH tops a z71 with the 350 motor really starts sucking gas after that...But i do not stay in the left lane at all unless i am passing someone up but a trucker will get on anyones butt if they ain't driving how you think we should drive...I know this is going to be a never ending topic...might try another topic that starts..Ok let me as a trucker tell you how i feel..How do you feel about us...
NOT Snobby drivers in cars will not believe this.
We all have feelings man lol
Harleeman1030@aol.com
Be quiet honey i know what i am doing ...
!!!!!KaBOOM!!!!!
For those who don't go to the Acrobat document, it begins this way. I have yet to get to the bad part so I'll reserve comment:
SUMMARY: The FMCSA is proposing to
revise its hours-of-service (HOS)
regulations to require motor carriers to
provide drivers with better
opportunities to obtain sleep, and
thereby reduce the risk of drivers
operating commercial motor vehicles
(CMVs) while drowsy, tired, or fatigued
to reduce crashes involving these
drivers. This action is necessary because
the FMCSA estimates that 755 fatalities
and 19,705 injuries occur each year on
the Nation's roads because of drowsy,
tired, or fatigued CMV drivers. The
regulations proposed in this document
would:
First, revert to a 24-hour daily cycle,
and a 7-day weekly cycle.
Second, adjust the work-rest
requirements for various types of
operations.
Third, emphasize rest. Require for
long-haul and regional drivers a period
of 10 consecutive hours off duty within
each 24-hour cycle, and two hours of
additional time off in each 14-hour work
period within each 24-hour cycle.
Fourth, require weekends, or their
functional equivalent, to include at a
minimum a rest period that includes
two consecutive periods from 11:00
p.m. to 7:00 a.m.
Fifth, require the use of electronic onboard
recorders (EOBRs) in CMVs used
by drivers in long-haul and regional
operations.
and later excerpts read as follows:
.....Driver fatigue
was voted the number one safety
concern of the Federal Highway
Administration's (FHWA) 1995 Truck
and Bus Safety Summit, a meeting of
over 200 drivers, motor carrier
representatives, government officials,
and safety advocates. The National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has
also asked the FMCSA to investigate
driver fatigue.
...The Safety Problem
While nearly everyone who has
studied the current HOS rules agrees
that they could and should be
improved, it is difficult to reach
consensus on alternatives because the
extent and nature of the problem are
unclear. This was acknowledged in a
June 1, 1999, letter from Jim Hall,
Chairman of the NTSB, to DOT
Secretary Rodney E. Slater. Chairman
Hall said, among other things:
Fatigue has remained a significant factor in
transportation accidents since the Safety
Board's 1989 recommendations were issued.
Although generally accepted as a factor in
transportation accidents, the exact number of
accidents due to fatigue is difficult to
determine and likely to be underestimated.
The difficulty in determining the incidence
of fatigue-related accidents is due, at least in
part, to the difficulty in identifying fatigue as
a causal or contributing factor in accidents.
There is no comparable chemical test for
identifying the presence of fatigue as there is
for identifying the presence of drugs or
alcohol; hence, it is often difficult to
conclude unequivocally that fatigue was a
causal or contributing factor in an accident.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
It seems they have nailed you the same way that aiothers have been had. If you read a bad article about guns, what is your first reaction?
Offeror, you have made it known in the past you do not like trucks or the people who drive them. I should take the time and go back thru several months of posts to find a comment you made that I will never forget. Why you feel the way you do I don't know, no matter what is said truckers will always be the problem to you. You have a problem with trucks, you do not like them, you brag about how fast your car will go when you punch it then you gasp at the idea that a truck may get in your way. Alot of what I typed in the last two days has been typed out of humor, you have nopt seen it because of your hate for trucks. Well there buddy, you may get your wish. Truckers are getting tired of being pointed out as the bad guy, it will come to head. All we hear out there anymore is "strike", we may not get a nationwide strike but I guarentee you this much, we will be heard.
Pick that apart and applaud Julie Cirrilo for her hard work at destroying the trucking industry, facts and studies have been made to make us look bad and that is her ammo, the studies was made by the folks in her camp, not ours. Only reason I posted the study at the begining of this thread is because it was made by the ENEMY, people like you who hate trucks to no end, your people offeror, has realized a big mistake.
Remember this next time you get mad at a truck for invading YOUR space, slobs like me is what keeps your country afloat bud. Take us away and it all will crumble.
Offeror, the last time you and I got into this argument I thought of this story, it fits you well in my mind. It is wrote by another trucker named Keith Hamlin who has a web site at http://www.truckerspage.com/writing.html
But anyhow, knowing how you feel about trucks and how this thread has gone I figured I would show you the story that makes me laugh when you get "on my case" about trucks, it's stupid but funny to me because this crap really happens, this is for you Offeror!
THOSE DAMNED TRUCKS
Ya know? I'm not real happy with the way my life is going lately. Society seems to be falling apart. Take right now for instance. I am heading to work on what should be a 15 minute drive, yet I have been driving for a half hour and am only half way there. The traffic is lined up bumper to bumper on both sides of me but I know I could get done a lot faster if I could just get around this stupid semi that is right in front of me..Those things shouldn't be allowed on the road..
Okay, that's it, next break I am going to get around him if it KILLS me. Here we go, the car next to me has allowed a space of 6 feet between him and the car in front of him so I'll just force my way in here and work my way to the front of this truck. "Hey buddy, don't shake your head at me, your the one who slowed down. If you wanna take a pleasure cruise, do it on your own time. I've got to get to work."
Finally! Now maybe I can work my way out of this mess. Look, just like I thought. That stupid truck driver has about 120 feet of space in front of him. Oh great, almost there and now the cars ahead of me are going to slow down so I can't get in front of him.. Just one more,, foot, got it, mash the gas,,!!
Ha, look, that stupid truck driver just swerved over and hit the car on the other side of him. Probably fell asleep at the wheel. Well it's just like I always say, those stinkin' trucks shouldn't even be allowed on the road.. I am going to write a letter to my congressman. If they can't outlaw them all together, atleast they could get a little better control over them.
Ah, work at last.. Hey Joe, why aren't those lines running? You know we've got to make that deadline! Get those people to work!!! Sorry Boss. the truck hasn't arrived yet and we're out of widgets. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE TRUCK ISN'T HERE YET! I TOLD THAT IDIOT HE HAD TO BE HERE AT 7:AM!!!!!! He isn't here boss, maybe he got caught in the traffic or something... I don't want to hear excuses! I want my freight! You get that drivers' dispatcher on the phone and find out where he's at! Also tell them I am going to tell the shipper not to use them anymore, they are to undependable!!!!
Hey boss, I talked to the dispatcher. He said that truck was involved in an accident this morning. I guess some car cut in front of him and he hit another car trying to avoid running over the first. The truck driver is in the hospital not expected to live and the guy in the other car is dead.. Well call them back and see how soon we are going to get those widgets. I have a deadline to meet.. Also tell them I am going to bill them for the wages I have to pay while my production line stands around waiting for parts...
I know, I know, This sounds just as ridiculous as my last article. Well guess what? It happens every day.. Maybe someday we will have a transporter and can just beam you your bread and milk. Until then try to remember,,,
IF YOU'VE GOT IT,
A TRUCK BROUGHT IT!!!
c November, 1995 by Keith A. Hamblin
I have nothing against trucks or truckers. But they need to stay in the right lane as much as possible and they need to drive within the speed limit and obey all other traffic laws.
I do a lot of driving on I-30, between Greenville and Texarkana. I usually cruise right at 70 mph using the cruise control. I stay in the right lane except when passing, in compliance with the warning signs.
Often, I will come up on another vehicle running maybe 68 in the right lane. I move to the left lane to overtake. My speed is not a lot more than his, so this is not a fast manuever. Very often, before I can get around, some big truck, running 75 or more in the left lane, will pull right up on my bumper and begin flashing his lights.
I am driving legal, and he is not, and he is mad at me for being in his way. Rain on him.
Truckers do a valuable job, and most are good and courteous drivers. It is the macho cowboys among them that make them look bad.
SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
Thank you nunn. 7mm, I do not hate trucks. I am not a truck-hater. I do not cause truck accidents. The story does not apply to me. It does not "feel true" to me, nor represent my feeling -- I am not looking to cut off a truck. In fact, it is more likely that a car on the on-ramp is eyeing that 120 feet of space you're talking about.
I will say this. Some years ago, I changed to the left lane on Christmas Eve in downtown L.A. (signaled and everything) and got a ticket from the cop driving behind me in the lefthand lane because he said I made him "touch" his brakes. It is not legal to pull to the left lane in California if it causes another vehicle to touch the brakes. Cool, I can live with that. Paid the ticket. Learned a lesson. How many people do you know who take that kind of courtesy to heart? How many people signal for the proper number of feet before changing lanes these days? And if you answer, "not enough," then we agree that those lane changes are essentially illegal. Usually nobody gets hurt, but sometimes they do. I've had a trucker look me in the eye while I was passing him and pull left, running me onto the grass. I guess he wanted to "merge" into the passing lane. Except there's no such thing as merging into the passing lane. Because if you're being passed, and there is another car there actively passing you, you cannot legally speed up, let alone pull out in mid-pass.
How many people wait for a clear, safe space so that they do not cause another driver to "touch" his brakes? It sounds like you are trying to justify "acting out." As if the only ones doin business on the road are truckers. Meanwhile, trucks stage slowdowns, weaving to block lanes, not caring if the guy behind might be transporting somebody's new liver. Give me a break. Or brake. I'll lean toward nunn's view, thanks.
And yes, I'm having a bit of fun too, but let's keep this a discussion and not an argument. I assume you don't like the idea of a tape recorder in your cockpit? You disagree that truckers aren't able to get enough sleep? I'm just asking.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Offeror, listen man I have a very short temper on this subject, there are things happening out there that you could not imagine(legal wise), we may always disagree on what lane I should be in or how fast I should drive but remember this, I'm not out there to kill anyone. I will continue to do what I do untill the laws are changed to make the highways safer, I'm safe as heck, but because of a crooked HOS system, I'm a criminal. They use safetey and other bogus crap to make trucks look bad, add in the cowboys who screw up to it and you have the makings for bad politics. I'm very involed in the political side of trucking, I have a mailing list just for truck related letters and I mail several every week, some nice, some not.
You know, I would love to sit down with you sometime, just to talk and see what we come up with, who knows I may learn something from you and maybe I can help get you on my side, I can show you things on paper that would make you sick. The HOS rules make us carry a log book, that log book is an incriminating document that can and will be used against us, it is a violation of 5th amandment rights and well as violating other cival rights. Look at search and siezure laws, we are exempt, that black box is a violation of that. But you know what? "For the better good of the people" si a good excuse to violate the constitution, where have yoyu heard that beofore? Owuld you tolerate it whaen it comes to your gun rights? NOPE! Why is it ok to do it to us? There is so much I want to put in this thread yet, I hade 1/2 hour of typing in this little box with some good comebacks and I hit the wrong dang button! So now I had to retype it and lost my train of thought so this is not my original response, it was better than this.
Hey, I got to go to philly now, got to go so I'll talk to you later. Just because I'm gone for a week don't mean you can flame me in my absense, so BEHAVE!!
Stay safe and remember, outa my way!!!HAHA, had to throw that in!
Actually, I was getting worn out with discussing issues on this board today and winding up on the wrong side of somebody's opinion, so I'm glad to go out on a happier note. I don't imagine anybody wants a black box in their vehicle, but they always say if you're not breaking the law you have nothing to worry about. Then we have those who say, yeah, but it's a free country, which to them means I can bend things if I feel like it. Right now in Fort Wayne they're contemplating a budget for cameras at stop lights to catch red light shavers. I never had a problem with that (I may clear the intersection on a yellow but I'm not running the pink ones). Still, cameras are cameras and when you get that thing in the mail you are likely to be ticked off, because it has no discretion, it just goes to the millisecond and snaps away. At least cops can write a warning if they choose. I wonder how many panic stops and rear end accidents those cameras will cause once they're in place when people freak as the light changes.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
well i guess i should say that safety is a VERY large portion of my job.I will tell you that i make mistakes..i am human.the left lane is for passing vehicles..if your doing 70 in a 70 and someone behind you is wanting to do 75 get out of the way...I do.I had my first accident 2 months ago...a car passed me in the rain,I was doin 70 (I had slowed down because of the rain) and a car passed me like i was sittin still.The car got 50 yds in front of me and hydroplaned and veered into my lane sideways and i hit them.the parents were grateful to be alive (and so was I,grateful that THEY were alive),but, they had their 17 year old son driving...WHY????I am so gratreful because if i had hit them square they would have been dead!I know sometimes trucks get in the way..I have often said truckersd are their own worst enemy,but,if you read the reports and the stats you wil find that by the mile by the year etc..etc.. we are the safest drivers on the road.I aint gonna get in no pissin contest with anyone but 7mm brings up very valid points.the truth is the truth and liking it or not wont change it
SUBMARINE SAILOR,TRUCK DRIVER,RUSTY WALLACE FAN AND AS EVERYONE SO OFTEN POINTS OUT PISS POOR TYPIST e-mail:WNUNLEY@USIT.NET
SUBMARINER,
Where in my post did I say anything to make you think I was comparing a 4 wheeler to a truck?
quote: 7mm,
You just reminded me of a stupid driver I saw today. We were driving down 70, me and my family, and my wife says you need to get over, Mr. Uhaul is taking up half of the right lane, which we were in, and half of the shoulder. Turns out this guy is driving a car hauling a Uhaul trailer which is over loading his hitch, and his front tires are barely touching. I'd love to have had him weigh in, and see if either the trailer or the car were hauling weight that either were designed for. What an idiot.
See the sentence where I said that it turned out the guy was driving a CAR HAULING A UHAUL TRAILER? I wasnt making a comparison, I was merely talking about stupid 4 wheeler drivers.
I have met good truckers and bad.... but the bad ones far outweight the good truck drivers...
While driving down here, on I75, it states that truckers are to use the right lanes... funny how the right lanes are seemily the whole side of the road...and late at night, and I am speaking of past midnight...all that is on that interstate are trucks...doing way over the posted speed limit, which is 70 in most areas..They get right on your butt, then lay on the air horn just before passing... Why the need to ride my butt when there are two other lanes? They dont hesitate to pass, get right in front of you, and then take the next exit off... cutting you off, cause they have just finished passing you, and then they hit the brakes..
There are some very good truck drivers who stay off your butt, do the speed limit... are very courteous, and helpful.. but I find those number in the "few" range...
I know people act really stupid around trucks, but I've seen my fair share of trucks acting stupid, too. 9 times out of 10 they are laying on their side in a ditch. ROLL!
" God is in His Heaven, All is Right in the World. "
I started to respond about the cruising in the left lane last night too, but I was just too worn out and it seemed like it could be taken wrong.
But I believe that some have forgotten that the left lane is still the passing lane, and when one decides to pass another individual vehicle (or two), one should speed up, execute the maneuver, and get back in the right lane. The only time I think it's okay not to punch the gas a little is when there's no one in sight behind you. Otherwise, execute your passing maneuver a little more actively, and avoid the line that builds up waiting for cruise control to do the thinking. In Indiana we still have a lot of 2-lane roads, and I guarantee it's much safer to pass efficiently than dawdle out there on the left; it only makes sense that the same would be true when you are in tandem with the vehicle next to you.
In the Indiana handbook I learned on, and I've said this before, it says you may flash your lights or sound your horn to signal your desire to pass, and pass on the right cautiously if you must, because "you are dealing with a poor driver." Now I don't put all left lane traffic in that category, but the ones who cruise the left lane mile after mile are just as much at fault as somebody who'd rather get through the wolfpack of traffic and have a little breathing room -- like me. It still astounds me that people will travel in tight packs on an open highway in the country, making each other miserable for miles at a stretch -- especially if its raining or snowing. The left lane is the passing lane. If you are not actively engaged in a passing maneuver, what are you doing there?
Sigh.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
offeror you said it,robsguns i may have read it wrong ok my fault...blackroses,they restrict us to the right 2 lanes remember??so we cant use that 3rd lane.this law bunches everything up in the right two lanes.The Law not the trucks.If you dont want them on your butt get over in that left lane reserved soley for your use.I aint tryin to come off as a smartass with ya im just saying that the state in its infinite wisdom has taken the heaviest, hardest to maneuver, and most cumbersome vehicles on the road and restricted them to the two lanes that require the most adjustments to the flow of traffic.If you dont like that write your congressman and tell him you think its a crappy law that needlessly endangers the motoring public.if you want a lane restriction make it a speed restriction,that would make more sense than anything. If i try to leave a safe distance between me and the vehicle in front of me i will bet you any amount of money you want that within 30 seconds of establishing that safe distance some lunkhead will jump into it
SUBMARINE SAILOR,TRUCK DRIVER,RUSTY WALLACE FAN AND AS EVERYONE SO OFTEN POINTS OUT PISS POOR TYPIST e-mail:WNUNLEY@USIT.NET
Well gosh, why don't we ALL bash trucks. It is a wonderful idea to have the biggest thing on the road running at a slower speed than the rest of us. Gives us lots of obstacles to slalom (sp?) around in the rain and snow.
About the only real gripe I have is when one truck decides to pass another on an uphill because he can go 2 MPH faster than the other truck - blocking all us little guys who can run up that hill 40 MPH faster.
quote: Treat yourself to a trip on IH-40 in New Mexico/Arizona and you will be faced with 18 wheelers doing 85-90 mph all day long
and your point was????? Sounds to me like they were going just fine, make good brooms to sweep up any stray smokies.
I like trucks (except on hills when they get in my way), As opposed to split speed laws, slow drivers in the fast lane ought to be shot!!!
Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis
Comments
Lane restrictions in Fla only apply in Florida I-75 as far as Cigar City. Another stretch mm89 at Jupiter on I-95 and south, but it is 7am to 7pm. Tennesee full grown explained why lane restrictions in the gourge on NC side to the big curve. Keep the trucks in the right lane and the slowest ones set the pace. Therefore, everybody makes the curve at a reasonable speed. Let trucks get in the left lane, and the lighter ones go faster, and the inexperienced ones , with half a load don't make it around the curve, but end up down the hill, causing a massive traffic jam.
Heavy rain, you will find me in the left lane, since I keep fresh wipers on the truck, and am up high enough to avoid the spray that causes fourwheelers not to be able to see. Plus my eyesight hasn't gone yet.
Southern born and raised, but I run the snow (or ice)rather than sit. Been lucky so far, hope that Angel keeps riding with me.
Over 2 million miles behind a truck steering wheel, but most 4wheelers average about 15k a year. I usually do that in a month.
Don't agree with trucks tailgateing, but ever wonder why your in the left lane and they tailgate you? Maybe because you need to be just one lane to the right???? If a truck tailgates you, try moving just one lane to the right and give him a couple of minutes and see if he isn't out of your hair.
Signal the truck with your lights? If you have the "flash" for high-beams installed on most newer cars, don't bother. If you can turn them off for just a second, thanks, but I really don't appreciate your bright lights in my mirror, just about the time I am looking to see if I have cleared your vehicle.
7mm, good post, keep the shiny side up. Sandman2234
Have Gun, will travel
This is why you shouldn't come back to this topic (unless maybe it helps to talk you down). You get too hot under the collar. It's crazy to think it could ever be the reverse, or should be.
If you can't see the big truck/freight train comparison, that's the beginning of the problem. People always talk about how it takes a freight train a mile to get stopped. If a big truck is 80,000 to 120,000 pounds, that's all on the side of extra caution for trucks.
And the fact that they close the door on the down-the-road view means that the rest of traffic (even other trucks) can't see around them the proper number of car-lengths, per most states' driving manuals. This is why semis in both lanes of a four-laner are such a problem until they get passed and back to the right.
In your fantasy, everybody would leave x number of car-lengths, but in the traffic of the real world, if somebody leaves a couple of extra car lengths, somebody else pulls into the space. The only reason top speeds are lower for trucks is because the people who write the regulations know that braking distance from 65 would be longer for trucks and is a little closer to even when trucks go only 60 if cars are going 65. Match the number of feet for stopping distance and you'll see the gap widens when trucks stop from 65. This is not an argument for your side, but for the side of the current regulations. They are sensible in the real world, given real traffic conditions. Heard of bullet trains? They have their own tracks. We can't share the road with trucks piledriving along like Saturn missiles, unable to stop in tandem with the cars in traffic.
If we all took our own advice and relaxed a little behind the wheel, that 5 miles an hour can be factored into the trip. One of our state cops recently said something that I can't get out of my head: "Some people drive like they were in a time machine." You can't shorten the distance or the time. If you're running late, you're just running late. It happens.
You are the fella who marvelled at the late-night caravans of trucks who run with the hammer down at over 100 mph, nose to tail, in lines of a dozen or more. It may be adventurous, but it ain't reasonable. None of those guys is qualified to wave a triple A study in our face and tell us what safe drivers they are. They just haven't encountered that elderly couple pulling out from the side road in the old sedan with the dim headlights yet.
Settle down, please?
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Ohio
Michigan
Indiana
Illinios
Arkansas
California
Idaho
Washington
Oregon
Texas raised the speed limit for trucks in 1999, read the crash stats from texas back then and look now. Read the crash stats for your state, infact read the crash stats for Cal and Ohio, you will not believe them. I'm not going to post them but I just looked at the stats for all split states and then the non split states, I know where I found them, I'm sure as smart as you are you can find them also.
Untill trucks are treated like a cancer, people will die on the highways, instead of looking at the cancer, look at what causes it.
Stay off this subjsect, never. This is my life, I live it and it needs to change. Offeror I can show you things that happen in the trucking industry that would make you sick if they happened to you, you wil not believe the discrimination towards trucks and the MONEY that the local goverments and the federal Government makes off of us. Truckers represesnt freedom, and the government with the help of the media and you will destroy us, that is what is happeneing right now as we speak, the industry is in dire strights and if you enjoy the life here in this country, defending us will help you.
Thats it, I'm done for now. I got writers cramp. Be back in 1 hour, phew!
You will need Acrobat to read it. Read it all and you will see what is happening to us.
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rulesregs/fmcsr/final/050200p.pdf
Why should we care how you feel about ours??
I see a lot of safe and unsafe driving on both parts..(i drive 1200 miles a month myself)
And to the guy who said just get over one lane to the right why don't you guy's do the same i have seen more truckers keep lanes blocked up with this BULL then i have cars because most cars will get out of the way ...But i have been cut off by more truckers when they could have just stayed in thier lane and let me go...I even slow down and blink lights so you guy's can safely change lanes..I am doing the speed limit when i merge onto the roads..Most car drivers and most truck drivers i know mean well but they will always be the bad apple's in anything we do in life
I will only drive 75 MPH tops a z71 with the 350 motor really starts sucking gas after that...But i do not stay in the left lane at all unless i am passing someone up but a trucker will get on anyones butt if they ain't driving how you think we should drive...I know this is going to be a never ending topic...might try another topic that starts..Ok let me as a trucker tell you how i feel..How do you feel about us...
NOT Snobby drivers in cars will not believe this.
We all have feelings man lol
Harleeman1030@aol.com
Be quiet honey i know what i am doing ...
!!!!!KaBOOM!!!!!
SUMMARY: The FMCSA is proposing to
revise its hours-of-service (HOS)
regulations to require motor carriers to
provide drivers with better
opportunities to obtain sleep, and
thereby reduce the risk of drivers
operating commercial motor vehicles
(CMVs) while drowsy, tired, or fatigued
to reduce crashes involving these
drivers. This action is necessary because
the FMCSA estimates that 755 fatalities
and 19,705 injuries occur each year on
the Nation's roads because of drowsy,
tired, or fatigued CMV drivers. The
regulations proposed in this document
would:
First, revert to a 24-hour daily cycle,
and a 7-day weekly cycle.
Second, adjust the work-rest
requirements for various types of
operations.
Third, emphasize rest. Require for
long-haul and regional drivers a period
of 10 consecutive hours off duty within
each 24-hour cycle, and two hours of
additional time off in each 14-hour work
period within each 24-hour cycle.
Fourth, require weekends, or their
functional equivalent, to include at a
minimum a rest period that includes
two consecutive periods from 11:00
p.m. to 7:00 a.m.
Fifth, require the use of electronic onboard
recorders (EOBRs) in CMVs used
by drivers in long-haul and regional
operations.
and later excerpts read as follows:
.....Driver fatigue
was voted the number one safety
concern of the Federal Highway
Administration's (FHWA) 1995 Truck
and Bus Safety Summit, a meeting of
over 200 drivers, motor carrier
representatives, government officials,
and safety advocates. The National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has
also asked the FMCSA to investigate
driver fatigue.
...The Safety Problem
While nearly everyone who has
studied the current HOS rules agrees
that they could and should be
improved, it is difficult to reach
consensus on alternatives because the
extent and nature of the problem are
unclear. This was acknowledged in a
June 1, 1999, letter from Jim Hall,
Chairman of the NTSB, to DOT
Secretary Rodney E. Slater. Chairman
Hall said, among other things:
Fatigue has remained a significant factor in
transportation accidents since the Safety
Board's 1989 recommendations were issued.
Although generally accepted as a factor in
transportation accidents, the exact number of
accidents due to fatigue is difficult to
determine and likely to be underestimated.
The difficulty in determining the incidence
of fatigue-related accidents is due, at least in
part, to the difficulty in identifying fatigue as
a causal or contributing factor in accidents.
There is no comparable chemical test for
identifying the presence of fatigue as there is
for identifying the presence of drugs or
alcohol; hence, it is often difficult to
conclude unequivocally that fatigue was a
causal or contributing factor in an accident.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Edited by - offeror on 09/08/2002 18:04:03
Offeror, you have made it known in the past you do not like trucks or the people who drive them. I should take the time and go back thru several months of posts to find a comment you made that I will never forget. Why you feel the way you do I don't know, no matter what is said truckers will always be the problem to you. You have a problem with trucks, you do not like them, you brag about how fast your car will go when you punch it then you gasp at the idea that a truck may get in your way. Alot of what I typed in the last two days has been typed out of humor, you have nopt seen it because of your hate for trucks. Well there buddy, you may get your wish. Truckers are getting tired of being pointed out as the bad guy, it will come to head. All we hear out there anymore is "strike", we may not get a nationwide strike but I guarentee you this much, we will be heard.
Pick that apart and applaud Julie Cirrilo for her hard work at destroying the trucking industry, facts and studies have been made to make us look bad and that is her ammo, the studies was made by the folks in her camp, not ours. Only reason I posted the study at the begining of this thread is because it was made by the ENEMY, people like you who hate trucks to no end, your people offeror, has realized a big mistake.
Remember this next time you get mad at a truck for invading YOUR space, slobs like me is what keeps your country afloat bud. Take us away and it all will crumble.
But anyhow, knowing how you feel about trucks and how this thread has gone I figured I would show you the story that makes me laugh when you get "on my case" about trucks, it's stupid but funny to me because this crap really happens, this is for you Offeror!
THOSE DAMNED TRUCKS
Ya know? I'm not real happy with the way my life is going lately. Society seems to be falling apart. Take right now for instance. I am heading to work on what should be a 15 minute drive, yet I have been driving for a half hour and am only half way there. The traffic is lined up bumper to bumper on both sides of me but I know I could get done a lot faster if I could just get around this stupid semi that is right in front of me..Those things shouldn't be allowed on the road..
Okay, that's it, next break I am going to get around him if it KILLS me. Here we go, the car next to me has allowed a space of 6 feet between him and the car in front of him so I'll just force my way in here and work my way to the front of this truck. "Hey buddy, don't shake your head at me, your the one who slowed down. If you wanna take a pleasure cruise, do it on your own time. I've got to get to work."
Finally! Now maybe I can work my way out of this mess. Look, just like I thought. That stupid truck driver has about 120 feet of space in front of him. Oh great, almost there and now the cars ahead of me are going to slow down so I can't get in front of him.. Just one more,, foot, got it, mash the gas,,!!
Ha, look, that stupid truck driver just swerved over and hit the car on the other side of him. Probably fell asleep at the wheel. Well it's just like I always say, those stinkin' trucks shouldn't even be allowed on the road.. I am going to write a letter to my congressman. If they can't outlaw them all together, atleast they could get a little better control over them.
Ah, work at last.. Hey Joe, why aren't those lines running? You know we've got to make that deadline! Get those people to work!!! Sorry Boss. the truck hasn't arrived yet and we're out of widgets. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE TRUCK ISN'T HERE YET! I TOLD THAT IDIOT HE HAD TO BE HERE AT 7:AM!!!!!! He isn't here boss, maybe he got caught in the traffic or something... I don't want to hear excuses! I want my freight! You get that drivers' dispatcher on the phone and find out where he's at! Also tell them I am going to tell the shipper not to use them anymore, they are to undependable!!!!
Hey boss, I talked to the dispatcher. He said that truck was involved in an accident this morning. I guess some car cut in front of him and he hit another car trying to avoid running over the first. The truck driver is in the hospital not expected to live and the guy in the other car is dead.. Well call them back and see how soon we are going to get those widgets. I have a deadline to meet.. Also tell them I am going to bill them for the wages I have to pay while my production line stands around waiting for parts...
I know, I know, This sounds just as ridiculous as my last article. Well guess what? It happens every day.. Maybe someday we will have a transporter and can just beam you your bread and milk. Until then try to remember,,,
IF YOU'VE GOT IT,
A TRUCK BROUGHT IT!!!
c November, 1995 by Keith A. Hamblin
I do a lot of driving on I-30, between Greenville and Texarkana. I usually cruise right at 70 mph using the cruise control. I stay in the right lane except when passing, in compliance with the warning signs.
Often, I will come up on another vehicle running maybe 68 in the right lane. I move to the left lane to overtake. My speed is not a lot more than his, so this is not a fast manuever. Very often, before I can get around, some big truck, running 75 or more in the left lane, will pull right up on my bumper and begin flashing his lights.
I am driving legal, and he is not, and he is mad at me for being in his way. Rain on him.
Truckers do a valuable job, and most are good and courteous drivers. It is the macho cowboys among them that make them look bad.
SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
I will say this. Some years ago, I changed to the left lane on Christmas Eve in downtown L.A. (signaled and everything) and got a ticket from the cop driving behind me in the lefthand lane because he said I made him "touch" his brakes. It is not legal to pull to the left lane in California if it causes another vehicle to touch the brakes. Cool, I can live with that. Paid the ticket. Learned a lesson. How many people do you know who take that kind of courtesy to heart? How many people signal for the proper number of feet before changing lanes these days? And if you answer, "not enough," then we agree that those lane changes are essentially illegal. Usually nobody gets hurt, but sometimes they do. I've had a trucker look me in the eye while I was passing him and pull left, running me onto the grass. I guess he wanted to "merge" into the passing lane. Except there's no such thing as merging into the passing lane. Because if you're being passed, and there is another car there actively passing you, you cannot legally speed up, let alone pull out in mid-pass.
How many people wait for a clear, safe space so that they do not cause another driver to "touch" his brakes? It sounds like you are trying to justify "acting out." As if the only ones doin business on the road are truckers. Meanwhile, trucks stage slowdowns, weaving to block lanes, not caring if the guy behind might be transporting somebody's new liver. Give me a break. Or brake. I'll lean toward nunn's view, thanks.
And yes, I'm having a bit of fun too, but let's keep this a discussion and not an argument. I assume you don't like the idea of a tape recorder in your cockpit? You disagree that truckers aren't able to get enough sleep? I'm just asking.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
Edited by - offeror on 09/08/2002 22:36:02
You know, I would love to sit down with you sometime, just to talk and see what we come up with, who knows I may learn something from you and maybe I can help get you on my side, I can show you things on paper that would make you sick. The HOS rules make us carry a log book, that log book is an incriminating document that can and will be used against us, it is a violation of 5th amandment rights and well as violating other cival rights. Look at search and siezure laws, we are exempt, that black box is a violation of that. But you know what? "For the better good of the people" si a good excuse to violate the constitution, where have yoyu heard that beofore? Owuld you tolerate it whaen it comes to your gun rights? NOPE! Why is it ok to do it to us? There is so much I want to put in this thread yet, I hade 1/2 hour of typing in this little box with some good comebacks and I hit the wrong dang button! So now I had to retype it and lost my train of thought so this is not my original response, it was better than this.
Hey, I got to go to philly now, got to go so I'll talk to you later. Just because I'm gone for a week don't mean you can flame me in my absense, so BEHAVE!!
Stay safe and remember, outa my way!!!HAHA, had to throw that in!
Actually, I was getting worn out with discussing issues on this board today and winding up on the wrong side of somebody's opinion, so I'm glad to go out on a happier note. I don't imagine anybody wants a black box in their vehicle, but they always say if you're not breaking the law you have nothing to worry about. Then we have those who say, yeah, but it's a free country, which to them means I can bend things if I feel like it. Right now in Fort Wayne they're contemplating a budget for cameras at stop lights to catch red light shavers. I never had a problem with that (I may clear the intersection on a yellow but I'm not running the pink ones). Still, cameras are cameras and when you get that thing in the mail you are likely to be ticked off, because it has no discretion, it just goes to the millisecond and snaps away. At least cops can write a warning if they choose. I wonder how many panic stops and rear end accidents those cameras will cause once they're in place when people freak as the light changes.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
SUBMARINE SAILOR,TRUCK DRIVER,RUSTY WALLACE FAN AND AS EVERYONE SO OFTEN POINTS OUT PISS POOR TYPIST e-mail:WNUNLEY@USIT.NET
if you aint gonna write in caps i wont read any more of your posts.(just kidding)
barto
the hard stuff we do right away - the impossible takes a little longer
Where in my post did I say anything to make you think I was comparing a 4 wheeler to a truck?
quote: 7mm,
You just reminded me of a stupid driver I saw today. We were driving down 70, me and my family, and my wife says you need to get over, Mr. Uhaul is taking up half of the right lane, which we were in, and half of the shoulder. Turns out this guy is driving a car hauling a Uhaul trailer which is over loading his hitch, and his front tires are barely touching. I'd love to have had him weigh in, and see if either the trailer or the car were hauling weight that either were designed for. What an idiot.
See the sentence where I said that it turned out the guy was driving a CAR HAULING A UHAUL TRAILER? I wasnt making a comparison, I was merely talking about stupid 4 wheeler drivers.
SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC
While driving down here, on I75, it states that truckers are to use the right lanes... funny how the right lanes are seemily the whole side of the road...and late at night, and I am speaking of past midnight...all that is on that interstate are trucks...doing way over the posted speed limit, which is 70 in most areas..They get right on your butt, then lay on the air horn just before passing... Why the need to ride my butt when there are two other lanes? They dont hesitate to pass, get right in front of you, and then take the next exit off... cutting you off, cause they have just finished passing you, and then they hit the brakes..
There are some very good truck drivers who stay off your butt, do the speed limit... are very courteous, and helpful.. but I find those number in the "few" range...
Lil' Stinker's Opinion
" God is in His Heaven, All is Right in the World. "
I started to respond about the cruising in the left lane last night too, but I was just too worn out and it seemed like it could be taken wrong.
But I believe that some have forgotten that the left lane is still the passing lane, and when one decides to pass another individual vehicle (or two), one should speed up, execute the maneuver, and get back in the right lane. The only time I think it's okay not to punch the gas a little is when there's no one in sight behind you. Otherwise, execute your passing maneuver a little more actively, and avoid the line that builds up waiting for cruise control to do the thinking. In Indiana we still have a lot of 2-lane roads, and I guarantee it's much safer to pass efficiently than dawdle out there on the left; it only makes sense that the same would be true when you are in tandem with the vehicle next to you.
In the Indiana handbook I learned on, and I've said this before, it says you may flash your lights or sound your horn to signal your desire to pass, and pass on the right cautiously if you must, because "you are dealing with a poor driver." Now I don't put all left lane traffic in that category, but the ones who cruise the left lane mile after mile are just as much at fault as somebody who'd rather get through the wolfpack of traffic and have a little breathing room -- like me. It still astounds me that people will travel in tight packs on an open highway in the country, making each other miserable for miles at a stretch -- especially if its raining or snowing. The left lane is the passing lane. If you are not actively engaged in a passing maneuver, what are you doing there?
Sigh.
- Life NRA Member
"If cowardly & dishonorable men shoot unarmed men with army guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary...and not by general deprivation of constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
SUBMARINE SAILOR,TRUCK DRIVER,RUSTY WALLACE FAN AND AS EVERYONE SO OFTEN POINTS OUT PISS POOR TYPIST e-mail:WNUNLEY@USIT.NET
About the only real gripe I have is when one truck decides to pass another on an uphill because he can go 2 MPH faster than the other truck - blocking all us little guys who can run up that hill 40 MPH faster.
quote: Treat yourself to a trip on IH-40 in New Mexico/Arizona and you will be faced with 18 wheelers doing 85-90 mph all day long
and your point was????? Sounds to me like they were going just fine, make good brooms to sweep up any stray smokies.
I like trucks (except on hills when they get in my way), As opposed to split speed laws, slow drivers in the fast lane ought to be shot!!!
Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis