Thoughts on truck drivers

Feels like every time we go out for a drive we end up having to deal with a truck doing something dumb on the road.

Driving slow in the middle lane, driving 70+ in a 60 for trucks, changing lanes to push you out of your lane, driving on the white line next to you when you’re beside them, passing another truck at 1mph faster taking miles to pass the other truck, and more nonsense.

I’m not saying all truck drivers are bad, I’m just wanting to know what the hell is going on, is anyone else experiencing this or maybe this is just in my neck of the woods on I-5 in WA?

My wife’s dad was a truck driver and he was an asshole. Put a shotgun to her head, ran drugs for the Hell’s Angels, and other crap, so maybe I already have a negative view of them, but I’m not prejudice against all truck drivers.

What’s been your experience with truck drivers?

 

It all depends on the truck, the company and the driver.

I drive for a living and I can’t tell you how many people have close calls due to following distance, distractions or just shear impatience.

Best advice I would give upon encountering a truck or dump or someone being erratic is to slow down, steer clear and go around when able (or let pass).

Drive defensively until the point it annoys your passengers.

Vehicles aren’t cheap, no one likes getting hurt.

Steer clear and save your cursing for a rusty bolt on your exhaust or something instead.

 

I respect the profession however I have noticed in the last five years how bad the driving has become. It is common to see a fully loaded tractor trailer (flatbed-the load is evident) in the left lane doing well over 75 mph in the left lane. Additionally they change lanes like they are operating a Honda Civic in the Fast and Furious movies.

Unfortunately, defensive driving will do very little IMHO and this coming from a very conservative and defensive driver. Because society has become so aggressively reckless while driving. The speeds are too great and the driving is so aggressive that it simply becomes impossible to be in a defensive position to survive a crash. This goes for all drivers lately. With commercial trucks, statistically speaking, a fatality becomes exponentially higher when a truck is involved.

 

Yeah I just had one today pissed off at me for some reason. He was passing people in the left lane even when the other two lanes had semis in them, gets behind me in the middle lane just to honk and flash his lights when I’m behind another vehicle unable to speed up and then passes me on the left and swerves towards me and keeps going 75 in the left lane.

The only thing he must’ve been hauling was ass!

 

it's been coming for a while. There's a driver shortage so the ones still working are being pushed to drive more. And the ones retiring are being replaced by inexperienced drivers. it's going to get worse way before it gets better. That said, those in cars and pickups aren't any better. I've gotten to the point that on the interstate I drive 5 miles under the limit and just let everyone pass me by.

 

In all fairness think of the endless idiots truck drivers have to deal with. Sure there are truck drivers that seem to drive like they own the road but it seem I can't get a mile from my house without encountering endless idiots driving their cars. Its painful just going to the grocery store

 

Main thing for me is there's 2 regional train line overpasses in my neighborhood clearly marked as having a clearance of 12 feet and change with warning signs a mile ahead about clearance. But periodically we still get huge trucks stuck in those intersections having to turn around in tiny lots with police help to block traffic when they realize they won't fit. Or in some cases they miss all the signs, blow through and get wedged under the bridges. Happens to one of the bridges that's at a low point between 2 really steep hills a bit more often. it gets hit by a big rig which has to be pulled out from under and then the bridge has to be repaired a couple to a few times per year. If we're lucky it just gets a light tap. But the trucks are often cruising fairly quick at normal traffic speed so they hit hard. Get wedged under there good and really wallop the structure.

I try to be charitable and figure being stuck behind that wheel for so many hours a day means you get tired and miss things. But the signs are becoming bigger and more numerous and starting out further from the overpasses and it's to the point where I wonder if a sign with an actual image of a big rig wedged under a bridge is what's needed.

 

The problem is these people are in gigantic vehicles. I’m pretty good at predicting what drivers are going to do, I’m rarely caught off gaurd. Like today before the semi incident I predicted that a moron wanted to go right into my middle lane from his far right on ramp lane and I moved over just in time. My wife waved her arm at him because he almost hit us. Later he passed me on the left and his wife/girlfriend flipped me off. He almost caused a wreck that I avoided but fuck me, right? I just smiled and waved at her.

 

Between engineers and truck drivers, I don’t have to worry too much about job security.

 

I wanna know what happened to all the highway signs (at least in NY) that said,
No trucks, busses or trailers in left lane.

 

Well, you could just get out of the way.

As to your passing another truck at 1mph faster taking miles to pass the other truck, and more nonsense.
Most company trucks are governed and they have no choice in their top speed.
Fedex and several other freight companies top out at 65.
Most UPS tractors and others top out at 68, so yes it takes more time to pass another truck.
Then there are independents, rock haulers, and cattle trucks that have no governor that will haul ass..

You can be patient and get over it, or you can get mad about it.
The truck drivers don't give a fuck about your emotions.
I know I don't.

It is said a woman usually marries a man that was like her Dad, so there's that.
Congratulations.

Are there bad truck drivers?
Yes.
Are there more bad automobile drivers?
You better fucking believe it.

Pay attention, stay off your phone, and you'll be fine.

Just remember, EVERY MATERIAL THING you have, the food you eat, and/or consume (fuel, etc.) was transported on a truck.
I'm sure you'll find something else to be pissed off about tomorrow..

Happy motoring..

 

You can’t help yourself. Almost got your account banned from your previous comments about me in a different thread and you PM’d me a lousy apology because the moderators made you, now you’re back.

This is going on your permanent record:

“Does not play well with others…”

 

I hope no one clutches their pearls over this, but:
There's people that end up designing/building equip for NASA,....and there's people who end up being truck drivers. Not saying anything about character, but you don't have to be a genius to drive a truck.
The reality of it is, though: most of them are better at driving than 99% of people driving small passenger vehicles. Most people are not good at driving, even though most people think their driving is just fine and it's everyone else that's an idiot. Yeah, nah.
Yes, a % of tractor trailer drivers aren't the greatest drivers and do bonehead shit, but the vast majority of them have to deal with, not only the the completely different physics of handling a tractor/trailer, but they have to deal with all the idiot drivers buzzing around them constantly, cutting them off, driving in their blind spots, not passing them fast enough, tailgating them, cutting them off and taking away the large distance they need to stop, on and on and on.
You'd understand why they do some of the stuff they do if you drove a mile in their shoes.

 

I’m a truck driver and it’s 50 50 if they’re assholes or not but in all fairness I say 85 percent of people in cars are selfish assholes obviously depends a lot on location. 99 percent in California can die for all I care but most states are getting there

this country is just going down the shitter truck driver or not and keep in mind you would most likely starve to death without truck drivers

 

Guys and gals alike are just trying to make a damn living and none of us are perfect 24/7. I think since you know so much about how it should be done, you should start your own truck driver training academy.

 

Ok,

1st off ;

The beginning of this ; Thoughts on truck drivers ; F@#$ YOU

Why package a whole career substance into one or 5 BAD drivers, because you can NOT do that on my watch..

I will be the 1st to say 50-75 % of ALL drivers today are not TAUGHT correctly BUT to come after ALL truck drivers to "SCREAM FROM A SOAP BOX..

1000000 miles plus without a single ticket or wreck because I was good at AVOIDING idiots

Report me, call all the dam Mod's ,cry a river ..

You do NOT get to come on here running your opinion without blow back..

Old Man back quiet

 

This^^^

 

Truck drivers are way better than the rest of us.

I see stupidity ALL THE TIME from car drivers.

low IQ people are able to drive a car and be on their phone simultaneously. yet, they can't add & subtract.

I tend to drive very defensibly. I do my best to steer clear of all those weirdos.

we are in a clown world.

 

To be clear I don’t dislike truck drivers. Next to trains they bring us all our goods, they’re right up there by farmers in terms of usefulness. They probably deal with more a-holes on the road than I/We do. They spend a lot of time on the road and they’re probably tired of idiots. I think its a give and take, they have to realize that dealing with dumb drivers is part of the job, they shouldn’t be shocked or caught off guard that their job involves being around a majority of dumb, careless drivers. Just like when I worked in IT, I wasn’t shocked that the people calling in for help didn’t know how to use a computer that well.

All I was asking is if other people are experiencing this as well. It seems that anytime I’m out on the road, there’s a percentage of truck drivers that are driving stupidly.

Idk, maybe they’re sick of all the bad drivers so they figure they’ll drive bad as well?

Again I’m not trying to attack truck drivers, just wondering, maybe from a truck driver’s perspective, what’s going on recently. I think from other comments on here, I’m definitely going to be giving even more space for truck drivers.

What I’m carrying in my car (wife and 2 kids) is way more important than what they’re hauling.

I should be the more careful driver.

 

The only ones here I really worry about are gravel truck drivers. Somehow they apparently get away running unsafe equipment due to not having to do any inspections and they drive like real assholes.

 

Like I said in my original post, I don’t hate all truck drivers and I don’t think all truck drivers are bad. I wasn’t running my opinion, just my experience and looking for other’s experience. Can you run your opinion without blowback? Should I treat you the same and freak out? Naw, I think you got upset, which is fine, my post wasn’t done emotionally like yours, I was just wanting people’s thoughts and I got yours. You definitely gave me a good perspective about truck drivers.

Thanks and sorry what I said pissed you off. Again, I don’t dislike truck drivers or have any ill will towards them, I just recognize driving near them is more dangerous than most other vehicles on the road.

The majority of truck drivers do an excellent job from what I can see, I was simply looking for other people’s thoughts and experiences, I wasn’t trying to put all truck drivers on trial with this thread. I apologize if you took it that way, you’re clearly upset, which wasn’t my goal.

 

If you drive 5 MPH UNDER the speed limit, you are more arguably dangerous than those who drive 10 MPH over the limit. The danger in driving mostly comes from the difference in velocities of the vehicles. There is already a difference in velocity between those driving the limit and those driving 5, 10, or 15+ over the limit. By driving UNDER the limit, you are increasing that difference, making a potential impact more damaging/dangerous.

Since I started driving the speed limit (EXACTLY based on GPS speed) I have been surprised at how many others are driving very close to the speed limit. I also noticed how much less stress I have when driving. If only I could convince my wife to do the same!

 

I have noticed truck drivers in all lanes where they used to travel only in the right "slow" lanes. As someone already posted, there's little signage to direct (teach?*) people the rules of the road. At this point, as I do think our society has become more individual-self-focused, it'd take a big ad campaign and enforcement of violations to "fix" it.

Among the most "important" rules of the road we were taught in public school drivers' ed. (important = most influence on traffic flow and safety) were:

1. Left "fast" lane is to be occupied only by vehicles actively passing slower traffic; and each lane to the left is a passing lane for the lane adjacent to it on the right.

Getting every driver to know and adhere to this would allow traffic to flow as intended.

2. No overtaking a slow meet vehicle by passing using the lane on the right. People started doing this as a workaround for assholes that "park" in the fast lane.

So if everyone knew and followed rule #1, most of the other most illogical driving errors could be made to change.

As for why truck drivers are getting worse: my theory is that truck drivers learn to drive regular vehicles first. California used to offer drivers' training in public high schools. Millions of people trained in CA then, through migration to other states, took their habits with them... including when advancing to commercial driving. We're a couple of generations into non-standardized drivers' training here... and each private training course is different and teaches to the test instead of providing an overall of how the rules are *supposed* to work. Probably similar cuts to standardized training in other states. This is my one best example of how a "government" sponsored training program being ended has had a detrimental effect with exponential effects.

Same. Spent several of my growing up years (including pre- and early-driving years) not far from the Grapevine and saw many times what happened when cars behaved badly in close proximity to articulated semi's. Back then, the truck drivers were fairly well-regulated and drove within the posted laws. Took the bus into Bakersfield through tule fog... there's no safe way to do that well (grey fog, little visibility, gray trucks... a lot of no-school days). Now no one cancels anything, or slows down, or allows distance... I think maybe most drivers don't realize that "physics" require a truck have a lot more distance to stop.

Anyway, to OP: I-5 there is the same as the I-5 here-- same trucks, same drivers, same causes. I do see more "regular" vehicles driven badly than trucks, but far more trucks doing the wrong thing than back... when everyone had required minimal mandated drivers' training.

 

No you don't get that option,

Apologize and bail.. Not today..

My 1st point was your opening sentence..you WANTED to stir and you did just that... Own it..

ALL Drivers need a "Common sense " test and until you actually follow the daily routine of a CDL driver you have NO CLUE..

We have families also; my 'Lil girl grew up in my Peterbilt dump truck buckled up in her car seat... so the "Precious cargo" goes both ways..

You now trying to make the conversation "Vanilla" might wash for some BUT your opening line again showed your intent..

Until you Try hauling 100,000 lbs safely just to have someone cut you off and then you see their children's faces , you have two choices.. But IT's

too late.. you thought instead of reacting...

That is a "Day in a truck Drivers Life"

I will NOT apologize for defending my choice of career or for the boys & girls who still go out and professionally deliver our nations livelihood ..

I OWN IT !!!!

 

I've seriously considered driving truck for a living many times. The only thing that stopped me was having kids and not wanting to be away for long stretches.
I'd do it now, but with the amount of idiots in cars increasing every year, I don't think I could deal with the stress and aggravation.

 

Calm down, stop being a keyboard warrior and getting internet tough on me. My words are my words, you don’t get to change what I say or twist it or assume too much like you’ve been doing.

I guess I’m getting a good cross-section of truck drivers here. Some truck drivers here are posting rational and reasonable responses, while truck drivers like you are freaking out and being emotional and irrational.

I’m guessing you’re the crazy truck driver on the road?

You’re going beyond having a conversation about this and you assumed my posts are to attack, which I’ve stated before they weren’t. I don’t know what else I can say, I’m trying to talk and you’re yelling LOL.

 

Exactly why I can't like smoked lenses. Function is just too important, especially the way these trucks often wind up on the losing end in rear end collisions.