Truck drivers!
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 23,053
Likes: 12,327
From: Arkansas
I just can not think of any excuse for risking the life of another driver no matter how stupid they are acting.
Believe me there have been plenty of times I've thought about just flattening someones car with them in it but it never gets past the thinking stage. It's just not worth risking my freedom over or the life's of others that are in the area.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 5,542
Likes: 6,217
From: In your head rent free
In this area the vast majority of tractor trailer drivers are very courteous, especially when I'm on a bike. That's not to say there isn't an idiot mixed in occasionally. But that holds true for any group.
I like to give them lots of room and they seem to return the favor.
I have seen many,many, cars do some incredibly stupid things around and at truck drivers. I wonder how there isn't more accidents some times.
I like to give them lots of room and they seem to return the favor.
I have seen many,many, cars do some incredibly stupid things around and at truck drivers. I wonder how there isn't more accidents some times.
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 3,520
Likes: 270
From: Wellsboro, PA
Too bad there aren't more of 'em out there like IronAss. I'm 53 & did it a few years ago, for 18 months, just to say that I tried it, and there are alot of young cowboys out there who are behind their 1st CB radio. I know firsthand, that you can't see over the hoods of those things, but it seems to be a game, to see how close you can get at a light, or even in a 1-lane construction zone. I hate that, and it's definitely dangerous. There's no excuse for pulling up so close at a light. With the convex mirrors that they have, you can see all the way back to the end of the trailer, but if I'm on my bike, and passing one on an interstate, I'll stay behind the trailer until the driver in front of me has gotten by. Then I'll gun it so I'm not camping out in the blind zone. Ya just have to ride like you're invisible --- to everybody. Don't ever pull in front of one (especially a bobtail) at a light, or coming to any stop. I know how much room they need to stop & it's alot more than you might think.
Hey IronAss, am I wrong about this?!!
Hey IronAss, am I wrong about this?!!
Tourer
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 367
Likes: 0
From: Blue Ridge Mountains, NC
My number one personal hate is ANYBODY on a cell phone while driving! I get nearly taken out every day by one of these jerkoffs who think that their conversation is more important than watching what the Hell they are doing. I see far more cages cutting up big rigs than vice versa. Just my .02.
Advanced
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 51
Likes: 0
I'm sure some driver will chime in here and say that it's because they are under a tight schedule or some crap like that.
That is no excuse to risk the lives of innocent people out on the road. I don't care what the cars do to make it less safe for us. We as professionals should always put the safety of the driving public as our #1 priority. Not making money or getting a load off on time....Period!!
That is no excuse to risk the lives of innocent people out on the road. I don't care what the cars do to make it less safe for us. We as professionals should always put the safety of the driving public as our #1 priority. Not making money or getting a load off on time....Period!!
I too have been driving an 18 wheeler for longer than I care to admit, and I am just amazed that there are not more serious wrecks based on some of the crap I witness big trucks doing on a nightly basis. I get tired of hearing that crap about it being a hot load! There is no freight in the world that is worth risking my life or the lives of anyone out on the road, period. The way I look at it is that they will still want the freight when I get it there if it is that hot. The 4 wheelers are just a job hazard that professionals have to deal with, and as professionals we are responsible to try to keep their stupidity from killing them.
To CWDoc115: Mileage pay has little to do with the way some truck drivers drive. It all boils down to either being a professional or not. With the glut of truck driving jobs the past few years, many companies lowered their hiring standards just to get bodies in the seat to the detriment of the motoring public. Fortunately my company isn't one of them. It's very hard to get hired on where I work.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 23,053
Likes: 12,327
From: Arkansas
Yes you are right on.
Several years ago I was in heavy traffic going through Portland OR. I had about a 2 car length space between me and the car in front of me. We were moving maybe 5 MPH..Stop and go.
A woman in a little Mazda Miata cut in front of me just as the cars ahead were stopping again. When we got stopped I could not see her car over my hood.
I set the parking brake, got out and walked up to her car and tapped on the window. She rolled the window down and I asked her if she would come back to my truck for a moment. I couldn't believe that she said OK.
We walked back and I opened the drivers door and asked her to please climb up and sit in the drivers seat which she did. Again I couldn't believe she would do it but she seemed to think nothing of it.
Once she was in the seat I asked her "can you see your car"? and she said no. I explained to her that if I had been looking at my passenger side mirror or doing anything else at the moment she cut in front of me that I would no have know she was even there and she would probably be dead by now.
She turned white as a sheet and said she will never cut in front of a big truck again.
I'm hoping I might have saved her life somewhere down the road.
Several years ago I was in heavy traffic going through Portland OR. I had about a 2 car length space between me and the car in front of me. We were moving maybe 5 MPH..Stop and go.
A woman in a little Mazda Miata cut in front of me just as the cars ahead were stopping again. When we got stopped I could not see her car over my hood.
I set the parking brake, got out and walked up to her car and tapped on the window. She rolled the window down and I asked her if she would come back to my truck for a moment. I couldn't believe that she said OK.
We walked back and I opened the drivers door and asked her to please climb up and sit in the drivers seat which she did. Again I couldn't believe she would do it but she seemed to think nothing of it.
Once she was in the seat I asked her "can you see your car"? and she said no. I explained to her that if I had been looking at my passenger side mirror or doing anything else at the moment she cut in front of me that I would no have know she was even there and she would probably be dead by now.
She turned white as a sheet and said she will never cut in front of a big truck again.
I'm hoping I might have saved her life somewhere down the road.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,390
Likes: 127
From: SW OREGON
I was passing a Schneider truck not long ago and was about half way past the trailer when he came right over. The bad part was that I could see his head in his mirror and he wasn't looking my way. Luckily the left shoulder was wide and relatively clean so I pushed hard left & cranked her up & gave him the 1 finger salute when I pulled in front of him. I'm pretty sure he was on the phone & it was a hands free model. Lots of bad drivers seem to have trucking jobs these days.
