Freeway Entrance

[Broompilot]

You have a long entrance ramp, slight incline up. Truck in Granny lane signals and moves over for you. He begins (she) to pass you but is slowing just a little cause of the uphill.

I always let this driver pass, I do not like 4 wheelers squeezing in between and passing him on the right. If he was courteous enough to Yeld for me I am gona give him the courtesy of letting him pass even if he slows up and flashing my lights or CB with a Thanks Driver.

Do you? I see more and more drivers with the Me, Me, Me attitude leaving the poor guy stuck in the fast lane with 4 wheelers PO for one being there when he did someone a common courtesy act.

More O/O and company drivers with a no name company usually filthy dirty are more culperts than the Big Name Full Truck Load Carriers.
Whats your observation?

 

[rollnthunder]

What i like is alot of the tractor trailer drivers dont like to give way for a 6 wheeler.The way i look at it we are all TRUCK DRIVERS.I am curtious to all.But its funny how some wont move over or let you in or blink there lights to let you know its ok to change lanes.But some people just need to learn life is to short to be mad at people or not to be nice.

 

[Broompilot]

I do not get the lights flashed as much as I flash them for Big Trucks, but for those of you who assume we are disliked I have not observed this anymore than I do with just some people hate everything and everyone.

Mostly I get respect out there, there are times when road rage comes to mind but one must have a cooler head to combat this. Its never gona do you service to make a smart arse comment over the CB or do something ignorant that you will regrete later.

Two weeks ago went to pass a slow truck I was doing exactly the speed limit, up from behind just as I was gunning it, on came the highbeams. I did get on the radio and let the guy know behind me very politly how he was gona like being stuck there cause until he turned them off I was not gona speed up. Boy was he PO. I watched for him to do somethiing studpid but he was to busy screaming on the CB until I turned it off. The driver I was passing also gave him a big ole thanks for stabbing both of us with his beams and that his actions were purley selfish. (see sometimes you will get help).

Just ignore them and when you get teased for being a WANA B just remember he is most likely making .90 a mile plus FSC or less and what are you Earning? See the point you investigated the most profitable part of trucking vs expense and WON, he just wanted to Drive ignoring the profits. Not in all cases but with stupid drivers its generally the case.

 

[Paul56]

We always keep the following in mind when driving...

1) Are we sharing the road?

2) Are we running legal?

3) Are we running safe?

 

[sixwheeler]

I think the vast majority of 18 wheelers look out for us the same as they do for another 18 wheeler, theres a certain accepted rythym on the road, and you just have to abide by it. Some 18 wheelers are just plain dangerous idiots, as well as any other group, personally I see a lot of straight trucks driving like maniacs,dodging in and out of lanes, driving too fast, etc.

 

[pelicn]

I don't think it's big truck vs little truck I think it's the drivers. I don't like leaving a truck in the hammer lane if I can avoid it. So many of the big trucks are governed now, and if they have moved over to allow you on the interstate, just let them move back in before you accelerate to full speed. You can always pass them on down the road if they aren't going fast enough.
Also, the flashing headlights to let a driver know they are clear is great in the daytime, but killer at night. Instead of flashing the driver, turn your headlights off then back on again. Same principle, but it doesn't blind the driver that's looking in the mirror to see if he/she is clear.

 

[TeamCaffee]

We also find it very frustrating when you move over for another vehicle and they will not let you back into the granny lane. We are usually running slower then most and when we move over to let a truck on in a short period of time we will have a several trucks behind us all because the one truck we moved over for will not let us back in. We have even tried putting the turn signal on to let them know we would like to move back over but to no avail. It doesn't seem to matter most of the time if it is big truck, straight truck or even a car. So we are forced depending on the situation to either slow down more or speed up to move back over and then slow down.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Yep... had that happen to me. Moved over to let a Schneider on, and he didn't let me back over. Missed my exit, spent a half hour getting turned around, almost late for delivery. Never again for those turds. Schneiders have learned to keep their cbs off, so you can't even tell em their brakes are on fire, which is what happened once. Don't they teach you to check your mirrors anymore?

"If I claim to be a wise man, it surely means that I don't know." - Kansas

 

[Crazynuff]

That's about what you can expect from Schneider . They get what they pay for - a lot of immigrants and rookies . It'll get worse before it gets better . Bad part is trucking school graduates start with Schneider , figure the whole industry is that way and leave instead of taking their experience elsewhere and improving their situation . Then just more rookies come in to take their place and do the same .

 

[greg334]

I try to be as courteous as possible.

I will move over when someone wants to get in or if they let me in I maintain a slower speed to let them by and flash (yes flash) to say thanks and your clear to get over.

The same with passing, I hate being in that left lane and try to get over as soon as possible. I have had a lot of trucks not let me over after letting them in.

What I find irritating as all h*ll is climbing an incline and having a truck trying to pass me while I am using my cruise control. Most of the time I try to slow down (lower the cruise speed or come off of cruise altogether) and let them pass but I don’t always slow down because I feel that most of them can use better judgment in passing me. Every situation is different.

The other thing I try to do is while I sit in a parking spot at the truck stop, I will move my truck back to the end of the parking spot to help these guys with their 52 foot trailers and 50 foot trucks get into the spot next to me. I can not believe how many of these drivers can not park their truck, one today took four attempts and then went around to reposition himself and got into a spot – the only problem was that he was trying to get into a spot in the middle of 5 empty spots, SCARY.

Today I almost rear ended a dumb ******* ***** while I was driving back to the truck stop. This girl follows a truck on the freeway about 500 feet ahead of me, she is not paying attention to traffic and drives really slow (the truck pulled away while it was speeding up). The gap was getting thin between us and about 200 feet away she finally looks up in her mirror, sees me and slams on the brakes coming to a complete stop on the freeway. I was waiting for a car to pass me when she did this and I cut over really close to her missed her by a few feet. The odd thing is after she is done with that, she takes off like a bat out of h*ll.

 

[Jack_Berry]

greg i am sorry to hear of the female. waaay too many 4 wheelers with no clue using the jack in the box pass to drive. this 4 wheeler tries to stay right lane on the cruise at 70 and watch the world speed by. living is wi. scares me seeing three abreast 18's going up the incline. scares me to see them comin' up on me in the left lane if i am middle lane passing. where are these guys goin? i always try to let them in, flash light and never expect the courtesy thank you. couple years in a school bus makes you a differnet driver.



Jack Berry

 

[Broompilot]

When I say flash, that means ON OFF never high beams than low. Unless its raining during the day time. Correct way I believe is CB US Express its Open.... If no CB on than OH well. Same goes for me Oh well.

 

[mrgoodtude]

Good post Kraig,
The good drivers out there are salt of the earth and yes I go out of my way to repay their courtesy....
For the meatheads I just shake my head when I pass them and take solice in the fact that they will again be partaking in the standard T/A fair tonight while I will be enjoying a meal at Carrabas or the Outback.
As for the idiots on 4 wheels I am becoming a staunch supporter of dash cams....
Mike and Cyn

 

[BigBuzd1]

I drive like I live...Do unto others...How would I like to be treated?
I can speed up a hell of a lot quicker than 99% of the T/Ts, so giving them a little extra room, or in tight areas, giving them or anyone for that matter "a way out" is always appreciated.
In the last 3 years I have noticed more T/T drivers treating us 6 wheelers in the same manner they do for their own kind, which just goes to show...we may be smaller but we have a big infulence.
Just to address the speed limiter controversy a little, sure there are a good bit of 6 and 18 wheelers that drive like they stole it, but i myself believe that 4 wheelers speeding needs to be adressed also. I can probably count on 1 hand the amount of cars that actually do the speed limit on the interstate. It bugs me to think that people with kids take the time and energy to buckle up children in car seats and all the saftey precautions...then turn around and do 15 to 20 mph , or MORE, over the posted limit. As professional drivers we are penalized and lose our license if we get so many tickets in so many years, the same should hold true with everyone!
And plus...how can i ogle the good looking women if they are speeding? It's soooo annoying! lol

 

[Dreamer]

Semi OT, but follow up to previous post.

When you park in a truck stop, do you back all the way in the spot, or just even with the next truck?

I used to park all the way back, until an incident where another truck took a quick look, saw what he THOUGHT was an empty spot, and started backing in. Luckily I was looking, and was able to blast the horn, and yell on the radio.

Thereafter, I always parked with my nose even with the tractors.


Dreamer
Forums Administrator


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"You cannot tailor make the situations in life, but you can tailor make the attitudes to fit those situations before they arise"


Zig Ziglar

 

[mrgoodtude]

Funny you should bring that up Dreamer, almost happened to me the other night...
Flash the high beams and truck still intact.
Mike and Cyn

 

[Broompilot]

Pull up half way and nose in first. Hit the rear no real big deal at least not out of service. Hit the fenders and your out of luck for two weeks.

Parking lights on at night if you idle or have APU. Now let me go test my own advice, but backing all the way back in I rarely do it.

 

[FlameMerc]

I agree on the backing all the way in. If you do You are inviting any thoughtless Bob tail to park in front of you. He may be showering or having Dinner when you get the call from Dispatch you have 30 minutes to your pick up on a good load. What do you do Then?.........Never back all the way in..
Drive Safely Enjoy the View ..Butch

 

[jeffman164]

Always back in but just enough so my windows are just behind neighbors windows. Any further back and I feel sorry for the 18 wheelers that think that they have found the golden spot at 2:00 in the morning only to see that a 6 wheeler is there. Don't want to razzle the 18 wheelers.

 

[greg334]

Well I got to say after reading the thread after I posted, I got to add that I park 2/3 of the way in the spot towards the front. this leaves enough room to be seen my most and also helps some of the drivers in parking thier rig. I pull back if I see them in a tight spot most of the time, a few times I could not.

But with that all said, what I am puzzled by lately is the motor home people using the truck parking spots - and I don't mean the people who transport them but Ma and Pa teams who are traveling around. Had one yeaterday in a motor home smaller than my truck, 32 feet and they came soooo close to clipping my truck I got up to make sure that he could see me. It amazed me that this guy actually is allowed to drive.