Posted on 08/07/2011 11:53:31 AM PDT by Daffynition
Let me tell you a little about the truck driver you just flipped off because he was passing another truck, and you had to cancel the cruise control and slow down until he completed the pass and moved back over.
His truck is governed to 68 miles an hour, because the company he leases it from believes it keeps him and the public and the equipment safer.
The truck he passed was probably running under 65 mph to conserve fuel. You see, the best these trucks do for fuel economy is about 8 miles per gallon. With fuel at almost $4 per gallon -- well, you do the math. And, yes, that driver pays for his own fuel.
He needs to be 1,014 miles from where he loaded in two days. And he can't fudge his federally mandated driver log, because he no longer does it on paper; he is logged electronically.
He can drive 11 hours in a 14-hour period; then he must take a 10-hour break. And considering that the shipper where he loaded held him up for five hours because it is understaffed, he now needs to run without stopping for lunch and dinner breaks.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Agreed.
Do Truckers still use CB radios? I may have to make a couple long drive from PA to NC and am thinking about installing one in my Pick-up. Would it be worth it?
Thanks
Maybe you can re-ask your question to someone who knows, like some of the FReepers on the fist half of the thread, like Eric.
Yes they do. Get a handheld at Radio Shack and you also have a prepper tool.
Read my original post. If I’m doing 5 mph over the speed limit in the right lane then I deserve to not have a truck crawl up my ass.
Railroads.
You took and passed several physics courses. Wow, I’m really impressed. Your parents seemingly forgot to tell you a lot of things.
If some aggressive asshole of trucker drives tries to run me off the road, it’s my obligation to stay out of his way? With an attitude like that you wonder why truckers get flipped off?
I drove by this wreck just after it happened. I suppose this is not the truckers fault? Everyone should have just gotten out of his way?
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/14/1344312/truck-driver-charged-in-fatal.html
Back during the cold war, trucks were running around the country with nuclear war heads between the east and west coast. Not unloaded at the destination but rerouted to another destination, and then rerouted again. The logic was if there was a nuclear war, these trucks could have these warheads anywhere within a few hours where our planes would be waiting.
What are longer combination vehicles?
Longer combination vehicles, commonly called "LCVs," are tractor-trailer combinations with two or more trailers that may exceed 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (GVW). LCVs typically include three vehicle types:
Are LCVs allowed in California? LCVs are not allowed on California interstates and State routes. LCVs may operate on local streets and roads with permits from local jurisdictions.
My daughter is a pilot/escort for oversize loads. Her CB is her lifeline to her driver and her load.
Oh yes, the heavy hauler, the last of the knights of the road, the real truck drivers. All the rest are nothing but wheel jockeys.
Who flips off truck drivers?
This was a nice piece, but would have been just as informative without the eye-rolling straw man setup.
How about this one?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/amtrak-train-truck-collision-reno-nevada-kills/story?id=13926108
Driver slide for 600 feet on bald tires.
BTW this was not “outside of Reno” It was 80 miles away.
The first responders were the US Navy from Fallon NAS.
The govt. reacting to all the accidents caused by semi drivers who had been on the road too long and ultimately either fell asleep or their senses were so dulled as to prevent them from reacting to situations ahead of them on time and thus causing an accident.......
For these guys, the bottom line is the longer they are on the road the more money they make and thus the allure to drive past their limits of safety.
Ice Road Truckers is an excellent program to watch. While that deals with only a microcosim of the trucking industry, it nevertheless gives you an idea how closely these drivers are watched these days.
For the Ice Roaders, they have limits on how fast they can go and their rigs have on board computer systems that record their every acceleration or deceleration and it is examined by their dispatcher upon their return.........
Truckers make their living on the road and ultimately they put the food on my table. I'm not about to flip any of them off and anytime they put their turn signal on to change lanes, I'm the first one to back off and let them in...........
As a side note, if you're letting them change lanes in front of you, flash your lights on and off to let them know you've given them the clearance.........
Without trucks, America stops.
Nope, the Mythbusters proved it works just like it did in the movies back in 2007.
Nice pic. Looks like it was taken from the drivers seat while driving (gasp! ha ha, been there done that!). The hood looks like a ‘Freightshaker’.
...Donner.....oh yeah....Mid-Feb. 2006... I was told at the westbound checkpoint that it was just starting to snow ‘at the top’, but was told that “they were not calling for tire chains yet, so get going”. I pulled ahead a couple of truck lengths, stopped to make one last adjustment to the ‘driver’s fictional historical record’, so I’d be ready for the Truckee ‘chickencoop’. I still had my window down and heard the checkpoint man yell, “I SAID, GET GOING!”
I threw the logbook down and got going. I was nearing the top and was really nervous, as there was about 2” of wet snow on the road. I was going down the back side when another driver passed me, and asked over the ‘noisebox’ why I was going so slow. I told him, “It’s snowing, it’s dark, and I’ve never been on the road before and am not sure of what the curves ahead have in store (some of the traffic signs had wet snow stuck to them). He asked how much I had on. I said 77,600 gross. He said, “Follow me, I run this every week; I lead you down”. I was really nice to reach the lower elevations and the rain without mishap.
Dropped off on time in Newark, slept all day Sunday/sunday nite, rolled back through San Juan Bautista, Salinas, Oxnard, Coachella, Buckeye (Phoenix), and pounded the roads to the Windy.
The entire run was just over 5k miles, completed in 7 days and 4 hours. I pulled into the yard, and told the boss “never again, illegal and unsafe, it’s a team run. Your friend better find somebody else”.
That was the only time I had to go that far west in a big truck. The small company I drove for at the time mostly hauled local aggregate, but had a couple reefers and grain hoppers to help keep us busy through the winter. The boss had a friend that had a driver quit. So we were to cover his Storm Lake (Tyson) IA to Newark, CA run. It was a team run, but his driver was an animal and had been pulling off the run by himself. Meat out, produce back to the ‘Windy’. All inside of a week!
I had been jacked around getting loaded at Storm Lake, and didn’t get out of there until 4:15 pm Central on a Fri., and had to be in Newark, CA by 6:00 am Pacific. It was single digits and dropping like a rock as I entered NE.
I stopped for fuel in Ogallala about 11:pm, where a hip-hop type was griping about how the pump didn’t shut off and spilled gas down the side of his SUV. He was harrassing the poor girl at the fuel desk to the point where she was practically shaking. He was demandeing that she should delete $5 from his bill. I was not in a good mood since I was already delayed over 6 hours in Storm Lake. Standing there losing my patience along with a couple of other ‘drivers’, I held up my cell phone, said loudly, “I think it’s time to call 911”. The puke paid his bill and promptly left, muttering some offensive words as he went out the door.
I went on through WY, where the temp at 3am reached -29F (without the windchill), I quit counting jelled trucks after over 60 were passed along the road. From Salt Lake to Reno/Sparks the trip was smooth going until having to deal with Donner.
I’ve since reminded my wife from time to time, when out for dinner on a Sat nite, “that some driver probably drove through the night, in possibly bad weather so we could enjoy the salad bar”.
They showed the vehicle climbing the ramp at 35 and then 55mph. Then they backed the car off the ramp at 55 mph! All three times it worked like a charm.
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