Posted on 08/21/2006 6:50:52 PM PDT by SJackson
Growth in truck traffic as well as automobile traffic has far outpaced the expansion of the highway and freeway networks.
Transportation budgets have been used for light rail and bike lanes, while the car and truck traffic gets heavier and heavier.
We don't need a separate truck network; we simply need to expand the current network. We could do it if we stop wasting fuel taxes on nonsense.
Another way to reduce traffic would be to only license qualified drivers. That would probably reduce traffic by 75% or more.
I drive a semi. In one 600 mile round trip I pay $175.00 in tolls.
I see some bad truck drivers, and I see plenty of bad auto drivers. I would like to see the police pay more attention to tailgating, and reckless lane changing.
Right on. And the roads we have need better maintenance. I don't drive fast but there's plenty of times I can hardly keep my rig in lane because of the bumps and holes.
I-81 through Virginia is also awful. The truckers there have a real bad habit of pulling out into the left lane to pass (usually another truck) at the bottom of a mountain, and then you're stuck behind them as they go chugging up the hill at 35 mph. I've heard that VDOT has been trying to make I-81 6 lanes for years, and then they could restrict the semis to the two right lanes. But the eco-whacks and the "community activists" keep fighting them tooth and nail.
I don't mind sharing the highway with semis, but I don't run next to one any longer than I need to at speed. It's just an exercise in physics - you give 'em their due regard by virtue of mass and inertia.
Interstate 4 in Florida from the Hillsborough County line to just outside of Orlando just completed construction from four lanes to six. The construction lasted for years, and driving that highway while it was going on was just a horror show, between the concrete barriers, the wavy, uneven pavement and the volume of car and truck traffic. I've logged my share of windshield time, and driving I-4 during that period of time was the most frightened I've ever been behind the wheel.
Having seen on numerous occasions the way people will whip a little car in front of a loaded semi and nail the brakes, I am only surprised more car drivers do not get 'physics lessons' than do.
It is a testament to the professional ability of truckers that they do not kill more of these idiots.
Of course, the onus is borne by the trucker, and not the nitwit driving the little car who drives like they have no clue about momentum.
I have been around trucks all my life. Dad was a diver. So was I for a while. Did a lot of transportation type stuff in the Army. I now own a freight brokerage. Seems to me that if auto drivers would pay more attention to DRIVING instead of phones, stereo, kids, food etc. that things would be much safer. Also it would be nice if people understood inertia. Yer just not gonna stop 80,000 lbs as fast as a car.
Diver = Driver
We have one ... it's called a railroad.
Blame the drivers...that's right and I drive an 18 wheeler and have been doing so for many, many years.
Just listen to the ads on t.v. for the truckdriving schools.."you can be "job ready" in just 3 short weeks". Yeah, sure you can.
In 3 weeks you can learn to pass the CDL test and that's about it. Pass the test and climb into a guided (more or less) missle that can weigh up to 80K pounds.
I drive a dedicated route of 512 miles mon - fri and some of the things I see on the road, both from trucks and cars, scare the daylights out of me.
I have been able to avoid several accidents, thank the Lord
That being said, not ALL truck drivers are dangerous drivers OR perverts and most of our goods are moved by truckers
However
With the increase of trucking comes an increase in dangerously driving truckers who give other truckers a bad name
And it only takes ONE accident with a big semi against my little Prism to make me a dead person
I don't doubt there are rude inconsiderate truckers out there. However, in the 20yrs I've been driving across this country in various sized automobiles, 85-90% of the rudeness is from car drivers, not truckers.
Think of it like this. The trucker's office is the road and he's on it 8 to 9hrs a day (or more). How many encounters does he have in those 8 hrs with rude inconsiderate drivers? How many rude automobile drivers even know they are being inconsiderate? There are unwritten rules of the road that most truckers operate under - rules that are increasingly forgotten and overlooked by the general public.
For example:
It is an extremely rare occasion where I see an automobile driver flash his lights for a trucker to switch lanes. It is also an extremely rare occasion where one trucker fails to do this same thing for another. They even flash them for me if my pickup is heavily loaded.
If you live in the Milwaukee area stay away from I-45 from about Good Hope to the Stadium. Nothing but truck drivers going well over the speed limit.
And they just hope some chicken$#!t cop doesn't see it, because for some idiotic reason, signaling in that manner is illegal in many, if not most states.
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