Questions for some of you knuckleheads, especially some of you Americans

[Rat Fink]

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[MidnightSpecial]

I can somewhat sympathize, but you lost my concern when you threatened to put other people in dangerous situations after acknowledging that you are 20x their size. What if you force them onto the shoulder and there is a car there that is broken down? And saying you would hit someone on purpose if cut off? I hope someone does cut you off and it kills you. We don't need any more piece of shit tractor trailer drivers like you on the road. Live and let live, not suicide-homicide.

[2.0turbo]

Well....

That was annoying to read.

Stop spitting rocks at my window asshole.

:whocares:

[Rat Fink]

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[Rat Fink]

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[MidnightSpecial]

If I follow too closely, I get rocks in my windshield. If I follow at recommended distance, I get rocks in my windshield. If I follow too far, I'm doing 50km/h.

And what you said about hitting someone to keep yourself alive, they pull your CDL for saying that shit in the states. You're suppose to be properly trained to leave yourself an out in any situation.

[Rat Fink]

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[nonlinear]

where in the states are you referring to? there is huge diversity in culture, driving habits, etc. across the states (like there is in canada). using a blanket statement for all americans is just plain wrong.

that's like me moving to calgary from the US and saying that all canadians are idiots because they slam on their brakes when there is a pedestrian trying to cross the street. this leads to overconfident pedestrians just assuming the cars will stop and getting mowed down in the meantime. however, if you go to the east you will see that these driving habits aren't used there.

so where are you tlaking about man?

EDIT: read your post again, and am even more dumbfounded. there are shitty drivers all over the world, man. sounds like you're just having a bad day. if you don't like the roads in the states, why don't you move to Sri Lanka and try driving there

[CUG]

This is a dumb thread. I've driven down there and find it much better than driving here in Calgary or Edmonton or Vancouver.

[Rat Fink]

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[adam c]

I have the most respect for semi drivers so long they don't drive in the fast lane and block the road for passing

they are essential for everyones daily life

one even saved my ass on a heavily reduced visibilty mountain highway in 2007, if it wasn't for him and his hazards, i wouldn't have been able to see the road and a few kms in front of me, wouldn't have seen the jacknifed semi

[Generic]

Originally posted by CUG
This is a dumb thread. I've driven down there and find it much better than driving here in Calgary or Edmonton or Vancouver.

:werd:

drivers down there seem much better then in Alberta and BC for sure.

[Black Gts]

Originally posted by adam c
I have the most respect for semi drivers so long they don't drive in the fast lane and block the road for passing


I love hauling 14ft wide trusses down deerfoot, in the hammer lane blocking half the middle lane. that is really the only safe lane to do that in. People go nuts trying to get around, even though I'm doing 100-110. And FYI, it is illegal to be between a semi and a pilot car:thumbsup:

And just another quick point, when a semi is rolling up to a light at under 5 kmh, it is not so you can sneak in front of him and advance that all so important spot in traffic.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Black Gts
And FYI, it is illegal to be between a semi and a pilot car:thumbsup:


say what?

[Black Gts]

if a semi has a pilot car, which is needed when you are more than 12'6ft wide, it is illegal to be in between them..

[vengie]

some of you are ridiculous, have you ever driven a semi?? i highly doubt it, it takes alot of concentration and driver skill...
people are just fucking ignorant when it comes to trucks... you think they stop on a dime when fully loaded? sure cut in front of me, but when my cab is in your back seat don't blame me, you have to be first at the light!
the thing that gets me is when im driving up an incline (highway) fully loaded, moving about 30km/hr with hazards on... i have had people honk at me, finger me, and drive quite erratically to what? make a point? sorry my truck is fully loaded...


point is, people need to have some courtesy towards trucks..

[DannyO]

:thumbsup: to semi drivers, I pretty much never have problems with them except them being in the fast lane going under the limit, never got a rock chip either when behind them as you need to leave a decent amount of room, of course someone then always pulls in front and makes sure to take all the rocks for me.

There is no way I could do there job, I'd be pissed off all the time due to what I've seen people driving like around semis.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by Black Gts
if a semi has a pilot car, which is needed when you are more than 12'6ft wide, it is illegal to be in between them..

News to me... If it was illegal, why would pilots be sometimes a km ahead?

You'll have to show me where this is illegal... I haven't heard of this before. AFAIK the pilot vehicles are there for advanced warning. In fact, I was instructed to keep distance from the load so that other cars could pass between the vehicles easier.

[Black Gts]

I can't find anything to link to however, on a two lane, divided highway you are correct. If a oversize load is driving down deerfoot, the truck will usually be in the far left lane, to avoid people merging and what not, in this case the pilot car would be following the load, and there is no sane reason to split the two vehicles. On a single lane highway the pilot would be in front of the truck, a couple kms ahead and you would have to split the two in order to pass. So where it is illegal would be on not highway (city) roads with the pilot in front, because he won't be a km away, and the semi would not stop at a traffic control device after the pilot has cleared the intersection.

[MidnightSpecial]

Originally posted by Rat Fink


I do for the most part. When I have to stop in traffic I always leave enough distance to where i could get out of the way of something (especially winter).....

Here is an example of what I came accross on my recent trip in Texas. I was driving down a secondary highway in Texas. Trees were on either side of the highway. A car had hacked me off and started slowing down to make a turn (he was behind me a minute ago...he couldn't have just waited behind me for his turnoff but of course he had to step up his asshole game). I pulled into the left lane (there's my out). At that same time a guy with a pickup truck towing a camping trailer pulled out in front of me to make a left turn. Its like he forgot he was pulling a trailer (or a bad judge of distance) because he stopped at the median so part of his camping trailer was still into the left lane.

Sometimes you don't have an unlimited amount of "outs". I was forced to brake hard. I laid on my horn and luckily that car making the right turn saw what was going on and pulled into the shoulder to let me back into the right just in time.

If that car didn't move over, I would've had no choice but to nail that trailer.

Don't give me that "leave yourself an out" bullshit because there isn't an "out" for every situation. (except for in hindsight textbook examples).

What about the guys with highbeams washing out my vision. What's the "out" for that one?

There's a difference between hitting the camping trailer and a direct hit to a car.

If I can drive a twin-stick through Chicago traffic and not have a fit of rage, you can deal with these assholes. :guns:

As for the high beams, get behind them and flash them or bring traffic to a halt.

[TDFTW]

Out of my ten years driving, there is only two problems I encounter with semi drivers. 1. The assholes that tailgate me and blind me when going down deerfoot. I'm in the fast lane alreasy doing 130kmh passing grandmas and the semi is wanting me out of the lane so he can go faster??? Wtf. Isn't it dangerous to go that fast with a loaded truck?

2. This isn't meant to be racist, but when I see a brown dude with a huge turban in a semi I cringe. Twice I have been literally ran off the road by them. Once on deerfoot he was in the right lane and for whatever reason didn't check any mirrors or his shoulder to see me and a cop in the left and middle lane. He barely avoided hitting the cop, and would have hit me square had I not swerved and went and did a couple 360s in the ditch. The other instance was another guy just like him who shouldn't have been driving a semi. He turned around the corner, his trailor got on two wheels and flipped. There was another car in front of me and the trailer fell onto the front of his car, and I narrowly avoided smashing into all of it.

Isn't there more strict liscensing guidelines for semi drivers? And after hearing of my papas stories of driving truck for 40 years (he hauled fuel) I never ever under any circumstance have ever pulled in front of one to be the first at a red light. They are goigg slow for a reason

[pyroza]

Metropolitan areas have a larger number of douchebags simply because there's more people and everyone seems to be rushing everywhere. In a small town in Montana or something, everyone takes their time and are much more courteous.

You get used to driving in the metro areas after awhile

[johnboy27]

Driving a truck sure as hell isn't easy. Since I got my lclass 1 lisence 3 years ago I have gained alot more respet for the roads and other truckers. I try to be as courteous as possible to drivers in cars but sometimes you just have to be a prick. My truck weighs in at 103,000 pounds and just about every other day some moron cuts me off or just pulls something stupid that puts their life at risk. I will hit the ditch in order to not hit a car but if said ditch looks like it is going to take my life at the same time, the chances of the other people surviving decrease substantially.
Most of the situations that the OP describe have happened to me at one time or another, we as drivers just have to always be ontop of our game because you can't assume the four wheelers will be on theirs.

[Ihatetowait]

I always see the trucks with their hazards on and wonder why, now I know.

Generally me and trucks have no problems, unless said truck is travelling at 15 KM/kr merging onto deerfoot where its 110 by country hills. What I really wanted to do was merge into fast moving traffic at running pace, have to accelerate through the gears as fast as I can just to avoid being hit.

Thankyou to that truck driver, for my coffee spilling everywhere when I slammed the gas.

[spikerS]

I used to drive truck and feel your pain.

I tought one young punk the hard way what happens when you cut a tractor off when I plowed into him after he raced ahead of me in the left lane, cut in front, tried to go one more lane to the right, saw the traffic backed up there and slammed on the brakes. I totaled his Integra.

but that aside, people do not give truckers the respect needed, either for the driver or for the physics of the truck, and is why I am not trucking anymore.

[DeeK]

The drive between Vancouver and Calgary in bad weather? All I can say to that is "Fucking Truckers!"

[Rat Fink]

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[johnboy27]

Originally posted by Rat Fink


My last trip through that stretch in bad weather had a half dozen cars coming at me in my lane because the retards had no idea where they were on the road.

Fucking 4-wheelers!!!! The entire time through that stretch I had cars so close to my back bumper that I couldn't even see any part of them. Just a glow from their headlights. They were crammed right up behind me in the snow cloud I was kicking up...and they complain about following behind those "asshole" trucks.

I also like when I'm fully loaded on a bad hill and cant use my jake brake so I have to take it really easy down the hill. All those impatient pricks in cars are right up your ass. I was driving down the Siskiyou summit in southern oregon and the signs even say to take it at 23 mph if you are loaded to 80,000 pounds. Thats 23 mph on the interstate down the hill. Its 2 lanes each direction. I was in the right lane and there were asshole cars crammed up my ass and wouldn't even get in the empty left lane to pass me. Retards!!!
"Fucking 4-wheelers" is right. Since I started driving truck I make it a point to make myself as visible as possible to any trucker on the road while I am driving my car.

[Deville]

I always try and be as courteous as possible to semi's and give them plenty of room. The only problem I have with them is when your driving down the highway and they get on your ass to pass, it's nerve racking having an 80,000 lb machine 10 feet behind you when your doing 100 + kms an hour.

[Black Gts]

^^^ Imagine how nerve racking it is trying to slow down at a light, and someone takes your 20ft buffer zone... or having a car on your ass at 100+ when you have cars on either side of you..

As for what Rat Fink said, if you do something stupid in front of me, and my choice is my life or yours, it sure as shit won't be mine. However that is not my first option, and if its my fault I would chose to take the blame and deal with the ditch..

If you have not seen it yet, this thread is kind of another reason not to cut infront of any truck, maybe it was trucker error as well, but this shit doesn't shift itself while your driving forward.
http://forums.beyond.ca/st/251927/why-you-should-always-secure-your-load-properly/

http://www.carpornsport.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=38&start=0

[scat19]

Professional drivers?

You guys sound like a bunch of Professional whiners.

This is life, get used to it.

If you are so angry behind the wheel, a change of job is required.

[TKRIS]

People drive like shit and don't fucking pay attention, and that goes for truckers too.
Biggest complaint:
I understand that you don't want impatient cars cutting in front of you, riding your ass, whatever. The best way to avoid that is by not slowing traffic down to a fucking crawl because one of you wants to drive 80 and the other one wants to drive 81, so you block both lanes on the highway for 12 fucking miles.
I realize that you don't have the acceleration of a car, and you can't just zip around the other guy. But that's no fucking excuse. If you can't get around and out of the passing lane without backing traffic up for miles, then stay in the fucking right lane. I don't give a shit if you're in a 80,000lbs truck or not, the rules of the road and common courtesy still apply.

[3g4u]

Originally posted by scat19
Professional drivers?

You guys sound like a bunch of Professional whiners.

This is life, get used to it.

If you are so angry behind the wheel, a change of job is required.

:werd:

[texasnick]

Merging in general is something not many people do well. Not sure if it's only Americans though.(no bias..lol)

Growing up in Houston, you learn how to merge onto a freeway pretty damn quick. If you don't merge onto a freeway at speed in Houston, you had better have your will taken care of before hand.

I think the problem you were having is driving through Oregon. I swear, every mile you get closer to Seattle, driver IQ plummets exponentially.

As for rig drivers, I have seen good ones and bad ones. Mostly, though, they are a HELL of a lot better at highway / long distance driving than 4 wheeled cars. For what it's worth, OP, I have driven cross country(s) MANY MANY times and I can honestly say that if you are the type of truck driver I think you are, you have my respect. Just don't take your anger out from behind the wheel of an 80,000 lb truck.:nut:

[CRXguy]

Originally posted by TKRIS
People drive like shit and don't fucking pay attention, and that goes for truckers too.
Biggest complaint:
I understand that you don't want impatient cars cutting in front of you, riding your ass, whatever. The best way to avoid that is by not slowing traffic down to a fucking crawl because one of you wants to drive 80 and the other one wants to drive 81, so you block both lanes on the highway for 12 fucking miles.
I realize that you don't have the acceleration of a car, and you can't just zip around the other guy. But that's no fucking excuse. If you can't get around and out of the passing lane without backing traffic up for miles, then stay in the fucking right lane. I don't give a shit if you're in a 80,000lbs truck or not, the rules of the road and common courtesy still apply.

That drives me nuts. Happens all the time when I drive to Edmonton.

Truckers are like cops. Some bad ones out there so they they think everyone is a prick. The trucking companies should put more of those "If you can't see my mirror, I can't see you" stickers on the back of the trailer.

[Rat Fink]

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