OT: Driving & Semis

[robinb]

I grew up in Chicago and know what you mean but I do know better than to cut off a semi truck or get in his extra space. That is what is important and if the people around me don't like it they can get themselves as uptight as they please I will do the safe thing despite their issues.

I too grew up in Chicago and learned to drive in the city itself.

No one is saying that they cut trucks off. What they are saying is that they cannot give the recommended amount of space between cars & trucks on urban highways because even a car's length of space will be filled by someone changing lanes. You can ATTEMPT to do the "safe thing" by trying to leave appropriate space between the car in front of you, but it is really a losing battle and more dangerous to you having everyone and his brother cut you off by slipping into that extra space.

 

[angwill]

I too grew up in Chicago and learned to drive in the city itself.

No one is saying that they cut trucks off. What they are saying is that they cannot give the recommended amount of space between cars & trucks on urban highways because even a car's length of space will be filled by someone changing lanes. You can ATTEMPT to do the "safe thing" by trying to leave appropriate space between the car in front of you, but it is really a losing battle and more dangerous to you having everyone and his brother cut you off by slipping into that extra space.

I understood that people were not saying they cut trucks off but it is wise not to. What I am saying is that you can only control what you do and not what others do so just make sure what you do is done safely. If someone takes that space then back off a bit more.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I understood that people were not saying they cut trucks off but it is wise not to. What I am saying is that you can only control what you do and not what others do so just make sure what you do is done safely. If someone takes that space then back off a bit more.

This. I drove in rush hour in STL for years. It may seem a losing battle to keep trying to keep space in front of you in heavy traffic, but it still benefitted me attempting to do this. And by doing so, it kept me running a steady speed instead of constantly being on and off the brake - which believe it or not, usually kept the folks behind me a bit further back as well.

One also has to keep an eye on traffic several cars ahead and not fixate on the bumper just ahead of you.

And peoe are going to cut in front of you if you leave 10' or 200'. It really doesn't matter. So, may as well leave enough space for them to do it safely instead of trying to guard your position right on someone's bumper.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think her point was as soon as you leave more space between you and the vehicle in front of you, someone pulls in front of you, taking up the space you just made.

I get that. My point was that if you cant maintain a reasonable space, the only other option is to go slower. I have plenty of experience with big city traffic and I know it's not always possible to leave huge gaps ALL the time (OTOH, you'd be surprised to see how many folks vacate that space almost as soon as they get in it). But, if you're constantly on your brakes, you're not leaving enough space.

Not to mention, the incident we're talking about here sounds like it happened on a rural stretch of highway.

 

[Ginny Favers]

Sometimes I wonder how some Semi drivers get licenses.

On my way home from work, every Tuesday on the highway, like clockwork, there is a FedEx Semi driving in the fast lane. He never moves over. The highway is hilly, so some people go the speed limit, which is 55, but many go 80 or more. A long line of cars will end up tailgating behind him, because he is usually going under 55.

The people swerving around this guy are taking their lives in their own hands, but the fact is, he shouldn't be hogging the left lane!

I have called and emailed FedEx several times to tell them, with no response. I even gave them the number of the truck, the time, the route, everything. No response. I know someone is going to get killed one of these days.

 

[pyrxtc]

I think her point was as soon as you leave more space between you and the vehicle in front of you, someone pulls in front of you, taking up the space you just made.

Yes

Here in the congested North East, this is just a fact. Anytime you try to leave the proper stopping space between you and another vehicle, someone else will pull into the space, or several someone elses. There's just too much traffic (all the time) to leave that much space around your vehicle. If I slow down, someone will pass me and pull in. Fact of life. And if you slow down, you're going to have people honking their horn and giving you the one finger salute while they pull in front of you.

happens all the time. People are attracted to mini-vans too. It's awful.

I understood that people were not saying they cut trucks off but it is wise not to. What I am saying is that you can only control what you do and not what others do so just make sure what you do is done safely. If someone takes that space then back off a bit more.

You cna only back off so much or eventually you will be going backwards and never make it to your destination.

I get that. My point was that if you cant maintain a reasonable space, the only other option is to go slower. I have plenty of experience with big city traffic and I know it's not always possible to leave huge gaps ALL the time (OTOH, you'd be surprised to see how many folks vacate that space almost as soon as they get in it). But, if you're constantly on your brakes, you're not leaving enough space.

Not to mention, the incident we're talking about here sounds like it happened on a rural stretch of highway.

I was taught that if you can't see the driver of the semi, then he can't see you. I always try to be in front of them, not next to them. going slower will not help anything if you get cut off by other cars.

I've had great experiences with semi drivers. I remember one time I had this jerk riding my bumper in a two lane highway, I was in the left lane, passing the right and nowhere to get out of the way even if I wanted to, which I had no intention of doing. I caught up to a semi in a the right lane and you could tell he could see the jerk. We looked at each other and both slowed down to 5 MPH over the limit and drove side by side for over a mile. The the highway opened to 4 lanes but that jerk wasn't going anywhere. It was easier with my older cars when I could slam on the brakes cuz I was alone in the car and they were metal tanks. I would have gotten scratched and they would have totaled. yes I was a jerk to those jerks when I was younger, but only on back roads, never on the highway.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Yep, you have to give those truckers plenty of room. The blind spots for them are huge and basically the entire trailer end and until you are right under their window on both sides. They also can not stop very quickly and the heavier the load the more room they need to make that stop. A lot of times it isn't necessarily the trucker but the cars around them not realizing where their blind spots are. Another supid move is when cars cut into that space in front of the truck that the truck drivers give themselves so they can stop and then slamming on their brakes. Be aware of those things and you will be safe.

I avoid driving near or behind them like the plague when on the highway. One year on our way back from WDW DH was driving behind one and a cap came off their tire and hit our car. He learned his lesson about driving behind one after that. If you look at the side of the road you can see they lose them all the time.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the trucking industry has changed drastically in the last several years since the ecomomy got bad and fuel got so expensive. The pay for loads and drivers has barely increased where the cost of fuel and repairs and parts for the trucks have gone through the roof. The big companies are having to hire a lot of new drivers who might not be as aware of things as you might expect them to be.

Thank you. As someone who works in the trucking industry, it bothers me that everyone just assumes that it is the trucker's fault and they don't care because they are bigger than you.

There are bad truck drivers out there. But there are also a lot of other factors like blind spots and bad automobile drivers that can also cause accidents involving trucks.

A few years ago a semi hit a car carrying 2 teenagers head on. One was killed instantly, the other was horribly disfigured. Everyone said the truck driver should be grown in jail. Several witnesses said the teenager driver passed a school us on a double yellow line, on a curve, and the truck didn't have time to see her, let alone maneuver the truck out of the cars way. But it didn't matter. The teenager was a saint and the truck driver was a monster.

The trucking industry is trying to make things safer. The allowable stopping distance gets shorter and shorter. They are installing collision prevention systems and blind spot detectors. They are putting decals on trailers to tell cars when they are in a blind spot. As time goes on these safety features will become mandatory. Hopefully this helps avoid accidents.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Sometimes I wonder how some Semi drivers get licenses.

On my way home from work, every Tuesday on the highway, like clockwork, there is a FedEx Semi driving in the fast lane. He never moves over. The highway is hilly, so some people go the speed limit, which is 55, but many go 80 or more. A long line of cars will end up tailgating behind him, because he is usually going under 55.

The people swerving around this guy are taking their lives in their own hands, but the fact is, he shouldn't be hogging the left lane!

I have called and emailed FedEx several times to tell them, with no response. I even gave them the number of the truck, the time, the route, everything. No response. I know someone is going to get killed one of these days.

Depending on the size and the weight of the FedEx truck, he may not have taken truck driver training and gotten a CDL. You only need a CDL on vehicles over a certain weight.

 

[Ginny Favers]

Depending on the size and the weight of the FedEx truck, he may not have taken truck driver training and gotten a CDL. You only need a CDL on vehicles over a certain weight.

It's one of the big ones, not a little Fedex truck that delivers to homes. It's a big semi, pulling a massive container. 18 wheeler? I dunno. I am no expert.

 

[Judique]

Depending on the size and the weight of the FedEx truck, he may not have taken truck driver training and gotten a CDL. You only need a CDL on vehicles over a certain weight.

I am guessing if it was a semi as noted in your quote, that it was big and heavy enough for a CDL.

I'm also curious about the some traffic going 55 while others go 80.

Could it be that 55 is the limit on that road?

Where is it 'okay' to go 80?

I wonder if the fedex driver could get a ticket for impeding people possibly going 80 while he legally goes 55?

Some areas prevent trucks from travelling in the left lanes around here. There are posted signs. Usually there are 3 to 4 lanes going in one direction with these posted signs, so in order to get away from a big truck you have to go to the left. Over there with the folks going 80.

I wonder which is safest - rolling with the big guys who've had specialized training and continuing safety training to keep their CDL or smoking along at 80 with someone who has had minimum driver training - and who just needs to pay the fee every 5 or 6 years to stay on the road, and who probably drives less than an hour a day.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

A lot of fleets also put restrictor on their trucks. They won't allow them to go over 60 or 65. They also have telematics where the can track the truck's speed, how many times it is shifted, how often the brakes are hit, and how long they're idol for. So the truck might not be able to go faster. But he shouldn't be in the left lane unless that is the law in that state.

 

[Leajess99]

That is an awful accident that the family died in. However, a ticket for following too closely is going to be given to anyone in any vehicle that hits someone from behind. It doesn't mean the trucker was at fault and that is why there are no charges. The SUV could still have cut off the semi driver and that is what will need to be investigated through witnesses and such.

As for their record of tickets and safety inspections that is not a bad record. You have to remember the tickets are on 30 trucks with probably as many drivers and spread between them 17 tickets is not unusual. These are trucks that are on the road for about 10 hours a day each as well. As for inspections the inspection stations keep in business by finding things that are wrong with trucks and tailers and writing fines for them so they will find things to keep getting paid. Most things are as simple as a small adjustment to the breaks and such. That is why the article says their record is lower than most companies. A certain number of tickets and safty inspection tickets are not unusual.

Till they investigate this it appears there is not answer as to what happened and who was at fault.

There are no charges because the investigation is not yet complete. Our state police are a little busy since they had 3 accidents happen within 15 miles of each other from Saturday to Monday and EVERYONE involved a Semi hitting the vehicle in front of them. I have driven I-65 many times and have had Semi drivers tailgate me until I chose to move over or get off the highway. I'm sorry but knowing some truck drivers, not all are safe drivers. I honestly think that every weigh station should mandate drug tests and inspect driver logs.

We have a lot of semis in this area with various factories an it is quit scary. Watching a semi run a straight red light like it was nothing, semis that pull in front of oncoming traffic, etc. No, it is not all truck drivers but there are quite a few out there.

 

[angwill]

There are no charges because the investigation is not yet complete. Our state police are a little busy since they had 3 accidents happen within 15 miles of each other from Saturday to Monday and EVERYONE involved a Semi hitting the vehicle in front of them. I have driven I-65 many times and have had Semi drivers tailgate me until I chose to move over or get off the highway. I'm sorry but knowing some truck drivers, not all are safe drivers. I honestly think that every weigh station should mandate drug tests and inspect driver logs.

We have a lot of semis in this area with various factories an it is quit scary. Watching a semi run a straight red light like it was nothing, semis that pull in front of oncoming traffic, etc. No, it is not all truck drivers but there are quite a few out there.

Your right not every truck driver is a safe driver just like every car driver is not either but the majority are in either case. If anyone semi driver or not get in an accident they have a chance of dying as well as having to live with it if they kill someone so it is not like they do it on purpose.

As you say you have been tailgated many times I can honestly say that I have never had a semi tailgate my car on a highway and if they did I would choose to speed up or change lanes. Actually, my experience is always that the semis stay in the right lane unless passing and go speed limit because most have regulators on them so they can not speed.

Semis are everywhere and I just feel it is important that car drivers understand where their blind spots are and that they can not stop on a dime. I had no clue till I took a ride in one and realized how little they can see around them and how hard it is to stop when cars cut them off. Without that knowledge I could be a statistic too since I thought they could see me on the side of them and if I needed to pull over I never thought about the stopping distance for them vs my car.

The companies are mandated to drug test all drivers and they enter a pool that randomly selects the drivers to take drug tests when their name gets pulled so they are tested regularly. If they did that at every weigh station that would cost the state and tax payers a lot of money. The weigh stations also do randomly pull the drivers over for a truck inspection and at that time they inspect their logs. They can also call police if they feel a driver is impared. To inspect every truck and every log again would cost the state and tax payer a lot of extra money. Not to mention it taking drivers a lot longer to get their load where it is supposed to go if they all had to be inspected and tested. Imagine the lines on the highway tieing up that right hand lane for them to wait their turn. Imagine the hazard that would make on a highway for car drivers especially when the line backs up to where there is a hill that the driver can not see the line ahead of them. Every thing people buy from groceries, clothing, mail, parts for their cars, furnaces, A/C's etc are carried by truck drivers. If it takes them so much longer to get the product where it is going because of all the waiting and testing/inspecting that would not make for happy people.

I do wonder if the roads were icy or wet that day that all these accidents took place?

 

[Ginny Favers]

I am guessing if it was a semi as noted in your quote, that it was big and heavy enough for a CDL.

I'm also curious about the some traffic going 55 while others go 80.

Could it be that 55 is the limit on that road?

Where is it 'okay' to go 80?

I wonder if the fedex driver could get a ticket for impeding people possibly going 80 while he legally goes 55?

Some areas prevent trucks from travelling in the left lanes around here. There are posted signs. Usually there are 3 to 4 lanes going in one direction with these posted signs, so in order to get away from a big truck you have to go to the left. Over there with the folks going 80.

I wonder which is safest - rolling with the big guys who've had specialized training and continuing safety training to keep their CDL or smoking along at 80 with someone who has had minimum driver training - and who just needs to pay the fee every 5 or 6 years to stay on the road, and who probably drives less than an hour a day.

In our state it is the law that you keep right, except to pass. So in that respect, he isn't legal.

I think the differences in the speeds has to do a lot with the fact that there are steep hills. In my mind, the safest thing to do when someone is going 80 and gets up on your backside, is just move over to the right and let them face the possibility of getting a ticket down the road. However, there are those who like to just cruise there, who are just as in the wrong as the person speeding, except they will rarely get pulled over.

Most truck drivers know to stay to the right whenever possible. I have never really run across a truck driver who simply always cruises along in the left lane, until now. And I really don't think FedEx cares, as they haven't responded to me.