ahhh Truck Drivers... why do they get a bum rap?

[Aussie_Geo]

Just got home and had to have a beer to calm the nerves :

The scene a multi-lane highway in Perth, broad daylight, me in the right lane doing 80kmh (the limit)... B-Double in left lane doing about 70 to 75 kmh. As I start to go past him he begins to move to the right, - after I am in front of his tailgate. No signals, I flash me lights and blast the horn... I can see him looking at me.

No reaction just looks straight at me and continues to move into right lane, by this time I am half way along and he is moving over.... come hell or high water... and stuff you other road user.....

Well thank god I had the Brembo's fitted last Saturday....mmmmm. For the life of me I cannot think why truck drivers get a bad rap ???

Peter

[EA2BA]

There are alot of cowboys out there, thats for sure, but the bulk I have alot of respect for, how they can just reverse those trucks down a narrow alley way in one go and hit nothing is incredible.

[M14A-Mclaren]

Gotta feel sorry for this truck driver.

http://tvnz.co.nz/cda/tvnz/video_pop...bandwidth=128k

The guy has been caught now.

[Heeno]

hey some of my uncles are truckies.....i see what you mean

[Black XR6]

The usual tried and true politically correct answer to this and also the maniac motorbike rider debate is.....

" Whilst there are no doubt a select few truckies/riders out there that do these stupid things they are in the minority and are by far and away outnumbered by the amount of dangerous car drivers on the road "

[Dezza]

I thought I was going to die out the front of my own home last year. I was waiting for a few cars to go past before I could turn right into the driveway. The whole time, a truck was coming from behind without showing any signs of slowing down. At the last second it pulled to the gravel on my left, spraying stones all over my car, again still travelling at close to 100kph. I thought I was going to be hit from behind at 100kph from a b-double semi. Not even my towbar would save me from that.

[Dezza]

Originally Posted by Dellboy999

There are alot of cowboys out there, thats for sure, but the bulk I have alot of respect for, how they can just reverse those trucks down a narrow alley way in one go and hit nothing is incredible.

I agree that there are more good truck drivers than bad ones. Despite my near miss, I still have a lot of respect for a lot of drivers. I'm amazed that anyone can back a b-double trailer without hitting anything or jackknifing it.

[aimzes]

some people are just wa**ers. and i have to admit that seeing how other people drive around semis i can really understand why some of them dont respect other road users. not saying its right though.

[Stav]

Thank god you are ok.1 1/2 years ago I got smashed by 2 semi trailers while I was stopped.!!Not fun but I walked away.Still sore you can never be the same again.

In Sydney especially in my area the majority of people do power play with their cars just so they can cut in front of you ..or get ahead of you....dumbos.. :the_finge

[Aussie_Geo]

Originally Posted by useless

Thank god you are ok.1 1/2 years ago I got smashed by 2 semi trailers while I was stopped.!!Not fun but I walked away.Still sore you can never be the same again.

In Sydney especially in my area the majority of people do power play with their cars just so they can cut in front of you ..or get ahead of you....dumbos.. :the_finge

Mate,

I hear you and as I said thank god for the Brembos.... am just happy to get out in one piece..... and am not having a go at all truck drivers...... just had to get that off me chest as I was a bit shaken up by it all

Peter

[Trevor 57]

Unfortunatley when a truck driver mucks up it is really obvious by their size, but when car drivers and motorbike riders muck up it just accepeted with a polite beep of the horn.

Being an ex-truckie I think I might start a thread where I list all the dumb things car drivers and bike riders do, my god, it would 12,000 pages long, so why is it OK to start one to bag a truckie, what makes him the centre of a post that the rest of the motoring community don't get?

And I am not having a go at you Aussie Geo, but these guys are the true professionals of the road, they do this for their job 8, 10, 12 hours every day, not like the other 95% of the community who drive their vehicles to work then home again.

But I will state like others before me there are some very unprofessional truckies out there, but their size makes them obvious and people don't expect them to be unprofessional, but the same people will accept shyte behaviour from car drivers with out a glimpse.

People of some States complain about thier Government attacks on P Platers, my god, go and drive a truck for a living, then you will find out about persecution, then try to pay more per litre for diesel than everybody else pays for petrol, recently diesel was up 10 cents per litre dearer, then try to fill a couple of 450 litre tanks and have a look at the change you get from the servo.

Give truckies a break and go and pick on car drivers and motorbike riders.

[Panda]

As with so many things, there's a small number of individuals that wreck it for the others.

Panda

[Aussie_Geo]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

Unfortunatley when a truck driver mucks up it is really obvious by their size, but when car drivers and motorbike riders muck up it just accepeted with a polite beep of the horn.

Being an ex-truckie I think I might start a thread where I list all the dumb things car drivers and bike riders do, my god, it would 12,000 pages long, so why is it OK to start one to bag a truckie, what makes him the centre of a post that the rest of the motoring community don't get?

And I am not having a go at you Aussie Geo, but these guys are the true professionals of the road, they do this for their job 8, 10, 12 hours every day, not like the other 95% of the community who drive their vehicles to work then home again.

But I will state like others before me there are some very unprofessional truckies out there, but their size makes them obvious and people don't expect them to be unprofessional, but the same people will accept shyte behaviour from car drivers with out a glimpse.

People of some States complain about thier Government attacks on P Platers, my god, go and drive a truck for a living, then you will find out about persecution, then try to pay more per litre for diesel than everybody else pays for petrol, recently diesel was up 10 cents per litre dearer, then try to fill a couple of 450 litre tanks and have a look at the change you get from the servo.

Give truckies a break and go and pick on car drivers and motorbike riders.

mate,

I dont doubt there are plenty of responsible truck drivers out there.... this is the first time that anything like this has happened to me..... and it was freakin scary...... for the record I have never been run off the road by a pushbike or a motorcycle.

Peter

[Aussie_Geo]

Originally Posted by Aussie_Geo

mate,

I dont doubt there are plenty of responsible truck drivers out there.... this is the first time that anything like this has happened to me..... and it was freakin scary...... for the record I have never been run off the road by a pushbike or a motorcycle.

Peter

As they say power corrupts...... with that much size and power on the road.... comes responsibility...... sadly some dont think so

[JAJH]

Yep, true there are the minority of truckies who do some pretty stupid things, but hey, that goes for car drivers too. The major difference is you got a better chance of getting OUT of trouble with a car...it's a bit too difficult to argue with 45 tons. And whilst on the subject of truckies, what cheeses me off more than anything on the road is truckies who hog the right lane either failing to move to the left or think they can pass everything and sit within 2 feet of the driver ahead of him in the right lane.

[Stav]

Originally Posted by Aussie_Geo

As they say power corrupts...... with that much size and power on the road.... comes responsibility...... sadly some dont think so

Absolutely....I now feel relive the moment of impact each day when cruising the streets of Sydney and mixing with trucks. The reason I believe that I was not seen by the truckie was a terrific looking girl with a short skirt....damm I didnt even get to see her!!!

[gtfpv]

i'm sorry that all truck drivers get tarred with the same brush but they have a bigger responsability than a car driver . and therefore have no right to be d1cks on the road ( as they are proffessionals) examples . : retreads on trucks. temper tantrums . come on . imagine a 747 pilot having a temper tantrum . driving over hours , speeding . drug taking .road rage.
it's kinda like a school teacher teasing the class nerd because the kids do . just not appropriate . makes me feel sorry for the good respectable ones.i have seen a truckie try to fix a leaking trailer brake line with sticky tape before he goes on a trip, another with bald tyres and an inner flat pumping up the outer to excessive pressure to make a return trip .with a 40 tonne load on . sorry but i value life more than that. i also done a silly thing once and took over a gas tanker on the left side lane only to be chased at 140km's /hr until i pulled nover to let him passed and then he delberately ran me off the road. i say thank god the rta are out there .

[Gabbs]

I know a few truckies and most of them are good blokes but thier is the odd idiot that can't even drive yet alone reverse them. Looks like you found one of them but don't go saying thier all like that cause they have to put up with a hell of lot of idiots in cars as well.
Did you manage to see if thier was a company name written on the side cause if you were able to remember it you could ring them up and complain cause they don't like thier drivers being idiots.

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by gabbs19

I know a few truckies and most of them are good blokes but thier is the odd idiot that can't even drive yet alone reverse them. Looks like you found one of them but don't go saying thier all like that cause they have to put up with a hell of lot of idiots in cars as well.
Did you manage to see if thier was a company name written on the side cause if you were able to remember it you could ring them up and complain cause they don't like thier drivers being idiots.

it was 5 years ago i did ring the police and made a formal compliant as far as i know the driver was cautioned and put on some sort of file. and yes i couldn't do it (DRIVE A TRUCK ) AS a lot of times things happen and it is not thier fault . and because there are more cars on the road there are more d1cks in cars.
but truckies should not engage in this behavior. if they do there licence should be strictly revoked. you dont see busses tail gating purposely and engaging in road rage because the passengers will soon get them sacked .anyhow i think i made my point.

[TalbotsEF]

Good to see a thread with some respect and a proper view of the truck driver, theres the cowboys but mostly decent hard working joe blows like you and me. I have a number of mates, 3 uncles and a Grandfather that run linehaul, they deal with the un-educated public day in day out on the road. There is just no education for normal car drivers on how to drive safely around a truck, they need room to pull up, not be cut off and fill that lane to gain 2-3 car spaces.

TAC will educate you on speeding, but theres no education on what happens if you jump in front of a B-Double loaded at 60 Tonne, nor do they know about the vacum caused by taughtliners on the freeways. I see car drives cut trucks of constantly along whitehorse road in melb, these people just dont realise what their risking.

Just give trucks space, respect and I will guarentee a truckie will return the gesture. :sm_headba

BTW It sucks you were cut off by a B-Double Geo

[Mike Gayner]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

Unfortunatley when a truck driver mucks up it is really obvious by their size, but when car drivers and motorbike riders muck up it just accepeted with a polite beep of the horn.

Being an ex-truckie I think I might start a thread where I list all the dumb things car drivers and bike riders do, my god, it would 12,000 pages long, so why is it OK to start one to bag a truckie, what makes him the centre of a post that the rest of the motoring community don't get?

And I am not having a go at you Aussie Geo, but these guys are the true professionals of the road, they do this for their job 8, 10, 12 hours every day, not like the other 95% of the community who drive their vehicles to work then home again.

But I will state like others before me there are some very unprofessional truckies out there, but their size makes them obvious and people don't expect them to be unprofessional, but the same people will accept shyte behaviour from car drivers with out a glimpse.

People of some States complain about thier Government attacks on P Platers, my god, go and drive a truck for a living, then you will find out about persecution, then try to pay more per litre for diesel than everybody else pays for petrol, recently diesel was up 10 cents per litre dearer, then try to fill a couple of 450 litre tanks and have a look at the change you get from the servo.

Give truckies a break and go and pick on car drivers and motorbike riders.

One thing I've noticed working around truck drivers for a living is that they all know how to whinge. Seriously.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by gtfpv

come on . imagine a 747 pilot having a temper tantrum . driving over hours , speeding . drug taking .road rage.

Oh really, you should go and ask the airline industry the same question

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by TalbotsEF

Good to see a thread with some respect and a proper view of the truck driver, theres the cowboys but mostly decent hard working joe blows like you and me. I have a number of mates, 3 uncles and a Grandfather that run linehaul, they deal with the un-educated public day in day out on the road. There is just no education for normal car drivers on how to drive safely around a truck, they need room to pull up, not be cut off and fill that lane to gain 2-3 car spaces.

TAC will educate you on speeding, but theres no education on what happens if you jump in front of a B-Double loaded at 60 Tonne, nor do they know about the vacum caused by taughtliners on the freeways. I see car drives cut trucks of constantly along whitehorse road in melb, these people just dont realise what their risking.

Just give trucks space, respect and I will guarentee a truckie will return the gesture. :sm_headba

BTW It sucks you were cut off by a B-Double Geo

Very well said

[Full Noise]

Originally Posted by JAJH

And whilst on the subject of truckies, what cheeses me off more than anything on the road is truckies who hog the right lane either failing to move to the left or think they can pass everything and sit within 2 feet of the driver ahead of him in the right lane.

Jeeeez, it’s easy to pick the people who have never driven anything bigger that a car with a box trailer behind it.

For those out there who have never driven a Semi or a B-Double, the reason many trucks stay in the right lane is because semis and B-Doubles don’t always track in a straight line due to the camber of the road. Also, there may be overhanging tree branches or street signs that protrude into the lane itself, something many car drivers would never even consider because they’re not used to looking four metres up from the gutter. A truck driver may be trying to position himself to make a left-hand turn, there’s all sorts of reasons why a truck may be staying in the right lane.

People in Adelaide would be familiar with the signs on Main South Road advising high trucks not to use the left lane because the power poles are so close to edge of the road. Another thing that many car drivers would never even realise is that a truck is 2.5 metres wide, so when some Einstein sticks his or her nose out from a side street wanting to make a turn, they only have to pull out a few inches from the line, and in some cases they have affectively blocked your lane.

All we ask from car drivers is for some courtesy and understanding, which is always returned. I don’t usually answer threads regarding trucks because there’s usually a lot of narrow minded, ill thought comment, however, the best way to give people a better understanding of our industry is to communicate and show them another point of view.

Thanks Big Trev and all the others who contribute with an understanding from our side.

Cheers, Danny

[merlin]

I've driven/ridden many kilometres in Aus. and I don't think I have EVER had a problem/incident with a truck driver - not once have they failed to check their mirrors when Iv'e been next to them ect. Not saying they are faultless but I know who the real cowboys on the road are and it ain't truck drivers (and no I'm not a truckie, I don't even know any).

Not saying I don't feel sorry for you Aussie_Geo as that would suck big time being put in a situation like that!

[Heeno]

FFS people give the truckies a break, it's doesn't surprise me there are a few roudy ones out there, because i see normal bikes and cars cutting trucks off all the time and being royal pr!cks, if you've ever lived out in the country you'll quickly find that at night the truckies rule the road and you p!ss them off your in trouble, i havn't driven a semi before but i have been in them many times and seen first hand how rude and stupid some drivers can be to the truckies.
instead of bagging them out go and do their job for a while and you to will see how rude normal people are to them.

Originally Posted by gtfpv

examples . : retreads on trucks. temper tantrums . come on . imagine a 747 pilot having a temper tantrum . driving over hours , speeding . drug taking .road rage.

As the ysay, a little knowledge about nothing can be dangerous.

retreads: yes, your 747 uses them too
temper tantrums: having dealt with a bunch of pilots in my time truckies are calm and level headed. The old days of flight engineers were even more interesting (you'll be pleased to know there's been more than one case where pilots for a major airline have been seen fighting it out on the tarmac)
driving over hours: yes, truckies do this more than pilots but only because bigger jets use a system called ACARS to identify and log hours for pilots. However, on smaller planes pilots DO fly over hours - fact
speeding: oh, so a truck does 110 in a 110 zone - the media has a fit but truly this is not unsafe with today's trucks. The law makers are just behind the times.
Drug taking: well, over the last few years fact is major airline pilots have been caught out drinking and drug taking
Road rage: ref tarmac rage above. :

I've been driving a b-double and been run off the road by another idiot in an ARN b-double because he thought he saw me flash my lights (I hit a bump). I just moved over, braked and returned to my lane, told him what I thought, and promised that if he'd like I'd meet him at the next rest stop. Alas he obviously was in a hurry....

[Mack 6]

I'll have to chuck in my two cent's worth. I've done a few k's behind the wheel of trcks (my new one in the avatar). As it's a recovery vehicle (think the army version of truckworks), we get to see a lot of accidents, and some of them you just can't believe that it has occured through driver stupidity. From both sides of the fence as well. Although it's army, the same problems occur. There are a small few who aren't suitable to drive, and they still get their codes which can be transferred straight over to the civillian qualifications.
All in all, there are a lot of good truckies out there. Keep an ear out on channel 40 and you'll hear a few.
As for reversing the suckers, triples suck, but a double or semi isn't that hard. Try having to reverse a Heavy "truck" (not prime mover) with a 20T dog trailer when the drawbar is only about 2 metres long. It takes a lot of practice, and if anyone know what i'm talking about they'll agree.

You Maul, We Haul
Arte et Marte

[gozza]

ive seen a truckie here n there get a little agro but its understandable when people jump in front of them.....
i drive my girlfriends s4 rx7 and its low and small....there has been a numerous amount of times when stupid drivers in 4wd and landcruisers merge into my lane not even knwoing i'm there...not once has a truck not seen me and i drive on the highway everyday to work thus driving past trucks all the time...in my opinion more 4wd act in ignorance on the road than trucks....i give trucks there space and they give me space..simple..if anything i go outa my way to make sure truckies don't need to brake unessecarly .

[OzJavelin]

"Real" truckies I've got time for. Maintaining a safety zone around such large vehicle while travelling must be frustrating with people tailgating, cutting-in, etc. I've had trouble (like others) with big rigs tailgating me to keep up momentum, but this seems to be less these days 'cos big trucks are so powerful.
My wife and I drove for 6mths 250km/day highway driving to/from work and unfortunately, the majority of problems be had were with small trucks. Other car drivers can do stoopid things, but typically they just speed past, cut you off once and they are gone. My problem was with those small 2-tonne "delivery" trucks that any moron can drive. Most these drivers must drive Hyundai Excels 'cos they have "little car syndrome". They speed up on the flat and downhill runs .. then get caught EVERYTIME on the uphills. Six months of playing highway tag with these tools gets really annoying ...