Total Motorcycle Community Forums

jmillheiser wrote:

Jerry D wrote:
yes, yes they do feel the same way about trucks. i drive a truck for a living and the suicidal things cars do in front of me is amazing. it takes my truck between two to three times the distance to stop as most cars. do you know how often they pull ahead of me and quickly slow down or pull in front of me in traffic giving me no where to turn or stop or wile i am changing lanes they cut me off. it is by the grace of god that i haven't killed any one yet. and yet i know that it is only a matter of time before i roll over some fool that didn't give me enough distance to stop killing them.

The general opinion of the educated idiots on our roads is that trucks dont belong on them either, hell there are people in wyoming that want a dedicated route built for trucks to replace Interstate 80 across wyoming, never mind that trucks outnumber cars on I-80 at pretty much any time and already pay for the upkeep of the interstate with road use taxes (that car drivers dont have to pay).

And of course the car drivers complain to no end when a jackknifed/overturned tractor-trailer blocks the interstate because of some idiotic car driver who cut off said truck causing the accident.

Offtopic but, Wyoming is the most incredible place in the lower continental(48 states) US IMO. Some of the roads and the scenery is just jaw dropping gorgeous. It is hands down the most underrated state in the US. It blows away Colorado which I think may be the most overrated. The only lower state that comes close to Wyoming is some parts of Cali. IMO Wyoming is right up there with Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii for breathtakingly gorgeous scenery.

HYPERR wrote:Nothing personally against truckers like you who are making an honest living

No worries, I knew you weren't ranting. But since becoming a trucker I've had the rare luxury of seeing the story from both sides and I have to say that there's a lot of motorcyclists and cagers that put themselves in danger when around trucks. The worst offenders are those friggin' hypermilers in their hybrids that plant themselves on my arse where I can't see them. Dumb, dangerous place to be for the exact reason that you have already noted - the smug little twit gets NO warning whatsoever that a big chunk of road debris or shredded tire is about to share the front seat with them. Motorcyclists can be just as bad; as a long time rider myself I know that riding in rain or strong winds is unenjoyable at the best of times, but following a truck at 5' off the trailer doors is just NOT a good idea for the same reason. And how long does one have to be riding before they realise that a safer place to be when passing a truck coming the other way is near the shoulder of the road and not the center line?

But I do know that on the other side of the coin there are a lot of truckers out there who really shouldn't have a licence. Tailgating a slower vehicle in an attempt to bully them out of the way has got to be one of the stupidist things a trucker can do, but I see that far too often wherever I'm at. And the further south I go in the states, the higher the speed limits are and the more shredded tires litter the roads as a result. Georgia and the Carolinas are horrible for that, and most of it is caused by truckers who run on underinflated tires, which overheat and then literally explode. I think a lot of truckers have forgotten what it's like to drive a car or ride a bike out in traffic and they're the ones giving the rest of us a bad name.

Another off topic...but....I don't have a problem with trucks for the most part.....I understand that they need more space and stop slower and go slow up hills.....(I drove a Greyhound bus for a while, so I understand)......it's the drivers who decide they need to pass another truck going up hill effectively preventing all the rest of the traffic from getting past the truck in the right lane....

It's not like they're much faster.......they aren't....so they get to the top of the hill in front of the other truck.....whoopdeedo......in the meantime.....cars and motorcycles that can move and maneuver are stuck.......the frustration builds and thus leads to anger and road rage and potentially a crash.....

blues2cruise wrote:Another off topic...but....I don't have a problem with trucks for the most part.....I understand that they need more space and stop slower and go slow up hills.....(I drove a Greyhound bus for a while, so I understand)......it's the drivers who decide they need to pass another truck going up hill effectively preventing all the rest of the traffic from getting past the truck in the right lane....

It's not like they're much faster.......they aren't....so they get to the top of the hill in front of the other truck.....whoopdeedo......in the meantime.....cars and motorcycles that can move and maneuver are stuck.......the frustration builds and thus leads to anger and road rage and potentially a crash.....

Yes, it's frustrating. But... sometimes the only chance one truck has to pass another is on an uphill. The heavier truck will slow down from gravity while the lighter one can maintain enough speed to eventually and finally pass it. Can't happen on a straight because they are pretty much evenly matched, so while the lighter truck will catch up to the heavier one, it will not have enough "oomph" left to make a pass. And the considerate truck driver won't attempt it, anyway (yes, that's a whole new thread right there, I know). And on a downhill, gravity will make the heavier truck run away and hide from the lighter one until it eventually catches up again.

It gets even worse here in Ontario where large trucks are governed to 105kmh. It can literally take me upwards of 10km to pass another truck and that's mostly because I wait until the least amount of traffic is coming up on me first, then I have to wait for the next hill, then I have to time it JUST right so the pass is completed before the downhill or straight stretch comes up again. Frustrating for you, yes, but it just about gives ME an aeurysm. And while you can rocket on past when the way is finally clear, I have another truck 2km in front of me that I'm slowly gaining on and will soon have to spend another 10km trying to get by. And the cycle repeats endlessly, all day, every day for me.