Questions about truckers??? the Semi- Truckers?

George A

I have been both a cop & and a trucker (cop first) and movies make the person fit the way that character is supposed to act like. Example- look at how teenage girls & blondes are portrayed in slasher films like Friday 13th, Halloween, etc- all dumb as a rock and usually the first ones killed in the movie. Are all teenage girls & blondes dumb as a rock?

I drove trucks for 10 yrs. During those 10 yrs, I worked as a Driver Trainer for about 2 yrs, teaching people how to safely drive a semi.
The last 2 yrs that I was a trucker I owned my own truck (1999 Freightliner FLD) and worked as an Owner-Operator. I never agreed then with an unsafe trucker & did report many that I witnessed, and I still do today. A few bad apples & the way truckers have been portrayed by the liberal media in this country has tarnished the image of the trucking industry.

I never agreed with split speed limits, as a cop & as a trucker. They are a major safety problem. Cars 65 MPH, Trucks 55 MPH. You know that the cars are going to be driving between 70-75 or more. Split speed limits make it very easy for cars to rear end the trailers & is usually fatal.

The safety records for commercial vehicles are improving each year, fatality rates in accidents between commercial vehicles vs passenger vehicles continue to decline. Also, in all accidents involving a commercial vehicle and a passenger car- 75% of the time the car was at fault.

Another thing about trucks- everything you eat, use, drive, buy was delivered by a truck. And if the 1 million plus American truckers would finally stand up as a unified organization and shut down, this country would come to a standstill. All it would take is a 48 hour shutdown by every single trucker in America, & you will not be able to do anything. There will be no food on the shelves of stores, gas stations would close, WalMart would even close.

There's nothing to dislike about commercial vehicles if you understand that they are taller, longer & heavier than a car & you drive around them with common sense and a little courtesy. At 65 MPH, on flat, smooth, dry roads, it will take an 80,000 lb semi the distance of a football field to stop. Don't drive in their blind spots (the right side blind spot on a commercial vehicle is large enough to hide a 2 story house in), don't speed up to pass a semi only to cut it off and slow down to exit the highway. Don't tailgate a semi- if you cannot see the trucks mirrors, the driver cannot see you.

krazybob613

A small percentage of truckers are creeps, a very small percentage. The vast majority of truckers are highly skilled, highly motivated professionals who respect and protect everyone around them with their consistent and safe driving habits. This is not to say that when traffic conditions permit, they will not speed to some degree. It is frustrating to be told that on two virtually identical highways that on one side of an imaginary line you are a safe legal upstanding citizen / driver traveling at 70 MPH and then on the other side you are a nefarious criminal for going faster than 55! The most important thing that you as an automobile driver can do is to use your lights and signals and avoid sudden maneuvers, especially close to a big truck, and never pull in less than a full truck length in front of a truck when passing it on a multi-lane highway, I call that first 100 feet in front of a moving truck the DEAD ZONE because if anything happens in that space, the combination of driver reaction time plus brake reaction time means that 80,000 pounds of mass is going to grind you into the pavement and there is absolutely nothing the driver of the truck can do to prevent it from happening. If you wish to pass us, please do, and if the visibility is poor due to rain or snow please flash your high beams quickly one time just before you start to pass, and if a big truck signals that it needs to pull into your lane please slow down and when there is a safe space in front of your car give two quick flashes of your headlights to signal the driver it is safe to pull over. These actions will help improve traffic safety - including your personal safety! and help maintain smooth and steady traffic flow. When merging, under most conditions, if you are close to the front of a truck in the right lane, your best action is not to slow down but to hammer it - by the time you reach the end of the merge lane you will have the safe 100 feet of clearance needed for a safe merge. The one big exception to this is if it is slippery ... don't take any chances.

The Eagle Keeper

Well, I do drive a semi & I assure you that I am not a creep. I keep myself very clean, shave everyday, I don't drink off duty, or smoke a thousand cigs a day. I don't smoke at all. I ain't no perv either. Yeah, I'm a little over weight. But I am not a phat slob! There are plenty of truckers out there that are independent drivers. Their trucks have no speed governors on them or at least they are programmed high. My company truck will only do 63 mph max. So independant truckers can & usually do floor it. Oh yes they get tix every now & then. And that fine is steep. Triple what a car would be. No need for me to fly down the hwy cuz I'm a salary driver. Things to avoid around trucks are: No tailgating. If I stop suddenly, you'll be eating bumper before you can react. When a truck is heavy it actually stops better becuase there is weight on the wheels getting better traction. Go ahead and pass me if you think I'm too slow. Don't just lolligag on around me, get on with it! Give me some distance before you cut me off. I need 7 truck lengths to come from 60-0 mph. Coming down the on-ramp, would you plz look ahead! I will not hesitate to put you down the shoulder. The destruction of your car means nothing to me. My truck & it's load are a priority. It's what I need to provide for my family. OK? Carry on.

corp_752000

The movies make cops look like the good guys too but we all know that aint rite either. I've been driving 30 yrs and i;m not a creep, perv or anything like that. I'm simply a hard working man trying to support a family and pay my bills just like everyone else. Next time u go to the store or mall and see all the goods on the shelves remember this...'If u have it, a truck brought it.'

nkinney84

My Husband is a trucker. That is a fact I am very proud of. The movies portray drivers to be exactly like you described and sometimes that's true, making runs with my husband I have met a few unsavory characters, but for the most part drivers are just hard working men trying to make a living and provide for their families. As for speeding, my husband often hauls produce and is given a very limited time to get it from point A to point B. He owns his own truck so doesn't get paid a salary, he get paid per mile, the more miles he covers the more money he makes. Yes he speeds as do a lot of drivers and yes I have written more checks to DOT for tickets and violations than I would care to. Don't get the idea that its all fun and games out there. Drivers drive long hard hours putting up with cars that cut them off, bad weather and dispatchers with demands to deliver in less time than they have. They Don't get enough sleep, eat frozen crap and don't get to shower nearly as often as they would like. The biggest danger on the road isn't the truck driver, its the fool in the car that cuts him off or doesn't pay attention. Like a previous answer said drivers have no concern about putting you in a ditch if it saves their loads and lives. See Truck drivers have one of the top 5 most dangerous jobs in the USA. So next time you pass a driver give him a wave and give him his space. He can't stop on a dime! Don't hate truckers, in fact thank one the next time you get a chance. Remember everything you buy from the car you drive to the clothes on your back and the food you eat was trucked in from somewhere. Truckers Drive America and those of us who love them are damn proud of it!!!

Vince M

Speeding truckers often do get pulled over. You don't see as many being ticketed because there aren't as may semis on the roads as there are other vehicles.

And, I suggest you observe more carefully. It isn't true that "the trucks are ALWAYS going faster." This observation is just your prejuidice showing. SOME trucks go faster than SOME cars. A more accurate observation would be that MOST semis do not obey the standard 55 mph speed limit. But, MOST automobiled don't obey the posted speed limits either.

I agree that a speeding truck could cause more damage, in a collision, than a speeding automobile, but two factors make me less concerned than you seem to be. One is that most large semi trucks are driven by professional drivers with a LOT of miles of experience. I would say that MOST of them tend to be better drivers, in spite of their speed. The other factor is that there are SO MANY more cars on the road, speeding, doing unsave lane changes, running red lights and operated by distracted, impaired drivers. I am more likely to get hit by one of those by the sheer fact of the odds. On a hot summer's evening, am I more likely to get bit by an infected mosquito or by a bat? There's a heck of a lot more mosquitos out there.

Also, the movies are NOT a good sourse of statistical research.

Truckers can and do sometimes get tickets for speeding. While I would not say they should drive that fast, just remember... you don't always want to bite the hand that feeds you (you do know what that means?), so sometimes the best thing to do is look the other way.

Tatianna

well, let me tell you, from a truckers point of view, a lot of regular car drivers look like creeps and i dont know if you've ever noticed.. but almost everyone on the highway does not want to be behind a rig, so we are always being passed. And when we're on the road, we are on the "clock". We are getting business done, and product to the store so people like you can buy the "creep" movies.

female driver....clean female

StephenWeinstein

Your statement that they do not "ever get pulled over" is false.

I have also seen cars going faster than trucks.

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