Truckers are certainly not what we used to be.

[artvonne]

  Boy, a lot of comments, but little in the way of personal responsibility. A sign that says your in my blind spot takes responsibility away from the trucker and places more of it on the roller skate. Same as back up beepers give idiots more legal right to run you over with heavy equipment. And the idea that you can "park" in the right lane on cruise control and need not make way for anyone around you is simply asinine and dangerous.

  Its not just truckers whove gotten bad, its all of society. We handed out DL's to whole chunks of our citizenry who simply dont belong behind the wheel of anything. And bad as some truckers are, they have to deal with all the idiot drivers in their path day in and day out. So many drivers simply do not know how to change lanes, merge, or maintain appropraite spacing, and too many like to panic brake and drive under speed. And its not generally anything you are tested on. You drive around some cones in a parking lot or your local podunk town and your a driver. The rest your supposed to pick up on your own. It is my firm conviction that freeway/interstate driving should require an additional endoresment on your DL, and without it you shouldnt be allowed out there. No stupid signs. No 27 mirrors pointed every which way. No 50 cameras blazing. Just more education and personal responsibity. Like the sign says, "lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way". Works with shopping carts equally as well as roads.

   

[prevosman]

I believe everyone is missing the entire point.

From the posts everyone on here is a safe driver and is aware of hazards, potential hazards, blind spots, and safe driving practices.

However the signs are for stupid people. I can dress up the wording to be less offensive, but does anyone with an IQ in excess of room temperature need to be reminded this vehicle makes wide right turns (as though left turns are not wide), that the bridge freezes before the road surface, or that if you cannot see me I cannot see you?

As a nation we are using less and less gray matter and the result is someone has to protect us from our own stupidity and signs on the back of trucks or bridges is one way of doing that.

Nobody on this forum can spend a day driving without encountering drivers doing bone headed things. I don't know if people are any dumber than they have been throughout all time, but today we certainly have multiple ways of being distracted, or just enabled to make stupid mistakes. Turn signals are obviously seen as a sign of weakness. Thinking ahead and assessing an unfolding situation is apparently never taught in driver's ed. Courtesy in a vehicle is apparently a lost art. Everybody needs to get ahead. Heavens knows that one or two second gained by passing and then spiking the brakes so you can get off at the exit ramp was critical.

We have large signs alerting people to leave room when they pass, but in my opinion those signs are as important as the signs telling me the 800 number to report a bad driver. They are a waste of resources and clutter up the landscape. It would be nice to have the frustrations of today's driving go away, but unfortunately there is a stupid school out there somewhere graduating people with MS (master of stupidity) degrees by the thousands.

[Lin]

Don't forget the homeostasis of risk.  That concept says that people are prepared to take a certain amount of risk in whatever they do.  Therefore, if you make cars safer, which decreases risk, they will drive in such a way to raise the risk back up to their personal level.

[prevosman]

I think you are giving stupid people way too much credit. If they had the brain power to work through the calulations regarding risk versus reward people would be driving a whole lot better than they do now.

[TedsBUSted]

Ha ha, this thread came to mind this morning. It was still dark and traffic was light as I was clipping along in the right lane, traveling slightly above the limit. I was about to pass a slower truck who was traveling in the left (smoother) lane. Even though I was moving along at  slightly above the limit, when I noticed a pair of headlights gaining on me fast I tucked in behind the slower truck in the left lane, so that the approaching vehicle could pass on the right and wouldn't make an  "S" lane change to move around us.

My motives were selfish though, because I figured it would be easier for me to give the fast car my lane than to agonize worrying about if he'd try a close cut while going around, or plant himself behind me so that I'd have to be concerned with him or his headlight glare.

Anyway, the fast  lights turned out to be a cop who gave a "thanks" blink of his signal as he burned off into the distance.

Ted

[Lin]

Prevo,

I don't think that the process is strictly intellectual.  It would probably be mostly subconscious.  One is likely to drive a VW bug differently than a new corvette without putting much thought into it.

[prevosman]

You are probably right Lin. The key is exactly what you said. They don't put much thought into it.

[Iceni John]

Have you noticed that drivers of old VW buses usually drive very safely, if only because they'll definitely be the first at any accident they're in.   For much the same reason, us "real" bus drivers are also much safer drivers than most drivers on the road.   I feel that the almost universally low standards of driving in this country are the inevitable result of giving out too many driving licenses.   Look how difficult, time-consuming and expensive it is to get a DL in most European countries, then compare the US accident rate with those countries.   Car manufacturers also don't help  -  often the "safer" the car, the worse the driver.   In-car electronic distractions (I-Drive, anyone?), cell phones, collision-avoidance radar systems, self-parking systems, night-vision aids, cruise control, cocooning the driver in excessive luxury;  all these lessen the driver's involvement with the actual process of driving.   Maybe everyone should take some flying lessons to learn there is an immediate and direct consequence to everything you do!   (Simply, if you screw up, you will die.)   I drive with the immutable assumption that everyone is an idiot and liable to do anything at any time for any or no reason (sort of like driving in Mexico or India!), and I always think what a jury would decide about my actions if I were in an accident.   Too bad us bus folk are a tiny minority of road users.

I always try to respect truck drivers, even though some do not deserve such respect.   Above all, I never forget the laws of physics  -  they are an apex predator, I am small prey.

John

[niles500]

We should all drive as though our Mother is in the vehicle next to us (especially 4 wheelers) - If everyone on the road would follow only one rule " slower traffic keep right" there would be 50% less carnage and road rage than exists now - look at some of your replys - most of your complaints have merely to do with people HOGGING lanes left or right - FWIW









w

[prevosman]

Just curious.......how is it possible to hog the RH lane? If we are driving at a reasonable speed such as the speed limit or slightly below how would that be hogging the lane?

If traffic is running at five over the limit, and I am in the RH lane running five under the limit am I a hog, or do I merely recognize in heavy traffic 65 or 70 MPH is insane because of my inability to stop quickly given the amount of space in front of me most cars or trucks leav when they pull in.

[John316]

Just curious.......how is it possible to hog the RH lane? If we are driving at a reasonable speed such as the speed limit or slightly below how would that be hogging the lane?

If traffic is running at five over the limit, and I am in the RH lane running five under the limit am I a hog, or do I merely recognize in heavy traffic 65 or 70 MPH is insane because of my inability to stop quickly given the amount of space in front of me most cars or trucks leav when they pull in.

IMHO, you really can't hog the RL. That is where slower traffic goes, or should go. However, when I try to pass you in the LL, and you speed up faster then you had been cruising, I don't like that. I don't think anybody else likes that either. Cruise consistently (lol, how is that for a bumper sticker?).

The other thing is the folks that camp out in the left lane.....But that is another subject.

John

[TedsBUSted]

Just curious.......how is it possible to hog the RH lane? If we are driving at a reasonable speed such as the speed limit or slightly below how would that be hogging the lane?

If traffic is running at five over the limit, and I am in the RH lane running five under the limit am I a hog, or do I merely recognize in heavy traffic 65 or 70 MPH is insane because of my inability to stop quickly given the amount of space in front of me most cars or trucks leav when they pull in.

There are times when there are better choices than the right lane for a slow vehicle.
One example may be a multi-lane freeway in a busy urban area, with lots of traffic merging in and out.  

If your vehicle isn't keeping pace with most traffic flow, or is very large, then it may be better to not use the right lane, where traffic enters and exits. In this situation usually it'd be better to use one of the other lanes, where merging traffic doesn't have to deal with your vehicle's slower speed  or its  large size.

By traveling in a non-merge lane, other traffic will easily predict your continued slower but steady pace, and non-exiting intentions, and thus easily and safely "take you" on all sides to help keep traffic flow moving and also the "cushion" ahead of you more open. Besides all that, it's easier for the large vehicle's driver too.

Ted

[niles500]

Hogging the right hand lane has to do most with merging traffic - For example  I-70 in Colorado has many merge lanes that are not much more than 100 ft long and many of them are located on curves with no breakdown lane -  Some people refuse to give way to the merging traffic and instead of moving over end up slamming on their brakes causing those multiple rear end collisions - HTH

[belfert]

By traveling in a non-merge lane, other traffic will easily predict your continued slower but steady pace, and non-exiting intentions, and thus easily and safely "take you" on all sides to help keep traffic flow moving and also the "cushion" ahead of you more open. Besides all that, it's easier for the large vehicle's driver too.

My experience with driving in the middle lane is that you still have all kinds of morons driving fast who have no idea how to drive.  It really upsets me when I am driving say 65 MPH in the middle lane on a 55 MPH or 60 MPH road and the guy who wants to go 70 MPH tailgates a foot off my bumper instead of passing me in the open left lane.  I've been tempted more than once to slow down or hit the brakes.

I seem to have less issues when driving the bus as I think most car drivers understand the bus would crush them like a bug.

[prevosman]

Hogging the right hand lane has to do most with merging traffic - For example  I-70 in Colorado has many merge lanes that are not much more than 100 ft long and many of them are located on curves with no breakdown lane -  Some people refuse to give way to the merging traffic and instead of moving over end up slamming on their brakes causing those multiple rear end collisions - HTH

Bus drivers, of all people on the road should know we are not hogging the slow lane, nor are we staying in that lane just to pi$$ off people that want us to move over as they enter the road. The folks on the on ramp that give us the finger, blow their horn and do all sorts of other things to experess themselves when we don't move over cannot see the car along side of us because unlike a semi trailer we block the view.

I will move over if I can and if is safe, but when I cannot I guess the people merging just have to adjust their speed, up or down. The problem as I see it is folks merging don't know if they want to get up to speed they actually have to press down on the long pedal.