My 93LX teaches 18-wheeler a lesson
 

I was driving back to my g/f house Saturday night (Sunday morning 4:00 am) in a blizzerd on I-57. Only the right lane was plowed (sort of) and the left was all drifted over. There were very few people on the road and the people who were, were driving in the right lane going about 35mph.

I was behind a Blazer, giving him about 9 car links between us...pacing him. Then this big truck with 1000 watt head lights and about 4 sets of fog lights comes up behind me, riding my tail. He kept about 1/2 to 1 car link of my bumper for about a half mile. There is no point in this, the weather is bad and there is nowhere to go so he should just sit tight and back off unless he want's to pass in the left lane.
I'd had enough of this!

I told my g/f to hold on, then I hit the brakes - hard. The truck was sliding all over the place trying not to hit me and then the trailer swings out into the left lane taking up the whole interstate. He didn't crash, but he got it stopped sideways across I-57.

I just kept going while my g/f was chewing my ear off :cool: Maybe he'll think twice before he tries to push a little car around when the weather is bad.

I would have just ran over your little butt. I wouldn't have been tailgaiting though. He probably thought you would speed up if he ran close to you, but he should have got in the left lane and passed you. He should know about stupid people like you but maybe he is a rookie like you.

O.K.

OK, you know what? You're really retarded. Sorry to be so harsh, but that's what you are. What if he hadn't hit his brakes? Would you be sneering right now, or would you be in the hospital? Do you even have any idea how much an 18 wheeler can weigh? You're lucky you're not dead right now, or in the hospital. No, I'm not condoning what he did, but what you did was just as stupid, if not more so.

No, I wouldn't be in the hospital we were doing 35 on ice with nothing but flat land for miles. My car slowed down about 3mph when I hit the brakes, it was about as effective as letting off the gas. If that caused him to go out of control it is obevious he was to close.
I guess me and all the other cars in front of me just should of pulled over and let him pass because he must own the road:rolleyes: He was being a ******* and was endangering me and the other cars in front of me. What if there was a reason I had to stop, lake an accident in front of me or something, he would of smashed me between him and what ever could of been infront of me.
I gave the car infront of me lots of room and so did he for the car that was in front of him. We all had enough room and time to react to anything that came up except the truck behind me. There was no reason for what he was doing, and if he wanted to screw with me he picked the wrong person.

On an icey road you hit your brakes hard??


what would you have done it he had overturned?? gone back to tell him he got what he deserved? or just laughed at him and drove on?? all it would have taken was a tap from him and you would have been the one that was sliding all over the highway.

No wander my insurance is so high....
 

Not that he was right, but I hope he finds you at a gas station some day so that he can thank you for teaching him such a valuable lesson.

I would have prob done the same thing...well, maybe if it wasnt a semi..:eek:

damn Wade I don't see why everyone is jumping on your back. I would have done the exact same thing.

These guys must either all be truck drivers (yay for you) or related to them.

I had the same thing happen to me last night, I'm sure it wasn't as snowy as it was up there but it was still pretty slick and this *** in a silverado rides my bumper about 4-5 feet from me as we're going 45 on a snowy interstate. I just hit my pedal enough to flash the brake lights but not enough to really slow down so he passes me in the emergency lane and almost loses it.
I hate idiots, especially ignorant ones that call you stupid and tell you they are gonna run you over:rolleyes:

WADS56, GOOD JOB. You may have prevented a much more serious accident that could have occurred from this truck driver's stupidness. Out of all the drivers on the road, truck drivers are some of the best, but there are of course a few that are just idiots (esp if he was really only 1-1.5 car lengths behind you). I'm sure he was pissed, but I'm also sure he had second thoughts later about riding on people's butts in blizzard conditions. :mad: I say good job b/c while something worse could've happened, it didn't and a warning, that could save lives in the future, was given to the retard truck driver .

On your part however, a friendly tap of the brakes (just so he would see your brake lights for a second or 2), just so he could know that you wished him to BACK OFF, would've probably gotten it through his head. If not, a slightly more aggressive tap of the brakes might have. I would not advise the same type of behavior on your part in the future b/c the accident you may be trying to avoid may be 10x worse b/c of your slightly over-reaction (if that's a word). It was "blizzard conditions" so perhaps slamming on brakes going from 35 mph to 3mph with an 18-wheeler behind you at about 1-1.5 car lengths wasn't the wisest thing to do--- ya think? :)

Your girl was angry at you b/c you endangered her (and other people on the road) life. What if the driver was looking to the side or something or for some reason wasn't able to stop in time? What if he plowed into the back of you? Even at 35mph? remember, you were going 3 and that was a semi..... Your day would've been screwed in the LEAST.

Your idea was good, but taken just a little to an extreme. Really think b4 you decide to do something like that in the future. Think about the possible consequences of those actions and how you could maybe refine your actions to avoid something worse then you might expect. I'm pretty sure you didn't count on the whole truck sliding to the side and almost wrecking. You were probably scared as crap as it was happening and was like "oh crap this guy is gonna wreck and turn over and it's gonna be my fault", but it didn't happen so you felt you did the right thing. Well, sorta. Just try not to be so extreme next time. :D All in all, I would advise against you slamming on brakes to get people off your tail. Try a different/safer approach.

Dumb move
 

Lets see; you're on a snow-covered, icy highway at 4:00 a.m. and driving slowly in the right lane due to snow and road conditions. So far, so good.

An 18-wheeler comes up on your bumper and tailgates you, which is very annoying.

To 'teach him a lesson', you hit the brakes, hard (in your words) and the 18-wheeler locks up his brakes and starts fishtailing before he finally gets it under control - and ends up sideways on the highway.

That about it?

Well, the truck driver was an idiot and you were no better.
If I was a cop I would nail you both for reckless driving.

Lot's of 'what-if's' to consider here, too. Had the truck not been able to stop and hit your little LX you and your girlfriend would have probably been injured and the car wrecked. Yeah, his fault, legally, but you're still in the hospital (or morgue) and you still lose your car. For what? To 'teach a lesson' to some anonymous idiot in a blizzard on a slippery road? Dumb.

You showed a serious lack of good judgement in a potentially dangerous situation that you made much worse. You brag about this?

This kind of "I'll show YOU!" attitude is juvenile and makes driving more dangerous for everyone.

See a few wrecks with young, very dead bodies (often ripped apart) and realize that they were doing the same kind of foolish driving and maybe you'll get the point. Until you do, don't expect compliments from this corner for driving recklessly and being smug about almost causing a wreck.

I respect truckers all the time, but they can be THE biggest asses out there. They are constantly riding people. I woiuld have been mad too! I'm glad no one got hurt though.

Wow, Crazy stuff. I'm not sure what I would of quite done in that situation. Maybe the same thing, but only if I was alone. I don't want to take or hurt anyone for my chances of stupidity. But sometimes you have to let some things go. Especially if your risking others life. He could of jackknived and taken out other cars including you. If you don't care what happens to you that is fine but think of others and there familys.

Either way, keep it safe.
§am.

Fox body- What I meant to say is that I only slowed down 3mph from 35mph, not only doing 3mph. It was slick out and brakes were almost useless.

As far as I can see this was my only option. Here was the choices that I could think of.

Speed up and let the trucker push me past my ability, and then I would be to close to the blazer or in the ditch.
NO!

Keep there and ignore him. NO!

Slow down and pull over on the drifted sholder which would still cause me to use my breaks resulting in the same thing. NO!


Or - step on the brakes while I still have a clear path in front of me to let him know he can not stop safely. YES!

I feel that this was a good choice because if I had to stop for something he would of crushed me. I wasn't trying to make him crash, but if he did that's his problem. He had no reason to endanger me or other people. This way he was only endangering himself. I explained to my g/f what happened and now she agrees with me. She was just scared at first because she didn't know what was going on.

As far as the guys that called me retarded... stay out of people's asses and it won't happen to you!

It's that simple.

Wade

lowdown: I almost forgot. I would like it if I saw him at the gas station to thank me. I would be happy to teach him some more stuff if he would want to.

Fiveohpatrol, would you like to explain what you mean by that?? Is there something wrong with being a truck driver(Yes, I am one...)? Quite frankly, I am disturbed by your flippant attitude towards the men and women who keep this country moving.

I'm sorry if I offended you in any way. I wasn't trying to say that I thought bad of all truck drivers. Yes most are courtious but some can be asses, like the one in this story.
The only reason I said that was because of they way people seemed to be backing the truck driver.

I'm sorry if I offended you or anyone else.

I don't think that he was insulting truckers because there truckers. He was saying that you guys are just sticking together because you are truckers.
I have no problem with them either. My grampa was one for CF, my uncle is a private driver, and my dad drove for Union Pacific before he passed. I will usally give a truck driver more respect then cars on the road, but a jerk is a jerk no matter what you drive.

That's great, then I'll see your sorry *** in jail for vehicular homicide. Hopefully you'll just be in the hospital for rolling first.

I would have laughed myself. No remorse. Psycho rig drivers. Get what they deserve in my opinion.

I hope somebody beats the living hell out of you for no good reason. Care to make an *** out of yourself further?

I HATE rigs. I'll tell it straight up as it is. You jerks are dangerous as all hell out there. NO respect for other cars, no respect for anything on the road. I've been run off the road by trucks more than once, and nearly wrecked dozens of times because of crazy *** rig drivers in the snow.

For those of you who don't live and drive in the snow with trucks, you can SHOVE IT. You have no fricken clue how psycho ALL the drivers I've encountered are. One after another they come flying down the freeway at 70mph while the rest of traffic is doing 35mph pushing through snow. They fill up the tracks with slush and snow giving not a crap about any other vehicles on the road. I've made hundreds of trips like this, and every single rig I've EVER encountered is pulling that. Then you've got the jerk who thinks his rig is a sportscar, rolling on the cloverleafs backing traffic up forever. My commute literally doubles when weight restrictions are lifted in the spring. Rigs clogging up traffic. They should be outright BANNED from the roads during rush hour. 6-10AM, 3-7PM. NO rigs. Fix traffic problems right there.

I've even been blamed for accidents where rigs were tailgating and they rammed into cars in front of them.

Quite frankly, I'm not about to kiss feet on this topic. Politically correct, no way in hell. Most rig drivers need to go back to driving school.

Just for the record, I don't really condone the action as the psycho rig driver could have killed somebody else when the moron jackknifed.

The idea the rig would directly injure WADS56 is pretty unfounded. A 3mph collision isn't going to kill anybody. Now he could have rolled, and that could have been trouble, but the rig running over him is just a moronic argument.

A person driving a Tractor-trailer can see over the top of your car and farther down the road than you can, so if you had a real reason to hit the brakes he would probably know it before you would.

If you read your Illinois driving manual you would have known the correct option is to slow down if someone tailgates you. Slow down, not jump on the brakes!

Unit - you said the guy wouldn't be killed so how in the heck would I be charged with vehicular homicide.

Yes, I use to drive big trucks and have had people pull in front of me and purposely hit the brakes and guess what ? After a few times I learned to ignore them and not hit my brakes. If they wanted to get hit that is up to them. It wouldn't be my fault because they pulled in front of me and hit the brakes knowing that I can't stop - or even if they are stupid enough to not know I couldn't stop.

Somehow I never hit one though. I guess they weren't as brave as they thought because they would quickly get back on the throttle before I hit them. They may be stupid enough to hit the brakes for a second to get a truck to hit his brakes but they aren't stupid enough to actually stop in front of you so I quit hitting my brakes. A lot of the time I would floor the accelerator instead. Believe me I'm not getting hurt because of a car. Which means I'm not hitting the brakes just to avoid some moron and take a chance of turning over in a ditch.

I had a Blazer run into the side of my tractor once and I didn't feel a thing!

1965GTO. I did not pull in front of this guy or taunt him in any way. I know that A truck can see over the top of my car. Thats why I can't understand why he would be up my ***, there was cars infront of me. Anyone that has driven a car in the snow or ice knows that slaming on the brakes will not cause a car to stop any faster then pushing the pedal with little force.
It sounds like your saying that this truck driver did nothing wrong and he own the road. If i was taunting him in some way or pulled in front of him I would of deserved it, but this was not the case. he was a d!ck head!!!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Unit 5302


I hope somebody beats the living hell out of you for no good reason. Care to make an *** out of yourself further?

What are you WADS56's boyfriend or do you just have sand in your puddy? You're a wise and brave man Unit :rolleyes:

A 3mph collision isn't going to kill anybody

You two are the kind of couple that causes multi-car pile-ups. Using your hazard lights would probably have been more than enough to let him know how you felt. What about the innocent guy that could have been following the truck with his wife and kids.???? Did he have enough time to stop his car driving 35mph(not 3) on an icy road??? Or would his family die because you felt that you needed to share your wisdom with an unenlightened truck driver? But hey, what are a couple of lives compared to the pride you now have because you were able to teach someone such a valuable lesson. Both of you are morons.
:mad:

[QUOTE]Originally posted by LowDown

Quote:

Originally posted by Unit 5302 I hope somebody beats the living hell out of you for no good reason. Care to make an *** out of yourself further? What are you WADS56's boyfriend or do you just have sand in your puddy? You're a wise and brave man Unit :rolleyes: A 3mph collision isn't going to kill anybody You two are the kind of couple that causes multi-car pile-ups. Using your hazard lights would probably have been more than enough to let him know how you felt. What about the innocent guy that could have been following the truck with his wife and kids.???? Did he have enough time to stop his car driving 35mph(not 3) on an icy road??? Or would his family die because you felt that you needed to share your wisdom with an unenlightened truck driver? But hey, what are a couple of lives compared to the pride you now have because you were able to teach someone such a valuable lesson. Both of you are morons. :mad:

Read my second post. Or in this case since you're obviously illiterate, have your buddy who was reading the posts to you come back and read my 2nd post for you. Maybe next year they'll give you a device that reads text to you over your speakers. Then you'll have the complete set. One device you can talk into so you can simulate writing, and another to talk to you so you can simulate reading.

You guys want to gang up on him and talk about him needing a beating, be prepared to have people stand up for him and get his back. If that's something you can't comprehend, your deal.

I guess your right, the truck driver must of thought it was o.k. to ride my tail because people like that:rolleyes: hazard lights would make him stop
:rolleyes:
As far as the people that could of been behind the truck... they would be fine if they gave the truck plenty of room like the should.
Where do some of these truckers get there licence? If they all think like Lowdown, 1965GTO, and fiveOboy the road is one dangerous place for people minding the business.
This is starting to get old so all as I can say is think before you ride someones tail, or try to push someone around for no reason in your big rigs. I will always react to a truck or a car that rides my butt and it may be YOU!

LOL you guys sure got me there.:rolleyes:

I'm not a truck driver and I don't tailgate. I'm just a lowly REMF stationed in Germany. And if you tried something like that over here I garauntee you and your girlfriend would be in the hospital right now and the Polizi would leave a nice ticket beside your bed.
And, when your driving, you should never be "minding the business"(I think I know what you're saying, but I'm not sure 'cause I'm illiterate - Maybe your boyfriend can clarify). Apparently you didn't pay attention in Drivers Ed. You should always be aware of other drivers and adjust accordingly no matter who is right and who is wrong. It's called Defensive Driving. i.e. If someone is tailgating you could: a) use hazard lights(their reflexes will be the same as if you used brake lights)
b) slow down gradually by lifting your foot from the accelerator, forcing the tailgater to do the same, then increase your speed to widen the area between your cars (It's much easier for your car to regain speed than it is for a truck) or c) gradually slow down to a speed that would minimize the probability of an accident and wait for the tailgater to pass you.
One day you will "react" to a tailgater who might just happen to be adjusting his radio or looking at his kids in the rear view mirror and your parents will be stuck with the funeral bill. Sorry if I hurt your feelings, I was just trying to make you realize that what you did was far from intelligent.

WADS56-
I'm not saying the truck driver was right. I'm also not calling you stupid. But, I think what you did was not very bright. I understand your frustration, but this is one time it would have been better to get off at the next exit, and get back on again well behind him. If he had been distracted in the slightest, he would have hit you. If he had hit you, you would have been through. Even at 35 mph, getting hit by something with that much mass on an icy road would have wrecked you, if not killed you. What's worse, in my opinion, is what could have (may have) happened to the vehicles behind him. Even if everyone was following the recommended speed and distance (unlikely), all it would take is for one of those drivers to become distracted at the wrong time. This happens all too often. I can think of at least four occasions in the past few months where a 20 or more vehicle pile up occurred on unsafe roads. This is usually caused by someone driving too fast for the conditions who comes upon someone driving slower, or, an accident. There is no good reason for causing a semi to jack-knife on an interstate, no matter how big a jerk he was. It is not your job to teach someone a lesson. Especially when so much is at stake. I think LowDown's suggestions (below) are the best so far.

Kell-
I'm sorry your experience with truck drivers has been so bad. I would say that 80% of the truck drivers on the road that I've seen are among the best drivers in the world. Their life would be alot easier if those of us in our cars and pick-ups weren't on the road. Unfortunately, most car drivers don't take into account the differences in things like time to stop, or accelerate, or agility, etc. there is between a semi and a car. In California, and possibly elsewhere, the laws state that a semi can't exceed 55 mph. Most don't. They also can't occupy any lane on a freeway other than the "slow" lane, except to pass. Your idea about limiting their use during heavily congested times is a good idea, I suppose. Not being a truck driver myself, I really don't know. it would have an effect on other things, I'm sure, but I couldn't say what.

Kell, there's a friend of mine I really wish you could have met. His name is Gary Manus, and he's a truck driver. He was working for United Van Lines here locally when I met him. He has since moved to N.C., and has worked as a transport driver for Kerry Earnhardt's Channellock Racing #40 NASCAR Busch team and Wally Dallenbach's Winston Cup team. I haven't heard from him in a few years, but I'm sure he's driving a truck for someone now too. He was the most skilled driver I ever met. He could back in a semi with a fully loaded extra long trailer into a space with 1' clearance on both sides and to the rear, on the first try. He used to get angry when driving with me if I ever went over the speed limit. He would rather drive the speed limit courteously and get where he was going safely than speed recklessly and risk injuring himself or others. He was the first to admit that there are dangerous truck drivers out there, and if he saw one, he reported them. He always said that most truck drivers were more like him, though. That's been my experience as well. Show them a little respect, and they'll give you the road. I hope your experience with them improves.

Take care,
-Chris

Driving on the defence!!! That's what I have been trying to say this whole time:mad:
What you say makes sence PKRWUD, but this trucker was not daydreaming or making a mistake, he was trying to ride as close to me as he could without hitting me.
If it was a normal situation where someone was too close for my likeing I would use a much less drastic method to let him know to back off.
I am not some vigilanty(spelling) driver who thinks everyone could lern from me. I just treat people like they treat me:)

Unit 5302 -

I'm sorry that you think rig drivers are "psycho" and "need to go back to driving school". I'm sorry that you've had bad experiences with them. Yes, there are come crazy bad truck drivers out there. But your statements are just plain wrong. 90% of truck drivers are NOT psycho, and are very safe drivers.

I spend the majority of my time on interstates/main highways in/around Milwaukee. In good weather with clear roads, I do a maximum of 5 MPH over the speed limit. RARELY does another truck ever pass me. Not to mention that there are way more traffic jam ups caused by automobile accidents than there are rolled rigs.

Yes, a rolled rig is a real pain in the butt, and there's absolutely no excuse for a trucker to ignore ramp speed limits(where the majority of rollovers occur). For the amount of miles driven and the amount of rigs on the road, they are - by far - safer drivers than 'regular' car drivers, as proven time and time again.

In the majority of car/semi accidents, the car is at fault. In fact, you could replace "rig" or "semi" with "SUV" in your statements, and it would be true. I can't count the number of times I've counted the number of psycho car/suv drivers - been cut off, almost hit broadside, had a car pull out in front of me, or have one flying by me @ 70 on an ice-covered road. It really DOES go both ways.

Your comments are ignorant, and very wide-reaching based upon a few experiences that you've had.

Again, WADS56, I'm not sure of your statement "if everyone was like.... fiveoboy" - - I NEVER condoned the truck driver riding your tail, I simply stated that what you did wasn't any better. As Mr. 5.0 stated, I would've given you both a ticket.

I say the trucker brought it on himself. If he wasn't prepared to have to stop his rig, he shouldn't have been so close behind you.

I hesitate to say that he "deserved" it, but...it's not like you cut in front of him when he was 10 lengths behind you, jammed on your brakes, and then countered his efforts to avoid you. He did come up behind you and started tailgating of hiw own free will.


I mean, if someone robs you at gunpoint, and you wrestle the gun away and shoot them, is it your fault?

This works nice during the daytime on tailgaters...

when they are just riding as close to you as they can - just turn on your headlights. Reaction time doesn't really differentiate between these and brake lights. If they are stupid enough to tailgate, they are usually stupid enough to lock 'em up...

This solves all of the problems:

1) You have done nothing wrong, malicious, reckless or illegal,

2) If an accident ensues - it is 100% the tailgaters fault,

3) You got what you wanted (more space) with no guilt,

4) Best of all, you did nothing to compromise your safety or that of another person.

has worked for me a few times.

To those of you who say 'well, you are intentionally endangering the safety of another person...'

I say, tell me what is more dangerous - simply pulling my headlights on or riding an inch off of someones bumper doing 70 mph? That answers your question.

Not flaming here but some of you cant read.

he slowed from 35 to 32 mph in is own words not from 35 to 3 mph.

You already knew that the trucker wasnt very smart or he would not of been on your @SS. Now knowing that the last thing I would have done is slam on my brakes in the Ice so that this moron can rear me.

You should have been more considerate for the people that were behind the rig. What if someone that was passing in the other lane would have hit his trailor when he fish tailed in the other lane.

I work in a pipe yard so I deal with truckers all day and I hate to say it but most of these guys are socialy disfunctional morons.

Especially the ones from the west coast that come to haul pipe to California.......They knew when they left California they were coming to Texas to pick up some pipe and they show up at my yard with no straps or chains of any kind and I ask them how do you expect the pipe tp stay on the truck and they say it is so heavy it wont go any where, will it?? Most of the Hundreds of truck drivers I have delt with are definitey BOTTOM DWELERS .

I am not saying that all truckers are morons there are a few of them that I have become friends with over the years.

>>>>>>>>The statements made by Dark_5.0 are just his opinion and not meant to anger the bleeding heart liberals that might read this post<<<<<<<<<<

I agree with the headlights idea. In fact, when I went through driver's ed in high school, that's exactly what they told us to do with a tailgator.

OK I TOO get ticked off when poeple ride my Bumper. I Bet I would do the same if I was you.....well I would speed up... but if he stayed on me I bet I would have done the same.....NOT that is is right I am one that might get road Rage some time. But that would not be the best thing to do....I might have Slowed Down and when he goes to pass Speed up That might be worst than what you did........I had a Friend this winter have a Guy tailgating and she Slowed Down and the GUY hit her Bumber and gave the pickup Gas and tryed to run her off the road. Next she tryed to pulloff the road the Guy Flowed here and keep bumping here Scare that they Planed to do some thing she speed up they hit more tell she Spun out and they stoped She was driving her dad Home from work. He Jumped out and Got it the driver seat. He is the hotest head I have every seen on the road. He sped at the truck the guy in the truck saw he meant Bussness and Took off he tryed to run truck down but they got away. That said i have no Clue how that has any thing to do with the post But any how It is true and I get VERY Paranoyed if I have some one on my Bumper. and I am sure I would have gave the brakes a good Hard Tap :)

WADS56 I have driven since I was 15 and am now 45 and I also have had some trouble with truck drivers. On a dry road they are not a problem because it is usually easy to keep away from them. On a wet or snowy road they can safely drive faster than a car due to the superior visibility and traction when compared to a car. On ice they are as difficult or more difficult to drive than a car. I drove trucks from 1994 to 2000 including double and triple trailers and tankers. I have been in rainstorms running in the left lane at 65 while most cars are in the right lane doing 40, not all are smart enough to get over though and will run 40 in the left lane of 4 or 5 lanes.I taught in a truck driving school for about 3 months and I could not handle the level of idiot students coming in there including 10 per cent of an U.S.S.R. backround that could barely speak english. Truckers are for the most part underpaid and overworked. When they come up on cars driving slower than them and try to pass them half the time the car will speed up. You will be going down a mountain weighing 78,000 lbs and have a car come on the freeway in front of you doing 40 mph.While they are on the road if they are married thier wifes will call them with all kinds of bad news, accuse them of cheating, etc. Dispatchers lie to them, they can't find a place to park, they have a logging system that forces them to cheat or drive sleepy, which can end up getting them fined. And one of the guys mentioned that alot of them are bottom dwellers or something, well alot of them are! So think twice before you mess with one! My advice, do what I do and stay the heck away from big trucks when you are driving. It is fine to follow them in the same lane because if there is a wreck ahead or something most of them will know before they get there by listening to the CB. Just don't follow a truck that is in the right lane and you are in the left lane, at night this means your lights are right in his mirror and even in the daytime when a car followed me in the left lane I would move over in front of him so they would not get up along side me right when I needed to get over. Lastly, unless you have driven an 18 wheeler for a couple years you have no idea of what goes on. As far as my driving record. One ticket in a big truck, no logbook violations or failed inspections. One big truck accident when a blazer ran into me. One accident on a motorcycle when a VW decided to run into my side as I was running down the road, didn't see me? And zero accidents ever in a car, lots of tickets over the years though, but none since 1993. Most of my tickets were of the driving a performance car in the wrong place in front of the wrong cop type and some legitimate speeding tickets.

Anybody have doubts about my 6,000-7,000 road hours that I've logged so far living in a fast growing, midwestern hub area? I've spent 1000's of hours on the interstate when I was commuting 60mi 1 way back and forth to school, and my many road trips.

My limited time shows enough bad experiences with rig drivers here to constantly keep an eye on them. There seems to be about a 50% chance anytime I see a truck for more than a few minutes that the driver will do something stupid.

Here all the construction projects and the weight restrictions cause the trucks to absolutely flood our highway/interstate system. They venture off onto small town roads in annoying attempts to beat traffic, clogging up suburban streets in the process. Many construction projects use unqualified, unlicensed native americans to drive. A girl from my graduating class died last year when a trucker failed to even slow down for stoplight instead plowing into her car. The trucker had no license, and the truck received something like 18 safety violations. This is the kind of BS that goes on here. Maybe my limited :rolleyes: experience I can't say "all truckers" but the person who claims they know more than me about MY experiences is an idiot.

Some of them may be phenominal drivers. Whoop dee doo. A vast majority are not. The idea that I don't know what goes on out there in a rig is annoying. I don't need to. Why the hell should I? When I get an assignment in my job and something doesn't work right I don't pick up a keyboard (or whatever else I may work with) and beat the heck out of something with it. Why then is it okay for a trucker to act like a little baby when something doesn't go his way?

LowDown Just because you like the butt lovin' over there before you hit the sack doesn't mean we like it back in the home country. I go for the girls, not guys. Just because we are both members of a Mustang board doesn't mean we are both homosexual like you. I wish you the best of luck discovering girlfiends should to be girls. By the way, it's best to keep your sexual preference to yourself, I hear you get kicked out for being a homo. ;)