I was travelling up and down I-81 in PA this weekend on a trip to Philly and I noticed something that made me kind of happy. I get annoyed at some 4-wheeler drivers and I'm glad truckers were taking care of it, or at least it appeared to be that...

The 2-lane highway was closing to a 1-lane for construction and 2 trucks got side by side and driving slow before the merge, it was down aways, but it appeared that they were blocking drivers in the left lane from speeding ahead of the responsible ones already getting in the single lane side.

What's really going on here?

RTM
1st post - 4-wheeler in respect of truckers

Well, this is a sticky situation; one the one hand, I have played 'traffic cop' with another truck before, and it does help keep traffic moving. On the other hand, in the great state of PA, traffic is supposed to use both lanes to the merge point, where merging is supposed (HA!) to take place.

I personally don't play traffic cop much anymore, unless it becomes painfully obvious that the cars have no intention of merging properly, and are hurrying along to cause more problems.

Anytime there is a backup this happens and eventually 2 trucks have to do this.

Yes, this is done ALL the time. It's actually called "making it fair" (my phrase for it). If you have 10,000 cars/trucks coming up in the left lane (when the left lane is closed) and cutting in front of those, in the right lane, who have been waiting patiently, it only increases road rage and it isn't fair to those in the right lane. Myriad signs will say the lane is closed ahead so you ALWAYS have the morons try and hammer up the closed lane to get in front of others...so, some truckers have to force them to be fair as the law certainly doesn't.

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excellent, thanks to all truckers that do this..!

do the police hassle truckers about doing this?

I don't know if I would call it hassle. I've played in the make it fair game, as WiseOne calls it, and not been bothered by police. On the other hand, I've heard of guys getting tickets for impeding traffic. I'd say it just depends on the state and the individual officer.

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Keep that diesel burnin' and those tires turnin', but get there safe to keep on earnin'!!

I don't drive a truck, but I have seen this done many, many times by both trucks and 4-wheelers. The only problem I have with it is when it's 1 truck trying to block both lanes of traffic by riding in the middle lane. Or the quasi-enforcement is causing a bigger problem then the natural flow of traffic would have with the a-hole driver trying to cut up front.

The worse case I seen was when a 4-wheeler playing traffic enforcement was literally pulling in front of motorist passing in the right hand lane. The right lane did end like 300-400 ft ahead and the left lane was at a stand still, any car that was passing him on the right he would pull out in front of and block the lane. He actaully decided to ride both lanes blocking traffic in both lanes, making people ride in the emergency lane to get around him. What this idiot didn't realize was there an exit about 100 ft before the lane ended that people were trying to get to. Anyone familiar with 465 North, Pendleton Pike exit in Indianapolis probably knows the exit I'm talking about.

This stuff really is big road pet peeves of mine. I can't stand drivers (pretty much all 4-wheelers) that don't think of the general public and the flow of traffic when it comes to construction or lane constriction. Slow merging traffic makes it worse. If you speed up to get ahead of everyone, you slow everyone else down. Truckers are always responsible and I never see them doing this. They are the first to get in the right lane and be responsible. Love y'all for that.

Other thing I hate is when 4-wheelers zip off exit ramps and then get right back on. There's one up here on I-490 at Mt Read where drivers zip off, go along the side track, don't get off on the exit ramps then get right back on and slow merge, making everything slower.

Wish it was legal for truckers to enforce, then I'd call in favors when I see something that annoys everyone driving responsibly.

worst part is, if they cant cut down the lane that is closed, they will cut down the burm of the road (err sorry thats a PA term, the 'emergency lane') because thier exit is 8 miles down the road and they are too important to sit in traffic for a few minutes.