Ever deliberately stopped in the middle of the street to make a turn?

Discussion in 'Experienced Truckers' Advice' started by expedite_it, May 20, 2024.

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  1. Kyle G.

    Kyle G. Road Train Member

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    His ignore list is my happy place. LOL.... I don't remember what I did to get here either, but it's nice in here. I feel like I belong.
     
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  3. Star Rider

    Star Rider Road Train Member

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    I think mine was from the vanilla hub grease. He said I degraded his thread. I consider it a badge of honor.
     
  4. Bud A.

    Bud A. Road Train Member

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    My bad, I misquoted you. I apologize. I should have said 300 yards at 55 mph, which makes it 11.157 seconds, or 400 yards at 65 mph, which makes it 12.5874 seconds. That is not my definition of "mighty far away" but it might be enough time to get a truck through an intersection and headed all the way left. But I'm not going to time it the next time I make a left turn.

    What I don't apologize for is saying that that is probably still too close to pull out and intentionally block traffic, especially if we consider that it will be far less than 12 seconds for the approaching traffic to recognize that you are stopping in front of them and blocking their path by the time you get your truck into the position in your diagram.

    And this begs the question, where exactly is this happening in the real world? What is the name of the street and the highway and what town is it in? (Please, not at the corner of Elm and Jabroni either. I want a real place in the actual physical world.)

    And why is there no other solution, such as turning right? Or, with a 12 second headstart, why can't you get your truck out into a middle turn lane so that the traffic coming from the right won't hit you and you don't have to block the traffic coming from the left?

    In other words, is this really an actual scenario that only happens once a year, or did you make up a hypothetical for entertainment purposes? Without any specific details of a real situation, arguing about this is retarded, since the whole point of your post (putting the most charitable construction on it anyway) seems to be to provide some reassurance to yourself that you did not do something wrong or bad by getting others to say they have done the same thing.

    I'm not saying you are retarded, I'm saying that having this discussion is retarded, since I honestly can't recall a time when I was stuck for ten minutes trying to make a left hand turn because there were absolutely no gaps in traffic long enough to allow me to safely do so, or there was not some other alternate route available, such as either turning right or avoiding that intersection in the first place. If it's a mere hypothetical, it's a waste of time since arguing about, for example, whether some of the drivers here are more highly skilled than professional race car drivers would be far more entertaining.

    And by the way, per contemporary standards of social acceptability as explained by my grandson, it would be much better if we didn't use the R word. I am using it here to compare and contrast with your use of the word. I apologize to any reader who is offended by my use of that word, and I accept in advance that this apology may be considered unacceptable to you.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2024
  5. Bud A.

    Bud A. Road Train Member

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    Ditto.
     
    Kyle G. Thanks this.
  6. rbrtwbstr

    rbrtwbstr Road Train Member

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    @expedite_it I mean no disrespect here, but judging by some of the threads you've created and the responses to some comments, it seems to me you need to step away from the truck for a bit. Take a vacation, chill out and hit the reset button.
     
  7. expedite_it

    expedite_it Road Train Member

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    You could very well be correct that 300 yards would not be enough space with a 55 mph speed limit. That's why I said "at least 300 yards". I was trying to give an absolute bare bones minimum. I am confident that 400 yards would be sufficient with a 55 mph speed limit anyway. I don't take out a measuring tape and measure it on the extremely rare situations in which I do deliberately stop in the middle of the street.


    I don't remember the names of the streets and towns where I have done this. At the time, I was just thinking about how to safely make the left-hand turn, not about saving the information to share it with people here.

    As i have said several times in this thread, when I have been stuck at a stop sign waiting to make a left hand turn for 10+ minutes, usually I do make a right hand turn. On the ten or so times that i have pulled out and deliberately stopped in the middle of the street while trying to make a left turn, usually there was either a low bridge to the right or a "no trucks" sign on the road to the right. I probably have deliberately stopped in the middle of the street to block traffic from the left when making a left turn (when I could have just turned to the right and went out of route) at least once in my career just to save time (on a hot load).

    On a divided highway, there is not a middle turn lane I can turn onto.

    Even on some undivided highways, there is not a middle turn lane I can turn onto.

    When the road I am turning left onto is a bridge, there is usually no middle turn lane.

    This is an actual scenario that only happens on average once per year. Sometimes I will go an entire calendar year without deliberately stopping in the middle of the street to make a left turn. Then on other years, I might deliberately stop in the middle of the street to block traffic when I make a left turn twice in one year.


    I created this thread because I was curious about how many other truck drivers here have done the same things that I have done. I both wanted to learn, and I find this topic interesting. I am glad I created this thread. I learned that if a wreck happened when I deliberately stop in the middle of the street, then DOT would hold me as partially legally responsible for the wreck.

    If you think that a discussion about whether some of the truck drivers here are more highly skilled than professional race car drivers, then you made a huge mistake spending your time and energy posting on this thread instead of spending your time and energy creating a thread asking whether some of the truck drivers here are more highly skilled than professional race car drivers. I don't remember specifically asking you personally to comment on this thread. I don't recall ever even interacting with you at all before I created this thread.
     
    Last edited: May 23, 2024
  8. expedite_it

    expedite_it Road Train Member

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    Why do you think that? Do you think I am frazzled or what?

    I don't feel frazzled. I think that the threads that I have created lately have been interesting.
     
  9. TNSquire

    TNSquire Medium Load Member

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    Sorry, yes, on occasion someone will roll out and I’ll be unable to complete that turn and I’ll just sit, blocking everything until i have room to make the swing. Truck blocks 4 lanes of traffic and stacks up the oncoming turn lane, the left oncoming turn lane, and two lanes im splitting to have room to turn.
     
    Bud A. and Crude Truckin' Thank this.
  10. Sirscrapntruckalot

    Sirscrapntruckalot Road Train Member

    For those that don't know, they foretold the coming of The Great....Crude Truckin..in a song from long ago. They changed the name in the song so as not to have to pay old TG CT.

    :)




    Be safe making your turns!

    Sirscrapntruckalot -
    [​IMG]
     
    Bud A., Crude Truckin' and Sons Hero Thank this.
  11. rbrtwbstr

    rbrtwbstr Road Train Member

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