What are some of the unwritten rules among truckers?

Broke rule number 2 last night. I was exhausted after my overnight multi load, multi stop run. Backed my bobtail right into a spot and went to sleep for like 15 hours of my 34. Finally woke up to get some caffeine for my caffeine withdrawal headache and have a smoke. Realized I left my bright ### headlights on all day/night as I slept, thinking I had just left the running lights on. Woke up still buckled in to the seat and crawled into the sleeper at some point.

Anyway, so yea I ####ed up lol

 

If you aren't ####ing up, you aren't learning.

- Wise old codger

 

Okay, here's a courtesy (and self preservation) scenario. It's night time and you already successfully backed into a hole at the truck stop. You are sitting in the driver's seat and notice another trucker setting up to back into the space next to you.

This is the time to AT LEAST turn on your running lights so that driver can see where his/her trailer is in relation to yours. If they are having difficulty I get out with my high power spot light to light up the hole and/or help spot them. It's late at night and chances are they are tired. A helping hand is appreciated at moments when a driver is well beyond their A game.

 

Typical construction lane closure scenario is ...

Lane closure typically alerted (road sign) 2 miles in advance and then you might see another sign saying 1 mile and maybe another saying 1/2 mile. Let's say right lane was closing...Typically people will start to move over from the right lane to the left within a mile of the 2 mile warning. You have to judge when you merge based on traffic. Speed of vehicles and their following distances... As a Truck Driver you don't want to wait till left lane traffic is down to a 5/10 mph crawl...At that point someone will have to practically stop to let you in and it's this constant stopping that gradually brings that left lane to a brief stop little by little and with each "courtesy" stop by someone the traffic gets slower and slower, and finally are stopped heading into the cut-off (Orange cone/barrel completely blocking right lane)....
So what you want to do is get over while traffic is still moving somewhere about halfway between the speed limit and the speed the vehicles enter the single lane.. so if Speed limit before alert was 55 and you see brake lights and following distances rapidly disappearing then start getting over...

So Basically you want to try to move over while the vehicle that is letting you or (hanging back) is still moving at a good pace with adequate gaps in between vehicles...

Truckers (or at least I ) will start blocking further merging when at the time they blocked there were like 20 plus vehicles already formed ahead of them and also behind them.

It's both courtesy to themselves and others already formed in the line to block further merging and to let other vehicles who may have thought about speeding down that right lane looking for an unsuspecting vehicle leaving a large enough gap so they can slide in quickly.
But to keep the lane from coming to a stop if moving or from delaying moving if stopped already....

Every lane closure is different and the traffic speed will vary greatly with time of day and movement of construction work within the closure....

In a nutshell...
Don't wait til vehicles are stopped or at a crawl to get over if you can help it...The sooner the better....Traffic will move better if no one has to stop completely to allow a vehicle to merge...

 

I always get over as soon as I see the sign, unless it says lane is closed in 5 miles, then I wait a few miles. If a truck is trying to merge, I will shut traffic down just to let them in if need be. My priority first and foremost is to be courteous to our own first, 4 wheelers second lol

 

To answer your question, yes there are supposed to be Unwritten rules out here and there was a time when there were in fact Unwritten rules out here but in today's selfish World there are no rules out here. It's every man for himself and most drivers dont care about any other driver other than themselves.

The best thing you can do when you get into a situation like you did earlier with that construction zone is get over as soon as possible where you are supposed to be because if you wait until the end someone like that idiot will come along out of selfishness and just cut you off when they know in fact the lane is going to end and you're going to have to do something.

In answer to your second question no that continuous turn signal was not a message to you. That was just another driver demonstrating that he needs further training.

In closing let me give you a small list of the unwritten rules we "used to" have out here.

1. If you are going to be in the truck stop any longer than say 10 minutes after fueling you need to move your truck away from the fuel Island and in a designated parking spot.
No exceptions!

2. When another driver is backing up you stop and lower your headlights and let him back up.
You don't drive behind him while he is backing.

3. When you are approaching a drive that serves as both the entrance and exit of the fuel stop and a driver is trying to find an opening to pull out onto the road, you stop and Signal the other driver with your lights to come out.
(Oops I forgot that would require putting his needs before yours)

4.) When a driver in the right lane has his left signal flashing, you slow down(excluding a steep hill) and Signal the driver with your headlights to come out so that he can pass the truck in front of him.

5.) You don't pull out into the left lane and cut another driver off so that you can get around the truck in front of you unless that driver slows down and signals you to come out.
No exceptions!

Truck drivers used to be a tight community and we had a thing called respect for each other but that slowly disappeared around the time the big companies started training students and qualifying drivers as trainers with six months experience.

 

The one with their name on their belt is the catcher.

 

That was a rye statement.

 

I also want to mention that if you are governed and another governed truck is passing you because he is lighter, a tenth of a mile faster, etc just knock the cruise off and let him by. No one's schedule is so tight that slowing down five miles an hour for 30 seconds is going to make the load late. If it is, they should trip plan better.

Bump the trailer tires next to yours when doing a walk around, you can find flats that can be fixed before it becomes a blowout for the next driver. One last thing is look down on the ground at the receivers and drop yards, there are so many nails and rivets on the ground that fall out of pallets and trailers that your tire or the next driver's tire will pick up and leak down to flat. Keep spare zip ties, water, fuses, etc to help people out of a simple jam. Now I'll shut up.

 

Yes driver well said thank you for posting this.
I hate when people do that crap.
They will sit there for an hour and not back off that accelerator to let that truck around them in the meantime there is a long line of people behind the truck trying to pass.