Driving in the middle lane of a 3 lane hwy.

Southern CA. local drivers are the worst for driving in the second lane at 55mph. No one in the right lane and they are in the only passing lane there is for big trucks. This is when I realy have to remind myself that I am a professional. Sometimes patience is the hardest thing to have on the road and probably the one defining charastic of a Professional truck driver.

 

I'll tell you when I won't back off . When I have an idiot riding the bumper of my trailer I'll slow until he passes . Then I'll hang him out there until we come to another slower vehicle he will also pass . I do this because drivers that are ignorant enough to tailgate usually cut in way too early after passing .

 

Heck, I did this just a few minutes ago in my POV. Rig crawled right up my.. tailpipe. I'm at 70 in a 65 and this (*^^%$#$ is trying to get friendly with the wrong part of my anatomy. So.. I slowed down. Just took my foot entirely off the gas - no brakes.

When I hit 35, he decided that maybe, just maybe, he could use lane 2 to pass me. Yeah. 4 lane divided highway. (for those of you who know - hwy 85, between Brighton and Ft Lupton)

I got company name and truck number, and immediately called the company. I may be wrong, but it didn't sound as though they cared much. (Since I could well be wrong about their attitude, I'm gonna keep company name to myself. One instance does not a policy make)

It's stupid when a 4-wheeler tailgates a truck, but realistically, he's not endangering the truck driver much. When a trucker tailgates a 4-wheeler, it doesn't matter how big the car is (I drive a lincoln), that 4-wheeler is in a very dangerous spot. I've often wondered if that could be considered assault - it's a very threatening move, after all.

 

One time when I was heading back to Ontario from delivering in L.A. I was in the slow lane, traffic was starting to pick up quite nicely. I was running the speed limit, maybe a little over and came up on a container truck running quite a bit slower. I checked my mirror and had plenty of room to move to the second lane. I checked a second time and put my signal on, at this time the 4wheeler that was at least a truck length behind me in the second lane mashed the gas. I went over anyway. He did not like that at all. As soon as I passed the container truck the 4wheeler got in the 1st lane to pass on the right because by this time the 3rd lane was plugged up. I continued in the 2nd lane to pass another truck. The 4wheeler was not able to get ahead of me in time to pass on the right so he decided to pass the truck I was passing, on the shoulder. After using the shoulder of the interstate to pass the truck I was passing, the 4wheeler then proceeded to move to the 2nd lane which then put him in front of me... He then applied his brakes to about 35mph.... Now I know there are two sides to every story. He would probably say I cut him off. I do not believe that to be the case. What I do believe is that if he keeps driving like that he will probably die in a car accident, and maybe take someone else with him.

Their are three area's of driving that should raise red flags when driving.
1. Intersections.
2. On and Off ramps.
3. Changing Lanes.

It is these three places 90% of traffic accidents happen.

Thats two more of my cents................Peace.

 

Oi - yeah. I was still in CDL school, my first trip out behind the wheel. I'd made a left turn onto a two-lane... was still accelerating (a lot more slowly than possible, but that's not really important) when some #### in a PT Cruiser decided the best place to be was in front of me - so he passed on the shoulder.

Instructor suggested I should have cut him off (actually, his phrasing was "If I'd been driving, I'd have cut him off).

I fully understand the "two sides" thing. In the case of my story (above), I honestly have no idea what I could have done to irritate a driver. I never tailgate any more, I never move back into a lane after passing unless I can see the entire front of the truck in my (center) rear view mirror. And, in any case, I'd not passed him anyway.

I don't have any indications on the outside of my car regarding political or other emotion-laden affiliation (i.e. no stickers at all, no signs, no bobble-heads of some deeply revered leader doing evil things to a dog). Just a plane-jane car, like millions of others.

As nearly as I can determine, he just was hammering along, came up behind me, and tried to bully me (whether that was his intent or not, that's the effect).

My wife is the only person on the planet allowed to bully me.

 

You should know if you're gonna be taking a left-exit before you even start the trip, driver. That's a pretty poor reason to run in the center lane.

 

the Middle is safer, in many ways

 

Yes I agree. In many states it is also the Big Truck Hammer Lane. Which means, that according to the manners I was trained with and conduct that myself and many others follow, we move over when another big truck wants to pass. It's what we in the old days call "common curtisy".

 

If I'm running at or slightly over the speed limit in the middle lane I'm not moving over for every BBR that comes flying up behind me expecting everybody to pull over and let him run 15 m.p.h. over the speed limit .
Those speeding , tailgating morons are the ones that give groups like Public Citizen and Road Safe America plenty of public support with their outrageous demands . NHTSA got over 3,000 comments on the Speed Limiter Petition from supporters wanting trucks slowed down . Problem was they only said they wanted trucks slowed down . They could give no relevant data to show speed limiters would improve safety .