GP Transco

Sorry I should have been more specific here. This isn't a perfect system. Sometimes it forced you to go UNDER the speed limit in random places.

Sometimes it behaved bizzarely, for example I was at a stop light somewhere on US 322 between i80 and I 99. And it would only let me to 3 or 4 miles per hour off the stop light for at least 4 minutes. This happened to me in Philadelphia and few other places. Not frequent but it happened multiple times and freaked me the hell out.

Some other situations aren't as bad. Like it'll say 70 mph but the system thinks its 60 so you can only go 60.

Even if it WERE a perfect system. I feel as if it cluttered traffic and made it exceptionally hard to get past people if you're trying to pass them for any reason. There was a big fus about it when the company started putting it on all the trucks and a wave of veteran drivers quit around that time.

 

California Highway Patrol cracks down on speeding with 24-hour statewide 'Maximum Enforcement Period' | abc7.com

 

Did they do away with Opti-Idle on their trucks? Or do they just somehow count that against idle time as well?

Drove there a few years ago and agree with you — it felt like a regional company under the guise of OTR with OTR home time. Far from the worst option and better than most in the Chicago area, but certainly not the perfect OTR company

Coincidentally, I drive at one of the few companies also using E-Smart now and have mixed feelings about it. I have some of the similar gripes as you where it almost feels dangerous in places like CA where I need to move over for a tow truck on the shoulder and can’t spend up at all to blend into traffic. Or running 20mph slower than cars in the split speed limit truck zones, like leaving Memphis or Chattanooga. BUT, the company I drive for bumped our max speed up to 71 to offset it and make it more fair to the drivers. Kinda crappy that GP left their trucks governed at 66, while also being that hard up about speed limits. We also run a lot more upper Midwest, Great Plains, and west coast than GP, so it’s far less aggravating lol, but I agree with your annoyance in certain areas and situations

 

And that Sergei fella acting like any complaint against GP was a war crime was annoying

 

I drove for a company that had 61MPH trucks. Couldn't get out of your own way.
Pull into the left lane, for someone merging, or vehicles on the shoulder. With heavier traffic, people start backing up behind you, and passing on the right, not letting you get back over. Me being the slower one, I was the hazard.

 

You realize you have a brake pedal you can also use to allow people to merge? That’s a bad habit there just because the truck is limited to 61 doesn't mean you gotta hold the pedal to the metal always. You don't have to jump in front of faster traffic you just choose to and that's on you. The reason you were the hazard isn't because your truck was governed slow it was because you were too bullheaded and stubborn to use that brake pedal and yield the right of way like a professional even when it (ROW) was yours.

 

I'll remember t do that next time. I sure would hate to be an unprofessional. Thanks!

 

Well, you are the commercial driver here who's supposed to know and do better than the fools in the cars around you. You can let off the accelerator or ease into the brakes to allow somebody to merge. You don't have to move to the left into the path of much faster moving traffic. A slow governed truck is only a road hazard if the person behind the wheel ain't driving right.

 

Traffic merging onto the freeway does NOT have the right of way. If you are in the right lane, and can move over safely, then you should. You are NOT legally obligated to. Also, if you can't get over to let someone on, you should not slow down if you have vehicles behind you traveling at the speed limit. You could become a hazard by creating more congestion. It's the merging traffic that has to yield and find a safe time to enter the thoroughfare.

 

Oh boy here we go