How Not To Respond To Police From Your Truck

I am really struggling with that "less than stellar IQ" comment, but I shall refrain..

However, I will say: the media has very little to do with truckers less than stellar reputation. That we have manifested on ourselves..

Ohh wait I haven't been in this business for the required 6 months to be making those type statements yet...

.o0(like 6 mos. Is going to change an idiot..)

 

Sorry, have to disagree with you on this one... He parked on a HIGHWAY in a lane of traffic, look at the dotted not solid lane markers! Then he started off with an insult instead of a decent explanation.... Unfortunately he gave them(narrator/cop) enough ammo to make him look like the ##### he was! The narration is added after the fact for TV ratings not on the initial recording.
Here in Florida he would have been in cuffs long before he swallowed whatever and stepped in front of the oncoming traffic! Those innocent people passing by didn't need to be put in danger cause this guy has an gripe with the law!!!

 

Craig and Wolf... You are still missing the point of my original post. And perhaps that's because you don't have much time in this industry.

I was not defending the truck driver's actions. I was merely trying to point out that our industry is rife with drivers just like him. Why? Numerous reasons...

1) A combination of factors that have driven the wages down to levels that are probably lower than they were 20 years ago when you account for inflation.

2) Public opinion of drivers. Many newbies enter this industry with stars in their eyes, only to become disillusioned six months down the road when they find out that the lowly freight hauler is viewed as right on par with lepers and people with HIV.

The producers of that show capitalized on the fact that the guy wasn't very intelligent. They jumped on the guy like a pack of wolves on a bleeding sheep.

The overall tone of the video was, "Look at the kind of drug-crazed lunatics that are driving trucks on our highways." Thus perpetuating the stereotype which begets yet more individuals like him behind the wheel. After all, do you want to be associated with drug-crazed lunatics? I thought not.

You'll have to allow me some lattitude if this post seems to ramble on. I'm typing it off the top of my head from my Crackberry and can't really see the whole post to do much editing.

 

After reading my last post, I see I forgot to address the part about him being parked on a highway so he could get something to eat.

I can think of more than a few places where truck parking has pretty much disappeared altogether. Haines City, Florida comes to mind.

Joe Public wants his groceries, but he would prefer that stinky, ignorant truck drivers deliver the goods and then LEAVE. He doesn't want a nasty truck stop in his back yard.

Some will say it's because truck drivers litter and invite criminal elements to hang around the truck stop. Why is this? It all falls back to the class of driver that can be had for the level of wages and respect provided... the vicious circle I alluded to in my previous post.

Gone are the days where you could pull the truck to the worn spot on the side of the road in front of the little Mom and Pop store. Maybe to have coffee and chat with the local folks.

Bring us our groceries stinky truck driver... Then go find somewhere else to eat.

 

Drivers running way beyond log hours has in the past been a major issue out here, and as such the enforcement is ludicrous..
Where he is parked, i believe that it is only a clearway zone ( no parking for peak commute times ) and as such if he wasnt a moron, he could have told the cop to bounce.

Dude, you NEVER to anything agressive towards a cop, and that officer would have been justified in doing more, and likley would have had not a camera been pointing at him.

see above, i'm fairly sure thats not a no standing zone.. our highway laws are different from the USA.

now as for the swallow thing, there is a mouthwash that can for a short time, hide the traces left from speed, and judging by his actions/attitude, i'd say he was like a kite.

 

As far as parking goes, has anybody driven a set of doubles like that? Ever try to find a parking spot? If you think you have limited choices now!

Driver could have made better decision but not knowing the road or customs we are jumping to conclusions. Maybe trucks stop there all the time. Have you never stopped somewhere you maybe shouldn't have in order to nip in somewhere real quick?

 

before i respond, i went back to re-view that video....one can plainly see that there is no solid line defining a shoulder/break down lane...that driver had stopped on a travel lane, clearly very dangerous...i personally have never stopped in a travel lane, but a shoulder YES......that is defined by a solid white line....

but then again goes what the cop was saying, that the driver is going to get a ticket for parking there because it was an 80K zone...(80 KPH?), which means IT WAS NOT a place to pull over and park...and just after the cop pulls over, you will see a big truck swing back into that TRAVEL LANE, which brings me yet to another point i tried making to another poster, and that is, "that cop must have been on his regular beat, who would know the parking situations better, a regular beat cop or a dumb@zz trucker"...????

how can anyone "jump to conclusions" when all the evidence is a plain as day, and on video...????

i know i didn't......a "picture is worth a thousand words"......or in this case, a video...

 

DON'T MESS ME CLOTHES AP.....DON'T MESS ME CLOTHES AP !!!!!

i'll have to try that one next time i get stopped.

normally my conversations go like this:

cop: "you know why i pulled you over?"

me: "Cause you're lonely? Never been with a man??"

usually that gets me a ticket.....i dunno why.

 

well, if you choose to pull doubles, you had better understand your parking arrangments real quick. or learn to back doubles. Since most cant back doubles (i sure as F couldn't) then the driver needs to make the choice....drive as far as i can, and then get creative in my parking arrangments, or drive as far as i can, and be sure i stop when i'm able to stop and get a 'pull thru' parking place...like a rest area. Don't see many sleeper trucks pulling doubles anyway....

 

I pull doubles and I can back them up. It is easy, you can to given the opportunity. Problem is it is slow and takes more room.