The one thing that terrifies me most about trucking

I made sure I never had those endorsements for pups. I couldnt do it.

Props to those that can.

There is another angle. We had a CF Freightways yard near my house growing up, when I became of age and had that Class A, my father pestered me endlessly to get a job there at that nice company.

I made sure I never had a doubles endorsements. Sorry Pa, I don't have that endorsement, its not legal for me to drive them. One maybe but never two.

CF actually went out of business in like a day. One day their doors were closed and that was that nationwide. My memory is not good but I think that was quite a scene then.

What he does not know is Ive always had a secret love for aussie road trains. 4 or 5 trailers or more. MOTIVATING. That would have been such a challenge on a little 450 Cat and grossing oh... 500,000

 

I don't like delivering to ports.

You can count on me sir.

 

I agree with being in a lane before needing to be, but one of my runs in AZ required hitting entrance ramps to do that. The lane I needed didn't exist before that entrance ramp, and previously disappeared as an Exit ramp a mile or so back. Phoenix has a number of those, and my route seemed to collect them.

In those cases, the locations of which the OP will learn only from experience, one needs to read the traffic on that ramp ahead of time and find a way to blend in. My preference was to have turn signal flashing and merge late enough that someone "behind" me on that ramp could easily take the lane I'm vacating. Any sane driver will appreciate that swap as a win-win.

Just giving an example of how it will get better as a driver learns their proportion in traffic.

 

As someone who runs mostly east coast states I gotta say it's not as bad as people make it seem. A little bit of common sense and patience is all you need. Running east coast is definitely not for the lazy type of trucker. You go a couple of times and realize it isn't that bad.

 

The only drivers you have to worry about are in Atlanta. If you leave more then three feet of space between you and the car in front of you some thug will speed up and force his way in the gap.

 

Even in Atlanta I don't vary from my normal routine. I leave plenty of space in front of me and try to maintain as steady a pace as possible.

"But, those drivers are going to pull in front of you if you make space!"

EXACTLY.

That's exactly what I WANT to happen.

That space in front of me isn't just about having safe stopping distance. That space is there for other drivers to use.

Has anyone driven a 4 wheeler in heavy stop and go traffic next to a big rig that's tailgating in order to block folks from merging? It's pretty frustrating and creates the type of situations the big rig driver should try to avoid.

Let's say the freeway has three lanes. You, as the big rig driver, are in the middle lane. There are folks in the hammer lane that need to take the exit half a mile ahead. If you are continually trying to block folks from getting over, eventually those folks are going to try and force themselves into a tight space in front of you. Why not run a relaxed, steady pace and allow them ample SAFE opportunity to get on over? It's better for the overall flow of traffic and has the added benefit of keeping YOU safe.

 

Read a traffic study about two years ago. Sure sounds like lots of fun, right. Actually it was interesting.

A few facts found in it:

The average speed over a 24 hour period in the greater Los Angeles freeway system is 23 MPH. The lowest traffic density is between 2:45 AM and 4:30 AM, when it is about 25 percent of the density at the same time range in the PM.

The San Fransisco Bay Area is almost the same.
The average commute to employer from home is 27 miles

Houston was slightly higher at 39 MPH. Personally I think they are wrong on that one.

 

I believe it , I had a delivery of lumber in watts California about 2 months ago.. I hit that 405 freeway at about 1:30pm .. Only 19 miles from the customer... They close at 5pm.... Did I make it ?? Nope ... I hit that exit ramp to watts at 5:30 .. I got to the lumber yard they was closing the gate I hit my air horn a couple times and started coming into the yard.... I told the gate guard I'll have my straps off in 2 minutes, time me , get ur forklift ready .. Luckily they was nice enough to unload me and then I sat in traffic for another 3 hours back to riverside, lol f cali