Two things that are beginning to hack me off

Marietta, GA. You closer to 24 or 75 up there. Ive ridden dirt bikes a few places above Chattanooga. Its pretty country up there.

 

With the amount of miles the large LTL and parcel carriers run on a nightly basis it's bound to happen. At Con-way, our current accident frequency is one per every 1.9 million miles driven - pretty good if you ask me.

Not sure about the others but our ETA's aren't that tight. I normally run straight through and am around 40 minutes early - even if I'm 40 minutes late there is nothing said. In a lot of instances these tight times are a myth.

I know I'm here to make money so unless I need to for whatever reason I don't stop. Any driver should be able to safely run 200-300 mile legs non-stop. I wanna get to where I'm going, get on the clock, get the job done, and get home.

 

I live 30 miles above Chattanooga off US-27. yeah it's pretty country. Got the mountains on one side and the TN river/ Watts Bar lake on the other.

 

Today I went over the line and got out of my truck in traffic to confront a driver in a car.

There was a line of traffic, stop and go, two lane road. I was trying to pull out on this road. Suddenly a huge gap appears so I think the driver is letting me in. Half way into my turn I notice he's right on my nose and I'm about to hit him. Would have been my fault.

Well, why did he leave the gap? He was texting. Once he was through with his text, he just pulled up and wondered what this truck was doing in his way. I could tell this was the case once I got behind him in the stop and go line. He kept texting and leaving as much as four car lengths of space before he would pull up.

I don't have any problem with someone texting when they are stopped in traffic like that. But still pay attention to what's going on! The traffic came to a stop again and I was so pissed I got out of my truck and walked up to this guy's car. He didn't even notice I was there because he was texting. I knocked on the window and he looked up startled and pointed to the traffic ahead that was still stopped. I tried to yell at him through the window that he had almost caused an accident by leaving a gap but not letting me in. He would not roll down his window though. I kept yelling at him before traffic started to move again and I went back to the truck.

He kept leaving large gaps as he texted until traffic started to flow again. I blew my horn at him and he began clapping his hands and looking back at me.

All I can say is that I am lucky he did not get out his car. Because I would have given him a thrashing and I most likely would have been arrested and lost my job.

I have never got out of my truck in traffic like that and confronted another driver before. I was completely hacked off.

 

Let me make it simple, "IT'S PART OF OUR HAZARDOUS OCCUPATION", everyone has one in anykind line of work. I've been there and feel for you, but at the end, it's also called "ROAD RAGE", and your gonna end up losing my friend. Crank up the juke box and look out for the beaver shots and leg checks to get by.

 

I have got out of the truck a few times ,last time was in Victoria Tx. The dumbase threw his cell phone at my truck I ran over it. People should not jack with crazy folks in large vehicles. Time before that was in Falfurrias Tx. guy did not want to turn left and was in the lefty only lane so he goes straight which forces me to just about run into some parked cars. Needless to say the light at the next intersection went red I got out of the truck he went to open the door on the turd he was driving and I used his own car door to adjust his attitude. I had a small issue with anger and have since gotten help its just not worth it to get pizzed off anymore. I do not let others control my emotions .

 

Ah, yes...the Atlanta 500...at least that's what it seems like. I've been on it numerous times and observed all the wannabe Nascar stars in their little beat-up Toyotas going at least 75 as they blow past the 55 mph speed limit signs on three regular tires and one smaller temporary spare tire.

My biggest irritation about that 285 is the left exit you have to take on the west side, northbound, to get onto westbound 20. A truck can put its signal on two miles ahead of time and still almost miss the exit because everybody tries to speed by you and flips you off on their way past because, in their opinions, trucks don't belong in the left lane.

 

Injun.....you need to master the art of "signal-creep"......


I do the same when I pass a Swifty or CRE.......I slowly creep back into the lane....Screw the 4-wheelers......

 

Most people would crap bricks if they saw the things I did when I drove OTR, it's amazing the different ways you can ride in a truck. But, you notice no one is complaining about the ladies in their SUV's putting on make-up or texting and running all over the road. I have had way more 4-wheelers cause me to crap my pants than truckers.