What would you want other car/truck drivers to know about sharing the road with semis

This may have been said, if not here it is again. If you find yourself stopped in a lane that you dont want to be in, dont dart out into another lane when traffic is flowing at 50-55mph! Wait for a LARGE gap in traffic so you can safely pull out of the stopped lane. I had a pickup pulling a lawnmower trailer do this today on the 285 Atl bypass and it could have costed him his life. Lucky for HIM I had a light load.

 

Please understand that a loaded truck will go much faster going down a steep hill than it did coming up the previous hill.

Think about our situation the next time you are passing a truck in the mountains. Often times we are hauling 40-45k lbs which bog our trucks down to 45-50mph on the uphills. However when we crest the hill that same weight will naturally push us down at much greater speeds. We truck drivers like to use this momentum and greater speed to carry us up the next hill. If I have clearance in front of me I will often go 75mph down the hill so I don't end up dropping down 2 or 3 gears to climb the next hill.

When drivers pass us at the crest and then cut in front of us only to do 55mph this makes us have to use the engine brake, service brakes or even downshift to keep from running you over. On top of that it totally wastes any potential downhill momentum we woud have gotten from letting her run.

Pass us on the uphill, but if passing at the crest gives us plenty of space or even stay in the left lane for the downhill so we can let gravity work for us without endangering you.

 

I find that many 4 wheelers don't even know the laws of the road, not the rules, the LAWS. For instance:
1) Traffic (trucks and cars) already on the freeway does NOT yield to merging traffic coming from an on-ramp. If possible, it is considered common courtesy to move over a lane for merging traffic, but don't expect it will happen.
2) Space management is probably the most important thing a trucker has to learn, and it becomes much more difficult when 4 wheelers are so outraged that some trucker has the nerve to drive the speed limit (or god forbid less in high traffic) that they cut off a truck and slam on the brakes. I have been driving for a year, but my dad has been in the trucking industry for 25 years as a company owner. Both of us believe that the number one cause of accidents involving trucks is an arrogant, angry 4 wheeler; but nobody hears that part of the story.
3) Passing a truck is fine, and probably a good idea in most cases, the more space you can leave us, the better. However, passing on the right side of a truck is always a dangerous proposition. We can't see as well on that side of the truck, and our turns to the right are very wide. Also, one of the most dangerous things a 4 wheeler can do is drive for long periods of time next to or right off the end of a trailer of a truck. If anything happens, like if we lost a tire, that lane is a death trap.

 

The speech has already probably been given, but here are a couple of interesting stats I came up with while writing a paper on a similar topic.

1. In fatal crashes between big trucks and cars, 68% of fatal accidents were the fault of the driver of the car.

2. In fatal crashes between big truck and cars where sleepiness or drowsiness was cited as a factor, the driver of the passenger vehicle is cited 94% of the time.

It may be too late for that speech, but maybe someone else can use it. Those stats came from the FMCSA Analysis Division 2005 Large Truck Crash Facts.

 

From the time my wife got her driver's license in high school, she has always had one rule of thumb and I think it says everything -

NEVER argue with anybody bigger than you are.

 

Well said ... the above quoted are some of my biggest peeves ... and i don't even drive a rig. also, if i had a dime for every old ###### that almost caused (or did cause) an accident, i'd be rich as hell.

 

QUESTION: Do governed trucks pick up speed beyond their pre-set limit on a downgrade?

On multiple lane highways, I always move to another lane if I have a big truck behind me on a downgrade. As far as I'm concerned, he can let 'er roll.

 

I want people on bicycles to stop riding in crosswalks! If you want the protection of a crosswalk, get off the bike and walk. I stop for pedestrians, not for bikes. If I see someone sitting on a bike waiting for traffic to stop, I keep going. In my home town we have crossing guards who will stop traffic for a kid on a bike and it pizzes me off. I can't drive on sidewalks and crosswalks, I won't stop for a bike rider unless he dismounts like he's required to. Yet people continue to allow others to violate the rules of the road, and teach their children that it's exceptable to ride in crosswalks.

 

Yes.
I dont know about everyone else, but when I go beyond my governed speed(on downgrades), I will get a check engine light on the dash and the QC will show a certain percentage of "overspeed". Right now mine is 3.27% overspeed.

 

I'm writting on dad's name, cause I've got something to add to this. For now, I'm a car driver, and I see some things that, knowing what it's like to be in one of those rigs, really makes me mad. On the highway, expecially in Vegas, people don't seem to care at all about trucks. I've seen them do everything from intentionally cutting them off and slamming on the brakes, to... yes I've seen this, forcing them into the shoulder that's bearly wide enough for a 4 wheeler!
When I'm driving, I give trucks the utmost respect. If they don't get it anywhere else, they get it from me. It's nerveracking enough being in one of those things, the last thing they need is to worry about idiots in tin cans.
I've been with dad in his pickup, pullin a 48' car trailer and those are almost as difficult to maneuver as a rig.. so word of advice Dawn, a simple flash of the headlights from a 4 wheeler, to let the truck know it's safe to come over is a big help. It's hard to know what's behind you or beside you, half the time, in those things. So drive it home that it's a help when a 4wheeler that you want to get in front off, backs off and flashes those lights. Most of the time you'll get a hazard flash as a thanks. Thats the only thing I could think of that helps that hasn't already been mentioned.