Who is to blame?

KD if I may add.........

LOE's and the justice system is extremely critical upon CDL drivers due to a number of reasons and issues.

The same old clache' a few make it bad for the whole...........

1. Drivers driving over hours which create a number of issues in itself; sleepy, speeding, unsafe lanechanges etc.
2. the severity of accidents caused by T/T ; deaths, disabled civilians etc
3. Number of citations received across the country before they catch up to the drivers.
4. Unsafe equipment by co. and o/o who can't afford to maintain properly
5. Not having proper permits and shouldn't even be on the road.
6. The right wing or left wing, which ever it is who complains about trucks size noise emmissions and all that crap.
See where I am going with this............

Their are municipalities across the country who are taking it upon themselves to clean up the trucking ind. and have issued mandates to the police dept.'s to solely pursue trucks for these purposes.

Their are drivers who have signed on with these driving lawyers thinking that they can drive what ever way they want because they feel the lawyers will get them out of trouble........

Now, when you factor in co. o/o who are being squeezed by the co's and brokers for pennies here and there while drivers are trying to make a living we have to drive harder to do so. Cost of business for o/o and combined cost of livivng for both pays are going down.

My few words or alot.................................J

 

All that happens - but for some reason, it's the trucks that are dangerous.

My thought has always been, it's not the gun in your mouth that's dangerous, it's the finger on the trigger.

As for video, yeah - I'm actually a proponent of that. I know of a system with wireless HD cameras - you could magnetically mount them on the trailer, and permanently on the cab.

You'd not need a wall of monitors, though. A single screen would be enough. Cycle through the cameras- maybe change after 3 seconds or so (that's a lot longer than a look in the mirror). All you need to know is "is there something there?". Save the footage from each camera for .. oh.. 30 minutes and dump it (save hard drive space)

If you don't like to cycle, split the screen in to X number of images (I think 6 should be good) and label them. Then you can see, at ANY time, what's in view of the camera.

Pattern of cameras would be something like:
Directly ahead
Directly astern
right side trailer looking forward (camera mounted near tail)
Right side cab looking aft
left side trailer looking forward (camera mounted near tail)
left side cab looking aft

that, given normal field of vision on cameras, should give you very close to 360 degrees of sight line around your truck.

Only issues I can think of are:
Cost - about $5500 for the whole system, per truck (price is a WAG)
Weather - how do you keep the lenses clear in bad weather?

This won't help with twiddle-heads who blow off stop signals, or otherwise are just plain too stupid to live. But it would help you avoid the Cell-phone mamas and Businessman who read their paperwork while driving. and we won't mention makeup artists or electric razors.

So - not a perfect solution, but a help. Probably help me backing, too, now that I think on it.

 

I like this one. That is how I am. I drive for local companies now and I have guys who have been driving for 5 years wondering why I don't stay inside the lines all the time and my response is because "they are for 4 wheelers" I do what I want to make my trip safe for me and driving slow is one of them. I don't care if people wake up late to go to work that is not my problem or if a truck or car wants to save 2 whole minutes in their busy life. Making you wait builds character anyway.

 

I like that too. Builds character...haha.

Jash, I'm not sure what to say about your post. Thanks for the information. I do see what you are saying, though.

 

Sock,

Exactly.. and I'm just out of school. I had one instructor admonish me a couple times for going so slow (about 5 under the limit). My response was along the lines of "why should I hurry?"

One thing not mentioned anywhere that I've seen - frequently overlooked, for all that it's in plain English. That's a speed LIMIT. That's as fast as you are legally allowed to go. There's nothing *anywhere* that says you have to go that fast. (yes, some places have minimums, but that's not the point here, and you know it! )

If I'm comfortable at 65 when the limit is 75, that's where I'll be.

This may be why I enjoyed the training trip into the mountains so much, and the rest of the class came back varying shades of gray. No hurry. No need to push the edge.

Look at the road ahead and plan for it. If you keep your speed down a bit, you have more time to plan and react to that stupid deer that can't wait 8 seconds for you to pass. If you can't see the road ahead, you can't plan for it. So, you slow down a bit more, so you can react safely to it. I may not be first at the finish line, but I bet I'm in a better mood and have smaller ulcers.

The ultimate goal is to actually GET there. All else is gravy.

 

You have put the whole issue together that people do not get into their heads. Appreciate you for making that point.