why are trucks driving in the middle lane(s)?

sounds like a cop to me

 

###### Boy! We got ourselves a deputy Dawg talkin' trash on the trucker board. He obviously is about as observant and intelligent as the one I nearly flattened a few years ago. Driving down the highway in the RIGHT hand lane I saw a Highway Patrol turn his victim loose. I moved to the left lane (was out in the middle of nowhere so there were only two) and as I get to about 100 yards away, he sees his next victim traveling the other direction. Instead of waiting 5 seconds for me to go by, he suddenly floors it and makes a hard left directly in front of my rig with no signal of any kind. To avoid the imminent collision, I had to nail the brakes HARD and go for the right lane. I missed this moron in "law enforcement" by inches. All so he could go chase down that dangerous speeding 4 wheeler. (would that qualify as single-minded?) I can't say how relieved I was that our safety on the road was being looked after by such a professional enforcer of the law. All of us drivers who have been out on the big road for more than a few years have seen horrific crashes and as a result, place safety as our first priority (unless of course, I'm late). If the safer movement of traffic causes it to be just a little slower, then so be it. I will gladly bear the label of "single minded" for safety. So Mr. "I'm in law enforcement" you better go get a piece of plexiglass installed in your navel cause you will need it unless you pull your head out of your ##*!

 

yep!!! I have no, and I mean NO respect for 'LAW ENFORCEMENT' anymore they have earned my lack of respect, I think there might be a few good ones out there with some common sense, just have not found them yet. Here in plainfield in, I was driving down US40 one night on a stretch of road that they sit and hide busting folks who exceed the posted 30mph limit, I was driving to wally world and a car was coming up in me tail really fast and I mean like 55 or better, I told my son something like wheres the piggies when u need them and as this car passed I realized it was a PIGGY, no lights on guess where he was rushing to?? WAFFLE HOUSE! there were about 4 other PIGGIES there. I still drive the posted speed limit and in the middle lane when neccessary, and I'm still safe and so are you. UMM, sorry for the rant, but piggy talk gets me feathers ruffled

 

Don't take it all too seriously. This is just a lesson in life that all is not well within society today and it is up to all of us to fix it, if we can.

What we all have to realize is the New Cops of today are subject to the new training of today and that training is not always based on sound policy. The 55 was definitely a blow to respect within the Law Enforcement Arena.

Now, we all know you guys and gals out there are needed, and we can't blame you for all the bad things that don't make sense that happen because you have your obligations to your bosses. We all have the same problem and I guess that is why the word BOSS is a four letter word that is not really very nice if you learn how to spell it. (backwards).

Okay, so life is not fair sometimes and there were never any promises, but double Nichol speed zones and split speed zones and forcing trucks into slow lanes to fight merging traffic are all way out of bounds when it comes to common sense.

You see, one thing I learned many years ago is Speed does not, never has and never will kill anyone. It is people who kill because:
1. Too many hours behind the wheel
2. Driving too fast for conditions
3. Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
4. reckless driving

etc. The majority of speeding tickets issued on open highways have nothing to do with safety. It has everything to do with taxation or revenue collection.

Likewise, overweight tickets should be issued to all shippers and not the drivers as far too often the driver has no choice but to haul the freight or walk off. l have refused to haul and been ordered to do it by my company and I told them the truck would be down the street at the truck stop and I would be on a plane going home.

By issuing overweight tickets to shippers, the practice of fraud within the misuse of and abuse of truckers would come to a stop. Of course so would the tickets/fines and revenues.

Now, not everyone here will come down hard on you for doing your job. But, like any group of people, there are some you will never convince you are there for them and their protection as well as safety.

Total deregulation of the transportation industry by Congress in 1980 did not do Law Enforcement or the drivers of today any justice. It has basically bankrupt an industry and is the reason for so many bad attitudes you see these days.

In any case, I have no hard feelings against those who where the badge as a whole, but I have met a few I would like to meet in the back country. They might just have a long walk out without their boots, or if I saw one of them in trouble, I might just hesitate in lending them a hand.

We make our own worlds and that includes those who wear the badge. There is law and there is common sense. There is duty and there is abuse of power.

Thanks for the good things you do for society. We need each other.

 

By the way, as per higher education; I have worked for and around a bunch of highly educated yeahoos in my life who had no common sense at all. However, I will be nice. There are lots of drivers in these big rigs that are exceptionally gifted in education, common sense and a huge amount of sense of responsibility that makes your job a whole lot easier for you. Thus, your blanket comment could be turned around and placed back in laps of many wearing the badge; i.e. the Sherrif a few years ago, caught drug trafficking in Texas, to the deputy who exposed himself at a coffee shake locally and made headline news, and the list goes on. Educated? Yes! Smart? Not hardly! We all share in the arena of those not worthy, no matter the profession.

 

Knowledge WITH Understanding YIELDS Wisdom. The proverbial academia Knowledge WITHOUT Common Sense is the Educated Fool!!
God-given common sense is required to get REAL Wisdom.

BTW. Military training & experience (with attributes taught such as : character & honor), as well as life-long experiences beat the crap out of a college education (of which I also have!)....

I am a supporter of 'Good' law Enforcement, and just like in the trucking industry, there are good & bad!! Hope, Squid, that we did help you to understand 'our' plight on the roads and we will do the same with yall's plight on the same roads that we 'share!'

 

I have an easier solution to the problem and I do it everyday.

I travel in the right lane and when i see someone coming down the ramp I maintain the same speed (cruise control). I watch as the 90 percent of the time are not even looking and when we inevitably meet at the end of the ramp I laugh as they slam on the brakes. Any that try to easy over to try to force their way in I blow my horn and watch them freak out.


If anyone bumps me its their fault so I'm not worried and their car will be crushed. If they die its their fault.


sound like the right solution?

 

Ok I guess my early morning rant was un-called for, however, I am still ticked off at the way the "piggies" ie,. police treat the public, handing out tickets and such then turn right around and do the same things ie,. speeding weaving through traffic/going through intersections with their lights on then turning them off once they accomplish their goal when no emergency exists, I see it nearly every day in some compacity or another and it angers me, then as a driver of an 18 wheeler I see 4 wheelers driving erratically on the highway, but a trooper will stop a big truck for a few miles over the speed limit ticket cause the state can earn more money from the CMV than that dangerous 4 wheeler who if left alone is sure to injure or kill someone at some point, I drive legally and safely like I said before and the middle lane keeps me out of trouble and out of the way of these dangerous merging 4 wheelers Like some one said in an above post, when I can't get out of the right lane for merging traffic for some reason ans the 4 wheelers don't speed up go grab a spot and wind up on the shoulder I too will chuckle a bit.

 

It seems to me that the truck drivers are trying to protect themselves AND the car drivers. It only takes one bad car driver to cause an awful accident which may kill himself and others. If the flow of the "fast" car traffic is impeded by the practice of a truck driving in the middle lane to be safe, I say tell the car drivers to leave 5 minutes earlier for where they are going and everyone can have a good day.