Real Truckers Was:[geeks] Work getting slow

[Scott Newell]

>> crazed overloaded truckers on the highway,
>
>Geez what a pile of stuff that statement is. If anything in the last 15

I do realize that most are real pros, but I've seen my fair share of
aggressive and stupid truckers.  It only takes a single rotten incident to
color your opinion, fair or not.


>As for overloaded, you cannot haul a load from Baltimore to New York without
>passing through at least 3 weight/safety inspection stations I don'know
>about out in the west but you are playing with fire if you operate an
>overloaded truck here.

Several years ago, I saw weigh sheets for some short haul truckers in my
area--about 40% weighed over 80k.  I called the state police and was told
that (at that time anyway) 80k was the limit.  And I don't mean 20-100
pounds over, I mean 2-3k over.  I may be wrong about the 80k, but I
distinctly remember seeing that 40% were slightly over, on a daily basis.


>Trucks pay for the roads we drive on. The average tractor trailer pays over
>$15.000 in highway use taxes over and beyond the what they pay in fuel tax
>or Apportioned License tag fees which are typically $1800.00 per year.

Gotcha.  But don't they pay those huge fees because a truck wears the
highway infrastructure much more quickly than light weigh vehicles?  If a
truck does 10 times the damage and wear to a road than a car, shouldn't it
pay 10 times the tax to maintain that road?


>I have owned trucks, (real trucks I mean) and my family has been in trucking
>for 35 years. I also used to commute 1.5 hours each way in my car. Trucks
>were never the problem. Assholes in cars who cannot wait like everyone else
>in traffic are the biggest problem

My commute is 1 hour each way (100 miles/day).  I've had trucks (again, not
all, not most, but a few) ride my bumper (on two lane 55 MPH state
highways) so close that I couldn't even see their windshield in my mirror.

Then there are gravel trucks that don't tarp their loads, in violation of
state law.  I _never_ see 'em pulled over.  I think the police avoid
pulling over trucks for minor speeding and tarp infractions because they
know that the drivers _will_ contest to keep their CDL.  (Sorry, that's a
different rant.)

How 'bout logging trucks that bend their plates so they can't be read?
There's also the distinctive "cover it up with mud" trick.  Handy--can't
report what you can't ID.  What about jake brakes that can wake the dead?
Is it that much cheaper to run worn-out mufflers?

Just yesterday I was on a stretch of 50 MPH two lane when a truck with a
full load of steel bar pulled out in front of me, uphill.  20 MPH for the
next mile.  Now I don't know about other people, but if pulling out onto a
rural highway means the next guy has to brake or slow down, I wait.

Now on the flip side, I've had truckers pull over and let me pass.  I try
and wave.  I'm _always_ careful to leave room if someone is caught in a bad
corner, and I don't mind backing up to give a truck room to make an
especially tight turn.  Don't like driving in dirty air, so if I'm not
passing I also try and stay pretty far back off their rear bumper.  


Oh well, I'm just blowin' off steam.  I suspect any truckers in this
audience are courteous drivers, and it wasn't my intention to inflame (too
much).


newell