Tailgating truckies.

[irish2]

Seriously, if you are going slower than a fully laden semi on a highway, it's time to catch a bus...

[mif73]

Originally Posted by irish2

Seriously, if you are going slower than a fully laden semi on a highway, it's time to catch a bus...

Plenty of laden trucks can go well over 110k.


In vic we have 3kmh tolerance and mobile radar, fixed and mobile camera, point to point cameras, red light cameras and no flourescent warning signs.

I would love to drive my car at 150k and keep everyone happy, but i am constrained by the man.
And yes i do sit in the left when not overtaking.

[monzie]

On the open road l only want to get past, not be right up a cars bum for the love of it. Most cars are doing less than the indicated 100ks where as my truck is doing a limited real 102ks. On single lane roads just wave him past, slow a bit once he pulls out, not before, flash the headlight when it's safe for him to come back in. You will in most cases get a flash of the blinkers as a thank you. Really it's not that hard, try it you might be surprised.
City traffic is a different ball game, the hardest thing there is keeping a clear braking area in front.

Pete

[mif73]

Originally Posted by monzie

On the open road l only want to get past, not be right up a cars bum for the love of it. Most cars are doing less than the indicated 100ks where as my truck is doing a limited real 102ks. On single lane roads just wave him past, slow a bit once he pulls out, not before, flash the headlight when it's safe for him to come back in. You will in most cases get a flash of the blinkers as a thank you. Really it's not that hard, try it you might be surprised.
City traffic is a different ball game, the hardest thing there is keeping a clear braking area in front.

Pete

That is all good and i have no issue with that.
Read all the posts from the start and you will see i am being quite reasonable.

The guy up my bum had a wall of cars in front of me to contend with in a busy inner city freeway (80 k limit).

He was just being a dick by intimidating (on their bumper) everyone in front of him and weaving with last minute indicating so we have to swerve or brake heavily.

Again, plenty of crappy car drivers too, but they are not regarded as" pro"drivers, nor are they in charge of 60 tonne of fun.

[blackf6]

Originally Posted by mif73

Well then if a vehicle has awesome rubber and brakes and a super quick driver, it must be legal to tailgate then.

I suppose if they were up my bum and i braked and they hit me then its my fault?

I should take some speed, drinks heaps of strong coffee and take off in a porsche gt3 or the like and sit on someones bum coz its ok and the cops wont mind a bit.

And 80 tonne was a figure of speech, sounds better than 68.

Ps: not having a go at just truckies, plenty of stupid or inconsiderate (or both) car and bike drivers too.

Cheers.

My point in case. The camera's will stamp out most of these behaviors. If I am caught tailgating in the tanker. Might as well start looking for a job before the end of shift.

[blackf6]

I am a professional truck driver myself. I see other truck drivers doing the wrong thing day in and day out. I cringe at the consequences sometimes. These camera's are aimed at stamping this behavior out. Don't get me wrong I don't like big brother as much as the rest of us. But after having this system installed in my truck for over a month. I can see the benefits.

[ratter]

every truck driver is a tailgating, speeding, over weight hoon!



there said it,



well it's a generalism isn't it, just like all cyclists run red lights and ride 3 abreast.

Like any group there are those that do the right thing and those that are cowboys, my Dad drove semi's interstate and has lot's of stories about crashes and loosing mates, many were caused by excessive speed on bad roads and cowboys tailgating each other in convoys. Most accidents involving cars were normally lower speed and caused by the car not giving the truck room, especially when braking.

Like speed limiting has slowed down many drivers, dash cams will help control some of the idiots and help protect those that do the correct thing

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by mif73

Well then if a vehicle has awesome rubber and brakes and a super quick driver, it must be legal to tailgate then.

sarcasm will not will win an argument, just ridicule

Originally Posted by mif73

I suppose if they were up my bum and i braked and they hit me then its my fault?

answer my question about truck in the rear of cars question, then you might be taken seriously

Originally Posted by mif73

And 80 tonne was a figure of speech, sounds better than 68.

but therein lies the problem, you sprout this **** off down the street and majority of ignoramus' will believe you

Originally Posted by mif73

Ps: not having a go at just .

yes you are

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by GCRXR6

Trev, a lot of your posts are pretty good.... But that one old son, is codswallop.

I have had trucks sit far to close to me many times while I have boon sitting on 105 (via that famous GPS we all assume is correct) in my XR.

and how many of these trucks have rear ended your car?

This is the real world not Duel

[mif73]

Ok man.
So i myself havnt seen many trucks into the back of a car. Doesnt mean it doesnt happen.

Why tempt fate by sitting a metre off someones bum that cant go any quicker coz of a wall of
Cars in front of them.
Its still not a good thing. Its very intimidating and also illegal.

Its kinda like walking around town waving a gun at everyone and those people freak out, but when the cops arrest you, you then you admit you werent really gonna shoot anyone, but you might still go to jail coz its illegal and wrong.

Even as a pro truck driver, im sure you would rather not be on the edge of your seat with your brake foot quivering in anticipation of a 0.2 second reaction time coz you have only left enough room to stop in 0.1 second.
Wouldnt you rather leave more than 1 metre gap at 60kmh and moreso at freeway speed to make your own job less stressful?
Im sure the 2 second gap rule (dry weather) would need to be adhered to especially in a truck with trailer brakes that lock up in a cloud of blue smoke.

Again i never did say that car drivers are the best and truck drivers suck.

I merely stated that if anyone on 2 wheels, 4 wheels or more tailgates and weaves forcefully in and out of lanes etc like the b double we had up our bum (about 1 metre behind me and in the middle lane) on a busy inner city freeway, then they need an attitude adjustment and if they keep doing it then i call the cops.

Its even worse if a so called pro driver does it, they generally have any where from 10 to 50 times the mass of a passenger car and it intimidates and makes people nervous, driving is stressfull enough these days without someone playing games wouldnt you agree?

Again i have no probs with truck drivers, if they give me enough warning to adjust speed etc, i let them in front with my highbeam flick and they get in front and alternate their indicators as a thankyou and everyone is happy, what ever makes the traffic flow better and less stressful then thats good for everyone.

I only have a problem with anyone who is inconsiderate or severely unskilled or both.

Im sure these dash cams will catch heaps of bad car drivers too.

Bye now.

Ps: yes i have seen duel and it doesnt make me freak when i see a Kenworth or the like, even a black one with dark tint.

[Trevor 57]

For your information, I also hate tailgating by trucks, but I don't lose sleep over it, I understand them, I allow for them, I certainly don't get intimidated by them when in my car, in fact all I do is allow a bigger gap in front and when the opportunity arises I make moves to allow them to get past - the solution is quite easy if you try

And for the record, as both a car driver and truck driver, I have been tailgated by more cars than trucks - just sayin'

My tip for you is to get their rego number and report them to the Authorities or their boss, not jump on an internet forum to rally the troops

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

For your information, I also hate tailgating by trucks, but I don't lose sleep over it, I understand them, I allow for them, I certainly don't get intimidated by them when in my car, in fact all I do is allow a bigger gap in front and when the opportunity arises I make moves to allow them to get past - the solution is quite easy if you try

And for the record, as both a car driver and truck driver, I have been tailgated by more cars than trucks - just sayin'

My tip for you is to get their rego number and report them to the Authorities or their boss, not jump on an internet forum to rally the troops

You know it is illegal being too close.

If you hate tailgating truck drivers why are you making excuses for them, just saying

[mif73]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

For your information, I also hate tailgating by trucks, but I don't lose sleep over it, I understand them, I allow for them, I certainly don't get intimidated by them when in my car, in fact all I do is allow a bigger gap in front and when the opportunity arises I make moves to allow them to get past - the solution is quite easy if you try

And for the record, as both a car driver and truck driver, I have been tailgated by more cars than trucks - just sayin'

My tip for you is to get their rego number and report them to the Authorities or their boss, not jump on an internet forum to rally the troops

Thats the whole problem. There was no way of making room as i was already as close as i could get to the 100 cars in front and it was not an open highway with free lanes to merge into if you drive on the westgate freeway carpark 80k zone at 3 pm heading east you would know what i mean.

I was also not jumping on the bash truckies bandwagon. I was on the ive had enough of inconsiderate drivers bandwagon.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Yeah....

See it all the time. ********* in the middle lane doing 90 - 95 and not concentrating either texting, eating or talking to the person next to them.

The worse road for it lately has been the gateway motorway... Every morning I travel it to go to work and without a doubt there is some stupid idiot sitting in the middle lane not concentrating or overtaking.

Time the police started fining people for sitting in the middle lane obstructing traffic.

[wodahs]

or instead of pulling over cox their not sure bout something they just drive slower trying to work out if they are lost/missed their turn off or not

or they just have to get round you just to make that next turn or they'll go past you at 65 in a 60 just to do 90-95 in a 100

or best on lights change to orange and your close and trying to pull up then some care driver will zip in front of you and stop making it harder for you

but always the trucks fault

[wodahs]

there is how many more times cars than trucks on the road and you get annoyed with us due to a few bad encounters you've had
times that with how many more bad car drivers we have to put up with time the fact we are on the road all day every day of the week not just a few hours getting the stuff the average person needs just to have the average joe have a crap attitude to the transport industry as a hole

[GCRXR6]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

and how many of these trucks have rear ended your car?

This is the real world not Duel

Yeah Trev ... None.. due to bloody good luck and having an opportunity sometimes of pulling over and let the morons go on (and exceeding 110 as well).

Trev, I have truckers in my family, from my uncles side. It's a family tradition. They agree that there are too many idiots giving the industry a bad name. My son in law (a diesel fitter working for a western firm) was asked on more than one occasion to over ride the governor with the trusty laptop. Not very popular when he said no.

Try those arguments all you like Trev... there is never any excuse to drive closer than a minimum of at least 2 seconds from the vehicle ahead. We all know about reaction times and braking efficiency....bla bla etc etc.

[mif73]

[QUOTE=DASH GT;4965375]Yeah....

See it all the time. ********* in the middle lane doing 90 - 95 and not concentrating either texting, eating or talking to the person next to them.

The worse road for it lately has been the gateway motorway... Every morning I travel it to go to work and without a doubt there is some stupid idiot sitting in the middle lane not concentrating or overtaking.

Time the police started fining people for sitting in the middle lane

So if the authorities happened to make up a new rule to book someone in the middle lane then how about they enforce the existing rule of keep left unless overtaking and the no tail gating rule regardless of which vehicle is doing it?

Ps. I see both car and truck drivers texting and holding a phone up to their heads regularly.
Bluetooth handsfree is cheap these days.

[JG33]

As a truck driver I would welcome having an on-board camera. This would prove how many idiots cut in front of us or think the space we leave in front, is for them to jump in.


Trucks tailgating....pfffft!!!

[castellan]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

In 100k zones, when most car drivers are cruising along do 100k's by their speedo's, trucks catch them, so the car driver assumes the truck is speeding, in fact trucks are speed limited based on time over distance (GPS will prove this)

It will take a truck doing a proper 100k's an awful long way to pass a car doing 95 (100 by their speedo), to gain some extra distance the truck driver will close up behind the car to lessen the amount of time on the wrong side of the road, how do I know all this, coz I used to drive speed limited B-Doubles for a living - just saying

Having a truck (or car) sit closely behind you is only a problem if you stop quickly or do something stupid, they can see a lot further down the road than you can, so they can anticipate a lot of what is going to happen

How many 'truck into the rear of car' accidents do you see, then how many 'car into the back car' accidents do you see - just saying

Yes it is intimidating having a truck closely behind, but Duel was only a film everyone

BTW, I do not condone tailgating as intimidation, and I have seen trucks, cars and buses doing that

That's true.
Now i was down NSW driving the wifes Aurion and had this B double sit right up my rear real close, i did not give a hoot about that really but thought he was a fool, there is no reason for disrespecting the distance rule, but then again i think the speedo must be out on this 2011 Aurion original tyres and all but i just set the cruse control dead on the speed limit and let it do its thing. if it was up to me i would be ok siting even on 200 KM/H on a good road. but i was not going to let others push me to cop a speeding fine and i don't drive fast when i don't know the road.

And why do people just come flying up ya rear at road works and i am siting on the given speed limit as i pass people working, i know people who have been hit by drivers passing by at the work site, it's not a joke

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by trublu

You know it is illegal being too close.

If you hate tailgating truck drivers why are you making excuses for them, just saying

[Mulga]

Originally Posted by Full Noise

This would have to be one of the stupidest posts I’ve ever seen here regarding trucks, and you of all people should know better than to post crap like this here.

Firstly, WTF did you think you were going to achieve with the stupid title other than to have the usual anti-truck parrots harping on about every time they’ve ever seen a truck go over 60 km/h or be within 60 foot from the rear of their car?

Secondly, DriveCam is not going to be installed in “most trucks” within five years, so why make some BS statement like this? Is that what the people who installed it told you? Systems like DriveCam are the root of all evil and anyone with half a brain would realise this.

This job is going to Hell in a hand basket and it’s because of people like your boss pulling the wool over your eyes and people like you who blindly accept BS like this happening.

Just for the record, I know quite a bit about this system and in my opinion, any truck driver who is willing to be subjected to this is not only a first class idiot, but their own worst enemy.

If people like you had any balls or brains, you should have told your boss where he could shove this system. But hang on, it’s there to protect you, right? Is that what you really believe? I have no idea what they put in the water up there but I think that it’s time you lay off it.

What would your boss do if every driver in your depot refused to drive a truck with this system fitted? Go on, tell me.

If you want to protect yourself with a camera, get your own and keep the footage yourself. If you want to be ****** up the Khyber by your boss, keep going the way you are.

Gee.....seems a bit harsh to me......isn't that what forums are all about, putting it out there and getting reactions from people.

All I can say is I'm glad I don't have to drive for a living, cause there a plenty of fools driving/riding all sorts of vehicles.

[zilo]

Same old story.

Doesn't matter whether its a truck, bus or horse drawn vehicle.

People have lost their road manners and think the world owes them a right of way.

Trucks are as bad as other drivers, they fail to keep left.

On citylink and the westgate in Melbourne the FITH (xxx in the head) factor is apportioned thus:

cabbies...#1
truckies ..#2
P-platers..#3


please feel free to add to/amend the list....

[fte50]

illegal boat people under the westgate and bolte .... #4

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

image

Is the best response you can come up with Trevor, well you have no credibility, just saying.

[fte50]

Easy for those who have never driven a truck to comment/criticise .... I suggest go get your license , drive a while and you might have a new found respect for truckies.
Then go get your H/A and multi and tell us what you think.

[mif73]

Originally Posted by fte50

Easy for those who have never driven a truck to comment/criticise .... I suggest go get your license , drive a while and you might have a new found respect for truckies.
Then go get your H/A and multi and tell us what you think.

I respect truckies like any one else. I see some actions by car drivers that make me cringe.
I am sure cornering or backing up or braking a rigid or b double can be a tough job, but why make it harder and more stressful for themselves, you, me and little old ladies by driving on top of their bumpers?

Again, i dont think ANY vehicle should be doing that.

And i definately dont need that when im driving to do MY job which is to get in and out of work sites safely and with minimum hassle.

Lets just agree that if everyone had cameras then it would be fair.
Im sure the cams on trucks would catch alot more bad driving by car drivers anyhow.

[93EB_SXR6]

Funnily enough, I don't think I've ever been "tailgated" by a truck.
Yes, occasionally they've followed fairly close behind but nothing I would call "on my bumper". It's probably just the immense size that makes them seem like they're closer than they are.
Most truck drivers are courteous and will leave plenty of space when driving in the city to make sure nothing goes awry there too.

I don't know anyone who drives trucks so I'm not trying to stick up for them, just sharing my experiences. I've never felt under pressure from a truck & I've done plenty of country, highway and city kms in my time.

[mif73]

The truck i had behind me last week was so close that i could see the burr marks on his laser cut stainless steel grille. And that was all i could see .Yes it was a kenworth.

He was just being a dick like some of the effd up bogans in old commodores i see doing the same thing.

This stuff didnt seem to happen when i had a falcon work car years ago, the corolla must have a target on the back?

[FTe342]

I drive a B double tanker. Recently took my son-in-law with me on a few trips thru Sydney because he was wanting to upgrade his license from a medium rigid truck to semi-trailer.

His comment was " all new car licence applicants should be made to ride in a truck for half a day before they are granted a car license" (to give them a better appreciation of what it takes for a truck to negotiate corners and stop) .
I have to agree with his sentiments. Some car drivers just have no idea.

This morning about 5am in the B double loaded with fuel I am sitting in the right lane at a T junction at a red light with my left blinker on (thats 2 at the back and at least 4 down the length of the 25 metre truck). I am in the right lane because its the only way I can get the truck around the corner without the B trailer mounting the footpath and taking out some traffic lights/signs). There are no other cars at the intersection, but then I see a car approaching in my left mirror in the left lane. I am thinking, surely they will stop level with the back of the truck, and then follow me around the corner. But no, she drives up level with the front of the truck (as I begin to move and steer left) and then stops right where the B trailer Tri-axle will crush her car and her in it as the leverage from the prime mover and A trailer make her car as about as strong as a coke can. Because I have seen her I stop the truck half way around the corner and have to wait until the idiot moves out of the way so I can complete the manouvre.

That is why everyone should be made to ride in a truck before they get their car license. Most car drivers will give you room and stay away from trucks. Some have NFI !!