draxcaliber

okay boys and girls, i am getting EXTREMELY tired of reading about you guys getting hit by semi's, 18-wheelers, vehicles towing trailors, tow trucks, panal vans, conversion vans, coach buses, rental moving vans, international cxt, rxt, and chevy kodiak, and ford 450, 550 and 650 or any other vehicles with ENORMOUS BLINDSPOTS!

this is my own little public service anouncement to try and educate you. now who am i to teach you you might ask? i am a tc driver who spends tens of thousands of miles every year on the interstate and have learned alot about sharing the road with commercial vehicles.

there are two places you want your car to be in proximity to a commercial vehicle, either completely behind them, or completely ahead of them. the two places you do not want to be is along side of them on either the left or the right, but more so on the left.

the saying goes that if you can't see the truck's mirrors, they can't see you. which is true, but just because you see the truck's mirrors doesn't mean he sees you. in my silver tc, even witht he headlights on in the day time, have nearly been hit by a commercial vehicle while it was changing from the right lane to the left. so never ever ride alongside a commercial vehicle.

stay even farther away from uhauls, or any other rental moving vehicles. the people driving these things are even less capable than reguler truckers at determining if they have room to change lanes, so stay away from them!

when driving down the interstate, keep an eye out about lanes ending, merging, and exits. truckers may not at all be familiar with the area and might make sudden manuevers to make a turn or change lanes at the last minute because they are lost or afraid of missing an exit.

when driving down the interstate, and you want to pass an commercial vehicle. make sure you know what the traffic pattern ahead is so you know what to expect down the road. change lanes to the side you are going to pass him on. usually the left lane is passing lane, and most trucks should be in the right lane only, but trucks tend to spend alot of time passing minivans and and station wagons. if a commercial vehicle is in the left lane, PASS WITH EXTREME CARE! they don't usually stay in the passing lane very long, so take a moment to figure out if he is going to stay in the left lane or get back into the right lane.

now that you are in the lane to pass the truck, look ahead of you, do you have enough room clear your rear bumper of the commercial vehicle without tailgating the next car in your lane? if yes than proceed to pass the commercial vehicle, if no, than wait in your lane while keeping your front bumper clear of the commercial vehicles tail end. do not wait along side of it.

if you are being overtaken by a commercial vehicle, and end up along side of one and cannot accelerate to be clear of the vehicle, than slow down gradually to let the commercial vehicle ahead of you clear of your front bumper.

remember, be patient, use turn signals, share the road, if you see brake lights ahead of you, prepare to slow down or stop soon, and always think 100 moves ahead! don't manuever without thinking what is the worst that could happen and how likely is that to occur?

so take it easy, give them their space and yield right of way for 5 seconds if they are going to drive like stupid jerks because if you must have the right of way, you'll get it all the way to the hospital riding in the ambulance!

hope this was helpful, sorry if i sound condecending as i often do, i am just tired of reading stories and listening to the same "he changed lanes into me". i'm not a smart guy, but i was able to figure out the blindspots are a bad place to me.

drive safetly everybody!

saddlesore

Well written, pls pay attention. I continually have cars try to zip past me on the right just to save a few seconds.. it ain't worth your life to make that small time savings..
and pls get into the correct lane well before you need to exit...when cars do the "exit stage right" and cross 2,3, or 4 lanes and cut me off just to take their exit... it scares the "pee-wadding" outta me.

and I really really do not like all the paperwork involved if "oh crap" happens

40+ tons vs 2400 lbs. ....... when "push becomes shove"...just not much of a match is it?

and yes I do drive a big rig for a living.. as well as several other Scion owners.

3.5+ million miles and still counting...(thats 100,000 miles each year for 35 years)

red
ps .. this is what a million miles looks like on an odometer

Jenna

And another warning to you all. Please be careful of big rig drivers taking pictures of their odometer whilst doing 55mph, LOL!!!

draxcaliber

djct_watt

I know the headlight blink lane change "you're clear" signal. It's a convenient tool to have, but I've always been scared about what would happen if somebody couldn't quite see and mistakenly gave the "clear" signal. . .

. . . and sorry, but LA truck drivers suck. . . waaaaay too much tail gating here. And in a semi, it's friggin deadly!

draxcaliber

anyway, thanks for the compliment red. coming from a person like you means alot because they obviously don't get much more experienced than you. and hopefully my fellow scion lifers will read this and take it to heart and we will stop having so many threads about totalled scions.

ya see guys, i really do know what i'm talking about sometimes!

saddlesore

me experenced? naaaww no more than any other long term driver...
I have a friend who drives for Boyd Trans. who has over 5 million under his butt..... and his record is totally accident and ticket free.. I could only wish.

draxcaliber

okay, but still, your a trucker and you've confirmed that what i've said is correct. thats good enough. maybe this should be made into a sticky!

xdorkx

/\/\/\/\
And that was the end of THAT thread, lol

dskinner

In the great state of Arizona, we don't have truck speed limits, so unless you're doing 85+, you will be passed at least a couple of times by a big rig going between Tucson/ Phoenix, which is rediculous! Anyway, I'm glad that there is a Peterbuilt out there somewhere doing the speed he should be.

When I'm in my Spyder, I don't only have to look out for heavy duty vehicles not seeing me, but rather anything larger than a RAV4. Gotta love the big green booger box though, stick out like a sore thumb!

xlr8tC

i'm sorry, i was under the impression that the driver of the truck is responsible for his driving. yes, there are spots where a truck driver can't see.... initially, but the second he edges over and a car comes into view, he should return to his original lane. there are no 100% blind spots on a truck. there are, however, careless drivers. i respect truck drivers and try to stay out of their problem areas when driving my car, but ultimately it is their responsibility. they have an excellent vantage point and do not need excuses made for them. there are just some bad drivers out there behind the wheel of commercial trucks, just the same as cars.
continue to drive correctly and report any poor driving to either the company on the truck or the police. that person does not need to have a CDL if they cannot control their vehicle correctly.

13edge

I'm with you xlr8. Most of the time I see any problems with trucks is because of the trucker himself/herself.