AMEN.....My turn signal is NOT a request....

 

Working in a shipping dept I come in contact with alot of drivers. Some of them are ****** but most of them are really good guys just tryin to put food on the table. I almost always give the right of way to a big truck. I've found that if I'm on the highway and signal to one truck that he can come back over into the slow lane after a pass or that he can come out from behind a slower vehicle that the other trucks around me will be more courteous. Most drivers end up gettin a bad rep simply because of a few jerks out there. A little respect will go a long way out on the road. Thank you to those of you who do haul my truck parts to me.

 

Real good point and one I forgot to mention. When the signal comes on, it means that I am changing lanes, and as Paul said, not asking for permission. Speeding up at that point will give you a real good chance of meeting the rear of my trailer.

 

The fun gets really exciting when you paint your truck bright yellow, hang a snowplow on the front and a snow wing on the right side, add some flashing lights and stuff a sander in the box. Now you got the ultimate idiot magnet! Some of the things people do around a plow just amaze me! I've got the front plow and wing down doing a centreline pass down the road and people decide to pass, they pass around blind corners and then expect me to move over and make room for them when someone comes the other way. Sorry dude, that plow and wing down take time to come up and they add quite a cross steering component that I'm constantly correcting for, I can't get out of the way in a hurry... Better yet is when they pass on the RIGHT side then stop you further on complaining that you splashed them full of snow and slush! Also, the sanding/salting computer in the truck is in most cases regulated to a maximum speed of 60KMH while spreading and material characteristics require the truck to go even slower cause otherwise the stuff just bounces off the road into the ditch where it doesn't do much good... So now, because I'm going so slow, a fellow decides to pass and of course he's got summer tires and as soon as he's gone by me he loses it and skitters off into the weeds. It never fails! Another thing people don't seem to understand is that when the turn signal on a truck is on it WILL go that way! So many times I've widened out to make a turn and some clown tries to squeeze through just as I start to turn. Now he's under the truck and trying to explain to the officer how it was MY fault! As far as I'm concerned it should be mandatory for all drivers to get in a truck for a few hours to see what it's really like before they can be issued a driver's license.
Ok, that's enough ranting for now, I'll get off my soap box now!

 

i have had that EXACT situation but roles reversed. i was in my pickup, towing my flatbed. cruise on ~70. i get in left lane to pass slower car in right lane. when i get even with slower car, he speeds up and proceeds to pace me for a while. i leave the cruise on. finally, guy pulls away. the friendly trucker behind me gave me choice words and told me i'm #1. i think aligning jerks with the fact they drive a 4 wheeler or 18 wheeler is pointless. theres plenty of not so friendly people behind the wheel of both

 

One time I was making a wide right turn, late at night, no traffic. Then out of nowwhere this car comes screeming up on the curb, locks them up and gets stuck under my trailer. She wouldn't get out till the cops get there, as soon as they arrive she starts screemong that she had gotten up to 70 mph and I still turned right in front of her, we were in a 30 mph zone. Cop laughed and told me to have a nice day.

 

So you would switch lanes to pass right when the car trying to pass you is just about to overtake you, forcing them to do a hard brake and swerve left halfway out of the lane to avoid being hit??? There was nobody else on the road. If they really were just trying to pass and not mess with me, than why not wait 2 seconds for me to pass and then go ahead? I have no problems with truck drivers, they're a nessicity for our daily lives, but you do have the occasional driver who thinks he's king of the road and wants to intimidate smaller vehicles and such. Now as I said in my post, these trucks were flashing there lights at each other, and acting like they were teamed up to tag-team other cars.

 

Ahhhhh, jeeeez, when a truck passes you, you blink the headlights to tell him he is clear and can pull back in, he thanks you by blinking his marker lights two or three times. Real sinister. You suffer from paranoia.

 

Ok, guys, here we go. Common courtesy for a four wheeler. Give a trucker room, be careful & don't play games with him.
Now for both. A turn signal is a warning to other drivers that you are going yo change lanes, it does not act as a magic wand to give you the right of way. If you changing lanes is a hazard then you slow down, no excuses for the number of wheels on the vehicle you drive. You guys in two & four wheel vehicles should not speed up for one either.
I don't care what you drive, if changing lanes may cause an accident, you slow down & live with the problem. Turn your turn signals on early so others actually have a warning, don't act like they do.

There is no excuse for the cut over & hit the turn signal at same time as I run another vehicle into the median behavior i have seen some not so great truck (& RV) drivers display. Unlike most drivers out there, you give me the warning, I will get out of your way as quickly as I can.
BTW. I have been run off the road by a trucker who thought his turn signal magically cleared the road . . . 70 mph through the median is not fun. He's lucky I didn't own a cell phone then.

 

Yeah, fine in theory, but you are talking apples and oranges. The way it works 90% of the time, you wait your time, see a perfectly adequate space to move left, turn on your turn signal, now the race is on, to see who can get into that space first. The cars floor it, the truck starts to move over, at some point the truck has to make a decision as to which is appropriate. He very well may misjudge and it gets close, the car slams on the brakes, many times screaming around the other side, single finger salute, and so on.

If he had continued at the speed that he was going it would have been a smooth transfer from one lane to the other and back in before the car was at any inconvenience. Cars and Soccer moms seem to have some unwritten rule that a truck shall never be in front of them, have no business on the road, and are all (as previously posted in this thread) are conspiring to push cars around.

The fact is that a truck has as much right to the road, both lanes, as the car. Any car that tries pushing a truck around is asking for a serious accident. The above situations make a trucker get more aggressive.

I think I can speak for most driver on this, I don't really care what the car does, just stay away from me and let me drive safely and get done what I have to do. How many cars when going down a hill say to themselves, "he is going too fast, I'm going to slow him down" Pure suicide... One hill locally is a good example, I crest at about 50 to 55, speed limit is 60. Full Jake brakes, down one gear, I will reach the bottom with no brakes at about 63. That is till some jerk pulls in front and creates a life or death situation. They constantly pass in the no-no lane (far left) at 70 plus, pass, pull in front and slow down. Course if I hit them I have a chargeable accident. All this because of that unwritten law of four wheelers, "if there is a truck I have to get around it"

Yes there are bad truck drivers out there, there are bad mistakes made by trucks, and the same goes for cars. Ease up and live... both trucks and cars. I have a perfectly clean record, no accidents, no tickets. I did not get that and many years of safety awards in the past from driving unsafely.

Since 1998 traffic fatalities involving trucks have reduced by 22%. I forget the number of increased traffic of trucks. AAA (the car origination) says that 82% of truck accidents are caused by the actions of cars.

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG

 

hauulin in dixie, good description/advice. other(four wheelers)drivers- why do some people want to make my job difficult? i don't come to your place of work and try to aggrivate you or make your job unsafe. most days i get along fine, i don't use my turn signal as a "magic wand", i do treat others will respect, and try to be as safe as possible. the speeding up to try and cut me off while i'm changing lanes thing does really irk me, though. people who try this have obviously never been run over by 80,000 pounds before. divers of all vehicles make mistakes, please just remember that truckers work long hours and hve big blind spots, coupled with a rig that accelerates/brakes and handles much slower than other vehicles. everyone just needs to RELAX. lettting someone pass you doesn't make your drive any longer, and you might just make yourself and another driver feel better for doing it. oh, and i do show a little more respect for a diesel pickup tow rig, but hey, that's because i happen to like diesel trucks.

here's "my" truck, not that cool, i know, but it gets the job done.

 

x2. Everytime I've towed 95% of the truckers will flash the lights to let you know when it's safe to pass. If they see you coming, they'll move out of the way if they can. I find that if you flash the lights to let them know they're clear and other trucks are around, EVERYONE seems to be a little friendlier on the road. I've had my fair share of ****** off truckers. Sometimes my fault, sometimes not. If it's my fault I apologize and take my lumps (if I see them off the road), and if it's their fault and they're angry I let them know just "how it is". Politely, unless pushed.

 

Just a point about flashing your lights, and I want you to know I thank you, and I flash my running lights to let you know I appreciate it. But I would like to point out that those that do by using their high beams, we have very large mirrors and that is what we are looking at, at the time you hit the brights. Please don't do that, turn them off an on, it is so much safer...Thanks

 

Used to do that, til I almost ran off the road from an animal crossing at the same time. I'll keep that in mind, though. Never thought about it being that bad. Learn something new everyday

 

I have always used the brights because most of vehicles I have owned are hard to reach the headlamp switch on, unlike tapping the dimmer.
I'll keep that in mind tho.

I live with a trucker so I hear a lot of stories of the inconsiderate things he sees both sides do to each other. Personally I try to treat any vehicle bigger than mine with respect. That said, I give truckers clearance because I respect them. I give big RVs clearance because the drivers of many of them scare me.