i have allways been told to keep as much speed at a good rpm and if you are coming up on a slower truck what are you supposed to do??? sorry i have driven semi slow trucks and have been caught in that situation and it takes a while but i do get around and you can speed right back up after i get there..

 

Obviously you pull out and pass if you don't have another, faster truck coming up on you. You should try to limit your time hanging out in a passing lane as best you can. If you have to back off and hang behind a truck going slightly slower than you for a few miles due to losing the "run" you had then so be it. I do it all the time. If I know a hill is coming I squeeze out of the throttle and try to time my run so that as I run out of steam on a hill, I'm just getting to the point of the slower truck in front of me that I would normally let off behind it. If I can't do it, ah well.

 

Orangetxguy, I see you are one of them! In a metro area you are the one holding everyone back because you think you own the middle lane? You just admitted you are afraid of merging traffic that may "slow you down" ? Thats pretty funny! I drove for years in NYC and Long Island, probably some of the worst traffic in the country and I was never afraid of the right lane, you just slow down and let them in front of you if you have too. What you do is exactly what I am complaining about, guys that refuse to move over cause they are not concerned about whats behind them. I find this to be very rude at best. Especially when you know we are trying to pass you. Passing on the right is dangerous for everyone.

I also find the local drivers here in Florida especially rude. They will get off the highway on to a 3 lane side road and immediately get in the hammer lane and stay there! Letting everyone pass them on the right like this is safer for them? I think its just a lack of experience and training and they are afraid of the right lane, maybe they should all drive in New York where we are not allowed in the left lane and they will see its no more dangerous.

I can see here that most agree with my sentiments on middle lane hogs! Dont get me wrong here either, I always drive in the right lane unless I am passing someone, or I have a more sensitive boat on board and the right lane is rough I will tend to hog the left lane. But I will always move over for another truck if they want to pass.

 

Mr Newbie........Mr Ford says it right! If you are climbing a hill and moving real slow keep it in the right lane, dont ever try to pass another truck by only a few miles per hour, doing so will get you complaints on the CB! Faster trucks will always catch up to you and get pissed off at you for being out in the hammer lane when climbing. We all have to go slow up hills when loaded !

 

For fuel obviously, I agree with you 100% I roll through rush hour traffic sometimes in first gear if I have to, but I never stop, all the while laughing at the drivers around me burning up their clutches and brakes and fuel for no reason by stopping every 30 ft.

 

Now....Where in my statement did I say that I was concerned about "being slowed down"? Being slowed down is the least of my concerns. It is traffic accidents that concern me. I haul hazardous material....99% of the time (actually 100% for a little over a year now). Even when my trailer is empty it is still hazardous (until it has been washed out and a "clean slip" provided). I have never intended to allow idiots to cause me to be in an accident. Staying in the center lanes allows me to stay safe. Safe is all I care about. If the truck I drive is involved in an accident, and there is even a little spill.....How long do you think you might sit in the back up, just because I was in the right hand lane for your convenience?

A highway closure because of a little leak would cause you to stroke out, given the rants you post here. Super trucking does not impress me.

I know a company driver who had a spill on I-287 in Jersey, just north of the I-80 interchange, a few years ago. The greater New York City / Newark area was affected for the better part of 2 days. About 2,500 people were evacuated from their homes for the 2 days it took to clean the spill up. That driver, his co-driver who was asleep in the bunk, the trucking company, and the company they were hauling for are being sued. Sued for a lot more than I would care to have to cough up. And they are being sued by more than just the 2500 who were put up in first class hotels.

Think about it.

 

Seams to me like you have too many excuses for running in the middle lane, like "I dont want to get in an accident" thats total crap in my eyes. You are still in the wrong my friend, hauling tankers with hazardous materials does not give you the right to hog the left lane or middle lane because "you" dont want to get in to an accident. I find that statement from a rookie driver very disturbing if I have to worry about you hauling hazmat and worrying about getting in to an accident by riding on the right lane hilarious at best! I ran hazmat tankers in NYC and the 5 bouroughs for 3 years and never had a spill or an accident. Maybe you need more driver training?

Passing another truck on the right side is more dangerous then passing on your left side, dont you get that? You are actually putting yourself at more risk by driving slow and making everyone else pass you on the right which is called your blind side for a reason. Its your attitude of "I dont need to follow "the rules" that disturbs me even further, are you one of those entitlement younger drivers thats thinks the world owes you a living?

You may call this a rant or whatever you wish. I just hope I dont have to pass you on the right when its soooo not necessary. Think about it.

 

I agree with you Instigator. Although I have to add, in NYC or Chicago, I'll get into survival mode and hit the middle lane and stay there until I'm past the worst of it.

 

NYC, Chi-Town, Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Houston, ......... any major Metropolitan area. It is safer to not continually inter-act with merging / exiting traffic.

 

Bud.........You can think whatever it is you wish to think. You have had more driving jobs in the past year, than I have had in my entire 35 year career. You hauled haz-mat for three years, back in the 80's? So what. I have been hauling haz-mat since 1979. I have done so driving the posted speed limit, or less if the posted speed limit was 70 mph or more. In the end....So what.

You proclaim that you can only drive trucks that run wide open. Go get yourself a job pulling tanker. Drive around wide open. Just stay east of Interstate 65. See what it gets you. After 65 miles per hour most LEO's are going to wonder what your problem is, if your unit is wearing a placard. Get into an accident now, and they determine your speed was in excess of what was safe for the commodity you were hauling, and you will pay a nice little sum for your indifference.

A placard is a magnet. It designates your unit as the "Lottery". There are a lot of screwballs out there seeking to win the lottery.

You misconstrue my words, to make yourself feel good. That is fine.

I drive to protect my truck. If I protect the truck, I protect myself. If I am safe, the traffic and the communities through which I pass are safe. THAT is all I care about Zippy. Your opinion does not matter to me.

You and I could load out of DeGussa in Theodore Alabama to deliver at Kimberley-Clark in Belleville On Canada and even with you loading out 2 hours ahead of me, with you driving "Wide open", I would beat you to the delivery, simply because I would have taken the safest, least congested route. I would have made certain my paperwork was filed with Canadian Customs properly, and my border crossing, commodity and ETA were known to them. You would have looked at a map, said "I can get there!" and hauled butt for the wrong border crossing. A decision that can cost you several hours, if not days. The length of time you sit at Canadian Customs depends entirely on the Customs Agent you talk with, and the manner with which you talk...or project.

You could "load out" in Pasadena Texas for Newark PA hours ahead of me, and I would be driving out the plant gate in Newark, after having met my unload appointment time, while you are arguing with security as to why they should let you unload late, because "That Bozo held me up in traffic cuz he was driving slow in the center lane". You would make yourself even more popular with security and plant personnel when you explode in foul language because they cause you even more unpaid delay time, by forcing you to wait for them to have time to unload you.

I have been there....watched that. It is an old and stale movie.


As you said. Think about it.