Real Truckers Was:[geeks] Work getting slow

[Mike Nicewonger]

I was not planning to engage in a battle but I have donned my armour.

on 4/16/02 4:11 PM, Scott Newell at newell at cei.net wrote:

>>> 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.

And likewise I have seen more than a few stupid moves by truckers. I have
seen far more and of higher quality of stupidity from auto drivers. If you
have an incedent clouding your opinions then that is the problem of the
person holding the grudge, not the group in question.
> 
> 
>> 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.

Yepper you are going to find small companies skirting the rules. Gonna
happen whether trucks or dentists human nature wins in the end. But wait
till something happens and they get a safety audit. Good bye small company.
> 
> 
>> 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?

Gotcha? Nope. Trucks do not do 10 times the damage. Weather does more damage
than trucks. Granted, if everything were equal trucks would be a bit harder
on the roads than a car. However, those of us whom own cars do not pay road
use taxes, trucks do. You could say that we as car operators pay road taxes
in every gallon of go juice we buy. Well trucks pay the same fuel taxes we
do but at the tune of 500-600 gallons or more worth every week.

The federal government funds most of the highway construction in this
country. The states are the ones that collect road taxes. The funny part is
that much of the money that is collected as road tax is used to
build/maintain roads that trucks are not allowed to use anyway.

I had not intended to go off on a tax rant so I will stop here.
> 
> 
>> 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.

OK, fine. How many times do you get this from some jerk in a honda or a
pick-up? I see this with cars more than trucks.
> 
> 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.)

God help them if they were to operate in Maryland. The troopers would get
hard-ons for all the tickets they could write.

Again, human nature, if you know you can get away with something then you
will try. The problem you have is in poor enforcement of the law.

> 
> 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.

Y'know Scott, I think you are right. All truckers are out to get you. I
honestly don't know how to answer that.
> 
> 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.

Hmm... Maybe they aren't all out to get you.
> 
> 
> 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).
> 
And I hate it when people slam some other group generically for the acts of
a bad apple or two.

Mike N