The Empire Strikes Back

Sooooooooooooo,as a truck operator..and i stress the word operator....is it time i started a website to encourage and encite anger against every other road user out there ????
I dont think so. There are all sorts of people driving all sorts of machinery on our roads, most of whom know what they are doing but unfortunately, there is a minority that dont.!
There has been gradual shift in the way people operate any sort of machine on our roads and it has all been downhill. Sure there are still a lot of people who do the right thing, who know we need more room and space to manuveour on our roads. But the number is increasing for those who dont care, that all they want to do is get home two seconds quicker.
It is way past the due date that all people realized that when you make a stupid move in front of a truck- racing to get in front at a single lane point for example-
you are placing your life squarely in the hands of a complete stranger whom you hope is not as stupid as you are.
Death is irreversable and for people to put themselves in such a situation is not the fault of the truckie, but themselves.
Yes, there are idiots in trucks, there are also idiots in cars-vans-motorbikes-even 4wd's. But there must be an understanding that a truck does not maneuver like anything else on the road.
Take care, be aware and drive safe, so that we can all get home to our families.
For the minority out there,,,,take your blinkers off your head, we all have to share the roads. Wake up, be aware of your surroundings and stop doing stupid things behind the wheel of whatever you drive just so you can get home before everyone else..

meow.

rick

Just another web site for people to have a bit of a Cry, Man these day's people have a sook about anything and everything that takes place on the road.

Funny thing is all the people who complain probably think the sun shines out there arse and they are the worlds safest driver.

You were tail gated you know what, get over it.

This should rattle a few cages.

In my, fairly broad, experience Australian truck drivers are amongst the most skilled and capable truck drivers in the Western World whereas Australian car drivers are amongst the least skilled and capable car drivers in the Western World.

A generalisation, of course, but then these things always are.

Mike Harding

Al

What about the car drivers I have to extract out of my rectum each day?

I've had far more truckies offering help, courtesy and advice on the road than any of these Left Wing Chardonnay Crunchers....!

About time we started to support truckies and stop knocking the crap out of them.

Kim

Ahh there is not enough love in the room!!

After last week where on Tuesday the F3 was blocked due to an accident and then on Wednesday where there was a fatality on the Pennant Hills Rd where all north bound traffic was directed down the Lane Cove Rd and onto the Pacific Hwy where a delivery van was broken down in the middle lane. Kaos!!

The old road is impassable due to a collapse at Somersby, which leaves the F3 as the only road north out of Sydney. There are some very convoluted routes you could take to circumvent the F3 though it would take a great deal of time and deliver you many klms from where the F3 finishes.

During both events as I had a great deal of time to reflect on the situation and in a roundabout way there are similarities to the comments on this thread.

Australia has grown at an amazing rate over the last 20 years. The dormitory towns which feed Sydney generally have one main road as a feeder to Sydney. These towns have little in the way of public transport which forces people into cars and onto the feeders.

Freight has little option other than to use the roads as the antiquated rail system cannot deliver the same service as the trucking industry does.

Expand this to take in the eastern seaboard states and the same issues I deal with every day are extrapolated up and down the coast. More traffic, little in the way of improvement of any infrastructure. Dual lanes for the Pacific Hwy are just a stop gap measure with the way the east coast is developing and where it will be in the next 20 - 50 years.

Consideration has to be given to planning and budgeting now for the future. Both political parties should develop and support for the long term, an innovative, independent infrastructure planning service. Consideration should be given to solutions which are unique to Australia, vast distances etc. Aviation logistic centres, high speed rail freight systems integrated with trucking. ie: Develop rail carriages and truck trailers to compliment each other there by cutting out double handling. Mass transport systems to allow people access to work whilst maintaining a decent lifestyle.

We need leaders with great fore sight to allow Australia to develop with intelligent co-ordinated systems which will lead the world with logistics.

My road, he said, she said will only polarise society which does no one any good.

Cheers

I'll be the devils advocate, I don't really have much of a problem with it. I would prefer it was a "dob in a tailgater" full stop without targetting any specific group.
We've all been tailgated at some time or other and it is dangerous regardless of who is behind who. I've had some bike riders tailgate me and I know who'll come off 2nd best if something happened in a situation like that.
We as 4x4ers need to be aware our actions if we tailgate we will frighten the driver of a smaller car in front and as a group we will all be judged similarly.
With truck drivers tailgating it's a whole new ball game though as it takes intimidation to a new level. If a car tailgates me I know in all likelihood I will survive in the case of an accident with a truck there's a very good chance I won't.
Thankfully with age comes some sort of empathy with fellow road users I know when I was young I wasn't so respectful and it's something I'm glad I grew out of.
I don't tailgate at all, it doesn't worry me if I get there a little later so long as I get there.
Regards Andrew.

I'm not out to bash truckies, but when someone does something stupid in a 40T truck, they tend to draw more attention than someone in a Barina.

Just as I expect a cabbie to be a good driver because that is what he does for a living, so should a truck driver be good at it.

I think time constraints and traffic has got to the point where if that truck driver doesn't pull out straight in front of you, he will never get out.

Now, I'm sure I will be jumped on by everyone, but the prevalence of bad driving by trucks is growing. I am on the road every day and it amazes me. But, they aren't alone. Cars do it too. That doesn't mean you will let it slide when he kills your wife or kids.

I have plenty of time for courtesy towards trucks, everyone for that matter, but when someone looks straight at you and pulls right out or does something unsafe, they shouldn't be on the road and I suspect everyone has had this happen to them.

Thanks for putting the site link on here,yes it is a bit of truck bashing,at least it gives the truck driving fraternity an opportunity to also have input and the ability to communicate with other road users.
It is set up specifically for northern NSW but the everybody who use a any road will have a sense of what this site is all about.
I've got to go to bed now,5 am start, of to Bundaberg(EX Bris)in the morn

Shane

There are many morons on the roads, trucks, cars,and bikes but I reckon the truck driver should be a little more tollerant as they are supposed to be 'professional road users'. Driving up and down the hume, I don't always see this.

Leroy