The Truckies that give the rest a bad name

They are a strange breed arnt they.

All the best
Eric

I have a feel good truckie story....

A couple of months ago, Al and I were on our way home on the ring road in Melbourne. We were headed toward the airport. There were two trucks in the traffic, they were chatting to each other on CB and we were listening in. The banter between them was very entertaining. They needed to move into the middle lane as did we and we were behind them so Al flashed the one in front to indicate he could move over, and he signalled his mate. They both started to move over, then, a red sedan to our left passed us and then began to move in front of us. I shut my eyes and let out an expletive. The truckie saw him just in time and put on the brakes and stopped...he stopped over two lanes - stopping two lanes of traffic, his mate in front asking him what was going on. The first truckie then got out of his cab and went around to the car, Al and I were thinking a bit of biffo was about to happen....then he got back in his cab and spoke to his mate and said "I didn't see him, would have scared the bleep e out of him, I had to apologise." Al then got on the CB and explained what had happened...I turned to Al and said it's a pity not everyone has a CB to hear the genuine concern in the truck drivers voice. The driver of the sedan was very lucky that he wasn't hurt the truck was clearly signalling and he cut into his lane after passing us...

Lyn

We also have been the victim of these so called professional drivers. Last fortnight, whilst returning home from a 10 day holiday towing the jayco eagle not far from Clybucca, we encountered what I would describe as our potential killer. Nearing the end of an overtaking lane a single double B, with linfox emblazoned on the side, caused us to take evasive action when he overtook at the last minute. My intention to merge was clearly indicated and to be completed at the extreme end of the overtaking lane. However he decided to overtake the exact time I was merging. This action forced us of the road and onto the shoulder. We were travelling at the posted speed limit of 100Klms per hour and if there was no shoulder we would not be here today. If I had any indication this was about to occur I would have pulled over long before and let him ahead. As I cover about 50,000 klms per year with my work it is not uncommon to see this display of superior driving. My wife was astonished and made the comment "how do they allow these killers on the road". To top off the experience the truck driver decided to pull up at the shell service station in Kempsey and presumably go to the toilet. This possibly explains his driving behaviour. Perhaps this driver is poorly educated/trained or the substances he has taken causes his poor performance. Perhaps the company he works for has selected badly. I now treat all truck drivers as potential killers and give them plenty of space in the hope that I will survive another trip on the Pacific Hwy.

Regards Zodarp

You probably unknowingly had your right turn indicator on so he thought you were turning, and the accident you mentioned was probably caused by a car/4x4 driver, maybe overtaking on a double line....I see that all the time, You need to train yourself to identify black spots and potential hazards , train yourself to be always on the ready , always be prepared to GIVE WAY even if you have right of way, and remember if you ever have the misfortune to be in a serious accident it will more than likely be a truckie that pulls you from the burning wreck or sinking car because the car driver that caused your accident will be gone ,

Doug

I get fairly Bleeped off at all this Truckie bashing,,Do none of you consider how many times you have had a Car do the same thing you are accusing the Truckies of.

I bet you all have more near misses with Cars than you do with Trucks.

And how many of you are that perfect you haven't been the cause of an accident or near miss yourselves.

Regards
John

I was in my wife's laser today, and a KILLER 4WD came up behind me and. . . . . . Oh sorry wrong forum!

All drivers are potential killers/idiots, not a select few.

Unfortunately the world is not full of perfect, considerate drivers, There are idiots in trucks as there are in cars, the difference is that the one's in cars outnumber the one's in trucks by 10 to 1.
Although there is no excuse for pulling out in front of people as in bware's case, a lot of you must remember that as non truck drivers you have no idea of the handling dynamics of a vehicle weighing between 40 and 70 tonne or the driving techniques required when you are driving one of these vehicles at this weight that is also speed limited amongst non speed limited vehicles.

A lot of the "bullying" manouvres you mention here and in many other places are only considered "bullying manouvres" by people who only consider themselves in the situation and not the other vehicle, whether it be a "big bad 4WD" seen out of the windscreen of a corolla/deawoo or a truck from the windscreen of said 4WD. A lot of these manouvres are also out of sheer frustration of having to share the road day in day out with thousands of incondiderate, thoughtless and selfish car and caravan drivers who only notice a truck/4WD when it does the wrong thing.

If any of you ever want to see how smoothly and trouble free a hwy can be travelled at, then do a trip from Sydney to Brisbane or vice versa between the hours of 7pm and 7am when 90% of the traffic is trucks.

In saying all the above there is no denying that the quality of proffessional driver is going downhill, mainly due to the extreme shortage of professional drivers in this country caused by the crap rates and conditions of the industry created by a combination of low cartage rates and greedy companies.
The rates and conditions offered by the mining industry has also lured many a good professional driver away from the public roads leaving those positions to be filled with less experienced, younger "cowboys" who haven't had the benafit of being taught the patience and skill required for the job over time by the old timers.
The "need it yesterday" nature of our bussiness and retail world, of which you, the general public ,are a big part of, also doesn't help when it comes to the "pushing" of drivers which in some cases eventually leads to the aggressive driving behaviour displayed on our highways.
Please don't take all of the above as an excuse for the behaviour of some, I reitterate, 'some', truck drivers, but more of an explanation to hopefully increase the knowledge of some non proffessional drivers of an industry often seen as an 'alien' industry.

Cheers
Pezza

Hi Bware,
I had a similar thing happen when a B Double pulled out from the side of the road when I was doing about 100 towing a caravan, forcing me to brake hard down to 40. Later the same truck smothered me at the end of an overtaking lane. I spoke to him sharply on the CB. His reply was that I was just another stupid f***ing caravan driver. It is this attitude from truck drivers even if a minority which needs to be stamped out.

I'm just your average 4WD driving, caravan towing, motorbike riding and occasional truck driving Aussie and like every other person that drives any sort of vehicle I make mistakes. The problem as I see it is that there is not enough common sense or patience shown by today's drivers (of any vehicle) and we just need to slow down and give each other a break.

No one group of vehicle driver is any better than the other, I was nearly cleaned up by a sheila on a horse a few weeks ago.

Charlie.

My two bob's worth, i have had 1 or 2 bad experiences but apart from that it think the truck drivers do a good job.
of all the people on this link how many have driven one those big rigs? not to many i think! I see idiots all the time cutting in front of trucks with no PERSPECTIVE of what they have just done!
I talk to them on the UHF while driving so we both know who's doing what.
Cheers Lyndon

WOW !. Truckie bashing eh?. I lurve these threads...:)
As a few of you know i drive a truck for a living. Its my job, i do it every day, good weather and bad, crap roads and good one's, moronic drivers and angelic ones as well.
I dont care what you drive/ride, there are good and bad throughout society that get behind the controls of a vehicle, they are the problem on our roads today simply because they were never shown how to actually drive a vehicle.....they were shown how to steer it and that all,,,get from a to b as quickly as possible and stuff everybody else on the roads.
If you hate trucks so much, fine,,,,we'll stay at home for a week or two....(this is said very T I C ),,,,or better yet, take a day of from work yourself and find a truck passenger seat to sit in,,,,i reckon you may get a rude awakening as to how dangerous the roads really are,from ALL drivers,not just trucks.
Time i think for everyone to take a chill pill, or in my case, a kit kat,,,and maybe leave for work 5 minutes earlier in the morning, and on your drive,,,be a bit more courtious to other road user's

meow.

rick.

It funny how these threads run isn't it? I am teaching my 16 year old daughter to drive at the moment and one of the things that has come up for discussion a few times is how trucks and 4wds and cars exist together on the road. The one thing that I have tried to get through to her is that it is better to be alive than right and if you have a choice between the two then choose alive every time. Trucks are bigger than my 4wd and it is bigger than a car and the rules of physics will win every time so just keep a good look out and stay alive. I also teach her that you have to drive as if everyone else on the road is an idiot and you can't predict what they will do so take precautions.

It's kept me alive so far though there have been a couple of close calls with both trucks and cars.

Tim.

To be honest i am more concerned about the cowboys in cars and yes 4WD's loaded up for there holidays on there first day on the road. The adrenalin seems to be pumping at that time and there is no fear factor.

as a truck driver myself i am biting my tongue here .all i have to say is if your on holidays -what's ya bloody hurry anyway.
seems you want to squeeze in that extra bit -some how thinking you got the most from the short time you may have had to travel this great country.
i find so many cars /caravans/and yes trucks also that will pull out in front ,not having the patience to wait and i find now that i do it and think to myself -payback.do onto others as they do onto you -then piss off b4 the cops arrive.
my problem is that i have the company name plastered all over the side and back off my vehicle making me a easy target for the dob in to cops or my company .if the cars etc. were to have this my phone bill would be astronomical and i would probably give up driving as wouldn't be able to pay that bill.

do you notice that in nsw especially on long weekends that there are a lot of 4wd accidents involving multiple deaths and injuries.i cant see how anyone can just single out trucks as the one that is the major cause here.