Reporting a Truckie.

Depends on if you had to cross a dotted line or not... it can work either way.

thank you stefenP; i am an interstate driver and i would like a dollar for every car driver who has cut me off. you right in saying that we all need to share the road and co-operate for every ones sake. car drivers should also realise that the roads and highways are the work place of professional drivers.we have deadlines that we must meet in order to get your milk,bread & groceries to you on time.about the only thing that trucks dont deliver are babies.i have been driving for about 20 years with no accidents and no demerit points lost.we as professional drivers can only hope that the "cowboy" element among us is wiped out asap.cheers :-)

I once hired a small truck to move house, and it became clear then how it must be for the guys driving the big ones.

I see it all the time in the Patrol, the small car which can get away from the line quicker do so JUST to get in front of the BIG SLOW OLD 4WD, only to then go slower than the speed limit/or safe speed for the conditions. Doesn't matter you have been slowly catching this car for 5kms cause you are holding a higher avg speed. They just wanna be in front cause BIG=SLOW in their mind!!!

Ahh that feels better to have that rant

Stefan

most people whinge about fuel prices ,if they only sat in behind a truck they would quickly realise all the fuel they would save by doing this.why do you think trucks follow other trucks ?its called drafting,and you dont have to be rubbing number plates to do it sucessfully. try it next time and then work out your millage.

I do it on the M4 all the time....110 zone
truck is doing 100 so am I behind him and hardly putting any pressure on the loud pedal and no stress cause who is going to pull in between the slow old truck and 4by. When the truck pulls off at an exit you suddenly have to start putting pressure on the accelerator. Saves me HEAPS on diesel and stress. Now watch alot of others on the motor way, plant the accelerator, change lanes, slam the brakes, change lanes again and again and again. Then be 6 cars in front of you at your exit. Thats why I won't ride my motorbike on the M4 just too dangerous.

Yes Mark one followed a truck from Cooma back to Cowra towiung a 14ft boat. Best economy I ever got and a good time as well. Got to watch for rocks thrown up on some roads though.
With the price of fuel May have to adopt this more often.
Cheers pete

The difference between a car driver and a truck driver is most car drivers aren't professional drives whereby truck drivers are professional drivers.

A lot of truck drivers should know better but don't.

yes Olcoolone, you are 100% right!

Yes, truck drivers (along with ambos, police and bus drivers) should be considered driving professionals and rightly so. You can also equate this to other professions (doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc) who have a huge responsibility - with one difference. While all those professions are regulated federally they also have their own self regulating systems while truck driving is a free for all where anyone who can get a licence can drive a truck. Once they have that licence all they have to worry about is not get caught breaking the law.

There is no 'professional' body that governs the behaviour and actions of truck drivers and therein lies the problem with their reputation. Lawyers can be struck off, teachers deregisterd and doctors have their practicing licence cancelled by their own regulating body, the AMA. Not so for truckies. Any psychopath can be put behind the wheel of an 18 tonne behemoth and unfortunately this does happen.

The unfortunate aftermath is that the vast majority of truckies, who are truly professionals, have their reputation smeared by that small majority of cowboys who couldn't give a toss and their is no way to remove them unless they commit an offence and the police pick them up for it.

So the majority of our truckies should take pride in their ability and be grateful for the 'dob in a truckie campaign' so that they can get rid of the crap from their ranks.

I would like a dollar for every truck that has cut in front of me, encluding one that pushed me off the road.

I drive trucks on a casual basis, picking up, dropping off and road testing trucks that we have to work on ranging from small 5 tonners up to road trains and I see it from both sides.....yes there are bad truck drivers and car drivers as well.

With car drivers it is funny to see how many will block you in or fill up gaps when you want to change lanes or swing wide to turn in somewhere.

Had one a couple of weeks ago....pulled onto the wrong side of the road to swing into our place in a new Kenworth T908 long wheel base, indicator on and starting to turn when a car tried to come between me and the driveway I was turning into, luckily I had already seen what he was going to do.......

I always indicate my intentions and if nobody lets me in ...yes I will push my way in, people forget that it is illegal for not letting some one in front of you if a vehicle in front of you has indicated for 5 seconds to change direction....it's called failing to give way.

Now as a car driver the thing I hate is when truck drivers tailgate me or pull out and overtake me with little room causing me to slow down or run off the road.


Regards Richard

Yeah, drafting's great... Unless you're the one in front towing the person behind. Their decrease in fuel economy relates to the increase of the person behind.

I can't stand people drafting me. Slows me down and causes me to use more fuel.

I'm sorry i dont understand....how can drafting cause you to use "more" fuel than normal? It's not as if trucks are aerodynamically designed in the first place and the drivers are wearing lycra......

Andrew

I'm no aerodynamist, but my take is the vehicle behind 'drags' the vehicle in front.
I get it all the time when people sit too close behind when I'm towing our horse float. As soon as they pull out to pass, we all go quicker.
My old man just retired from interstate truck driving where the owner drivers used to get quite narkly when others tail gated them. When you're paying for your own fuel, it makes a difference. It's good to be the second one, but not the one in the lead...

nick r ; try overtaking them when they do that to you with 60 ton plus behind you,yes , more than gives 'em to ya (chits that is)!!!!!!

Yeah, I can understand that, takes a little while to wind up a 60t payload too, I can understand people making their own pace but at least make it consistent...
Only once been in a truck for any distance, you get a different view of the world.....
Nick

NICK R; sound like we are on the same page

Yeap Professional driver here to and also car, mainly more car then truck and i am going to say this bluntly,

"the cowboys cause the problems as well as selfish ignorant cars who think they own the road!!!

I have almost being nearly run off the road by trucks on at least six times in 16 years of driving, now i watch and THINK BEFORE I OVERTAKE merge or pull in front of trucks, and if in truck i watch for the stupid idiots who pull in front of me!!!

I also have patience for trucks and will block other cars or traffic if i see that they may or may not overtake, this then creates a buffer zone and safety net for truckie and cars.

If everyone who reads this does the same things life would be so much different!!!!

happens all the time Nick.

All brands of vehicle guilty incl Nissan.

My pet hate to Nick. Then they wonder why the poor stressed truckie is tailgating them. If towing I do the opposite to give the truckies a chance to get arround me.
Cheers Pete

There should be a site started up to dob in a caravan driver,When they do 80km in a single lane then speed up when approaching a overtaking lane.

If the government and authorities are serious about cleaning up bad truck drivers, why are they focusing on the ones just trying to do their job (like every other jo in the country).

My partner got a $566 worth of fines a week ago from the "Task Force" for paperwork/logbook errors &/or oversights. That means I worked my entire week for free. I'm so infuriated by it, I can't even think clearly about it. (My partner has impeccable paperwork) the cop "chopper" (reid lookalike) couldn't get him on anything else so had to search through his paperwork for 2 1/2 hours to get him for something. Which then made him late for a delivery.

So not only do the poor Truck drivers have to avert altercations with selfish obstinate car drivers day in day out, they also have the stress of making sure they've spelt place names correctly, know how to balance the 12hour rule EXACTLY (believe me - I know some drivers where maths was never their strong point), be calm in the face of distribution centres - that turn them away after 12 hours slog behind the wheel for being 15minutes late because of some aggressive, egotistical task force cop. They also get slugged on the internet & TV by some unreasonably, paranoid unbalanced individuals, who think its ok to make other people just trying to make a weeks wage feel like absolute cr*p about the "DAMN FINE" job they do.

Nick, thought the 4.2 TD went faster with the mandrel bent and Landrovers wouldn't trouble you........... ;-))))

The patrol does go faster but I was in the Berlina which is quicker still but the landy had amassed a fair line of traffic when I caught up.....

Dont you hate it when the overtaking vehicle crawls past the overtaken vehicle at 3 ks faster so giving noone else a chance to overtake.
Cheers pete

to SKR; Bravo and some people think they have worries in their job.like you said , how many people get penalised for a spelling mistake in their job? even this forum has spell check,we as drivers dont have this luxury in our rigs! thank you for your support skr.

Well My fathers a truck driver so are my uncles and I married one. I too have been nearly run down by a idiot truck driver. We are not going to stop the hoons in cars trucks or motor bikes. They are every where.

Yep another good Site.

Somehow I have the sad feeling this may be one of the most popular links ever posted on this site - no doubt it will provide many hours of smug self-satisfaction for the "holier than thou" brigade... and there are a few of those here.

Mike Harding

Hi

If you want a laugh, google Uralla9 he is the top dober. Some of the bike forums want to string him up, with the first one in line the guy who got done for eating while riding with a full face helmet.

Look at the stats, thousands of reports and not one resolved, that means no one cares.

Have fun

Craig

PS I was disappointed I was not on it, will have to try harder:)