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Where I drive (UK), truck drivers are by far the worst drivers on the road. Many of them are from Europe and used to driving on the right side of the road, not

by SeanDav 11y ago

Where I drive (UK), truck drivers are by far the worst drivers on the road. Many of them are from Europe and used to driving on the right side of the road, not the left side in the UK. If this was the only issue it would be bad enough, but truck drivers in general have some very dangerous and nasty habits I see every day, without fail, while driving. The biggest issue is overtaking of slow trucks by other trucks. Trucks will indicate and then change lane simultaneously, into gaps that only barely have room for their truck. Bad luck if you are approaching at normal highway speed and now have to brake heavily to avoid rear ending a truck that has just appeared in your lane, travelling 20 mph more slowly. Bad luck if you are the driver that just had a huge truck appear 2 inches behind you and now you have to do an emergency stop. Also bad luck if you happen to be next to the truck and in their blind spot. They just don't care, after all they would not even notice if you rear ended them, or they squashed your car against a side barrier. Many accidents are caused by this, to the extent that there is talk about banning overtaking by trucks on some highways. Truck drivers are also guilty of travelling way too fast for the conditions, tailgating and other cardinal sins of the road. This seems to be particularly bad in the UK, as I have lived/worked in other countries and usually truck drives in other countries realize they are driving huge, slow to stop killing machines and are far more aware and respectful of that.

Piskvorrr 11y ago
Not much better on the continent, either - except for the right-side driving, of course. (There actually is a law around these parts that says "no trucks in the fast lane" - guess how effective it is)
- georgerobinson 11y ago
  I don't think it's just an issue of no trucks on the fast lane. If you drive on 3 or 4 lane roads, such as the M25, there is a visible disturbance to traffic flow even when a truck enters lane 2 on a 4 lane road. This has the effect of pushing all people that drive between 60 and 70mph out of lane 2 and into lane 3, where the average speed is between 70 and 80mph. This, in turn, pushes slower moving traffic into Lane 4 (inside lane) where its not uncommon to see people driving between 80 and 90mph. The overall net result is an awful amount of breaking, lane changing and short spacing between cars.
PhantomGremlin 11y ago
Where I drive (UK), truck drivers are by far the worst drivers on the road. It might vary by state, but in general in the USA truckers nowadays are pretty well behaved. IMO. But go back 50 years and they were insane. They were usually the fastest vehicles on the road. They'd blow by you in the fast lane almost like you were standing still. Also truckers had licenses from multiple states and/or fake licenses. So they didn't care much if they got tickets. And if there were restrictions on how many hours they could drive, they weren't enforced. So, not only were they crazy, they were tired or strung out on pills. And the sides of the highways were littered with the carcasses of retread truck tires that happened to disintegrate with depressing regularity. Trucker behavior really changed a few decades ago when the Federal government got more serious about enforcing various laws. E.g. time limits and not allowing truckers to have multiple licenses. So then the worst drivers were the morons in SUVs, yakking on cell phones, oblivious to the world. Why should they care, they're in a giant SUV so they're invincible, right? Whenever I spotted a driver drifting around in his lane, or speeding up and slowing down erratically, the odds were at least 80% that a cell phone was involved. It's gotten a lot better now, because many states have made it illegal to use a non-hands-free cell phone in a car.

by SeanDav 11y ago

Piskvorrr 11y ago

Not much better on the continent, either - except for the right-side driving, of course. (There actually is a law around these parts that says "no trucks in the fast lane" - guess how effective it is)

georgerobinson 11y ago
I don't think it's just an issue of no trucks on the fast lane. If you drive on 3 or 4 lane roads, such as the M25, there is a visible disturbance to traffic flow even when a truck enters lane 2 on a 4 lane road. This has the effect of pushing all people that drive between 60 and 70mph out of lane 2 and into lane 3, where the average speed is between 70 and 80mph. This, in turn, pushes slower moving traffic into Lane 4 (inside lane) where its not uncommon to see people driving between 80 and 90mph. The overall net result is an awful amount of breaking, lane changing and short spacing between cars.

PhantomGremlin 11y ago

Where I drive (UK), truck drivers are by far the worst drivers on the road. It might vary by state, but in general in the USA truckers nowadays are pretty well behaved. IMO. But go back 50 years and they were insane. They were usually the fastest vehicles on the road. They'd blow by you in the fast lane almost like you were standing still. Also truckers had licenses from multiple states and/or fake licenses. So they didn't care much if they got tickets. And if there were restrictions on how many hours they could drive, they weren't enforced. So, not only were they crazy, they were tired or strung out on pills. And the sides of the highways were littered with the carcasses of retread truck tires that happened to disintegrate with depressing regularity. Trucker behavior really changed a few decades ago when the Federal government got more serious about enforcing various laws. E.g. time limits and not allowing truckers to have multiple licenses. So then the worst drivers were the morons in SUVs, yakking on cell phones, oblivious to the world. Why should they care, they're in a giant SUV so they're invincible, right? Whenever I spotted a driver drifting around in his lane, or speeding up and slowing down erratically, the odds were at least 80% that a cell phone was involved. It's gotten a lot better now, because many states have made it illegal to use a non-hands-free cell phone in a car.