In praise of Truckies

[Peter Ward]

While there are a few cowboys out there, I have to take my hat off the the humble big rig driver.

The reason? I just drove a (not so big) truck 900km from Sydney to Wagga and back...and was amazed how dopey some car drivers were.

1) if you are not in a truck's mirrors, he/she can't see you.

2) if a truck indicates, it is probably going to change lanes in the direction of the indicators.

3) it is not a good time to overtake/undertake a truck when it does indicate

4) pulling infront of a truck at the last second before a red light is a little suicidal.

5) don't go the wrong way down a one way service lane and expect a truck to back up for you.

BTW went through several speed traps along the Hume. Thankfully my rig was flat out doing 100km/hr ;)

[Bassnut]

Well, OK, but that begs the question why a plane driver is driving a truck :D

[PeterM]

Delivering lots of Paramounts for Christmas?

PeterM.

[mswhin63]

Hi Peter,

There are a few good truck drivers out there and I too have a articulated low load license as well but unfortunately the are some horrible rogue trucks out there.

One of the worst is tailgaters, and I am afraid I detest those drivers.

Lately at least in WA I becoming increasingly disatified with the drivers here especially on the freeway who like to drive like a car weaving in and out of lanes during peak hour.

I admit there are pretty stupid car drivers out there as well.

[Peter Ward]

Well, I needed to move...not paramounts, but a houseload of furniture back to Sydney

Frankly, wouldn't be a professional truckie for quids....too many loonies on the roads.

I found the large rig drivers to be very courteous. It was the car drivers who drove me nuts....and there seemed to be a distance equation, being the closer you got to the Sydney metro area, the more erratic the car driver behaviour :)

[jjjnettie]

Trucks......Mobile Brick Walls
They need room to move and room to stop.
Can't believe how many people don't give them the elbow room they need.
And yes, there are some truckies out there who shouldn't be allowed behind the wheel, but the majority are out there to do a job, safely.

[Gallifreyboy]

Jeremy Clarkson would be pleased with this thread;)

[AlexN]

I get that all the time driving the work truck, people sitting right up your rear, then go to undertake you as soon as you indicate to move over for them, people pulling in front of you coming up to a red light, not only is it suicidal for the driver of the car, but you damn near have a heart attack when you're trying to pull up 20t worth of truck and you're rapidly running out of room..

Shame it wasn't a truck load of PME's and SBIG cameras ! :D

[Davros]

Not a fan, trucks and cars shouldnt share the same roads as neither can play nice with each other. Freight movement by train is a much more cost effective exercise for interstate.

[DavidU]

My wife has a truck licence.

[AlexN]

Thank god you live in Victoria Dave... Last thing I want on my roads is a FEMALE in control of a Truck!! :D :eek:

Teeheehee - I kid I kid... but seriously.

[bloodhound31]

Having driven heavy vehicles for over two decades, I've seen a bit. Trucks often have a lot of gears, especially air over hydraulic split-shift. One often has to go through around 16 gears to get up to speed, then back down again. Combine this with twenty tonnes of cargo that has to be treated carefully and is very hard to get any momentum out of and even harder to stop. Center of gravity is an issue and top heavy loads are extremely dicey when cornering and stopping. Width is an issue with my most heart pounding trip being a 20 tonne Army Tadano Crane I was ordered to drive down Sydney's Broadway. The Crane and it's stabilisers were wider than the lane by two feet.

Going downhill in some of these trucks, particularly speed-limited trucks is paramount in getting up the momentum to get up the next hill, so it's a little annoying when a zippy and very capable car, stuffs around in front of you and reduces you to changing down all those gears again and stuck at 15km an hour until the next downhill. When you are driving between states it can change you a few shades of purple.

Baz.

[Jen]

:) Yep my hubby is a truckie and has been for 20 years now :thumbsup: he is one of the considerate drivers that does think of other road users :D
Yes he has seem some idiot drivers in his time i can tell you :rolleyes:
It all comes down to age and maturity i think ;)

:driving::driving:

[rat156]

Well, I have to have my say here.

NONE of the considerate truckies EVER drive on the Westgate Freeway between 8am and 9am on weekdays.

Stupid things trucks do to me virtually every morning...


Try to overtake me in the emergency stopping lane because the traffic has stopped ahead and I'm leaving a gap in front of the car
Sit so close to the rear bumper that I can only see the grill in my mirrors, again because the traffic has stopped ahead
Drive in ALL lanes of the freeway, effectively blocking traffic, particularly on the long slow ride up the bridge
Pull into the lane next to me, overtake me and then pull in in front of me in peak hour, I hope that they enjoy the 5 meters they have gained and the 5ms they've taken off the trip, that goes for cars as well
Be on a major arterial road at that time of the morning, big transport companies must be run by idiots to allow their drivers and trucks to sit for close to an hour to do maybe 20 km. Leave two hours earlier and enjoy a break at the destination or start an hour later, you'll arrive at the destination maybe half an hour later.

I could go on, but it'd take all night.

Yes, car drivers do the same things as well, but truckies are supposed to be professionals. If you want to see professional, courteous truck drivers go to Europe and observe the way they drive on major roads.

Cheers
Stuart

[jjjnettie]

Ahem......
No more chocolate brownies for you my boy.

[multiweb]

:eyepop: :rofl::rofl::rofl: yeah right.

[GrahamL]

"Do not overtake turning vehicle ".. ballina being roundabout capital of the world often catches a few out .. quite regularly you will come across a car puched on the middle of the roudabout because its tried to sneak past a turning truck.

Truck drivers are always pretty responible drivers I've found ,though
I did come across one a couple of years back that was straight out that movie Duel, he just didn't want others on the road with him, tried to pass him on the crest of a hill and he through the cab into my lane pushing me onto the other side of the hwy , If something had came over the hill right then I'd of been stuffed.

[supernova1965]

While I do agree that there are very good Truckies and appreciate that they are needed and have a tough job to do. I do have to say that when you come across a bad one it does tend to make you forget all the good ones because they are just so big and scary one of the many bad ones I have come across happened only a month ago. My wife is currently getting her license and is on a learners and she was driving on the highway and were in an overtaking section keeping to the left and doing the speed limit until we saw a pilot car coming towards us with warnings about line marking ahead as our lane was ending meaning we had to merge and that lane was full of the lane marking truck we had to slow down there was nowhere to stop except on the road. There was a embankment on our left with maybe 1 meter of room before it. Well this big SEMI decided he would not stop but put his truck right in the same space on the road we occupied now remember the Line marking truck was driving with the center line down the middle of his truck leaving no room for us the SEMI and the line marking truck. Now my wife had only been driving for 1 month the car was clearly marked with learner stickers and I have to say she was really becoming a very good driver. Well I am sitting in the passenger seat trying to decide what to do its difficult from the passenger seat to make emergency life saving decisions so I called for my wife to make an emergency stop and pull over as far as she could to the left all this happened in a very short amount of time the SEMI was just following us to closely remember we were traveling at the speed limit of 100 going up hill and round a right hand bend. This SEMI just managed to get between us after our emergency stop and the lane marker which I would be surprise if he didn't leave some paint behind if we hadn't made the stop we did we would have been shoved by that SEMI into the embankment and wouldn't be telling this story now.:shrug::shrug:

[stephenb]

I also do a lot of driving, and I see more bad car drivers than truck drivers.

I always consider trucks and how much room they require to turn or brake in traffic.

Regarding car drivers, yes some of the young male P platers are the hoons on the roads but I have lost count of young female drivers who take on their mobile phone whilst driving and speeding.

My problem is I follow all the speed limits, indicate correctly, use the left lane unless overtaking etc. I must be in the minority these days.

[kinetic]

My wife had a truck change into her left lane once.
He sideswiped her and pushed her off the road before he
had even realised she was there. Datsun Sunny Vs B Double.
She mounted the kerb, missed a stobie pole by millimetres
and ended in a vacant block that might have been a house.

Truckie got out, asked if she was ok. Her entire drivers side
was mangled and driver's door wouldn't open.
She was hysterical and took ages to calm down. He was all
apologetic and tried to help her out. He left all of his details.
Truck driver got back in his cab, drove off and was interstate
within the hour.
Between him and his boss they changed their story and said
it was my wifes fault. We couldn't use their insurance.

[supernova1965]

That makes sense there are more cars on the road that trucks

[stephenb]

I'll try to word it better. I travel almost daily on the Western Ring Road in Melbourne also which is a major trucking arterial. Also if I was to balance the ratio of trucks vs car drivers in one week, the bad car drivers would outweigh the bad truck drivers.

[supernova1965]

I still say that bad truck drivers are more dangerous NOTE I SAID BAD TRUCK DRIVERS and I said in my original post in the very first line that I knew that the majority of TRUCKIES are good I am not attacking TRUCKIES in general but the bad ones do tend to attract attention in our experience that I described we were completely obeying the law and this guy was driving unsafely following so closely that when an unexpected event occurred he couldn't stop in time. I know that they cant stop as quick gears and whatnot but that just means they have to drive to the conditions and understand that unexpected events occur. I have been driving for a long time and the only accidents that I have been involved in were caused by others and this is backed up by police investigation. Sure my wife was an inexperienced driver but she was much better than this particular Truck driver and I and Pam and maybe the Truck driver would all be dead now except for Pam's driving. Sure the Truck Driver probably have survived the crash but what about his having killed us how would that sit on him in future.

[mithrandir]

Sort of like Steve's story, but with a different ending.

My son was driving himself to work. At this spot the road widens to two lanes. This widening doesn't go very far so a truck even thinking about changing lanes is extremely unlikely. He went to pass a semi on the left. The driver was not signaling a turn, so given all the conditions that seems quite reasonable.

The truck then tried to turn left into some shops, running him off the road, with the car demolishing a phone box and stopping short of a power pole, and with tyre shaped impressions on both driver's side doors.

The boys in blue were called and booked the trucker for being under the influence of illegal stimulants. The car was written off by the trucking company's insurers.

Son now has a license for semis.

Andrew

[Peter Ward]

There is no doubt that there are a few bad apples in any bunch, but given there are significantly more cars drivers than truck drivers, you'd have to say the number of poor car drivers have the upper hand.

That said, the two just don't mix very well, for the same reason bowling balls don't mix with chook eggs. The pathetic NSW roads infrastructure does even less to help.

For Sydney, (and perhaps Melbourne) the Paris solution might be a good one: no heavy vehicles allowed on the inner city roads during peak hour.

[multiweb]

They did that with the M7/M2 junction in the same concept as the "peripherique" in Paris and multiple rings. That keeps a lot of big rigs out of Camden Valley ways and Cowpasture road. One of the main problem in Sydney is the infrastructure to go in and out of the City. M5's not too bad with Eastern distributor but the M4/Parramatta road is just not functional at all.

[Baddad]

Hi All, :)

I ask this question every time I am on the road. 'Why can't everyone be a good driver like me???' :lol:

Cheers Marty

[rat156]

There are many more cars on the road, driven by a wide variety of people, from very experienced to absolute beginners. That you see more bad driving by people in cars is not surprising. Truck drivers are supposed to be professionals, apart from the one or two percent that are learning to handle a big rig, the rest should be able to drive properly, remember that they should have the experience of driving a car for a few years before getting a truck licence.



Well done, so do I. Many don't, but then I see many trucks that just don't seem to care either, they tailgate, they speed, they hog the right hand lane, they don't use indicators, they drive overloaded, the drive under the influence of stimulants, the list goes on...



Basically then it's young inexperienced drivers that's the problem. We know that they make up an unreasonably high proportion of the road carnage already, yet the authorities seem unwilling to attack the root cause, inexperience. Make the driving test HARD, make everyone take one every five years, don't fine people, hit them hard with points, take their licence away, that's the only way to make them listen.



Well, you may think that you follow the speed limits, but the number of uncalibrated speedos around these days makes me think that you actually drive 5-10kmh under the speed limit, which is very annoying if you've calibrated your speedo and would like to go a bit faster. You are in the minority if you use indicators though and even if you're doing under the speed limit if you're not in the right hand lane it doesn't bother me.

Cheers
Stuart

[mswhin63]

It is a common problem, unfortunately was too late for my cousin who is now a level 6 Quadraplegic. Turns the driver was on stimulates so he could get his job done faster. Stim's didn't work and fell asleep.

Proportionately there seems to be a high number trucks doing the wrong thing but the road condition do create a lot of frustration and leading to increasing demand to get from point A to Point B in the shortest possible time.

I remember rcently watching a police program pulled over a truck driver lost his licence because of too many convistion for driving. I still wonder how common it is.

[stephenb]

Totally agree. Here in Victoria (I assume it is similar in most States), most of the driving test is a multiple choice exam and it is too easy to pass your licence test, and not enough emphasis on driving experience.

I recall when went for my truck licence, the actual practical driving test was quite hard (however I had been learner driving for over 12 months so I wasn't an issue, and subsequesntly passed 100%)



Well, although I agree with you, 5-10 km under is not an issue with me. As long as you are not doing 40 in a 60 zone , or 80 in a 100 zone. There is no law stating I have to do exactly 60 in a 60 zone, 100 in a 100 zone etc. I understand that frustrates some drivers, but there is no hurry and as long as I keep left and be courteous to others, that should be sufficient.


All good points you all raise.

In the end I always say "There's no hurry. One or two seconds in a half an hour drive isn't really that much."

[Octane]

Similar story to Steve's.

Robert's Road, Greenacre. Car parked illegally in no parking zone. I indicate, check my blind spots, start to merge into the middle lane, and get hit by a speeding semi.

I went spinning, backwards, in *front* of him, across two lanes of traffic (going in my direction), over the median strip and onto three oncoming lanes of traffic.

How I managed not to get hit by anyone going in my direction, not hit a tree/pedestrian on the median strip and not hit any cars in the oncoming three lanes is a miracle.

The worst part? No-one stopped. Not a single car. The truck driver took off. I maintain that there is no-way he wouldn't have seen me careering off in front of him. There was no way for me to get his plate details as it all just happens so quickly. All I remember doing was putting my car in neutral and telling myself "I can get through this, everything will be OK!". A split second later, it's all over.

The only people that came out to help me were a bunch of Lebanese guys who heard my tyres screech across the road. They helped get my car off the road, made sure I was OK (my first accident) and waited until I was calmed down before leaving me.

Now, I only suffered cosmetic damage to my car (those of you up at the Pony Club have seen my banged up little Echo -- she keeps going!), but, what if I had hit someone on the median strip? Who would be culpable? No-one stopped. No-one got any details of the truck driver who hit me. He may have been on something at the time. I don't know.

2006 was a bad year for me. Theft. Cancer. Accident. Thank heavens that is all in the past now.

I've been ever cautious since then. I give them plenty of room. I respect them.

Regards,
Humayun

[pgc hunter]

Trucks drivers on the Monash Freeway tend to be absolute.

Saw a B-double this morning tailgating a car at 110km/h....

and every second vehicle on the Monash fwy is a semi trailer

[mithrandir]

My speedo and all of my GPS units disagree as to speeds. The speedo reads about 3-4kph LESS than the GPS at 100kph. That is on straight sections long enough that the GPS is not tricked by curves.

The one law I would like to see enforced more is the keep left one. 80 and 90kph drivers in the right lane on 100+kph roads are a menace.

Andrew

[pgc hunter]

I agree here, I'm sick of right lane hoggers. But then again, alot of drivers here are idiots. THe other day I was on teh freeway, had to move into the right lane to pass a broken down vehicle, and I indicated several seconds before making my move and the in the right lane behind me blasted its horn as I made my move.....stupid piece of wasnt gonna let me in even though there was an obstruction in my lane. :mad2: I did stick my finger up at him as he layed on the horn.

[rat156]

No problems with you doing under the speed limit, as long as you let me through if I want to do the speed limit. If you're in the Right hand lane on a freeway and anyone comes up behind you, move left as soon a practicable. Most people will understand if you're overtaking someone (who probably shouldn't be in the next to right hand lane in the first place) and will give you enough time to make the overtake and pull left. Some don't and they're Aholes, I have no sympathy for them. I have even less respect for the people who see it as their prerogative to slow you down and don't move left, vigilantes I call 'em, they were terrible when the stupid State government put out that "knock off five" campaign.

Cheers
Stuart

[AlexN]

I promise to play nice from now on! :D

[AndrewJ]

You will drive an Alfa ;)

Now if you had a Volvo, they wouldnt risk it.

Andrew

[GrahamL]

Now a volvo driver wearing a hat while driving, theres, a menace that needs to be dealt with by trucks or anyone :D

[Peter Ward]

Well... the with new exhaust my car could knock off 100km/hr in under five seconds...but it's not good for the clutch ;)...is that what they meant? :)

[Bassnut]

Ive often wondered, if Im in the right hand lane, at the speed limit, for whatever reason, right or wrong, does the hoon tailgateing behind me have the right to get the shiets, that he cant procceed at way above the limit?.

[multiweb]

Legally you have to be in the left lane unless you're over taking. If you're doing 110kph and you're over taking then the hoon behind you has to wait. If you're by yourself then you should be on the left regardless of the speed you're doing.

[AlexN]

Fred.. No he doesnt have the right to get the shiets, but im sure he does get them all the same... That my friend is a vicious case of "Too Bloody Bad" I reckon... No matter what the circumstances, if Im doing the speed limit, and some rowdy hoon plants himself right up my backside trying to make me either speed up or move over if possible, my first action is always to turn on my headlights... tail lights come on, they generally back right off after considering what underwear they are going to change into once they get home... on a few occasions, they back off, then come back 30 seconds later and sit right back where they were... When this happens, I will drop the car back a gear and test the brakes out a bit... go from 100 down to 75 in a relatively short amount of time (nothing drastic, just a firm reminder that whilst they sit up my rear, I'm in control, and the closer they sit, the slower I go..) If that fails, and I'll add that only once someone has been bold enough to return right up my backside after that... I go the whole 9 yards... prepair myself, take a good look around to get a feel for whats around me, take a minute to access the situation, then go straight for the hand brake... 0 warning for the tailgater... The first indication they have that something is a miss is the smoke billowing off the rear tyres, and their rather limited vision...

Some may say this is a form of road rage, but lets face it, if they were doing the right thing, it wouldn't happen... If they took note of the previous two warnings they were given, it wouldn't have happened... but plain and simple, I won't let some rev head street racing hoon push me into doing something I don't want to do..

[Bassnut]

Interesting that hoging the right lane is worse crime than illegal speeding......... dont know what to make of that. Doing the right thing is not being in the right lane granted, but is speeding less so?.

[rat156]

Although I understand why you do this Alex, it is bloody dangerous at highway speeds. Isn't easier to change lanes and let them pass? Yes, it's probably some schmuck who just wants to go a bit faster, but it could be someone in a genuine hurry, or an unmarked emergency vehicle.



Hmm... If you were doing the right thing it wouldn't happen either, two wrongs don't make a right in this case. Yes, it's illegal to speed, it's also illegal to be in the right hand lane unless overtaking. It is orders of magnitude more dangerous to swerve at highway speeds than it is to do 10kmh over the speed limit. Someone tailgating you on the freeway is probably not street racing, they just want to go faster, why not let them? You don't own the road, you share it.

Cheers
Stuart

[rat156]

Yeah Fred, if you block the right lane it can impede the progress of emergency vehicles. It's the first thing you learn motor racing, never block the emergency vehicle lane in the pits (it changes sides on the various tracks), I took that onto the road and have never since had to move out of the way of an emergency vehicle.

Cheers
Stuart

[AlexN]

I see where you are coming from, however the time that I seriously stepped on the anchors was going up a single lane section of road out in the sticks. There was no lane for me to move into, what should I then have done? moved off onto the gravel?

Yes, if I were on the motorway and was able to pull into the left lane, I would have..

Pretty sure emergency services dont drive lowered VN V6 commodores with blaring exhausts and ratty looking paint... I could be wrong, but it doesnt seem likely.

Ps - The "street racer" comment wasn't referring to the person actually street racing at the time.. but you, being into motorsport, would know the type... 18~20 yr old male, VN V6 commodore, sitting on the bump stops, 20" rims on the front, 15" chaser rims on the rear, arm hanging out the window and a big holden sticker across the windscreen... exhaust almost as loud as his thrashed out diff...

[Bassnut]

Come on Stuart, I know your a rev head, but thats silly ;), I wouldnt get in the way of an Ambo etc. Im talking about the situation where Im hogging the right lane, cause I can see another passing opertunity ahead, cant be bothered changing lanes for 30 seconds (weaving in and out) and some ******** just HAS to leave his cruise control on 130km/hr.

A minor point perhaps, but its happened quite often, infact its the only kind of agro ive experienced generally on freeways. I go out of my way to avoid agro, but it puzzles me, that ppl fine speeding a civil right that ecceeds all others.

[sjastro]

I recall a couple years ago after the Burnley Tunnel disaster there was a studio debate on TV involving truck and passenger car drivers.

A common complaint amongst the passenger car drivers was being tailgated by trucks.

Amazingly the truck drivers (2 or 3 of them if I recall correctly) justified tailgating on the basis that since their rigs were higher than the car in front of them they would be able to anticipate potential pile ups faster and react accordingly.:screwy::screwy::screwy :

Lets hope this is not a common attitude and the station specifically selected these meatheads to fuel the ratings.

Steven

[Outbackmanyep]

Well.....you get drivers and drovers!
Tis a shame that good drivers aren't talked about more often than bad ones!

[rat156]

Sorry I misunderstood you, but then just sit on the limit until he overtakes you.

Some copper drive those type of cars... off duty.

Don't see those guys at motorsport events, their cars aren't fast enough.



No Fred, 30 seconds is fine to hold on until you can overtake. Wouldn't happen in Melbourne, if you drive at 130kmh on the freeway you get a fine in the mail, virtually no people speed much these days on the freeway. Of course I wasn't suggesting that you get in the way of Ambos etc., but if you form the habit of leaving a lane free you never have to get out of the way, it's about forming good habits, not slowly forming bad ones.

Cheers
Stuart

[stephenb]

Yes, I vaguely recall those comments also, Steven. How ludicrous!

Having said that, shortly after that terrible accident, there were cries of protest to ban trucks from the tunnel The fact that the tunnel was built to get traffic off the suburban streets in the first place and allow easier access for commuters and the transport industry from one side of Melbourne to the other, does not occur to many people.

[multiweb]

I reckon tailgating is a matter of who's got the biggest one, truck, 4x4 etc.... Never seen a 2CV tailgating a mack truck. :lol: In a urban/city situation truck drivers would have a hard time manoeuvering but on an interstate at 100kph tailgating a small car... :whistle:... payback time? :confuse3:

[GrahamL]

While I don't remember if it was the same show steven, I do recall a truck driver making a pretty good point in that if he leaves a safe distance between the front of the truck and a vehicle in front ..
cars will constantly squeeze into that space.. and the footage showed exactly that..Strangely on the hwy people give them a bit of space
City drivers (a lot of them) have an almost manic obbsession with squeezing every metre and second out of ther journey at all times ..
And then we stop at a red light and do it all again :).. Im surprised trucks arn't swatting people down everyday .

[mithrandir]

Tailgating a semi down the Bruce highway with a caravan on the back meant I could use about 30% less throttle. A great reason for putting top quality tyres on your caravan/trailer.

[multiweb]

Unless the driver is Alex. Watch out for that hand brake smoke! :eyepop: :lol:

[gman]

I work in the Interstate Tspt industry and have done so for 20+ years.
Everyone has brought up valid points but most have a misconception of the underlying problem.

The tspt game was generally and old mans industry without much new blood entering it.
Since the new laws covering off on log books, now called work diaries, all the old blood are rapidly leaving the industry.
As you can well imagine, most drivers are not Rhodes scholars and most of us would have issues with spelling names of a fair few towns around Australia' but why would RTA's need to fine a driver $600+ for incorrectly spelling "Coonabarabran" in their work diary.

Drivers must not drive any more than 12 hrs in a 24 hr period.
They must have 4 night breaks with 2 being consecutive in a 14 day period.
The 14 day period is a rolling period.
Work hours a rounded up in 15 min intervals and rest breaks are rounded down.
There are cameras up and down the Hume that calculate the time that you have passed through them to work out if you have sped between them.
Drivers can only drive 5.25hrs and then need a 15 min break etc etc.
Then they have time slots to contend with.
This is only the tip of iceberg with the rules and regs for standard hours, then you move into Basic Fatigue and Advanced Fatigue Management.
Any work diary breach can cost $600+ plus loss points.

Drivers are behind the * ball before they even turn the key.

We now have a new unexperienced lot of drivers entering the industry through job losses in other sectors filling the gaps left as it is all getting to hard.
This country relys on road tspt - Rail is not viable for the eastern seaboard where time is critical - need to get std gauge across all states forst also.
In my opinion, it is going to get worse before it gets better.

[rat156]

Actually Grant, I find most interstate truckies to be well above the riff-raff in the city. The drivers I have the most trouble with are the run around town type transport drivers.

Cheers
Stuart

[supernova1965]

Finally a Truckie who is talking sense about the problem who knows that it is not just a figment of us car driving people's imagination. I think that someone has a stick too firmly inserted where the sun don't shine to fine you for not spelling a name that I couldn't spell well with a dictionary and a thesaurus together. While the other rules are strict I think they are necessary for your safety as well as ours well I mainly want to say that I for one hope that the next Truckie behind me is you hope you have a great XMAS and get to your loved ones in one piece and have a great 2010:thumbsup: