Truck Driver Tailgating?,...in the "Nanny State"..Yeah right.

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Originally Posted by BMKal

You need to get out and about a bit more. Your idea might work alright in Europe where distances are short and roads are very much different to what they are here (yes - I've driven there too), and maybe even between Brisbane / Sydney / Melbourne. When you've driven across the Nullarbor at 90km/hr, or from Perth up to the North West at the same speed - come back and tell us about it................

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Well that drew the predictable response from the gallery. Those Bostrom seats must create ****ty livers!!
1. European distances - better get a map out - Check off the distance from Scandanavia to the Balkans - all with the same kitted trucks doing long haul at 80km.
2. The cowboy element in professional truck drivers has largely disappeared. I spent a lot of time travelling between the Riverland and Riverina in the bad old days - glad to not see that chaos again. The loose cannons are still out there though. A few months ago was dodging roos at +115km on the Kidman Way at night and got rounded up by a Bdouble passing and spraying rocks as he chewed up what is left of the pitiful road. Still have the crack in the windscreen as a trophy. Tuned up Ch40 - dont keep it on cause of the purile crap that you have to endure on it - and was told in no uncertain terms to reproduce myself, and that he had all the gear on board to detect the highway patrol, and that he would happily stop in the next town to sort the issue out. Geez, what an ambassador.
3. The main issue is differential speeds - no problem on the 110k sections where you can keep a good separation, but on the 100k sections, my beef is that trucks @ 100k is a problem when we have the siege mentality of the NSW highway patrol. We often have the HP running in tandem 5km apart here, and I know from a recent points loss that those guys have all had a humour bypass.
4. The original post re tailgating - still happens, and it is not pleasant. I can handle it - asked a truckie on a 100km / hr section of the Newell Hwy on Ch40 recently if he would like me do change out his driving light globes while we were travelling. He backed off with a laugh, and all was good. But how does the Hyundai Lantra driver handle the same situation. At least the Disco has a bit more of a chance.
5. Back to my original comment - the education of car drivers is abysmal - especially for the type of driving I do, which is mainly rural long distance. The trucking industry has improved out of sight in the past 20 years, but one clown will destroy a years worth of good will. I believe that this is true of the Geelong incident.
6. As a semi retirement project I intend to upgrade from HR to MC - and do some grain hauling. I am not down on the industry - the opposite, but to say that the industry is without issues is silly.

If you were travelling on skinny bitumen at night at +115k's without slowing down to pass the truck then you most likely deserved the stones in the windscreen [bigwhistle]

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Originally Posted by trout1105

If you were travelling on skinny bitumen at night at +115k's without slowing down to pass the truck then you most likely deserved the stones in the windscreen [bigwhistle]

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Ah NO - the truck passed me !!!!
See what I mean

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Originally Posted by Denzo

Ah NO - the truck passed me !!!!
See what I mean

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Jesus, What sort of speed was the truck travelling at?

Reading some of the posts here it is no wonder we have problems on our roads , it is illegal to tailgate . Why did the truck driver not just move into the vacant lane on the left and carry on .
Still no indication of the speeds envolved .

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Originally Posted by trout1105

Jesus, What sort of speed was the truck travelling at?

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On the speed limiter?

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Originally Posted by Fatso

Reading some of the posts here it is no wonder we have problems on our roads , it is illegal to tailgate . Why did the truck driver not just move into the vacant lane on the left and carry on .
Still no indication of the speeds envolved .

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Note that I'm also a regular user of that road during the day in a HC too.
Firstly I don't speed, don't tailgate and always courteous. Being paid by the hour, I'm usually at about 90-ish k/h, but sometimes when a deadline is looming for a delivery you just have to sit at the 100k mark(which in reality on our trucks is about 97-98.

My thoughts as to why the truckie didn't just slip past in the left lane is simple and is an issue that's as common as H2O molecules ..
Car was probably sitting at about 95-ish and truck would have been catching them up along a dead straight section of road.
Truck probably slipped into the left lane and as it approached brain dead centre lane idiot, the chances that said idiot then started speeding up so as to not get passed by a truck sat at a faster than 95k/h speed .. and most likely at the same speed as the truck.
The what these idiots do is sit there along side you, and as you now(in the left lane) approach a slower vehicle you then move back into the middle lane behind them and they slow back down to their original 95 again.

If I had 20c for every time this has happened to me, I'd have retired years ago with a million dollar super package! :p

No exaggeration when I say this happens ALL THE TIME, not just maybe once or twice or every now and then, but every single drive no matter which freeway you drive on around Melbourne.
The only way around them(in my job) is you have to let them win. I just drop back to about 80k/h and annoy the crap out of everyone else around me, only keeping an eye out for other trucks coming up behind.
if you try to take them on, you simply lose your job(trackers and cameras) .. so let them win and tackle the issue the with the shoe on the other foot(noting that I'm getting paid '/hour').

On my recreational drives, I tend to sit at about 90-ish k/h day and night.
Always keeping an eye out for trucks coming up from the rear .. it's not like you can't see them! ;).
Given them a short flick of the right indicator to pass if it's safe, as they pass I back off even more allow them plenty of space and speed difference to get back into the correct lane ASAP.
Even tho I have the UHF, I tend to leave it off more than on due to the previously mentioned dross you hear on it most of the time.

Courtesy isn't hard, and awareness is easier than these idiots make it out to be.
For them it seems to be a race of some kind .. can't let a truck come past .. no way! [bighmmm]

Dead right Ak83, saw it all the time as a truck driver, and see it all the time still, even today on the motorbike, come up behind a driver in RH lane on expressway, doing less than speed limit, I go to left lane so that I hopefully can draw it to his attention by passing him in left lane, with the hope of popping back into RH lane to overtake car in front of me....that car in RH lane speeds up to block the gap and stop me from that manoeuvre....I don't blame any truckie, or motorist, for getting frustrated by such brain dead "I must rule the road' twits, and taking appropriate action.

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Originally Posted by Mick_Marsh

On the speed limiter?

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He actually boasted that he had the secret switch and alluded to the undetectable radar detector. Apparently was happy to show me the goods, along with his knuckles in Barellan !!!
I slowed to well under 100 as he passed, and the trailer was virtually fishtailing in the RH gravel. Still copped the rock.
Moron

[QUOTE=Gordie;2726483] doing less than speed limit, I go to left lane so that I hopefully can draw it to his attention by passing him in left lane, QUOTE]

This is something I've thought for a long time. Surely, if you're tootling along in a middle lane and getting overtaken by vehicles in a lane to your left, you would have the nous to realise perhaps you should be in the far left lane.

Brissie to the Pyrites Coast is the perfect example with the far left "Slow" lane being almost empty. I use it the majority of the trip when forced to travel down there.