"TJ" wrote in message
news:k114e.893208$6l.853054@pd7tw2no...

"Jerry" wrote in message
...

"TJ" wrote in message
news:P1Z2e.864278$8l.567848@pd7tw1no...
It's amazing how just one comment by a single person got this group into
an uproar. I really think that the public in general has a romance with
the life of the trucker brought on by the movie and media hype. Truckers
are just ordinary people who do an thankless job of moving just about
everything there is in North America to and from wholesalers to
retailers. Over the years the average trucker's education level has gone
from grade school drop outs to men and women holding degrees of various
ranges of education. Over the years I've come to know a rather large
group of people from a very large slice of various levels of education,
similar to that of most truckers. I hold two degrees and a commercial
Radio Telephone license, but for some reason I ended up returning to
"trucking" all the time. And all the trucks I've driven, over 1 million
miles, I've always had my amateur radio(s) and a CB. Each had it's own
nicessity and each one had it's own language. On one radio I as a
respected amateur radio operator who drove truck, on the other I was
just another trucker looking for a traffic report.
Oh, for those who are of the illusion that truckers are the cause of all
the terrible accident on the highways, well the only person your fooling
is yourself. To get the facts do a little research and you will find
that four wheeled vehicles cause more accidents than any other vehicle.
Trucks seem to fall into the same catigory as motorcycles do in the
public's perseption of the cause of accidents. After you have done your
research you will find that both trucks and motorcycles end of up being
a very low percentage of the cause of accidents. The only thing the
public sees is that when a truck gets into a bad accident it is very bad
and devestating distruction. But statistics show there are fewer truck
accidents than four wheeled vehicles and there are also far fewer
accidents that are caused by trucks entirely.
But, this is just this over educated truckers opinion.

73 de ve7agw, Al

One DOES wonder if the gent that cut me off the other day is an example
of the good trucker or otherwise. On that day I was driving the speed
limit (60) when a truck began to tailgate me. When traffic cleared, he
snatched the truck to the right lane, passed, blew his airhorn at me, and
cut right back in front of me. Now just what the hell am I supposed to
do? Get a ticket to please him? Not a chance! BOTH groups, trucks and
cars, are responsible for plenty of wrecks simply because they aren't
paying attention, going too fast, or too fast for conditions.

J



Your not alone on this one, I've been pulling a set of turnpikes (two 53
foot trialers) and had this pulled on me as well. Like
"cl" said there are rotten apples in every trade.
Over the years of driving in every state and province in North America
(I've seen bad drivers in every one too) I've even had an ambulance (no
lights/siren) cut in front of me while I was driving the speed limit of 55
for trucks and given the finger to boot. Even got told by a state trooper
in NY that I was in his way and pull off the road where there was not
shoulder. It seems that intellegence wasn't a requirement when they gave
this individual a badge,pistol and drivers licence. On the hand I've seen
some very stupid tricks done by trucking companies and drivers. One
company in paticular had a habit of sending new green drivers out west
into the mountains and in most cases it was a really bad decission for
both driver and company. When you have to talk a pretrified driver down a
mountain road so he won't kill himself and a lot of other people I really
think something is wrong here. For the last few years I drove before
retiring I drove the I-5 corridor, Vancouver Canada to LA and back once a
week. And so many times I would see inexperienced drivers trying to come
down Mount Ashland and the Grapevine in Ca. and their brakes would be
smoking like a forest fire. By the time they reached the bottom they
wouldn't have any brakes left on the truck or trailer. Driving a car on
snow and ice is scarey, you should see what it's like driving an 80,000
lb. truck and hopfully the truck in front and behind you has an
experienced driver in it. Now you know why most of us old truckers go
prematurely gray and retire long before we are 65.
I too drive two wheels and I hate it when I see a fool riding more bike
than they can handle and it's the same with four or eighteen wheels.

73....ve7agw, Al


For what it's worth, I'm going to mention this, as it follows along with the
thread and ultimate mention of "ambulances" being rude. Yes, the drivers of
them can be rude. Give em an emergency vehicle, and all common sense goes
out the window. I am involved in Fire and was at one time - EMS. Here, blue
lights are used to get firefighters/emts to a station or call. Some take
them for granted as a ticket to speed. They are not. They are courtesy
lights only. No one is required to pull off for said vehicle with a blue
light. The lights "must" be listed with the local State Police Barracks. Our
station doesn't have a problem with lights as most live close enough to not
need them. But there are others who go whizzing by to "their" stations who
"have" abused them. They were caught and fined too. The State Police here
have been known to pull over anyone using a blue light and even Ambulances
going over the speed limit - to question the legitimacy of a call and thus
the speed being used. Some folks who had to travel through our town to go to
"their" station (not ours) were getting pretty bad with abuse of lights and
speed. I don't care WHO you are or THINK you are, no one has the right to
defy the law. They're made for a reason. As was said by me and alluded to by
another gentleman, toss the laws out the window, and it will be complete
turmoil. The wild west will look like a kiddie carnival compared to what we
would see. Everyone must play a part to keep what we call peace and
civilization - at a pace for all to survive.

cl