Trucking and Patience

Well. I am sitting in Oakley KS at the T/A in the truck wash line at Blue Beacon, actually paying for internet access. Because I'm bored and don't have any reading material.

This day has not been a stellar day for the image truckers give the public. I may have contributed to that negative effect as well.

It all started this morning in Colby, KS. I had spent the night at the Super 8, north of the I70 interchange. So, I'm headed down a four lane street south to get to the eastbound entrance ramp. A truck pulled right out in front of me, and swung into my left lane. Obviously, he was afraid his trailing trailer needed the extra room, because he kept his turn going to get on the westbound ramp.

I thought perhaps the brush with mortality I've experienced may have made me more patient and forgiving, but maybe not so much. I got on the radio while he was ponderously and extremely slowly moving in front of me and said: "Yeah, you were really planning on getting out of my way, right?" somewhat sarcastically.

No answer.

The lanes there are just marked on acres of flat pavement, so I drove into the marked median to get around him and eyeball this idiot. He wouldn't look at me. "For God's sake, don't even look at me!"

I had big plans of flipping him off.

Part of trucking is momentum. It takes a while to start and stop a truck. The laws of physics cannot be denied. It is rude to do what this asshole did.

But, I've always been against "Radio Rambos." They are idiots with CB radios found mostly in populated areas who agitate on channel 19. They talk mean but when it comes to backing it up - they refuse to be found. They talk the talk, but don't walk the walk. There are many stories about how several CBers with signal strength meters have tracked these idiots down and messed with their equipment or got physical with them. Generally it is some loser kid, but sometimes it is a loser adult.

I don't want to be a Radio Rambo. I really have no business mixing it up with idiots if I have to back it up, considering the fabulous grip I have. I might even be able to make a fist. Woo hoo. So, that incident kinda bothered me. Other people heard me, and a couple of truckers had seen it and told everyone else what had happened - that the chicken hauler had cut off the flatbed (me). I kept my language clean, at any rate.

I trucked more or less locally for ten years, then worked for the USPS for ten, and am back. In the "old days," truckers had a bit of a code and some honor for their profession. Now, not so much. For instance, when a truck passes another, it is common courtesy to flash headlights to let the passing truck know it is clear and it's safe to move back into the right lane, or to say something on the CB (Yer clear, big truck). Now, only in your dreams.

Or, and this pisses off many of you "four wheelers" as well - Mr. Werner Enterprises is speed limited to 65mph, and catches Mr. Swift Trucking set at 64, and decides to pass. Mr. Werner decides to cut over into the left lane in front of you, running at 75mph, the speed limit, just as you get to his DOT bumper. They then climb a hill, and Mr. Swift can outpull Mr. Werner, so this exciting side by side race can take several minutes to determine the outcome.

The correct "professional trucker code" solution is for Mr. Werner to wait until traffic gets past before making his big move. Mr. Swift, seeing Mr. Werner coming, would realize he is holding Mr. Werner up and be ready to "back out of it" to help Mr. Werner out. This would have been all worked out on the handy communication device that most all trucks have had for the past fifty years - the CB radio.

Now, say it after me, "not so much."

So, what is the problem? Most say the "professional truck driving schools" are to blame. They crank out grads with barely enough experience to shift gears, much less navingate across the country successfully. Things like the trucker's code aren't even covered. Common courtesy is not being taught.

And there is a distinct lack of courtesy in our daily lives as well - it is a given that this is a far ruder society now than twenty years ago.

So, here I sit in line at the Blue Beacon. For some reason a red Mustang was in line ahead of the truck ahead of me. There was a truck, a Ford pickup, the Mustang, a grain hauler, and me in line. The first truck moved, then the pickup, then the grain hauler. The 'Stang? It got moved about ten feet when the grain hauler lost it in his hood. A moment's inattention. It looks like this won't delay me much - the police have taken the report, and we've all moved ahead.

Pay attention out there, people. Trucks win in accidents involving cars. The laws of physics cannot be repealed.