Road and Track Article on Trucks

"TJDMAX" (tjdmax) 10/16/2014 at 15:12 • Filed to: None

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I'll start it off with the link and then i'll make some comments.

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I agree that it is really stupid when you see one semi trying to pass another semi going 1 mph slower. Like the article i can see the reason behind the drivers move, its money for them and if anyone tried to slow you down at your job and cause you to make less money you would do what you had to so that you could avoid them and make as much as you could. So while i strongly agree that we need to enforce some rules against this I disagree in the right lane being the correct place for trucks to stay. And here are a couple reasons why.

1) For those who have never towed anything of significant weight for your vehicle then you may not understand on a personal level but i'm sure you can understand on a common sense level. It takes a lot of energy (fuel) to get weight moving. Even my truck (07 Chevy Duramax) with a 12K pound trailer or more is cumbersome and annoying to have to deal with merging traffic at every on ramp. A lot of drivers of cars seem oblivious to the fact that A) my truck and trailer weigh a lot more than their prius so by them cutting me off puts them at a huge risk for a terrible accident and B) the sheer weight and length of a truck and trailer makes it not as maneuverable as a vehicle not towing so it is a million times more annoying for me to change lanes because they can't figure out how to merge onto a highway.

2) So from the regular driver's point of view if all of the Semi's were confined to the right lane then can you imagine how impossible it would be in say like rush hour traffic on the 405 in LA to try and even get on the highway? With the sheer number of semis on the roads, having to stay in the right lane, you would never have an opportunity to get on the highway and it would force people to go for gaps that were too close and result in terrible accidents for reasons I stated in point 1.

I understand that there are plenty of highways that exist that aren't nearly as trafficd as the 405 so for those smaller highways where there are only 2 lanes each way then i agree keeping the trucks to the right lane and keeping them from "passing" other truckers on the left should be enforced; But for highways like the 405 where there are 4,5,or even 6 lanes of traffic each way i say that we should enforce trucks to have to stay in the second lane from the right. And even in some cases where there are 6 lanes of traffic let trucks use 2 lanes even. this would allow for cars to get on the highway and get over to faster lanes of traffic without having to squeeze between heavy semi's that could crush them with ease.

Just my thoughts. Curious what others have to say.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > TJDMAX 10/16/2014 at 15:21

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An ideal scenario would have any freeway with a series of exit/on-ramps require at least 3 lanes.

Through trucks/traffic are mandatory center lane, with at minimum 6 seconds of stopping time between the vehicle in front. That would leave plenty of room between those vehicles for traffic entering/ exiting the freeway to move between the right lane and outside lanes.

Hmm...sounds an awful lot like what we have right now. Maybe we should just teach everyone how to FUCKING DRIVE PROPERLY!

Sigh...This is why we can't have nice things.

Also, I'd love to see more rail cargo shipment. We have plenty of room in this country to upgrade our rail system to ship the majority of our cargo that way and reduce the need for so many trucks on the roads.

TJDMAX > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) 10/16/2014 at 15:26

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Yea multiple lanes where there are on and off ramps would be a great solution as well. As long as trucks would keep out of the way of merging vehicles. I'm sure that truck drivers get just as annoyed, if not more, with shitty drivers as the rest of us do so i can't see why they wouldn't be open to a system like this if it were possible.

Controlling which lane a truck stays in is relatively easy to enforce and control compared to trying to enforce a following distance...but yes if we all were excellent drivers this wouldn't be an issue.

And our rail system isn't up to par with Europe or Asia but even if it were rails only get products so far. It would reduce some traffic but you would still need trucks to get from rail stations to stores...

Shift24 > TJDMAX 10/16/2014 at 15:39

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The underling cause to this is the Governors in the Semis. All Semi trucks in the right lane is a horrible idea. Like you said how are you going to get off? Smashing your brakes to get over in front of a truck going 50mph? Great idea.... And to bad you are late to you destination by 5 minutes, you dont own the road. I dont think that this guy writing the article gets that Semi's rule the road. Lets put it this way... Semis are kings, you are a pawn that can be easily smashed.

What needs to happen is that Governors need to be upped. The best solution is most of the time the trucks when passing, down shift but get less mpg. If they govern that gear to a higher speed lets say 72mph they could pass easier. But they would want to get out of that gear ASAP cause they are losing money. So they would then shift up to the 65 governed gear.

Tohru > TJDMAX 10/16/2014 at 15:59

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What if we put all the trucks in the left lane? They're going the farthest distance between off-ramps, so put them the farthest from the ramps.

TJDMAX > Tohru 10/16/2014 at 16:06

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I like the idea. Like some highways have carpool lanes all the way to the left, make a truck lane all the way to the left and then the "fast" lane for cars is the one next to that. Also not a bad idea.

Dusty Ventures > TJDMAX 10/16/2014 at 17:48

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Having towed coast-to-coast on multiple occasions I'm ok with the current rules for the most part. On highways of three lanes or more trucks are prohibited from the leftmost lane (and on four/five lane highways sometimes the two leftmost lanes), so there's always a lane open to get by them. On two lanes I say just suck it up. They have as much of a right to pass another vehicle as you do. Arguably more, since one way or another not passing that slower vehicle is going to cost them money.