Tailgating truckies.

[blackf6]

The tailgating trucker phenomenon may soon be about to end. Camera's will be installed within most trucks within 5 years. Sending the footage of the hapless drivers to their superiors. So expect delays now when you have people dawdling under the limit as always. Now the professional will have to keep to a safe distance thus slowing with the dawdler.
http://www.lytx.com/
I had one installed a month ago. Totally changed my driving habits now.

[Grippy]

Thats great, but I find a lot of the time truckies try to do the right thing by leaving a decent gap, but people see that as an invitation to merge in front of them. It goes both ways I guess.

[Bill M]

for every truck driver who does the right thing there are an equal number of truck drivers who couldn't care less.

[chevypower]

Cars can accelerate, decelerate, and maneuver much quicker, easier, and more efficiently than trucks. In general, car drivers need to remember this; put aside who has the "right" of way and just be more courteous. Don't put up a fight for your spot in your lane, just let the truck driver through. He/she is at work delivering products to the store that you are going to buy, not out for a joyride. The truck is bigger and heavier; if you collide, it doesn't matter who is technically in the wrong if you are dead. Seriously, if you are driving a car and are causing a semi to drive slower, something is wrong with your driving. Push the right pedal a little harder.

[poppa smurf]

Originally Posted by Bill M

for every truck driver who does the right thing there are an equal number of truck drivers who couldn't care less.

I highly dispute this.......most truckies are top bloody drivers doing a difficult job in difficult times.

we tend to remember and berate the very few extremely bad ones but forget to praise the good ones.

Nothing but praise for the vast majority from me.

The camera is simply a little bit more unnecessary pressure which a current affair will love.

[mif73]

I call the cops on tailgaters whether they are cars or even worse, b doubles.

And no i dont sit in the right lane holding up traffic.
I get tailgated in the middle and left lane even with cars in front of me and no where for me to go.

Must be the work car that attracts them ( corolla), didnt really happen when i had a falcon or commode company car.

[Trevor 57]

In 100k zones, when most car drivers are cruising along do 100k's by their speedo's, trucks catch them, so the car driver assumes the truck is speeding, in fact trucks are speed limited based on time over distance (GPS will prove this)

It will take a truck doing a proper 100k's an awful long way to pass a car doing 95 (100 by their speedo), to gain some extra distance the truck driver will close up behind the car to lessen the amount of time on the wrong side of the road, how do I know all this, coz I used to drive speed limited B-Doubles for a living - just saying

Having a truck (or car) sit closely behind you is only a problem if you stop quickly or do something stupid, they can see a lot further down the road than you can, so they can anticipate a lot of what is going to happen

How many 'truck into the rear of car' accidents do you see, then how many 'car into the back car' accidents do you see - just saying

Yes it is intimidating having a truck closely behind, but Duel was only a film everyone

BTW, I do not condone tailgating as intimidation, and I have seen trucks, cars and buses doing that

[mif73]

Today it happened on a freeway with a median strip.
There was no wrong side of the road.
And he was so close i could read the part number of his grille.

I wasnt driving below the speed limit either, more like 5 to 10 over, and i also use the gps speedo.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by mif73

Today it happened on a freeway with a median strip.
There was no wrong side of the road.
And he was so close i could read the part number of his grille.

please refer to ALL my post above, thanks

[Silver Ghia]

I've noticed more recently that many more truck drivers are much better behaved in staying well back, than they used to years ago.

But I cringe whenever I see a small car cut in front of them especially when the traffic is slowing down, when the truck driver is doing the right thing. Happens too often.

[BPXR6T]

Originally Posted by poppa smurf

I highly dispute this.......most truckies are top bloody drivers doing a difficult job in difficult times.

we tend to remember and berate the very few extremely bad ones but forget to praise the good ones.

Nothing but praise for the vast majority from me.

The camera is simply a little bit more unnecessary pressure which a current affair will love.

Could have fooled me. Barely a week goes by without a close shave with a grain truck. Cutting corners is my biggest gripe. I've come around a corner twice in the last six months to be head on with a truck and run off the road. Just last week I was nearly killed by an idiot who was flying. Too fast obviously and couldn't keep to his side of the road. I had my front window smashed, nearly rolled, and ended up in a paddock. Driver knew what he done and kept going.

[mif73]

Yep i travel heaps for work and i see heaps of cars pull in front of cars and trucks when braking.
I dont do it coz i know what a pain it is.
It sometimes happens to me when im towing and it aint nice.

I like to stay out of car and truck blind spots especially a trucks passenger side beside his door.

And i dont care how far a truckie can see in the distance, i bet my car could stop heaps quicker than 80 tonne of b double up my bum which would make my small sedan a hatchback.

Oh and i think im the only car driver that actually doesnt overtake a turning vehicle.
And i do actually let truckies and cars in front if they indicate long enough for me to adjust my speed.

[chevypower]

Originally Posted by BPXR6T

Could have fooled me. Barely a week goes by without a close shave with a grain truck. Cutting corners is my biggest gripe. I've come around a corner twice in the last six months to be head on with a truck and run off the road. Just last week I was nearly killed by an idiot who was flying. Too fast obviously and couldn't keep to his side of the road. I had my front window smashed, nearly rolled, and ended up in a paddock. Driver knew what he done and kept going.

Try staying out of their way.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by mif73

And i dont care how far a truckie can see in the distance, i bet my car could stop heaps quicker than 80 tonne of b double up my bum which would make my small sedan a hatchback.

lots of rubber on the road, lots of good brakes on lots of axles and B-Doubles are only to 68 tonne, not 80, most run at 62t, add to that a more alert experienced driver and you might be surprised, when measured from reaction time to stop

[GTMOND]

If people just learned to back off a bit to let the truck bye, we might not have to tailgate as it can take a fair stretch of road when there is only 5 km/h between the car and truck. I have quite regularly passed cars that get to the middle of the b/ trailer when you start to run out off road, you have your left indicator on to let them know you need to move across but they just won't back of that little bit to let you in. Can be a bit stressful.

[mif73]

Well then if a vehicle has awesome rubber and brakes and a super quick driver, it must be legal to tailgate then.

I suppose if they were up my bum and i braked and they hit me then its my fault?

I should take some speed, drinks heaps of strong coffee and take off in a porsche gt3 or the like and sit on someones bum coz its ok and the cops wont mind a bit.

And 80 tonne was a figure of speech, sounds better than 68.

Ps: not having a go at just truckies, plenty of stupid or inconsiderate (or both) car and bike drivers too.

Cheers.

[mik]

for every one bad truck driver there will 50 smart *** car drivers that think they are professional drivers and never do any thing wrong with their nose stuck up in air citing that nasty old truck driver did something or rather, the sad truth is about 49 of those 50 wouldn't know the truth if it bit them on the ***.

[mif73]

Originally Posted by mik

for every one bad truck driver there will 50 smart *** car drivers that think they are professional drivers and never do any thing wrong with their nose stuck up in air citing that nasty old truck driver did something or rather, the sad truth is about 49 of those 50 wouldn't know the truth if it bit them on the ***.

Yes true. But as you are a pro and in charge of 60 tonne of potential carnage, not a go kart, you gotta be doing the right thing anyhow.

I am not a "professional" driver, but i have driven all over vic and parts of aus as part of my job fixing industrial machinery since 1990, so i dont just drive up to the shops and back every day.
I think i would have well over a million k's under my belt already, (yeah, i know truckies do much more), but still not bad considering driving is not my primary and only job.

Cheers.

[trentski]

Originally Posted by teak81

So expect delays now when you have people dawdling under the limit as always. Now the professional will have to keep to a safe distance thus slowing with the dawdler.

How is the distance between you and the car in front going to change your speed? A constant 2m or a constant 10m, speeds the same just the following distance is different.

Dash Cams can help the truck driver as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1lEiBaICMQ

[UberKnee]

This 'phenomenon' is really just a minority making the rest look bad. Most truckies are very considerate drivers but as always we paint everyone with the same brush.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

In 100k zones, when most car drivers are cruising along do 100k's by their speedo's, trucks catch them, so the car driver assumes the truck is speeding, in fact trucks are speed limited based on time over distance (GPS will prove this)

It will take a truck doing a proper 100k's an awful long way to pass a car doing 95 (100 by their speedo), to gain some extra distance the truck driver will close up behind the car to lessen the amount of time on the wrong side of the road, how do I know all this, coz I used to drive speed limited B-Doubles for a living - just saying

Having a truck (or car) sit closely behind you is only a problem if you stop quickly or do something stupid, they can see a lot further down the road than you can, so they can anticipate a lot of what is going to happen

How many 'truck into the rear of car' accidents do you see, then how many 'car into the back car' accidents do you see - just saying

Yes it is intimidating having a truck closely behind, but Duel was only a film everyone

BTW, I do not condone tailgating as intimidation, and I have seen trucks, cars and buses doing that

I can understand a truck being up & close ready to overtake but when they sit up your rear as if they are going to drive over the top of you is B.S & you know it..... No excuses.

[Ben73]

When in the passenger seat with about 100 different car drivers people over the past 5 years I have noticed some people tailgate and don't realize it. You call them out on it and they say "It's not that close" when they have a 1 second gap at 100 km/h.
Im assuming these are the people who sit up your *** on multilaned roads where it's clear to pass. They are not quite going fast enough to pass you, but they don't want to slow down because they think the gap is fine.

I have noticed it's about the same ratio of bad drivers on the road no matter what vehicle they drive.
In my experience, buses seam to the the only vehicle with a much smaller percentage of idiots behind the wheel.

[DreadlyST]

Only a fool breaks the 2 second rule!

[Full Noise]

Originally Posted by teak81

The tailgating trucker phenomenon may soon be about to end. Camera's will be installed within most trucks within 5 years. Sending the footage of the hapless drivers to their superiors. So expect delays now when you have people dawdling under the limit as always. Now the professional will have to keep to a safe distance thus slowing with the dawdler.
http://www.lytx.com/
I had one installed a month ago. Totally changed my driving habits now.

DriveCam is not going to be installed in “most trucks” within five years, so why make a statement like this? Is that what the people who installed it told you? Systems like DriveCam are the root of all evil and anyone with half a brain would realise this.

This job is going to Hell in a hand basket and it’s because of people like your boss, pulling the wool over their employees eyes who then blindly accept BS like this happening.

Just for the record, I know quite a bit about this system and in my opinion, any truck driver who is willing to be subjected to this is not only a first class idiot, but their own worst enemy.

....

If you want to protect yourself with a camera, fine, get your own and keep the footage yourself.

[Dave R]

I've never had an issue with trucks to be honest, I think it's half the idiots in cars that need nannies like this installed. It's easy to critique a 60 tonne B double from behind the wheel of your Yaris, right before you cut in front of him.

[NAK302]

trains don't need tailgating cameras, but then again banks need repayments and govs need taxes.

[ca5pa]

Yea to be honest, I hardly ever see truckies tail gating. It happens but generally they are pretty alright. Esp if you want to merge or changes lanes, they normally let you in.

When I was driving my Xr8 daily, I would hardly ever get people tailgating or bullying me on the road. Now i'm driving my gf's Astra everyday, and people want to try and push you around. Tailgating is the worst, so I just start slowing down until they get the hint. It's mostly mum's in 4x4's and corporate twats in my experience, not trucks.

[MercurySilver]

gee i hope you pull over or use hands free when you ring the po po and dob in tailgating truckies

good lord

[vztrt]

If this were to happen, hopefully all the moronic drivers that seem to think jumping in front of a truck and giving them no time to break get reamed from the evidence of their stupidity. Rarely does a truck worry me, asshats in cars on the other hand need a backhand.

It would be nice if they could up the speed on freeways to 110 with trucks still at 100. but then we would have the please think of the children brigade in arms.

[GCRXR6]

Originally Posted by Trevor 57

In 100k zones, when most car drivers are cruising along do 100k's by their speedo's, trucks catch them, so the car driver assumes the truck is speeding, in fact trucks are speed limited based on time over distance (GPS will prove this)

It will take a truck doing a proper 100k's an awful long way to pass a car doing 95 (100 by their speedo), to gain some extra distance the truck driver will close up behind the car to lessen the amount of time on the wrong side of the road, how do I know all this, coz I used to drive speed limited B-Doubles for a living - just saying

Having a truck (or car) sit closely behind you is only a problem if you stop quickly or do something stupid, they can see a lot further down the road than you can, so they can anticipate a lot of what is going to happen

How many 'truck into the rear of car' accidents do you see, then how many 'car into the back car' accidents do you see - just saying

Yes it is intimidating having a truck closely behind, but Duel was only a film everyone

BTW, I do not condone tailgating as intimidation, and I have seen trucks, cars and buses doing that

Trev, a lot of your posts are pretty good.... But that one old son, is codswallop.

I have had trucks sit far to close to me many times while I have boon sitting on 105 (via that famous GPS we all assume is correct) in my XR. I've also had the idiots sit wat too close when driving the ambulane vehicle. So much for speed governing.