Originally Posted By: TiredTrucker
To the OP, let's look at the dynamics a little. CA has a 55 speed limit for commercial trucks. Screws up the flow of traffic, but if you don't like it, you are going to have to call Gov Moonbeam. Next, the most dangerous move on the road for a commercial truck driver to make, is a lane change. Seriously. There are major blind spots the driver has around his truck. It doesn't take much for a small car, in just a second or two, to get into one of those blind spots. Then, being in the right lane, the oncoming traffic can cause real concerns. Both from a speed standpoint, but again, the blindspot issues. So to that end, many commercial trucks will operate in the #2 lane and stay right there to minimize the risk. It may be frustrating to folks in their little cars and pickups, but the truck driver operating 70 feet of truck weighing up to 80,000 lb is actually trying to keep mishaps to a minimum. The less the truck has to switch from a lane, the better. Considering the larger legal risks to the truck driver than the auto driver, it is the world in which we live. A auto driver may only get a citation and their insurance has to cover it. A truck driver, if one of the vehicles has to be towed, they are required to undergo drug testing, blood, urine, or both, and they have not only a potential citation for fault, but regardless of fault, they incur demerit points with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Adminstration's CSA program. And based on the points on that, that driver could lose his job, and would be blackballed in the profession. In essence, the hassles are more intense than most auto or pickup owners have any imagining.
Cut the truck driver some slack.
It was for at least 3 miles and maybe 5. in the meantime there were drivers that were trying to get around this slower moving vehicle and making unsafe lane changes. He had many opportunities to make a safe lane change, but I think he liked being in the faster lanes, even if that meant he was going considerably slower than the prevailing speed of traffic.