More semis in the left lane these days?

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: racin4ds
It seems the left lane is the ONLY lane here in Florida!! It isn't just trucks, its every moron on the road down here! and here I didn't think any place could be worse than Maryland... wrong!


Yep. + 1000000

 

[NormanBuntz]

Yup, especially when they're not passing another vehicle.

 

[dlundblad]

Most of the time, semis are empty or trailer-less and get up to speed rather fast.

Occasionally there's the joker that takes his time though. Semi, passenger car, grandpa in a Buick etc.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Can't run the left lane in California. But running the right lane with 4 wheelers constantly slamming on their brakes to merge or cutting you off to exit is real dangerous!


And speed limit for 18 whlrs and anything with a trailer is 55. I'll shoot myself before I'll pull a trailer into Ca again. 55-60 in the right lane. Aarrgghh...

 

[4WD]

Originally Posted By: WhyMe
I drive I 90 and I 5 quite a bit in the seattle area. What I have noticed recently is semis camping in the left lane. Slows down traffic quite a bit.

I thought semis could not use the left lane . Have you noticed this in your area?


In our area the LH Lane is for passing only … replaced “slower traffic keep right” … works OK except when trying to merge (from the entrance ramp) with 75-80 mph traffic and folks hold that lane.

 

[fdcg27]

It may be just a matter of there being more trucks out on the road than there were not too many years back.
The economy has boomed the past four or five years, so more employed people are buying more stuff.
Guess how that stuff gets there?
For states like mine, with heavy pass-through truck traffic, it's really bad and makes trying to run fast up the interstate an exercise in frustration. In fairness, you also see lots of car drivers camped out in the leftmost lane while driving on cruise and barely making the posted limit in perfectly good weather.
There is a real shortage of truck drivers now. For someone who can hack the hours, the time away from home and family as well as the physical abuse a rig gives, there is a pretty good living to be made in driving, especially if you buy your own tractor.

 

[Mr Nice]

OTR trucking is extremely difficult even if some drivers do make decent money.
Very high turnover with the OTR drivers.

Watch the video.... 'Haul or High Water' on YouTube. Excellent mini documentary on a trucker.

 

[4WD]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
OTR trucking is extremely difficult even if some drivers do make decent money.
Very high turnover with the OTR drivers.

Watch the video.... 'Haul or High Water' on YouTube. Excellent mini documentary on a trucker.


My wife’s cousin took it up after minimum to get a small military pension … he’s been to 40+ states but was getting burned out and ready to quit before a 2nd pension … I said talk to them, what’s it hurt?
He got a driver training job and loves it … max of 135 miles to training seminars …

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: Walmill
I have family in a European country. There, the semis are restricted to the far right lane. While far from perfect, the traffic flow is much more structured than here.


Do they pay by the mile, or is it hourly? I'm wondering if they have less incentive to bend the rules.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: Walmill
I have family in a European country. There, the semis are restricted to the far right lane. While far from perfect, the traffic flow is much more structured than here.


Do they pay by the mile, or is it hourly? I'm wondering if they have less incentive to bend the rules.


They are paid by the hour, limited to 48 hours per week, and their trucks have disc brakes and synchronized manual transmissions or automatic transmissions.

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted By: WhyMe
I drive I 90 and I 5 quite a bit in the seattle area. What I have noticed recently is semis camping in the left lane. Slows down traffic quite a bit.

I thought semis could not use the left lane . Have you noticed this in your area?


So I live in Washington as well. Two weekends ago I towed my trailer over to Sun Lakes from Poulsbo and noticed more truck passings.
Where it really messes stuff up is Highway 18/Tiger Mountain Summit. Now I know driving a truck is no walk in the park, but if you are towing Tiger Mountain please don't get your 18 wheeler in the left hand to pass the other 18 wheeler at a pace of 2 mph faster. It backs up traffic and everyone gets impatient. I can tow Tiger Mountain at 60, but the big trucks are really messing up the flow. Part of the problem is Washington is not doing enough to update Highway 18, but on my 4 and a half hour trip I saw it a lot. Truck speed is posted at 60, but they will go faster and have to pass slower trucks and cars. In Washington with a trailer you are required to follow the posted truck speed limit.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: ls1mike

Now I know driving a truck is no walk in the park, but if you are towing Tiger Mountain please don't get your 18 wheeler in the left hand to pass the other 18 wheeler at a pace of 2 mph faster. It backs up traffic and everyone gets impatient.


This is my problem with semis in the left lane. If they can overtake another vehicle in a reasonable amount of time and then get back over in the right lane, that's fine. It's when they know it's going to take them 5 minutes to pass, and they don't care how many POVs they hold up in the process that I have a problem with. I have literally seen them holding up 20 cars or more, and these guys should be ticketed for impeding traffic flow...

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: ls1mike

Now I know driving a truck is no walk in the park, but if you are towing Tiger Mountain please don't get your 18 wheeler in the left hand to pass the other 18 wheeler at a pace of 2 mph faster. It backs up traffic and everyone gets impatient.


This is my problem with semis in the left lane. If they can overtake another vehicle in a reasonable amount of time and then get back over in the right lane, that's fine. It's when they know it's going to take them 5 minutes to pass, and they don't care how many POVs they hold up in the process that I have a problem with. I have literally seen them holding up 20 cars or more, and these guys should be ticketed for impeding traffic flow...


Heck, you see people in four wheelers holding up traffic all of the time as well.
In Ohio, most of the interstate mileage is pretty flat, so the rigs have no trouble maintaining at least 70 mph, which happens to be the speed limit.
I too would like to drive on blissfully uncrowded highways free of trucks.
Not gonna happen.

 

[dblshock]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
Can't run the left lane in California. But running the right lane with 4 wheelers constantly slamming on their brakes to merge or cutting you off to exit is real dangerous!


right, I'll vacate the right lane in metro areas for the locals.

 

[dblshock]

you like to eat and buy stuff?..it's usually delivered to market by truck.

 

[AVB]

I just got back from Atlanta last night. Going through on the way up I thought to myself that we need a dedicated road for trucks. Then I remembered that is what the rail roads are for. I only saw a couple get in the left lane and they passed and moved back over quickly. The biggest problem that I saw (besides the fact that the roads are way over capacity)is the speed differential of trucks. Trucks passing trucks 3 or 4 lanes wide really screws up traffic and keeps people bunched up like a school of fish.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: WhyMe
I thought semis could not use the left lane . Have you noticed this in your area?


They can in WA if it's 2 lanes going the same way. If it's more than 2 lanes they can not use the LH lane.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: dblshock
you like to eat and buy stuff?..it's usually delivered to market by truck.


Unfortunately true. There' SO much stuff that could be shipped by train, but...that subject has been beaten to death, back on topic...

 

[grampi]

I was on my every weekend trek last night between IL and OH. I was between Indy and Dayton and it was raining so hard everybody was driving with their flashers on. I got stuck behind a semi gaggle that was about 10 or 12 semis long, and these guys would not get out of the left lane. They were playing leap frog, passing each other at about 50 MPH. Me, and about 15-20 other POVs were stuck behind these knuckleheads for about 30 minutes by the time we were able to get by them. I understand semis are a necessary inconvenience, but stuff like this is just ridiculous. Unfortunately, we have no highway patrols to help control this stuff, so it just keeps getting worse...

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
Originally Posted By: opus1
The worst for me is when I have to take I-65 down to Indianapolis. The trucks just love to clog up the left lane playing leap-frog and seeing how long they can stay in the left lane going 0.5MPH faster than the truck in the right lane that they're passing.

0.5MPH?
It thought is 0.000000001MPH (aka 15-20 minutes to pass one semi)

I guess I dropped some zeros.

It sure seems like that sometimes, doesn't it?