Semis - they've completely taken over the highways

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Assuming you don't drive a donkey drawn cart, it is very easy to get out of the way of a semi. Just speed up and get around them when you have a chance. Stay in the left lane. etc. I've tried to give examples of how its basically the same situation for them as it is us, but you seem to be pretty stuck in your ways. Tunnel vision. Semis are evil.


You apparently don't spend as much time on the highways as I do. 4 lane highways are a mess with semis, and there's nothing passenger vehicle drivers can do to make semis any less of a PITA. When semis get in bunches (which happens a lot) and the rear semi driver decides he's going to pass the entire group (taking up both lanes in the process), those of us in passenger vehicles are stuck behind these guys until this one semi driver is finally able to overtake the rest of the semis. This process can take anywhere from 5-10 mins. Then when you're finally able to get around this group of road clots, you come to another group, and another, and so on...this is pretty much how it goes on the highways I travel...if you aren't experiencing this, then I envy you, because this is a very frustrating way to travel...


Are you trying to go over the speed limit?

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
Assuming you don't drive a donkey drawn cart, it is very easy to get out of the way of a semi. Just speed up and get around them when you have a chance. Stay in the left lane. etc. I've tried to give examples of how its basically the same situation for them as it is us, but you seem to be pretty stuck in your ways. Tunnel vision. Semis are evil.


You apparently don't spend as much time on the highways as I do. 4 lane highways are a mess with semis, and there's nothing passenger vehicle drivers can do to make semis any less of a PITA. When semis get in bunches (which happens a lot) and the rear semi driver decides he's going to pass the entire group (taking up both lanes in the process), those of us in passenger vehicles are stuck behind these guys until this one semi driver is finally able to overtake the rest of the semis. This process can take anywhere from 5-10 mins. Then when you're finally able to get around this group of road clots, you come to another group, and another, and so on...this is pretty much how it goes on the highways I travel...if you aren't experiencing this, then I envy you, because this is a very frustrating way to travel...


Are you trying to go over the speed limit?


I try to stay with the flow of passenger vehicle traffic, but I don't go more than 5 over the limit...all of the highways I travel on are posted at either 65 or 70, depending on which state I'm in. The problem with the semis is they are all driving at 65 or slower (usually slower), which causes backups when they're taking up both lanes (like when they're passing each other). So to answer your question, yes...but it wouldn't matter even if everyone was driving the speed limit, semis would still be impeding traffic flow...

 

[gman2304]

It's more the bean counters and the safety departments in the offices at major transportation companies dictating what speed the trucks in they're fleet will run, than the mechanics in the shop or the drivers. If they can squeeze .5 of a mpg out of each unit in they're fleet all they see is the potential savings in fuel costs per year for the company. They don't want to hear of the frustration of driving an 80,000 lb vehicle at a governed speed of 63 to 65 MPH on a busy interstate highway with a posted speed of 70 MPH. The electronic log device in our fleet will issue a speed warning if my vehicle goes over 67 mph....even if the posted speed is 70 mph or greater. So in effect I'm speeding at 67 mph as far as the company is concerned but driving legally as far as the posted speed limit is concerned. I'm sure you have noticed a trucks brake lights come on when descending a hill with no one close to the truck. You can bet that his electronic monitoring device is about to issue a speeding violation which the aforementioned bean counter will see when he accesses the electronic data for that particular unit on that particular trip. It monitors almost every aspect of operation of that vehicle, speed, engine RPM's, hours of service, idle time, gps, just to name a few. I do my best to be courteous of other drivers and they're all types in all types of vehicles, but every so often a driver is going to get in a situation where he is going to irritate someone...but the vast majority of truck drivers try they're best not to irritate the motoring public. On the back of each of the trailers I pull is an 800 number....that asks how is my driving? We don't want anyone to call that number and complain. As an afterthought I have never heard of anyone calling the number and saying what a good and courteous job the driver was doing! Just Sayin...

 

[whip]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: grampi
No, but I'd be ok with truckers hauling the stuff locally to the rail depots and then having the stuff shipped by rail...are you saying you're ok with truckers risking life and limb to get their loads shipped no matter what?

There you go with the black and white again. Even if it's shipped by rail, it has to eventually go on a truck. You said trucks should not be out in bad weather. How does it get from the rail yard to the store 200-300 miles away if they can't drive in bad weather? One week of bad weather means no groceries and no fuel at the gas stations. Who determines what weather is acceptable to drive in?


Ok, let's try this...what would present more of a risk on other than perfect road conditions, a trucker hauling goods from a rail depot to a local destination, or that same trucker hauling that load across the country?

That's a good question. Either way, the freight has to be hauled. If it's only hauled from the inter-modal facility, you concentrate all of the trucks within a 250 mile radius of a rail yard. That brings up another problem. If freight is going to be hauled on rail, we'll need more inter-modal facilities. Are you willing to have one built in your town? Do you understand how much truck traffic would increase in those areas? I'm guessing very few people would want that, so where do we build them? We could build them away from populations, but that would increase the amount of distance the trucks would have to travel. That of course wouldn't help your issue. So what do we do?

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: grampi
No, but I'd be ok with truckers hauling the stuff locally to the rail depots and then having the stuff shipped by rail...are you saying you're ok with truckers risking life and limb to get their loads shipped no matter what?

There you go with the black and white again. Even if it's shipped by rail, it has to eventually go on a truck. You said trucks should not be out in bad weather. How does it get from the rail yard to the store 200-300 miles away if they can't drive in bad weather? One week of bad weather means no groceries and no fuel at the gas stations. Who determines what weather is acceptable to drive in?


Ok, let's try this...what would present more of a risk on other than perfect road conditions, a trucker hauling goods from a rail depot to a local destination, or that same trucker hauling that load across the country?

That's a good question. Either way, the freight has to be hauled. If it's only hauled from the inter-modal facility, you concentrate all of the trucks within a 250 mile radius of a rail yard. That brings up another problem. If freight is going to be hauled on rail, we'll need more inter-modal facilities. Are you willing to have one built in your town? Do you understand how much truck traffic would increase in those areas? I'm guessing very few people would want that, so where do we build them? We could build them away from populations, but that would increase the amount of distance the trucks would have to travel. That of course wouldn't help your issue. So what do we do?


That's a good question too...one you'd have to ask of someone whose in logistics...all I know is there's got to be a better way of doing it than the way it's done now...

 

[jcwit]

Now we'll get held up at railroad crossings forever as to more RR cars on the rails.

 

[doitmyself]

jcwit,

Tell us about the Thursday/Friday massive snow and accidents in NW Indiana where I grew up?

 

[gman2304]

What a few are suggesting has been going on for decades. They're are mile long trains all over the country that are carrying only over the road trailers. A truck will eventually pull all those trailers on a public highway. Trucks are heavy cumbersome vehicles, it's the nature of the beast. If all of them ran 5 mph over the speed limit they're would still be whiners saying they are now driving too fast. As the population grows it's only going to get worse....deal with it...or don't drive.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: gman2304
What a few are suggesting has been going on for decades. They're are mile long trains all over the country that are carrying only over the road trailers. A truck will eventually pull all those trailers on a public highway. Trucks are heavy cumbersome vehicles, it's the nature of the beast. If all of them ran 5 mph over the speed limit they're would still be whiners saying they are now driving too fast. As the population grows it's only going to get worse....deal with it...or don't drive.


Yeah, that's the answer...genius...

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: jcwit
Now we'll get held up at railroad crossings forever as to more RR cars on the rails.


There are no RR crossings on the highways...I'd gladly deal with the occasional train in town to get the long haul semis off the highways...

 

[gman2304]

At least they're would be one less angry motorist off the highway.....Einstein...

 

[jcwit]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: jcwit
Now we'll get held up at railroad crossings forever as to more RR cars on the rails.


There are no RR crossings on the highways...I'd gladly deal with the occasional train in town to get the long haul semis off the highways...


Ya, I know all about that while waiting at a RR crossing trying to get to the hospital after ripping 2 of my fingers out of my hand.

It was a wait I'll never forget!

 

[jcwit]

One word grampi, retire!

 

[01rangerxl]

I don't have to do much highway driving anymore, though I drive a lot.

For me, a bigger complaint is really freight trains. I feel like they have gotten a lot longer, and as a result slower in recent years. I don't know if more is being hauled by rail, if the companies are trying to consolidate the number of individual trains, or what, but they are way too [censored] long and slow. Waiting 10 minutes on a train to cross a road in a city is ridiculous.

 

[cjcride]

Agreed, freight trains are getting longer. I would rarely see more than 1 freight engine pulling a train years ago. Now 3 more powerful modern locomotives are not a rare sight.
As the population grows so does the demand for goods.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Rail hasn't had the best safety record lately ...

 

[IndyIan]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Rail hasn't had the best safety record lately ...

I imagine though that by amount hauled, trains might have 1/100th the number of accidents as trucking. Probably less than that.
Also in terms of deaths, probably trucking still killed more people the week of the Quebec train disaster, than rail transport in North America.

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted By: grampi

..... When semis get in bunches (which happens a lot) and the rear semi driver decides he's going to pass the entire group (taking up both lanes in the process), those of us in passenger vehicles are stuck behind these guys until this one semi driver is finally able to overtake.


You know, OLD PEOPLE in Buicks tend to stay in the left lane and take those 5-10 minutes to pass a car and hold everyone up because they don't want to exceed the speed limit....

And while I do see semi's doing this, I see more Buick drivers...

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: grampi

You apparently don't spend as much time on the highways as I do. 4 lane highways are a mess with semis, and there's nothing passenger vehicle drivers can do to make semis any less of a PITA. When semis get in bunches (which happens a lot) and the rear semi driver decides he's going to pass the entire group (taking up both lanes in the process), those of us in passenger vehicles are stuck behind these guys until this one semi driver is finally able to overtake the rest of the semis. This process can take anywhere from 5-10 mins. Then when you're finally able to get around this group of road clots, you come to another group, and another, and so on...this is pretty much how it goes on the highways I travel...if you aren't experiencing this, then I envy you, because this is a very frustrating way to travel...


Yeah, that's my biggest complaint about sharing the road with semi's. It's frustrating waiting for one truck to pass another at a closing rate of 0.5 mph. Then the road goes uphill and the truck that's passing can't pull the grade and ends up going slower than the truck he started out to pass. My simple solution would be to make it illegal for trucks to be in the left lane.

 

[fdcg27]

Here's an illustration of what you're writing about.
Last weekend, we took a trip up I-71 from about 35 miles north of the Ohio River to Cleveland (actually Rocky River).
The weather was slightly nasty, with moderate to heavy snow, although not much accumulation.
Traffic where we joined the interstate was pretty heavy and slow, with a large number of trucks blocking both lanes.
This sorted itself out over the next twenty or so miles and by the time we had gone about forty miles, the road opened up to three lanes northbound, which relieved all of the congestion.
Trucks hauling freight aren't going away and rail is the answer only if we're willing to invest heavily in adding mainline capacity and restoring abandoned short lines along with adding some new ones. Even then, the first and last ton miles would usually still move by truck.
The answer is to open up the busy corridors to three lanes each way, which is what Ohio has been in the process of doing over the past several years.
These interstates were designed for much lower volumes of traffic, so what was adequate when they were originally built is insufficient today.
When traffic is heavy and slow, you just have to relax and go with the flow.
Have you ever driven outside of the upper mid-west?
The lack of traffic on the interstates is unreal through Montana or South Dakota or across Texas, Tennesse, Arkansas or south through Mississippi. Even states as close as Kentucky and West Virginia are blissfully free of heavy traffic as is the state of Viginia for many miles in the western half.
Nothing like the crowded roads in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, or the even worse traffic horrors that await those driving into the northeast or navigating southern California.