OTR truck drivers?

[Southern Basser]

Wife and I drove to Deland, Fl to visit son and family for a few. Traveled I-10 from Mobile to Lake City. Then I-75 to Ocala. Twice I had to brake very hard because truck put on blinker as I was approaching the rear of the truck. They pulled over on me, had I not braked hard, they would have hit me.
On I-75, I observed the same thing on other vehicles twice. I respect truckers along with everyone else who works hard and supports our country, but why is this happening? Just because they signal to change lanes doesn't give them the ROW.
Would love to hear from a professional driver.

[dean c]

Those guys seem to be driving a lot faster these days…they run 75 routinely.

[USMC2112]

My father has been driving for over 50 years. His words would be: “not many drivers left, just steering wheel holders.”

[Southern Basser]

Yes, If you drive 75 on I-75 you will get ran over.

[Southern Basser]

Just to be clear, this comment only applies to a very minute few of our great OTR drivers. Most are super. When I can, I always give them room to move over.

[bilgerat]

In close to 30 years of driving pretty much the whole Mid Atlantic corridor, I've seen the decline of all driving skills, truckers included. When you gut an industry (NAFTA) to save money and replace skilled well paid drivers with warm bodies, this is what you get. The shareholders will be most pleased
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[PJ-Rohlf]

See the same stuff up here. Convinced that people don't actually look, just turn on their blinker and go.

[bbqpitboss]

Having retired from the heavy truck service industry I agree that there are very few "drivers" left. Mostly steering wheel holders and they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for them. Always give them plenty of room on the road. You would not believe how inexperienced the vast majority of drivers are.

[Unionskeeter]

Its not limited to otr, people are driving like they are the only ones on the road

[Mark Perry]

Driving a fire truck on calls these days is pretty nerve racking. I lose a little faith in humanity every shift.

[JTN]

When you start singling well before changing lanes and the cars keep coming none stop....yes I slowly start moving over,and they'll keep trying to pass till there driving in the grass,most are looking down at there cell phones.

[bassboat1]

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[Babe Winkleworm]

I spend everyday on the roads as a DOT worker and moonlight as a school bus driver. What the fella said above about most being steering wheel holder is exactly right.

[bpicinc]

Its not limited to otr, people are driving like they are the only ones on the road

This +1

[Quillback]

Year ago on a 2-lane HWY, had a trucker try and pass another truck on the opposite lane. The truck that was being passed sped up so now you had two trucks side by side coming down the road. I pulled off the the road and so did the cars behind me. the truck did pass the other one when they were a hundred yards away or so, but if I had kept going without pulling over then this would be my ghost typing this.

There's still some good truck drivers out there, but be alert when you are on the road because one bad move on their part and you're dead meat.

[OBT]

If they have white plates with blue lettering be very watchful. You can be assured that they will give you one blink, (If any) as they suddenly pull out in front of you. You can even see them looking at you in their mirror as you are closing "before" they make the move. It's a childish and amateurish "I gotta get there first move" when instead they should be reading the situation around them and realize that they'll have to wait for an opening before they make their passing move.

They will also slow down, even if it's a couple of miles per hour on most every turn on a major highway, which for a wise truck driver is a way to finally get by them.

On two lane highways they'll do 45 in a 55 and 40 in a 30 mph zone. (Head scratcher) I've also seen this particular group either blow right through a stop sign without slowing or will do what is called a "rolling stop" on a fairly regular basis.

Another favorite, and this is regardless of license plate 'state or country of origin', is when they're loaded and then try to pass on a hill. Anyone approaching whether driving empty or with a light load, or just with regular traffic, is coming up the hill doing 55-65+ and will suddenly have to hit the brakes as these knuckleheads pull out into the passing lane going 15 mph in an attempt to pass the 14 mph truck.

The there is the newer, poorly trained driver who will decide, on flat wide open spaces highways, that they can no longer stand driving behind the truck in front of them that is going a half to a quarter of a mph slower, and change lanes to get around them. This move creates a "turtle race" that blocks traffic coming up behind them as the "faster" (?) attempts to a pass the slower truck.

This 'race' usually lasts for 5-6 miles or more. In my opinion, this is the fault of both drivers. If the one driving slower truck has been doing his job and watching his mirrors, he should know whats going on around him and back off the throttle a bit long enough to let the other driver get by. This simple thing can make sure the public doesn't get a burr up their arse and that traffic keeps moving. It is one small example of being a "professional" truck driver and there are very few of those around anymore.

[BUCK65]

You have professional drivers and you have steering wheel holders that will never be professional drivers. I'm amazed at the amount of drivers we get that are not from the USA/Canada.

[bilgerat]

Driving a fire truck on calls these days is pretty nerve racking. I lose a little faith in humanity every shift.

Earlier in my career when I still worked on trucks, I test drove fire trucks often. It amazed me (then again it didn't) how oblivious people were to the massive loud red thing next to them on the road. There has been several instances where I've seen people pull out in front of one that was on a call- lights flashing, train horn blaring and still doesn't get their attention

[Mark Perry]

Earlier in my career when I still worked on trucks, I test drove fire trucks often. It amazed me (then again it didn't) how oblivious people were to the massive loud red thing next to them on the road. There has been several instances where I've seen people pull out in front of one that was on a call- lights flashing, train horn blaring and still doesn't get their attention

It happens multiple times every single shift.

[idbefishing]

my commute goes thru a highway interchange that has big ass signs and even markings painted on the road showing which lane to go where way way in advance. Yet, every single day there are confused drivers, passenger and commercial, f..ed everything up by switching lanes at the last second.