Does Anyone Else Hate Truck Drivers As Much As I Do?

[jase-r34]

Ok, so I was riding home from work this afternoon on old torbul pt road, and it had just started to rain so luckily I was concentrating even harder than normal, when....

A f%king spastic in a semi trailer pulled out across both lanes of traffic and right in front of me as I was going around a bend. He should have been able to see me WELL before he even began to move, so he obviously WASN'T looking!

So I was doing 80km/h (the speed limit) and my choice was either a head on with the truck, or to run straight off the road. I don't know how many of you guys have been on this particular road but going off it is NOT something you want to do. Obviously I chose to run off the road, and somehow I managed to stay upright and pull it up after hitting ridges, holes, bumps and god knows what else.

After I recovered and got back to the road I noticed that the truck driver hadn't even stopped to see if I was ok....So i went after him and found him a bit further up the road. I was on the horn, giving him some not so kind hand gestures and trying to get him to pull over. No way was he going to stop.

Anyway I stopped and recorded his rego number and am off to the police station first chance I get tomorrow.

Scary stuff, and thankfully I was not in my skyline as I would have been hit without a doubt and quite possibly seriously injured.

I know there are some good truckies out there, but I swear I have not come across one yet. It will be interesting to see what the police do about it. (If anything)

Sorry to go on and on, but it was a pretty frightening thing to have happen!!

[PWND]

report him to the cops.

if there is any damage on your car from the incident, it is technically a hit and run accident, as he was at fault.

[jase-r34]

Yeah mate, I'm doing it tomorrow. I've had a check over of my bike and it all seems fine. Rode perfectly the rest of the way home as well. I think my back took most of the impacts!!

[Redsuns88]

fck hey... if you remember the truck company report him to that... most companies are trying to crack down on it..

[Sambo33gtst]

Employ a PI, find his address and make a house call sporting a big spanner.

[m0rt]

farq that man. They're pretty bad everywhere must find licenses in a wheat bix box. I take the Cunningham hwy home and get off at redbank plains road, and the truckkies comin off the highway from headin south are goin that quick they don't see the give way sign, you see some look over and see you and keep goin. I had one once came hookin throu i was too close to stop and he actually slowed down but i still had to brake and let him infront of me cos he kept pushing

[83CKS]

Thats Farked Up!

Good to hear you and the bike are ok tho..

[Revhead]

Bloody hell, that's rough. Best of luck taking him down, though apathy seems to be the flavour of the decade. Nobody seems to care any more

Generally speaking though I've had the opposite experience - I've found that when I'm on the bike, truckies sort of look out for me. I've even had one go so far as to exact a bit of vengeance on someone in a car who cut me off, lol. I've encountered a few tards of course but on the whole I've found truckies to be among the better road users.

[jase-r34]

Lol Sam.....let's see how the cops go first

Thanks Beck, I'm seriously just so lucky I wasnt in my car though!!

And Jamie I share your frustration on almost a daily basis. It's really just beyond a joke!!

[sneki81]

thats seriously f*%#ed. bikes are the ones i look out for the most. i nearly hit one the other day. he doing atleast 160km+ on the m1 early in the morning. i was just about to change lanes cause my exit was coming up. luckily i saw him coming from a mile away because in no time he was at my door going past. if id changed lanes there is no way he could have avoided it. cars everywhere.

with truckies the ones that shit me the most are the ones that are at an intersection/roundabout etc and they just look at you coming towards them and merge out anyway so you pretty much come to a complete halt or have to hit them.

[mtopxsecret6]

cmon guys.. lets not get overzealous.. truckies drive all day everyday.. its their job. there professionals.. like painters or computer techs.. lets be honest.. how much vision do most cars have... try adding another 25-30 foot out the back.. lets get serious people. they have deadlines etc like everbody else.. you buy a car part down south and expect it next day.. how do you think it gets up here? then.. you go drive with that new part.. and bag the shit outta truckies.. your description of events is only one sided.. him looking down the road he may have seen a different story.. some drivers are good.. and some are bad.. just like car or bikie drivers..

[jase-r34]

cmon guys.. lets not get overzealous.. truckies drive all day everyday.. its their job. there professionals.. like painters or computer techs.. lets be honest.. how much vision do most cars have... try adding another 25-30 foot out the back.. lets get serious people. they have deadlines etc like everbody else.. you buy a car part down south and expect it next day.. how do you think it gets up here? then.. you go drive with that new part.. and bag the shit outta truckies.. your description of events is only one sided.. him looking down the road he may have seen a different story.. some drivers are good.. and some are bad.. just like car or bikie drivers..

Well considering he turned head on at me, he can't really blame the 30 or 40 foot of trailer behind him.... He just simply did not look before he decided to turn straight at me on the wrong side of the road. There is no his side of the story. He was 100% in the wrong. The only way he wouldn't have been able to see me is if the glass in his windscreen and door wasn't see through. And after I went off the road RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS WINDSCREEN he didnt even stop to see if I was ok....

Sorry, I'm not gonna care about his deadlines too much as he nearly killed me.

[mtopxsecret6]

i didnt say he wasnt in the wrong.. and im sure there would have been a reason, considering bikes are had to see in most cases.. im sure you would agree, being you ride one, and they can certainly accelerate much quicker than a car.

Im sure.. you being round the bend.. in the rain.. on a motorcycle.. would be good enough grounds of just not seeing you when he checked left and right before you came round the bend. if he was spose to have had plenty of time to see you.. you should have seen him.. to slow down correct? Was there any other traffic?

Edited April 23, 2009 by mtopxsecret6

[toddlls]

i didnt say he wasnt in the wrong.. and im sure there would have been a reason, considering bikes are had to see in most cases.. im sure you would agree, being you ride one, and they can certainly accelerate much quicker than a car.

Im sure.. you being round the bend.. in the rain.. on a motorcycle.. would be good enough grounds of just not seeing you when he checked left and right before you came round the bend. if he was spose to have had plenty of time to see you.. you should have seen him.. to slow down correct? Was there any other traffic?

I agree with the above, there are some A**holes with a HT licence in controll of 40ton & 24 wheels but to label all truckies as pricks is a bit rough.

Don't get me wrong as I am glad to hear you are all right & your bike isn't damaged, but remember there are alot of our type of car preference who do similar stuff & tar our cars with the same brush which I consider to be a bad wrap for the rest of us.

Truckies derserve your patience, they are only trying to get by & sometimes when you are behind a wheel for a long period of time you do miss things & occasionally cut someone off, where-as car/bike drivers/riders do have a habit of jumping infront of a truck trying to stop for a red light when he has already set his braking up to stop in that distance which is now considerably shorter than it was when he put the brakes on- 2 way street.

Sure go ahead & report him as he could of killed you & thats pretty bad, but always try to give them a little more courtesy/patience as mate I've driven trucks for a few years & after many near misses from people in cars or on bikes being idiots & especially mothers with all the kids in the car pulling out infront of you when your doing 70-80k's then seeing you(god knows how they missed you in the first place-after all your driving a truck for gods sake) & slamming on the brakes so they stop dead in the middle of your lane in panic, I had to give it away.

Hey look I would normally be pretty happy to run them over, but I don't ever want to kill a kid, where-as the parents can get what they deserve & burn in hell for it too by my rekoning & I wouldn't loose an ounce of sleep ova em.

I do understand that he should have seen you, but he probably checked your direction quickly saw nothing so checked the direction he wanted to go, saw a break so went for it, approx 7 sec's later (thats how long it takes to get one of those things moving) when the truck had momentum from starting it was already too late to stop for you-not an excuse but may help you predict them in future & save yourself an injury

Peace out

Oh yeah forgot to mention I am now a postie so I know how annoying a truck/car can be as only today I had a complete tool in a mercedes nearly T-Bone me as he turneds across 3 lanes whilst talking to his boyfriend in the passengers & not even looking where he was going-lucky for me the boyfriend saw me & got him to slam on the picks be4 killing me-not worth me reporting as he is already a w*nker for owning/buying a Merc in the first place

[Col-GTSX]

My windscreen needs to be replaced after yesterday thanks to a truck out the back of yarraman (near blackbutt)...

He strayed off the edge of the tarmac into the rocks and bang, smashed windscreen at 110kph...

I was pissed to say the least...

A**holes with a HT licence in controll of 40ton & 24 wheels

You might mean "MC" licence...

There are 4 levels;

* LR (Light rigid)

* MR (Medium rigid)

* HR (Heavy rigid)

* MC (Multi combination)

[jase-r34]

Firstly, it wasn't raining hard. Just enough to have wet the road. And the bend was very open - not blind.

Secondly, I am no truck expert and not too sure what kind of truck it was. May not have been a semi, but was a big f#%kin thing. Because it certainly didn't take him 7 seconds to go from being on the drive to on my side of the road. He also wasn't going from a complete stop. He was rolling slowly and failed to stop. Or look. Or care.

But yes I saw him as plain as day. Infact I saw him so easily that it must have taken some very neglectful driving for him not to see me. And what am I supposed to do, slow down to 30kph every time i see a truck or car wanting to come out of a driveway? It'd take me an hour and a half to get home.

I am VERY careful when there is a possibility that a truck/car or anything else may have had trouble seeing me before they pull out - and thats not just on my bike.

I know there are a lot of these guys that do long hours and have tight deadlines. There is no way that excuses them in the slightest for the way SOME of them drive. Like this fool for instance. Truckies surely realise that what they are driving is effectively a big weapon if they are careless or reckless in it...surely...

I worked 50+ hours last week, and do every week, starting at 5 or 6 in the morning and drive/ride 45 mins each way to and from work. I dont nearly kill people on the way though.

The thing is, I have had more near misses by far with trucks than I have with any other kind of vehicle. And trucks make up a much smaller percentage of road users.

Col that sucks mate. Is there anything you can do when something like that happens? I've had it happen to me in my skyline as well. But it was a twit of a woman in an EL falcon driving all over the loose stuff on the highway. I was just glad it was the windscreen and not a headlight or something...

[mtopxsecret6]

you saw him so easily... saw what he was doing.. but still didnt slow down? Only drive 45 minutes at a time.. to and from work? try average 10 hours a day..

Oh well.. hope you get it sorted

[grigor]

Mate, there’s no use going on about it, he didn’t see you, simple as that.

It happens.

You’re a fast moving dot in light rain and even if when wearing high vis. leathers, you’re not as big a target as a car so he’s got to be extra vigilant.

Didn’t happen this time.

You’d know you have to drive as if everyone is out to get you, and that’s doubled in the wet.

Back in the day I drove a 360 Yammy, for about 4-weeks. Didn’t take me long to realize it was only a matter of time until I got splattered. Then my mate got demolished on his pushy when riding to work so I saw the light.

As for today’s truckies, I’ve got nothing but admiration for them. There’ll be mistakes as in your situation, but compared to back when I drove they’re gentlemen.

I got my semi license (HC) in 1967 BTW.

Some free advise> Ask a trucker if you can try lifting his spare, not one of those aluminium things either, a real steel wheel and 1100 tyre. Then imagine 20+ of them going over you.

I’ve seen it …………. Give the bike away.

[jase-r34]

Lol, mate how bout you get on a bike and nearly get hit head on by a f#%kin idiot like i did, and then stick up for him.

I saw him approaching the intersection of his driveway and the road SLOWLY. I did not know he was going to proceed without looking or stopping first. When you are going through a set of lights and a truck is approaching very slowly from another direction but has not quite pulled up, do you sit there until he has stopped totally and make sure he is going to give way to you?

And my 90 minutes a day is after 10 or 11 hours of working non-stop all day. Noone is forcing these blokes to drive. And who came up with the fact that every truckie is doing 10 hours of driving at a time? If they can't handle the hours behind the wheel maybe they should consider a career change??

Funny how some of you guys are very quick to stand up for an make excuses for someone who very nearly killed me, when all I was doing was minding my own business riding home from work.....

[grigor]

Come on. I'm not standing up for him.

If you read my reply, you'll see I agreed that he didn't see you.

BUT that's not much use to you if you're DEAD.

Wake up.

I'm not wasting any more time here, obvious you're on the organ donor list but you just haven't realised it.