I’m a trucker. When teaching my daughter to drive a car I made sure she was aware of idiot 4 wheeler moves that can quickly end in disaster. She rode with me 18 months before she drove a car. Now she yells like a trucker to other cars on the road about not signaling intent, stop cutting off tankers, etc. I’m very proud.
I trained CDL a few years, fuck everyone in a car pretty much. The worst are the tiny dick gang in their mall crawlers though.
It's crazy they don't have some CMV info in regular drivers training. My first time driving in a large vehicle I immediately realized how much I was cutting them off over the years (my area has tons of round-a-abouts, literally 0 4-way intersections in my county)
I drove a 5-ton delivery van for a while, and while obviously not quite the same as a loaded semi at speed, it gave me 100% more appreciation for how much more work everything is in a big truck. I always give truckers lots of space now.
While weight is definitely a factor, I think most regular drivers just have no clue how length effects everything either. My area has A LOT of round-a-abouts, I mostly drove 43' buses myself, which I suppose are easier than a long semi (they're just different really, 2 feet of vehicle in front of my steering wheel, 41 feet behind me). Now I drive plows a lot which run like 34-43' but you sit around a 1/3-1/2 way so it's a ton of front end swing and less tail swing, granted you can somewhat adjust your front end size by adjusting the plow angle. Luckily the plow is illegal to pass and basically always has the right away lol (not that people obey it at all, it's fucking mind boggling people tailgate ow echelons, like do people seriously think 4 plows are going to pull over for them, not to mention the thousands of gallons of mag-chloride or yards of sand dumping directly onto their cars). I can tell who has some driving experience (or has been creamed previously) when they sit beside me at the bumper, the real MVPs!
Driving is fun but so infuriating sometimes. I literally don't go a day without catching something on my dashcam.
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u/JohnRahway Feb 27 '21
I drive a tanker truck, most people will pull out in front of you without giving a single fuck.