Dumb Truck Driver

[catcul]

I was driving to work this morning when I saw a tractor trailer truck, like the ones in the picture, take the inside turn lane turning right on the road I was on. As he was turning right, he started edging into the left lane and stayed in that lane. He almost ran over the pickup truck behind him.

I've never been a professional truck driver, and I know that you always take the outside turn lane when towing a large trailer.



-picture credit, Argabarga

[Kittish]

He may have done it intentionally. What most people don't know is that it is NOT SAFE to pass or be beside a truck that is turning, no matter WHICH lane it's in.** Lots of people try it, so a lot of trucks will take up both lanes if there are two turn lanes, so that people CAN'T get into a position to be run over by the trailer tires.+

** This is triply true for right turns, the trailer follows a very different path than the tractor does. The tractor needs to swing out far to the left so that the trailer doesn't go up over the corner they're turning.

+ There's a possibly true "truck driver story" that gets passed around when drivers gather to shoot the shit. A driver was making a right turn in the outside lane in some city, and a car came up on the inside lane beside the truck while the truck was in the middle of the turn. Because of the way the trailer moves when it turns, the nose of the car wound up UNDER the truck because the driver of the car was bound and determined to get around the corner FIRST. By the time a cop showed up, neither vehicle could move in any direction because of other traffic. The cop looked over the situation, and told the truck driver to proceed around the corner. The owner of the car was told that he was damn lucky that was all that he had to contend with, and if he wanted to argue the point the cop would be happy to escort him to jail.

[Arcus]

I do know some schools teach the drivers to do this. It's a bad way to do it, but you just can't get some instructors to change how they teach.

[Kittish]

I do know some schools teach the drivers to do this. It's a bad way to do it, but you just can't get some instructors to change how they teach.

Given the way people in cars drive, it's actually much safer than doing it the "right" way. IT IS NOT SAFE TO BE BESIDE A TRUCK THAT IS TURNING. In either lane.

I'm going to shout it again, louder:


IT IS NOT SAFE TO BE BESIDE A TRUCK THAT IS TURNING. IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT LANE YOU OR THE TRUCK ARE IN.

[Arcus]

I was just talking about the practice of starting in one lane that they can't safely make the turn in and then weave to the other lane to block both lanes. Most of the time when I see a driver do this, they nearly hit a car in the outside lane. The truck should have started in the outside lane. Not swerve out to block cars that are already occupying the other lane lane. This method of truck driving is far more dangerous to both the truck and all the cars around them. Any car that see a truck drive like this will do anything to get by the "Trucker that doesn't know how to drive" and will become extremely aggressive to try and get by him. This includes speeding by the truck and cutting it off just so they are in front of the truck and not behind it.

There is nothing safe about a truck that makes this kind of turn.

[RealUnimportant]

If they'd started in the outside lane, there would have been a line of cars come up the inside of them, which would be equally dangerous. This is the point others are making. The fact the pickup decided to try and pass the truck while it was trying to make a turn is the fault of the pickup driver.