A few things you shouldn't do...

[greek_jester]

...when you have a "how is my driving?" sign plastered across the back of your van, are:

1) Undercut me when I start to brake because traffic is stationary in front of me at a red light;
2) Promptly cut in front of me, close enough that I have to slam on my brakes when you slam yours on to avoid rear-ending said traffic;
3) Sit in front of me long enough for me to take out my mobile, dial the "how is my driving?" number, then have a chat with a nice lady (on my hands-free) giving your registration number, location, and a detailed description of exactly what you just did to me.

Have fun clocking in at work tomorrow!

[Jay 2K Winger]

There's a word for this sort of thing... it was right on the tip of my tongue... what was it... just a sec... Oh yes! I remember now!

PWNED.

[sirwired]

Dammit... every time I see a commercial driver doing something stupid, either one of those stickers isn't on the vehicle, or the phone number's been defaced so I can't read it.

[blas]

I don't even bother, unless it's a semi truck. And I have my dad deal with it, cuz he's "in the bizz" and can tell me if I'm in the wrong or right.

Recently, a semi truck refused to let my mom in on the highway, when there was plenty of room and an empty left lane, causing her to slam her brakes and go down to about 40 mph just to wait to get in behind the semi who refused to move over, so my mom called my dad and gave him the plate # so he (having ties to the semi business) called up that company and said what happened and took care of it.

Otherwise, most of those commercial vehicles are owned by local yokels who probably don't give two shits how their drivers drive. Their drivers are probably their sons/brothers/uncles/nephews/in laws, so they don't care. You're better off going after a large corporate company person and not a small town family owned place.

[greek_jester]

This is in the UK & is a well-recognised national chain who deal in white goods; given the current economic climate firms are being a wee bit careful, as bad word-of-mouth press can damage sales in a local area.

I got a message on my mobile this morning from the lady I talked to. Apparently the manager talked to the driver who didn't recognise the incident (of course!) but they'll be checking the info from the various devices built into the truck - the tracking thingy that will tell them where he was & when (which will match the date stamp on my phone call), & various other doohickeys that register speed & sharp braking.

I guess we'll see how it turns out.

[dbuzman]

Recently, a semi truck refused to let my mom in on the highway, when there was plenty of room and an empty left lane, causing her to slam her brakes and go down to about 40 mph just to wait to get in behind the semi who refused to move over, so my mom called my dad and gave him the plate # so he (having ties to the semi business) called up that company and said what happened and took care of it.

Sorry to say this, but your mom was in the wrong here. It is the responsibility of the person merging to match speed, etc to that of traffic on the highway they are merging onto. It is NOT the responsibility of traffic to let people in. The trucker could have been nice and let her in but was in no way obligated to. The company the driver works for probably just ignored the phone cal because the driver did nothing wrong.

[blas]

You're just being rude and lazy if you're going to make it a point to not get over, and then proceed to match the speed of the person trying to merge, or make it difficult for them to merge.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

You're just being rude and lazy if you're going to make it a point to not get over, and then proceed to match the speed of the person trying to merge, or make it difficult for them to merge.

I agree, but it isn't breaking any rules and isn't something you can complain about and get action taken against.

I would liken it to having a full cart of groceries in the checkout line when somebody steps into line behind you with only a few things. It's nice to let that person with the few things go in front of you, but not something that should be expected of you.

[dbuzman]

You're just being rude and lazy if you're going to make it a point to not get over, and then proceed to match the speed of the person trying to merge, or make it difficult for them to merge.

No, rude is when you don't do a proper merge and expect others to let you in.

[Ledomar]

Iirc, when i was learning to drive, my instructor did tell me that a cop can pull you over if you don't switch lanes to allow someone to get onto a interstate or highway if you had more than enough room / chance to do so. But then again, that was 8 years ago, and I do it more out of the golden rule "Do unto others as you would want others to do unto you". And i'm not an SC.

[iradney]

Take the merging talk to fratching. You all know better than this.

There will be infractions if you carry on down this road.

[protege]

3) Sit in front of me long enough for me to take out my mobile, dial the "how is my driving?" number, then have a chat with a nice lady (on my hands-free) giving your registration number, location, and a detailed description of exactly what you just did to me.

I did something similar when I nearly got hit by some idiot in a delivery van. The guy cut me off twice...then blew through a red light, and nearly hit a school bus I caught up with him at the next light, wrote down the company name, his vehicle number, tag number, and then looked up his company on the 'net at work. Since I didn't have a cell phone at the time...I felt that a strongly-worded email to the safety director would be appropriate. I made sure to mention all the offenses, lace it with things like "company reputation," "liability," etc. and fired it off.

Not even a day later, I got a reply...stating that the driver in question had been suspended (without pay) pending an investigation. Apparently, it wasn't the first time someone had complained, and the company simply pulled the 'little black box' from the vehicle, ran the details, and dealt with the guy. A few days later, the company sent me another message, apologizing for the guy's driving...and let me know that he'd been canned.

Unfortunate that he lost his job, but if you drive like an asshole...you get what you deserve. The company simply realized that he was a liability, and wasn't about to deal with the fallout if he'd hit that school bus. Can't say I blame them!

[Food Lady]

if you carry on down this road.

OK, sorry, but "down this road" is making me giggle. Was that on purpose?