What grinds your gears?

[speedjunkie]

^^^
funny story, i too was driving down 36 the other day...and slammed into a family of ducks...still trying to get feathers and blood out of my grille. fuuuu

Yesterday morning around 4am when I was driving home from taking Simon to Ft Carson, I was driving up Constitution back towards home and 5 deer were crossing the street, slower than I've ever seen deer walk before. I stopped the car and tried to explain to them that they need to cross at the designated deer crossing that we've set up for them, but they didn't seem to care.

What grinds my gears?

Careless deer.

The megageniuses who thought it would be cool to caravan an extra large cylindrical tank on a flatbed truck down CO-470 during today's 9am rush hour-- one so large it backs up traffic for miles down to 25 MPH, one so large it can't fit under Quebec St's bridge over the highway so they turn off just ahead of me where I get off, one so large, they stop traffic so they can pull the traffic light wires up to let it pass at the top of the off ramp I'm now stuck on before ambling down the other side to get back on CO-470 and jack up a few thousand more commutes.

Here's a suggestion, you Florida plate heavy load jerks: do this crap not during rush hour.

My Dad has driven a semi for about 40 years now, and I know what grinds his gears are people driving normal cars that have no idea the hassle of driving a semi, people much like yourself obviously, that sometimes tend to (most of the time unknowingly) make the job of driving a truck even harder. I can tell you the driver possibly felt bad for holding up traffic, or maybe he didn't. It doesn't really matter either way, it happened and there is nothing you can do about it now. Sure, I've been pissed off a few times by trucks, but after riding with my Dad in the truck and seeing some of the stupid shit pulled by people driving in regular cars, I appreciate their plight much more now. Another thing...it doesn't really matter to them what time they're going through town. They'd much rather not do it at rush hour, I can tell you that, but sometimes you can't help it. That truck driver has a job to do, just like you do. And if it puts him in traffic at rush hour, so be it. He's probably not going to concern himself with some dipshit he doesn't even know that is slightly inconvenienced by him DOING HIS JOB. He just wants to get his job done and go home.

M'kay pumpkin?

Sorry if this comes off as cross, but I take issues with truck driver's pretty personally, especially if the complainer has never driven one, riden in one, or knows nothing about it in general.

[chromal]

My Dad has driven a semi for about 40 years now, and I know what grinds his gears are people driving normal cars that have no idea the hassle of driving a semi, people much like yourself obviously, that sometimes tend to (most of the time unknowingly) make the job of driving a truck even harder.

Sorry if this comes off as cross, but I take issues with truck driver's pretty personally, especially if the complainer has never driven one, riden in one, or knows nothing about it in general.

Well, this just kinda sets me off.

If I were to drive like a douche in a car, I maybe affect a few people, but in most cases, it's pretty limited, at least judging from situations where I've been around problematic car drivers. If a truck drive drives down a freeway with a wide load at rush hour slowing traffic from 65-70 down to 25, he affects tens of thousands of drivers. What the **** gives them that right? Maybe it isn't the driver's fault, maybe it's just a system is too lax with wide/heavy loads in metro areas during bottleneck hours, but to me, what they were doing crosses the line from shitty into positively sociopathic. Their piece of crap trucks also tear up the roads I rely upon, but, hey, what the hell do they care? We're just a pissing stop on the way through to some distant destination. They feel no sense of obligation to the communities they are screwing in various ways simultaneously.

And don't get me started about truck drivers transporting improperly secured loads of rock/stone/gravel. As far as I'm concerned, those mofos own me for every cracked windshield and rock chip from a rock I saw fall out of their trailer, bounce several times, maybe even out of their lane into mine, and land on my car. This was the first thing that happened to my then-new MZ3 after owning it two weeks.

Do this shit at night, or at least not when everyone is driving to or from work. And to be clear, these are exceptional situations I'm talking about, so you're jumping the gun if you're projecting you family onto it, unless they did the things I describe above. Truck drivers shouldn't assume all car drivers are jerks because of a few bad apple in exactly the same way I don't assume all truck drivers are douchebags because of a few bad apples.

*phew* Okay. I feel better now.

[Huzer]

To add to the "why are they doing this during rush hour?"...the idiot cops up north pulling people over this morning backing up traffic. Probably 4 or 5 people pulled over this morning between 120th/Thornton Parkway. Must be getting a jump start on this month's quota.

[tsx_guy]

Yesterday morning around 4am when I was driving home from taking Simon to Ft Carson, I was driving up Constitution back towards home and 5 deer were crossing the street, slower than I've ever seen deer walk before. I stopped the car and tried to explain to them that they need to cross at the designated deer crossing that we've set up for them, but they didn't seem to care.

What grinds my gears?

Careless deer.

I find you have to be pretty firm with wildlife or they will walk all over you.
You shouldn't need to resort to violence, but if they think you are capable of it, they will back down.

oh and karma. There were two ducks standing in my parking spot this morning. I rolled up on them but they didn't seem to care, they just waddled on by quite slowly. I considered getting out and kicking them, but they were so darn cute.

[Coulda]

Well, this just kinda sets me off.

If I were to drive like a douche in a car, I maybe affect a few people, but in most cases, it's pretty limited, at least judging from situations where I've been around problematic car drivers. If a truck drive drives down a freeway with a wide load at rush hour slowing traffic from 65-70 down to 25, he affects tens of thousands of drivers. What the **** gives them that right? Maybe it isn't the driver's fault, maybe it's just a system is too lax with wide/heavy loads in metro areas during bottleneck hours, but to me, what they were doing crosses the line from shitty into positively sociopathic. Their piece of crap trucks also tear up the roads I rely upon, but, hey, what the hell do they care? We're just a pissing stop on the way through to some distant destination. They feel no sense of obligation to the communities they are screwing in various ways simultaneously.

And don't get me started about truck drivers transporting improperly secured loads of rock/stone/gravel. As far as I'm concerned, those mofos own me for every cracked windshield and rock chip from a rock I saw fall out of their trailer, bounce several times, maybe even out of their lane into mine, and land on my car. This was the first thing that happened to my then-new MZ3 after owning it two weeks.

Do this shit at night, or at least not when everyone is driving to or from work. And to be clear, these are exceptional situations I'm talking about, so you're jumping the gun if you're projecting you family onto it, unless they did the things I describe above. Truck drivers shouldn't assume all car drivers are jerks because of a few bad apple in exactly the same way I don't assume all truck drivers are douchebags because of a few bad apples.

*phew* Okay. I feel better now.

Takeing a wide load down a certain highway at a certain time isnt the truck driver or even the company's fault most times. They have to get permits from the agencies that are in charge of the roads. Usually you cannot pick time, place or road. I would venture to say that driver doesnt want to take his wide load through a busy highway at rush hour just as much as you dont want him to.

[chromal]

I would venture to say that driver doesnt want to take his wide load through a busy highway at rush hour just as much as you dont want him to.

That's probably true, and in retrospect, I probably should have been more thoughtful with my wording. The real problem is the way the system works, not the drivers (well, what I said about drivers who let rocks/gravel leak out still applies. Once I was even behind a septic tank pump trunk letting a not insignificant amount of raw sewage stream out on the road in front of me). I realize trucking is a hell of a job, and even if you have the special sort of personality to deal with it, you deal with a lot of crap on the roads. I'm in no way condemning 99% of the CDL operators, who are amazingly careful and courteous. (Not a job I could ever pretend to handle well).

And yeah, a bit -1 for deer selfishly crossing outside of designated deer crosswalks. There was a big dumb elk on the road today. Always something in the foothills, 'share the road' means more than cyclists up there!

[geo2maz]

I def hate unsecured-loads drivers,... those seem to be more individuals than big truck companies.
I saw one a few months ago, it's flat-bed thing was filled with junk and it was so weighed-down that it was dragging and making sparks all over the highway... I called that one in,
--
After driving a fully-loaded 23-foot Penske moving-truck from Denver to Indiana, my respect for truck drivers grew, now I try to give them lots of space, and let them over and so on... I came close to hitting a few cars in the penske, if it wasn't for a few nice drivers who moved over for me i would have hit several! It seems like it takes 20 feet to come to a complete stop at low speeds even...

[Dange]

im not berating you chromal but just giving my view of the subject. My best friend was a truck driver for a few years. and believe me most of them would be rather driving at night vs rush hour...
you know that annoying feeling in gridlock of shift-clutch-brake-shift-clutch-brake..
thats nothing in a 6 speed. because you weight less than 5000lbs and rarely have to get out of first.
him.. depending on the truck and cargo hes weighing up to something like 80,000lbs and trying to get that stopped or moving smoothly. has up to 18 gears with an under-drive making a potential 36 gears. meaning when traffic actually does move hes shifting at least 3 maybe 4 times just to get the 25 mph that every one is doing just before he gets cut off and hits on the brakes.
Its annoying as ****, but they are getting paid by the mile. and that load has a deadline so when they WANT to drive doesn't always coincide with when they have to drive.

I really hate unsecured load drivers too though. there is no excuse for that.


and as for the deer, the tasty little deer.... just wait till i have my deuce and a half. a big cargo area out back, and the things your front end can take when you have a steel girder as a front bumper.

[speedjunkie]

Well, this just kinda sets me off.

If I were to drive like a douche in a car, I maybe affect a few people, but in most cases, it's pretty limited, at least judging from situations where I've been around problematic car drivers. If a truck drive drives down a freeway with a wide load at rush hour slowing traffic from 65-70 down to 25, he affects tens of thousands of drivers. What the **** gives them that right? Maybe it isn't the driver's fault, maybe it's just a system is too lax with wide/heavy loads in metro areas during bottleneck hours, but to me, what they were doing crosses the line from shitty into positively sociopathic. Their piece of crap trucks also tear up the roads I rely upon, but, hey, what the hell do they care? We're just a pissing stop on the way through to some distant destination. They feel no sense of obligation to the communities they are screwing in various ways simultaneously.

And don't get me started about truck drivers transporting improperly secured loads of rock/stone/gravel. As far as I'm concerned, those mofos own me for every cracked windshield and rock chip from a rock I saw fall out of their trailer, bounce several times, maybe even out of their lane into mine, and land on my car. This was the first thing that happened to my then-new MZ3 after owning it two weeks.

Do this shit at night, or at least not when everyone is driving to or from work. And to be clear, these are exceptional situations I'm talking about, so you're jumping the gun if you're projecting you family onto it, unless they did the things I describe above. Truck drivers shouldn't assume all car drivers are jerks because of a few bad apple in exactly the same way I don't assume all truck drivers are douchebags because of a few bad apples.

*phew* Okay. I feel better now.

I kinda figured it might set you off, I wasn't very cautious with my wording either.

For one, like Coulda said, I can assure you that driver doesn't want to be in rush hour traffic either, it REALLY does not help out their situation, sometimes that's just how it works out on long trips and that's the time you show up to the destination. When they travel a good distance especially, it's not really feasible to keep stopping or to drive faster to make sure you put yourself at a certain place at a certain time. Most of the time my Dad will drive through to a place and end up sleeping in the truck outside the business he is delivering to or receiving from, sometimes camping out for several hours or sometimes just minutes, it all depends.

And they may tear up the roads, but they also deliver MANY of the things you depend on in your daily life. Take trucking out of the equation and see how you get along in your day to day routine. Trucking is a VERY vital industry and what I consider the lifeblood of our country. Along with trains transporting what the trucks can't.

And for the rocks, etc. I fully agree with you that it's super annoying to get rock chips. I've been there. But have you ever tried to carry water in a strainer? Kinda the same thing. They can't keep control of EVERY rock. And actually, if you get the license number off the truck, most of the time the company will pay to repair your windshield or replace it. I've never done that, but that's what I've heard.

I don't know if my Dad has ever hauled rock, but I'm sure he's been in rush hour traffic and pissed some people off. So yeah, I'm going to take it personally when you fly off the handle about people that are doing a job no one else wants to do, but a job that everyone NEEDS to be done. Furthermore, he doesn't assume that every driver of cars is a jerk, but most of the time they remove doubt for him by doing something stupid.

However, I do agree with you if a hazardous material, etc., or anything is being hauled in an unsafe manner and people can get hurt.

To add to the "why are they doing this during rush hour?"...the idiot cops up north pulling people over this morning backing up traffic. Probably 4 or 5 people pulled over this morning between 120th/Thornton Parkway. Must be getting a jump start on this month's quota.

I was about to ask why it was slowing down traffic, but nevermind....rubberneckers right? I HATE rubberneckers. When you're creeping down the interstate at 30mph for 10 miles, only to discover the source of the problem is someone pulled over on the OTHER SIDE. ARGH!!!!

I find you have to be pretty firm with wildlife or they will walk all over you.
You shouldn't need to resort to violence, but if they think you are capable of it, they will back down.

oh and karma. There were two ducks standing in my parking spot this morning. I rolled up on them but they didn't seem to care, they just waddled on by quite slowly. I considered getting out and kicking them, but they were so darn cute.

LOL.

Maybe the ducks heard what you did to their buddies and were there to wack you.

After driving a fully-loaded 23-foot Penske moving-truck from Denver to Indiana, my respect for truck drivers grew, now I try to give them lots of space, and let them over and so on... I came close to hitting a few cars in the penske, if it wasn't for a few nice drivers who moved over for me i would have hit several! It seems like it takes 20 feet to come to a complete stop at low speeds even...

Yep, taking into consideration stopping times, view of the full trailer, etc., are just a couple things to think about. How about when they want to make a turn and someone is sitting right at the light and won't back up, and then everyone behind the truck gets pissed off because they aren't moving?

[christi]

they did the things I describe above. Truck drivers shouldn't assume all car drivers are jerks because of a few bad apple in exactly the same way I don't assume all truck drivers are douchebags because of a few bad apples.

*phew* Okay. I feel better now.

edit:
You DO realize the company they work for tells them WHEN to drive? Thy have no choice. And I'm sure it was his every intention to back up that area. Let me tell you. I agree with Eric. Most of my family on my dads side drives trucks - until you drive or ride in one you've no idea the shit they deal with. It doesn't even have to be with bad drivers or the ones claiming to be good ...

At any rate I do hate when some trucks carry their used tires and they come off the bed. My mz3 was destroyed in the front and underneath (luckily still under warranty at the time) back in 2005. It destroyed my car, a lexcus and two other cars on the hwy in GA. That shit annoys me.

[christi]

Oh and trying to fix my car and everything possible happens to not let it run.

..and sinus'. I just got better and it's back again. Ugh

[mOOsE]

ebay buyers that win an auction and don't pay for several days, or weeks...

ebay not allowing to leave negative feedback for above type of buyer...creating only 100% feedback buyer market.

[bellalyssa]

Friends who stab you in the back... that's mildly annoying.

[tsx_guy]

Friends who stab you in the back... that's mildly annoying.

i concur, tut does that to me all the time...what a jackass!

[kingtut]

i concur, tut does that to me all the time...what a jackass!

Hey, remember that time you slipped and said 'that guy was hot'?

(reads above) Oopz.