USA Today had a moderately interesting article on highway traffic congestion and semi-trucks. The trucker they interviewed objected to laws restricting semis to the right two lanes or lower speed limits for trucks than for passenger vehicles. I can see some merit to his objections — he says, for example, that when trucks are restricted to the right two lanes, they create a wall of trucks that prevent traffic from merging into or off of the highway. And, I think you’re probably always asking for a bit of trouble when you have vehicles traveling at significantly different rates of speed. But, his efforts to point the finger at drivers of passenger vehicles with cell phones seemed a little convenient. Most likely the problem is simply too many vehicles for the amount of road available. Building more roads never seems to solve the problem for very long.
For my part, I get annoyed with the vehicles that just live in the left lanes, regardless of whether they are traveling faster than the traffic in the right lanes or semis that are passing other semis with minimal speed differentials — meaning it takes a long time to complete the pass, and God forbid a hill get in the way during the middle of the pass. The problem with people living in the left lane seems especially prominent among mini-vans in Ohio for some reason.
Dude, I HATE trucks.
There’s a proposal out there to upgrade all the insterstates to a configuration that physically separates passenger cars and trucks into different lanes. I would LOVE that. 2 lanes for cars separated by a wall from 2 lanes for trucks.
I drove trucks for my parents when I was in college; and have great respect for our men and women who drive trucks. I disagree with these states-like our own-that creates two different speed limits for cars and trucks. The situation you talk about, Doug, happens way too often.
If you want to see a wall of trucks in the two right hand lanes, I invite you to drive along I-80/94 between I-65 to the IL state line.
And Doug, stay away from Minnesota, then. The left hand lane IS the driving lane there;-)
I have great respect for good truck drivers.
(Rev & T’s clan instructed me to proceed with caution when I was driving near a JB Hunt truck, for example. Come to think of it, I owe a debt of gratitude to their family generally for all sorts of highway driving techniques.)
I commute an hr one way to work daily and trucks are way out of control. There are good and bad truck drivers but if a car does tangle with one, it rarely turns out well. I got ran off of the interstate a couple of months ago and I don’t think he ever did see me.
People that would like to buy cars with better fuel consumption feel that they are going to get plowed over by semi’s if they purchase smaller cars.
Bring back the railroads, it will stimulate small industrial towns again or give us a freaking commuter highway. It is getting way to dangerous to be a commuter anymore.
I usually switch back and forth between the passing lane and the driving lane when I’m driving in Indiana because there is space in the traffic to do so.
US 30 from Merrillville to Fort Wayne and I-65 south to Indianapolis are roadways where this is my preferred way of driving.
However, when I’m in Illinois, I usually like to stay steady in the fast lane cruising along with whatever speed the traffic is going since it is usually unimpeded by 18-wheelers anywhere on I-294 (from the Indiana state line until past O’Hare) until I get to I-94 or I-90.
Most people know to keep it moving or get out of the fast lane.
Otherwise, the trip is spent constantly fighting to get in and out of the passing lane feeling like Sammy Hagar with “one foot on the gas and one on the brake” because of the differences in speed between the two.
When the roads are jammed, but flowing well, it is better to just stay in a chosen lane until it is necessary to change lanes.
Of course, there are exceptions — the middle lane near O’Hare airport before the Touhy construction is always faster than the fast lane. And, sometimes the right lane can be faster because cars are leaving the highway, while the left and middle lanes are stuck in jams.
While I appreciate the hard work truckers do, the roadways around Chicago would be jammed even more than they are now if trucks are allowed into the passing/fast lane.
I bet one of these days, all of the roadways near Chicago and Northwest Indiana will have local and express lanes where trucks are prohibited to keep traffic flowing.
When the speed differential first came into being in Indiana, a lot of trucks passed each other slowly as a form of protest. I was spending some time in trucks at the time, as was the reverend. Truckers were pissed because they knew that this would cause tie-ups, and many were more than willing to drive in a way to accentuate the effect in order to better illustrate it.
But the other thing to remember is that trucks have varying amounts of extra horsepower relative to the loads they’re carrying, and often have to downshift and lose significant speed anyway even on the small hills of Indiana. By having a reduced maximum speed, they have less ability to build speed (legally) prior to starting up a hill or executing a pass. That also creates less separation between the trucks that want to go, say, 59 mph due to conditions or personal comfort level, and those going the maximum. That leads to a lot of slow passes. Sometimes trucks will be beside each other for several miles this way, with the one pulling slightly ahead, only to have the hill come along and shift the balance of power over to the other one.
Add in that every time a car decides that it should get over in the left lane to “reserve” the spot in front of the truck rather than accelerating prior to the lane change, the truck has to brake, downshift, and slowly come back to speed. Many a twenty-car lineup starts with such a maneuver slowing the “offending” truck down.
The other thing to remember is that virtually everything you eat, wear, or otherwise use or possess has been on a truck. Want less congestion? Consume less.
This discussion does remind me of at least three or four fights I’ve had with the missus. Upon waking up in the passenger seat with 15 tons of truck a few feet from my head (and realizing she had been passing the same truck for easily five miles), I was like– “Get my head away from this truck, please!”
She responded that he “keeps speeding up and slowing down!” So somehow she couldn’t get around him.
So once again I had to repeat the rule–blow by trucks on the UPHILL, and get the hell out of their way on the DOWNHILL. Doing the opposite just doesn’t work. If you crest that hill and you haven’t finished your pass, then you better be committed enough to hit 90, or you’re probably going to stay in that left lane for a while.
Chris-Trucks are restricted from the far left lane on i-65 from US 30 to the Borman. Trucks are restricetd from the left lane on I-94 form Michigan until I-65. At that point they are to remain in the two right lanes, reserving the two left lanes for cars. Police need to do a better job of enforcing this.
Also on US 30 through Lake and Porter counties they need to do like the town of Warsaw and limit trucks to the right hand lane only.
Interstate driver-You bring back the railroads to that power and you just have the Vanderbilts with money. Trucks will still be needed to get the goods from the railroad to terminal points. I think that all car drivers should have to ride in a semi for one day. I can say that 99% of my close calls driving a semi were caused by cars cutting me off, driving for miles in my “blind spot”, etc. The economy could not support all the truck drivers being laid off.
Um AJB, when I got ran off the road, I was in the right hand lane of 3 lanes of busy traffic and I couldn’t go anywhere. The truck driver either could not see me or could and decided he wanted my spot anyway. What about this is the car drivers fault? Yes we know truck drivers are never at fault, it is always the car drivers that are behaving poorly. Whatever.
I’ve had a close call or two with trucks. Having a trucking background, I always approach with the assumption that the truck can’t see me. I get into the passing lane, get on the gas, and get the job done. I don’t jockey for that last spot in line in front of the truck, etc. That being said, sometimes they just don’t see you. There’s a lot of vibration in trucks such that the image in the mirror is frequently shaking rapidly. The blind spot’s pretty big, too.
Truck drivers are much more highly trained and regulated than car drivers. But they’re piloting pretty big rigs. Stuff happens.
By the way, take them off the roads and you’ll crap at what you have to pay in fuel tax to maintain the roads. People don’t realize the trucking companies actually have to save receipts and show that they bought enough fuel to get through the particular states they drove in (unless that has changed in the last ten years). Did you buy tankfuls of fuel in Indiana (paying state road tax), and drive through Illinois without fueling up? Better be prepared to write a check to Illinois for the road tax you didn’t pay them by not fueling up.
T & Rev.AJB I’m proud of your comments.
interstate driver-I was in no way trying to diminish what happened to you. I can remember early in my driving making a left hand turn too sharply and nearly taking off the hood of a car. Luckily I was watching what I was doing and was able to correct my turn. What happened to you is the reason why all of us in cars need to be DEFENSIVE drivers. You can’t count on the other person seeing you.
Th other day I was forced off the road by a Volkswagen. Things could have turned out ugly there, too. And all that person had to do was turn their head and look out the back window to see me.
I’m glad you are safe-drive carefully!
BTW-KJB is our dad-the one I drove for in college!
I just love that the whole family drops by my blog. You guys have always been so good to me.