I've got to rant! The Bruce!

[GregnDee]

Hi there

We are on the road again! M

But here's my rant!

This week has not been a good one as far as encounters with truck drivers is concerned! Let me first say that as nomads who have been travelling virtually full time for six plus years, we have until now NEVER had an issue...in fact it's been really pleasant as we travel, as my Greg is an ex truckie from way back when himself, and with caravan on tow we use Ch 40 and always always move over when we can, back off when we can, to let them by, and they have always been courteous, and often had a little chat.

So what happened this week? We are travelling up the Bruce, past Bundy, towards a caretaking job we have in FNQ, starting Easter, using our European caravan which has no little message on the back saying we are on Ch 40....so the truckies don't know we can hear them. Now, in mitigation, the Bruce is DIRE in places, no overtaking for miles, double lines, no space on the verge, not good.

1st encounter: We were behind a string of slow moving traffic. Doing 80kph....couldn't have gone any faster if we wanted to! On air "*****ing caravans, why don't they go at a decent ****ing speed, move the **** over, and let us workers by"...."Yea Mate, they should be ****ing off, even when it's two lanes they then ***ing speed up"....."****ing right".....etc. Greg goes on air with "not us, we always pull over when we can, you foul mouthed b******ds".......more rhetoric from truckies.. Then I came on air and said "like to know how we can grow wings and fly over the drivers in front of us, you stupid a**holes". Silence.

2nd encounter, same day: no words spoken, but a huge Bdouble sat on our backside, about a metre away, trying to intimidate us. Now, the problem with that is that it's nigh on impossible to pull over into a layby type area then, as we would have to slow down and then he really would have been on us! We eventually managed it, but we could have pulled over much earlier if he had backed off a bit.

3rd encounter, the next day: again, driving at 80 kph, traffic in front not going any faster. Truckie no 1: "why don't you run 'em off the road?".....truckie no 2: "love to mate, one less to worry about"....truckie no 3: "I'm with you guys, go ferit"...."bl**dy holidaymakers, ..should ban 'em...keep us workers from doing our job"....."yea, let's see ya run 'em off the road". To which we went on air and mentioned that we were not on holiday, and we could hear them. Wish we could've recorded it! Anyway, Greg was as calm as cucumber over it, just said to me that Queensland truckies don't have a good name, especially the young bucks....

I on the other hand, got peed off, as we are always aware that they have a job to do, and would help them on their way whenever we can. We did notice a caravan coming the other way with a truck right on his bum, too!

So all I can say is if towing, or in a motorhome, avoid the Bruce highway unless you want to hear foul language and abuse.

Apologies to all the courteous, lovely hardworking truck drivers that are not like the above....which is most of them!

Rant concluded.

Cheers
Dee

[Dot]

That's where a dash cam comes in handy with the proof they can not dispute as it shoes time date where they are and also voice recorded, just right for the truck company boss and the police. I wonder if those nice fellas could have been done for something like reckless driving, intent to harm or even attempted murder I have the UHF on 40 and have no issue with their lingo (as it is their known channel) but I do buck up with their intimidation tactics from the very few that do it. Hope the rest of your travels are a lot happier.

[GregnDee]

Yea you're right Dot. We have a dashcam but it wasn't switched on! DUGH!

[dapope]

All you have to do is tell em its on..... they wont know, and if you say you have them on record, the chances are pretty good they will shut up.
We copped a spray just before xmas, when we had a fuel issue. Igot back on the cb, said I had a fuel feed issue and was just as unhappy about being forced to travel at 70 as they were, and was staying hard left to allow them past as soon as i could. I actually got a grumbled thanks.

[SteveW]

3% of the population is Psychotic. 17% is suffering from a psychological disturbance at any given time. Enjoy the other 80%.

How many people are on this forum?

[Dot]

How did you know I was in that 17%??

[SteveW]

How did you know I was in that 17%??

I said "any given time" not all the time!

[Kelvin12]

Get onto 000 immediately and tell them you are being intimidated and are scared for your life and request assistance. Tell them you are afraid to pull over as the truck is tail gating and really close and you are scared he is going to run into you. Get numbers even on the trailer if they get around you and make a complaint. If more motorists did this then the cowboys would soon be on the unemployed list. Take the company name and get stuck into the manager, give him numbers if you can, time date and location. Most have GPS tracking these days so the manager will know who the clown is and probably give him a rev up over the 2 way or phone. The old drivers usually pull the young blokes into line but at times the young blokes hook up and travel together. Don't hesitate make the complaint. The sooner these cowboys are out of the trade the better and the safer its going to be for all concerned.

Dirk

[Dot]

My sister had a big prob with a truck, she took the truck and trailer info then she told her husb who immediately contacted both owners. At first the truck company said "No it wasn't him he was in SA" but after a few more complaints had been received and a speeding fine from one of the highway cameras it was found that the young truck driver had NOT left Melb when he was supposed to and was hassling to make up time. Outcome, he got the sack.
I also had a bad tailgating episode coming back from Melb so I turned off the freeway after getting the truck info and headed to the nearest cop shop, (Ballan) they radioed the boys at Ballarat and stopped the offending truck went over it with a fine toothed comb and found the nice young man was hiding a lot of that green grass stuff in the sleeping compartment. ha ha got yu.

[SteveW]

Just imagine if truck drivers took the the same approach and reported cars that do the wrong thing. Trucks would have the road to themselves. In 80% of fatal accidents involving heavy trucks and motor cars, the car driver is at fault.

Drivers who choose to travel below the posted speed limit (as is their legal right) must expect that other road users in vehicles of all description will be coming up behind and needing to pass (as is their legal right). It becomes a matter of opinion in many cases (leaving aside the ridiculous) as to whether the manner of preparing to overtake is dangerous.

Insert smiley: Ducking for cover