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November 11, 2007

'How to identify a cretin truck driver'

Uhhoiu

The annual "Best Of the Outdoors '07" Awards appear in the new (November, 2007) issue of Blue Ridge Outdoors, a monthly focused on just that.

Here is the winner of their "Best Letter Award," complete and unexpurgated. Not one word has been omitted.

    Not All Truckers Are People

    I would like to comment on the "Truckers are people, too" letter in the December [2006] issue. I have been a truck driver for sixteen years. I drive 2,800 miles a week. I am also a road cyclist and ride about 125 miles a week. Unfortunately, many truck drivers are cretins, so I thought I would share a few tips to help other bikers identify a cretin trucker.

    If there is a lot of chrome, or if a truck hauls livestock, chances are the driver is a cretin. Also, all dump trucks are driven by cretins. The rest of us are, for the most part, professional, and take the job seriously.

    Rodney Carter
    Charlotte, North Carolina

November 11, 2007 at 12:01 PM | Permalink


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Comments

Might I recommend the wonderful book "Uncommon Carriers" by John McPhee. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/18/books/review/18hochschild.html?fta=y

Posted by: shoepal | Nov 11, 2007 10:40:44 PM

I don't know what it's like in the US, but in the UK (and the rest of the EU) trucks over a certain weight are governed to 90kph (56mph). Trouble is there's a slight variation in the precision of the governor settings, and since the drivers tend to let the governor control their speed on motorways you get silly situations, particularly where there are only two lanes each way. Truck A has a top speed perhaps 1/4 mph more then truck B, but can't be arsed to control his speed so he overtakes. at a little under four and a half inches per second difference in speed this can take a VERY long time. So much so that sometimes car drivers leave the motorway and rejoin, hoping to make it down the slip road, through the roundabout and back up onto the carriageway ahead of the trucks.

But it's OK, 'cos truckers always insist that they'd never do anything like that, so it must just be my imagination.

Posted by: Skipweasel | Nov 11, 2007 5:05:35 PM

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