Alley Docking And Impatient Motorists

From the archives

I hope the camera and truck audio is recording when I get some of these F'd up places. I curse the sales people vehemently, then later, I call operations and tell them how jacked up, unsafe, or impossible a particular place was in actuality; not from some office desk. I also take tons of photos of the bad ones. There are 8 places I refuse to take a dispatch to or from, so far. These are my Black List.

My most recent issue was with another truck driver. I was actually shocked in the situation because I felt like he should have known better.

I was sticking to the farthest right lane because my exit on to another interstate was coming up. Next thing I knew, an on ramp which had two lanes was flooding in with cars. I hit my right turning signal to signal to the flood of cars that I wanted over in to that lane of traffic in order to make it on to my exit. Cars were not budging and looked as though they were purposely closing in any and all gaps to prevent me from merging in. Finally, another tractor-trailer rolled up behind them and looked as if he was backing off, I presumed to give me enough room to merge in. As I started to merge in, this guy punches it and closes in the gap which forced me back in to the lane I was trying to merge out of; I was floored.

Many times have I been in that same situation in reverse and seen other truck drivers in the same situation I had been in and because I fully understand how easy it is to get screwed in that situation, I will ALWAYS back off and give them space to merge in. Nope, not this guy, he blatantly closes in the gap and caused me to miss the exit and left me in a hairy situation. I blew my big horn at him and in return he had the nerve to blow his back. I got on my CB and said, "What comes around goes around, my man. When it does, remember this day and know you had it coming."

It's bad enough we deal with cars who do this to us, but to get it from a fellow truck driver is mind blowing.

Unfortunately, the driving population is representative of society in general. Most people are nice and courteous but then you get the angry, rude, me-first individuals. Drive enough miles and you will inevitably encounter one of these drivers, such as you describe. Recently, I almost missed an entrance to an open scale because of a driver doing exactly the same thing. I did get in but I almost had to come to a complete stop before I could go left. It’s sad to see jerks like this behind the wheel but it’s just part of the fabric of our society.

I did have to laugh at something you said in your comment, though. You said: “Many times have I been in that same situation in reverse…”

Please stop driving in reverse, you’re just showing off. Lol

Please stop driving in reverse, you’re just showing off. Lol

Hahaha, that had me and a friend of mine cracking up, lol. Good one, haha!