Another Example Of "why Are People Just Stupid?" ...inspired By Guyjax

There's a hill just North of the weigh stations in Monument, Colorado. At over 7,000 ft, the crest of this hill is the highest point on I-25 between there and Wyoming. It's dangerous as the wind whips over it and causes road conditions to change rapidly from snowy on the incline to icy at the top. If a trucker doesn't have a pre-pass in the cab, traveling North, he must stop at the weigh station at the bottom of this hill, thereby thwarting any chances that he might gain some momentum to surmount the top, a mile and a half beyond. After weighing in, he'll start at zero mph and slowly work his way up to the top. If anyone's vehicle is going to die on the freeway, it does so here, because the mountain is tough on engines and drivers make a mad dash to the top as the speed limit is 75mph, with 3 lanes of highway in either direction. At the top of the hill, there's an off-ramp, bridge, and exit for those who want to travel East or West. The off-ramp is also steep and has a stop sign to allow those traversing the bridge right of way. You can google-earth this exit (163 on I-25).

I was traveling West towards this bridge, about to take a right turn to the on-ramp to I-25 North in my personal vehicle during morning rush-hour when the weigh station is almost always open. I had no stop sign and clear right of way. Often, truckers coming up Monument Hill and exiting to this stop sign choose to not stop at all, in order to "slide" through the intersection without losing the momentum that they've finally gained after climbing the previous 1.5 mile stretch from the weigh station. I'm sure they don't want to come to a complete stop but I've done it with a 28-foot pup and it's not that difficult.

With my eyes darting all over, like a good little Smith System grad, I see this dry-pneumatic tanker approaching me from the South, on that ramp, just before the stop sign where he's supposed to stop. Seeing that he wasn't slowing down for the stop sign, I kept my eyes on him and slowed before I made my right turn onto the ramp where he was also about to go. We were both headed for the same, North-bound ramp. (A lot of times, truckers will pull onto the off-ramp, go up and over the East-West road (County Line), pull their rigs to the right of the off-ramp, and either take a nap or do a quick pre-trip of their rig and check connections, tires, etc., and then proceed North again.) However, this trucker did not stop at all and I, not having a stop sign, had to stop and let him cut in front of me or allow myself to get broad-sided by him, on my door. Rather than getting into a p***ing contest and losing by dying, I let him go.

Here's the "stupid": Instead of politely moving through the stop sign without stopping and gesturing a "Hey, thank you for letting me through, even though I just broke the law and busted a stop sign in front of you," he crossed the intersection, taking both hands off the wheel, throwing them across one another and then flinging both arms outward again, back and forth 2 or 3 times, obviously swearing and cursing me out, as though I had been the one at fault, causing a near accident. There is no way in h*** he had any right of way what-so-ever, with his stop sign and my lack there-of. At a complete halt, with no stop sign, while he passed in front of me, just inches beyond the nose of my vehicle, I leaned far into the windshield, looking straight up, making sure he could see me (because that's the 5th principle of the Smith System, you know) I gestured vehemently, straight up in the air towards him with both fists clenched and only the 1 finger necessary on each hand to express my true feelings for him. Without a doubt, he could read the 2 words that explained my 2 middle fingers, exploding from my lips, over and over again, till he passed. He pulled over to the right, on the North-bound, downward ramp, quickly hopped out of the cab, and moved to the shoulder-side of his rig, pretending to check connections, etc. He was wise to put his rig between him and me as I was furious.

With me not looking like your typical truck driver, but wearing my favorite "Mack Trucks" t-shirt, I'm sure he was a bit surprised when I lowered my passenger-side window to again, express my true feelings for him, ask him rhetorically what the h*** he thought he was doing running a stop sign and then bullying me on the road; let him know I was copying down his tractor number, trailer number, DOT truck number, company name, and license plate number; and to tell him that I too was a trucker, I was calling him on his s***, and "Go ahead and pretend like you're doing a legitimate pre-trip, (insert serious drunken Russian sailor run-on name-calling terms, here) cause I can tell, you're just hiding behind your 5th wheel, and oh by the way, you should watch your temper on the road, B****!"

OOoo. mountain girl <== was verwy, angrwy girwl.

I have always, always respected truckers and their huge rigs since before I could drive, but these bad apples, like the one Guyjax encountered in the parking lot, need to know that bullying other drivers -truckers & 4-wheelers alike- into near-accidents with 40 tons of cargo and violent gestures, is not acceptable; and sometimes you need to "speak the language" or take the types of actions you can be sure will be appropriately absorbed - like a foul mouth or a even better, a sizable fine.

Good for you Mountain Girl!

Luckily, I have only run across a few of these knuckleheads and your well described response is pretty close to how I reacted a couple times.

The last time I ran across one these vermin was going through one of the construction zones on I65 South. The left lane was closed ahead of me and he thought he could muscle his way in front of my truck before the merge... Well, no. He apparently saw "Averitt" on my truck and figured I was some kind of softy or something. I seen him coming, judged the distance then pushed the peddle to the floor. (Of course I was safe about it). He immediately went to cussing on the CB calling me all kinds of things and threatening to whip my ass. I didn`t say a word back, didn`t have to. The airways lit up with the other truckers around reading this dude the riot act and saying he aught to have his ass whipped for trying that ****. I would have had to hard break to let him in which would cause an accordion effect on the drivers behind me. Not gonna happen. His radio must have stopped working because he went silent.

I am not necessarily a "nice" guy, but, I will not tolerate that level of stupid.

Righton! Sometimes you just gotta' put yer foot down!

Ha-ha! That's punny!

-mountain girl

Good for you mtn girl! Did you report him to his company?

Good for you Mountain Girl!

Luckily, I have only run across a few of these knuckleheads and your well described response is pretty close to how I reacted a couple times.

The last time I ran across one these vermin was going through one of the construction zones on I65 South. The left lane was closed ahead of me and he thought he could muscle his way in front of my truck before the merge... Well, no. He apparently saw "Averitt" on my truck and figured I was some kind of softy or something. I seen him coming, judged the distance then pushed the peddle to the floor. (Of course I was safe about it). He immediately went to cussing on the CB calling me all kinds of things and threatening to whip my ass. I didn`t say a word back, didn`t have to. The airways lit up with the other truckers around reading this dude the riot act and saying he aught to have his ass whipped for trying that ****. I would have had to hard break to let him in which would cause an accordion effect on the drivers behind me. Not gonna happen. His radio must have stopped working because he went silent.

I am not necessarily a "nice" guy, but, I will not tolerate that level of stupid.

Ah yes...those wonderful bully truckers.

Did you report him to his company?

-Rhonda

Actually, I did not. I became very busy for the next 2 days and didn't get around to it. This area is part of the route I take to drive one of my high school-ers to school. Two days later, at the same spot, same time, I watched the same guy pull up to that stop sign. He stopped this time, and then crossed over to inspect his rig again. Strange coincidence that I saw him again. Maybe I caused a little change ...

-mountain girl