[Kenneth]

‘Urine trouble,’ some states warn truckers

I seen those along the highway...

[OwlBoy]

You know, sometimes I wonder how life works. Cuz I hear a term, or a word, of an idea talked about one night (like trucker bombs last night) and then you see it again more recently (this thread, and news item come up...)

hmm

-Owl

[iMOTOR]

When I was in Cub Scouts, our den made the mistake of having us volunteer to cleanup a stretch road.

We found crusty condoms, syringes (tons), and all kinds of nasty.

We never found "trucker bombs" though.

[wdlove]

Why don't they just go off the side of the road behind some bushes. Then there would be no need for the jugs. Certainly not the environmentally friendly way.

[OwlBoy]

Originally Posted by iMOTOR

When I was in Cub Scouts, our den made the mistake of having us volunteer to cleanup a stretch road.

We found crusty condoms, syringes (tons), and all kinds of nasty.

We never found "trucker bombs" though.

Ours cleaned up the local Truck Stop

-Owl

[JoshuaZ]

Thats just kind of sick. Really.

[nredman]

no offense to truckers but some of them are pretty nasty without all this piss jug stuff

[ghporter]

Long haul truckers who are under so much pressure to "get it there" without enough time to take a potty break are also under so much pressure that they use "artifical means" to stay awake for longer stretches of time than they should-and they have very nasty accidents. This is a sign of trucking companies cutting the wrong corners.

GEEZE! Who can't afford ten minutes now and then do download? I need the breaks to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. Anyone NOT under work pressure to drive straight through is just being lazy or gross.

[Albert Pujols]

If you run, sometimes you find some cool stuff on the side of the road. One of my friends found a bundle of money and a sack of jewelry..his mom made him turn it all in to the police. Once I found a phone, some drum sticks and some other garbage. I've never seen trucker bombs before but one of my friends found a large dildo on the side of the road once while running. Gross.

[mdc]

two friends and i used to hitchhike to where ever we landed up, on days we were bored. the one day we were on the side of highway waiting for a lift and we found a porn video tape.

we guess someone's upset significant other tossed it out.

[Eug Wanker]

[ManOfSteal]

Ummmmmm......

[Kerrigan]

hahaha that's so foul

but it's not nearly as bad as as the "Hershey's Kisses" that so many truckers toss onto the side of the road..

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Long haul truckers who are under so much pressure to "get it there" without enough time to take a potty break are also under so much pressure that they use "artifical means" to stay awake for longer stretches of time than they should-and they have very nasty accidents. This is a sign of trucking companies cutting the wrong corners.

Is it even legal? Here, truck drivers can't drive (legally) for more than an hour and a half without taking at least 15 minutes break. They're also not allowed to drive more than something like six or seven hours per calender day, put together. Are there no rules like these in the US?

[BasketofPuppies]

No, it's not legal. The pressure to get things to their destinations as fast as possible means most truckers lie on their time cards.

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by BasketofPuppies

No, it's not legal. The pressure to get things to their destinations as fast as possible means most truckers lie on their time cards.

How heavy are the penalties?

I remember (vaguely) one case involving a Norwegian driver who had taken speed or something to stay awake, and driven, without a single break, for more than 28 hours straight, then crashed into another car and injured a woman. I think he got five years. So the penalties are pretty heavy here, meaning that the drivers usually don't dare to break the rules. Lying on their time cards doesn't work that well, either: most companies have monitors in the trucks, so that they can see when the truck is driving; if it exceeds the limit, the monitor will beep, both in the truck and at the 'central', and the central will call up the driver saying he needs to take a break. Very clever system.

[Kenneth]

oh yea.. the fine jumps from $95 to $1,000.

[BasketofPuppies]

Originally Posted by Oisín

How heavy are the penalties?

That I don't know. Someone with knowledge of the U.S. trucker profession will have to answer that. I only know what I read and hear.

Somehow I doubt the safeguards to prevent rule breaking are as robust as the ones in Norway.

Of course, using illegal drugs, colliding with other vehicles, and injuring others will result in severe legal action, regardless of your profession.

[JoshuaZ]

Maybe this is why people think so lowly of truckers these days.

[BasketofPuppies]

Nah, people always had low opinions of truckers. The truck ad during the Super Bowl several years ago taught a lot of people the trucker stereotypes of old are no longer true.

Except this one, apparently.

[OldManMac]

As as long haul trucker in training, and having a sister who's been driving a semi for 9 years, the rest stops are a problem. The pressure to keep driving is very intense, although some companies do insist their drivers take the necessary bathroom breaks. Most pay by the mile, which causes the drivers to want to keep rolling.

[ghporter]

Long haul truckers used to be "the knights of the road." They'd stop and help a disabled motorist, assist in finding lost kids, drive responsibly and courteously and generally provide a great example of how to use U.S. highways. Today, those folks are retired or doing something else, and the majority of long haulers are either following the rules and not making as much money, or doing what they need to to make more money-whether it's right, legal, ethical, or not.

[OldManMac]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Long haul truckers used to be "the knights of the road." They'd stop and help a disabled motorist, assist in finding lost kids, drive responsibly and courteously and generally provide a great example of how to use U.S. highways. Today, those folks are retired or doing something else, and the majority of long haulers are either following the rules and not making as much money, or doing what they need to to make more money-whether it's right, legal, ethical, or not.

The majority of long haulers are in fact following the rules and don't do much unethical or illegal; it's the minority of cowboys who give truckers a bad name. To work for most large companies, like Schneider, J. B. Hunt, etc., you either have to attend their training courses or spend a couple of grand to go to a training school, and the companies are very insistent on safe driving practices. I'm in the middle of a training course from Schneider, and within the first two weeks of driver training they have already sent at least a half dozen students packing, for not being able to grasp the concepts of driving a big truck. This is out of a class of approximately 70 students, of which another dozen or so have decided that trucking isn't for them.

The real problems on the roads are the ignoramuses behind the steering wheels of cars, who regularly cut off truckers pulling an 80,000 pound load, without being able to grasp the simple concept that it takes much longer to stop an 80,000 pound truck than a car, or the morons who insist on creeping into intersections, well past the big white stop line (which you can be ticketed for going past), as if the light is going to turn green quicker because they're in a hurry to get to the next stop light, or the imbeciles who don't use their turn signals and cause accidents, oblivious to what's going on around them.

Truckers still are by far the safest drivers, and the vast majority of car-truck accidents are the fault of the car driver.

[sek929]

As a car driver I see way more Semi-rigs use that 80,000 pounds themselves to force vehicles out of their way, at least here in Mass, also I love when they travel in the fast lane (it being illegal and all). I don't think car drivers need to watch out for big rigs, its the other way around. I mean if I drove a monster truck around and complained how people didn't give me enough room you'd tell me to quit whining and buy a Geo.

I do agree there is to much presssure on many drivers to drive to the utter limits of the human body, and now with companies spending way more on fuel you can expect the pressure to squeeze every mile to rise.