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80% of the general public supports expanding truck lane restrictions. However, only 20% of impacted truck drivers support expanding the restrictions.
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Being a professional driver myself, I have no problem with the restrictions. I usually try to stay in the far right lane anyway. I know I'm a safe driver, it's the "four wheelers" I have to watch out for and if they need their own lane to go 80 in while I cruise at 67 on the other side of the highway, then let them have at it. A little known fact is that over 75% of wrecks involving tractor-trailers and cars/pick-ups are the fault of the smaller vehicles, we just get blamed for them. But of course not all professional drivers are professional.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 9:19AMAccording to that presentation, traffic speeds were increased by 0.5 - 0.88 MPH -- about a 1-2% increase in speed, measured over a month, compared to the two preceding months. They call that a "small, but measurable" difference, but it may not even be statistically significant. You'd want to see accident rates and average speeds per month for maybe a year to see how these improvements compare to the normal month-to-month fluctuations. btw, their air quality improvements are estimated, not measured, based completely on the small increase in average speeds.
That they report average speeds to the hundredth of a MPH, when you could never measure the speed of any one vehicle that accurately, is something you would never see in a properly run study.
But hey, "the public" hates big trucks, so don't worry about any of that. Just think of the improvements we'd get if we restricted trucks to the rightmost lane!
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 9:34AMWant to make a real difference? Enforce the "Left lane for passing only" rule. Can't tell you how many times I watch cars cruise past those signs, full on left lane, for as far as the eye can see. Makes me want to smack a few people right in the face with the sign -- perhaps then they'll read it.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 9:44AMAm completely in favor of this. On a recent trip to Austin, traffic was backed up because two truckers decided to take up both lanes for miles -- not sure who wouldn't let whom pass or whatever, but everyone behind them paid the price. Then, as you neared Austin, the "no trucks in left lane" rule kicked in and traffic flowed smoothly. It's even worse in the stop-and-go traffic of rush hour (not the truckers' fault, ut just takes a lot to get those beasts moving!).
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 9:49AMManny Man - how many gators do you have to dodge on an average highway trip?
For the layman, a gator is a strip of tire retread that flies off a big-rig and sits in the road.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 10:16AMI agree with ignoreLander. The left lane is for passing. The cops should give tickets to anyone being passed on the right. The Germans do it and it keeps traffic moving fast and safer.
As a side note, keep an eye out for the bear traps on I-30 (both directions) between 360 and Beltline. Avoid the left lane in that area!
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 10:34AM"That they report average speeds to the hundredth of a MPH, when you could never measure the speed of any one vehicle that accurately, is something you would never see in a properly run study."
Actually, you can measure that fairly easily with the right data (and they should have it).
And the fact that they see an increase in overall speed across all three lanes is definitely a good result.
There are better measurements to explain/analyze how useful or useless the change may be, but they wouldn't make much sense to a Committee without prior understanding of the what the measurements mean. Summary with speed is, while lackluster, probably the best description they can give.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 12:26PMJS, you hit on a big pet peeve of mine.
One truck wants to drive 63 mph in the right lane and another truck comes behind him that wants to drive 64 mph and he attempts a pass. The result is a big butt plug lasting for 5 miles because the 64 mph truck slows down to 62 on a hill. Back and forth they go.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 12:35PMPlease do this. Please, please. "Some Guy" nails it, as does "JS." No huge impact on the 18-wheelers and a huge benefit for everyone else. Go see Austin. Go see the sections of I-20, I-30 where it is done. Please do this. And please extend it to Central and LBJ.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 12:56PMWe are so used to driving with trucks here there and everywhere down central Texas that it is a shock to drive north on I 35 and have practically no trucks around in comparison. We just came back from driving 3000 miles to Wisconsin and back and I would say driving to Austin is at least 10 times as difficult due to crowding by just the amazing number of trucks.
Oh, by the way, your stimulus dollars are definitely at work. I have never seen so many orange cones in my life on newly started projects in all the states we passed through. A final question. How can you make 111 miles of Kansas South I 35 a Tollroad?
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 1:08PMOften trucks will block the highway to slow traffic through speed traps. I've cursed trucks blocking traffic only to find they likely saved me a ticket.
In the City the left lane is for passing doesn't always work so well, the roads are just too congested. Finally the best thing for saving the environment is to slow down. Driving 55 would cut our gas consumption substantially.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 1:26PMI really, really wish they would restrict semis from I-35 through Dallas, Farmers Branch, Carrollton, and Lewisville. Truckers get in those left lanes and stay there even though they can't keep up with stop and go traffic. Or they want to be the ones to decide what the speed should be.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 2:10PMBetter to be complaining here than on that road-rage-inducing, soul-sucking stretch of I35 between downtown Dallas and Waco.
And I believe that if we truly preserved/enforced the "left lane for passing only" rule, we would be able to study a whole new set of data because the driving environment would be so different.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 2:43PMNow if they would only get rid of those (&*&!@%# "Managed HOV Lanes"...
I'd like to see a similar study that shows HOV lanes really contribute to anything other than the state highway fund.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 3:30PMCan anybody explain why ALL long-haul trucking isn't on freight trains, either via piggyback trailers or containers?
Big Ten Four:
Just for grins, my son and I counted gators between Abilene and Weatherford. We stopped at 200.....in 30 miles.
For those keeping score at home, I've lost two grills to gators.
Posted On: Tuesday, Aug. 25 2009 @ 4:33PMYou will find most tractor-trailers going 63 mph most of the time becuase that is the maximum speed.
Believe it or not, but most companies have gone to a 63 mph governor on equipment to save on fuel consmption and make them safer. However, that does not really apply to the owner operator.
Most product is not shipped on trains due to logistics and distribution centers. Product may arive at a distribution center via trian, but it must be moved to the middle man or stores by tractor trailer.
Posted On: Wednesday, Aug. 26 2009 @ 9:59AMI'm always amazed at the number of idiots who hog the left lane in the DFW area. I don't mean the long distance truckers either. I even came up with an acronym: SMALL - Slow Moving A$$H0LE, Left Lane. Mind you, I'm not talking about heavy traffic, I'm talking about people who sit there for miles on 3 and 4 lane streets at 5mph under the speed limit with minimal traffic.
Posted On: Wednesday, Aug. 26 2009 @ 12:14PMAccording to Texas general statute, trucks are still allowed to use the left lane for passing one vehicle at a time. This restriction is to forbid riding the lane over extended periods of time.
Posted On: Wednesday, Sep. 9 2009 @ 10:07AM
