|
About Me
I'm the Pickups host here at Edmunds CarSpace.com - be sure to check out the Pickups forums if you have or are interested in one!
Recent Posts
Categories
CarSpace
The Big Rigs
We're gonna talk about the big ones... trucks and buses that require those 3 marker lights front and rear. Everything from dual rear wheel pickups to class 8 trucks to the bus that takes you to work.
 I was talking to Vikki (pilot of the red Pete on your left) the other night, and she told a story that emphasizes a point I made in my CarSpace Guide Driving With The Big Rigs - specifically item number 4.
Vik said she was hauling a piece of construction equipment on a flatbed. She was slowing down for a traffic light when another vehicle not only changed into her lane, but did so while slowly coasting, causing Vik to really lay into the whoa pedal. At that point, Vikki said she heard the terrifying sound of a tie-down chain snapping due to the change in weight transfer force. "All I could think of was that bulldozer joining me in the cab," she said. After a barrage of bad language into the CB, Vik pulled over and replaced the chain before proceeding.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles includes the following stat in its driver's manual:
- stopping distance including reaction time from 55 mph in a car is 190 feet
- stopping distance including reaction time for a loaded tractor-trailer with hot brakes is 430 feet
Before you make that lane change to "jockey for position" at the red light, make sure you have not cut the available stopping room for a much larger vehicle behind you. Unless of course, you like the idea of potentially being pushed into an intersection of cross traffic at speed. Or as in the situation Vikki had, if the other chains had not held, you could cause serious injury or death to a trucker without ever making vehicular contact.
 In the July/August 2008 issue of Road King (a magazine dedicated to truckers and trucking), there's an article about actual road music. I'm not talking about FM, satellite, CDs, or your iPod... I mean sounds made by the road itself. It was accidentally invented in Japan by a man who inadvertently scraped some pavement with a bulldozer. When he drove over the grooves, he noted that it made specific sounds.
Researchers took the concept to the next level and there are now roads in Japan that are specifically grooved to create 30-second "music clips". Such roads are marked with a big musical note on the pavement, as shown in the picture.
Let's see... I-40 would definitely be a country-western highway, I-95 would be pop/dance, I-5 most certainly the hard rock road....
What do you think? Would this work in the US, or would hearing such "music" drive you nuts on a road trip?
 Yes, that annual assault on the highway by families with freshly-dismissed-from-school kids in the backseat playing those corny road trip games or poking each other until a parent bellows "Don't make me come back there!"
In the current issue of Road King magazine, there's an article reminding truckers that the assault is near, and to be careful of those drivers who may be in over their heads. In the article, Roehl Transport's Brian Hammond, the orientation and driver development manager, mentions something I have been saying for ages... "[Hammond] often wonders why there aren’t similar licensing requirements for driving the RVs as there are for semi-truck drivers." I don't know about you, but when I see some old guy trying to handle a full-size Winnebago on any road, I get FAR away from him. If the stricter CDL is required for people who generally still have their reflexes, you have to wonder why retirees are allowed to pilot similar sized vehicles with just the ability to pay for the thing.
 If you are planning to partake to the roads this summer, keep the same things in mind the article advises truckers. Expect everything. Yes, that car will dart out in front of you. Yes, that van will speed through the puddle and splash water 10 feet in the air before you can close your window. Yes, your kids will only want burgers and fries the whole trip. (OK< that last one really isn't a driving concern, unless you just passed a fast-food joint and the next exit with one is another 80 miles.)
But above all, be patient. If you're sitting in traffic like this, just relax. Everyone around you is also sitting in that traffic and their need to move forward is no greater or lesser than yours.
Back in November, I made note of an upgrade to NJ's cell-phoning-while-driving law. Driving and using a handheld cell phone would become a primary offense on March 1 2008, and it would be beefed with an anti-text-messaging ban as well.
The results are in.
In February 2008, the last month of the previous rules, NJ courts handled 1300 cell-phone tickets. In March 2008, add another zero - thirteen thousand. In fact, that's almost as many as the preceding 12 months (16,000 from March 2007 to February 2008).
State and local police departments in NJ are not allowing a grace period to get used to the new tougher rules... they want to break drivers of the habit once and for all.
More on the story here... Associated Press/WCBS880.com
 I took this picture this week from a window at work overlooking the parking lot.
I've touched on this before in earlier blog posts, but this is getting ridiculous.
Why can't people park between the lines in a parking lot?
Is it really that difficult? Considering I can center my 96-inch-wide Dodge Ram dually in these spaces with no problem, why can't these much-narrower-car drivers figure out where their vehicle is? I do something very simple when I park... I open the window and look. Then I spend the extra 30 seconds to re-straighten when needed. And yes, I open the window in cold, rain,. and snow - it's not going to be open that long anyway.
And of course, as in the picture, you have the domino effect... when one person is on or over the stripe, everyone else feels the need to do the same "so that they have room". Not me. I center my truck in my space... if that means the driver of the car next to me has to get in from the passenger side and climb over... oh well! Should've parked properly when you had the chance.
When I'm at the supermarket, a shopping center, or whathaveyou, I try to park somewhat away from the masses. Not because I'm worried about being dented or scratched, but because A) I can walk just fine and need the exercise whenever I can get it, and B) it gives me all the room I want to maneuver the truck. As I walk in to the store, I always marvel at the parking prowess of those who can't be bothered to park one stall farther from the door than they deem necessary - and they are never straight or between the stripes.
C'mon... just spend the short time to park properly. If you're already late, an extra 30 seconds isn't going to change anything.
If you have a large vehicle, parking is a consideration when you are deciding where to live. One of the reasons I chose the place I moved to in 2002 was because it gave me sufficient room to park a Dodge Ram dually without disturbing or blocking other residents. The pic below is my truck in its spot at my home.
Parking lots can be challenging. My space at work is not that big a deal unless someone next to my assigned space parks too close to the stripe. When I go shopping, whether it's a supermarket, small shopping center, or a full-fledged mall, I park away from the masses... not because I'm overly concerned about door dings, but because I want to make sure I have room to maneuver. (And besides, I need the exercise of walking an extra few hundred feet.)
What about people who drive something bigger? Talking to Vikki (driver of the red Pete on the left) last week, she checked with the local police about what she was allowed to do. The police were nice enough to look the situation over and give her an answer. When she's home from the road, she detaches the flatbed trailer and leaves that at the curb, and parks the Pete in the driveway. She used to park the rig in a nearby church parking lot, but when new leadership came in, they declined to extend the courtesy, claiming they didn't want to have to do that for others. (Like a church in a residential neighborhood is in danger of becoming a truck stop.)
When my dad was a bus driver in the 60s in Newark NJ, he was deadheading and realized there was something he left at the house. He parked the bus at the curb as if it were the family car and dashed in to grab whatever it was. As a little kid, I thought that was beyond cool and was glued to the living room window checking out the empty bus... the specific model was a GMC TDH-5304 of Public Service.
I guess if I hit the lottery, I'll make sure I have a driveway long and wide enough for Vik's rig if she wants to stop by while in the area.
 Hope you and yours enjoyed Thanksgiving!
Those of you about to engage in the hell that is Black Friday, keep your wits about you and don't take out your frustration of missing the deep-discount sale item on the other vehicles!
 The actual receipt from this morning....
I think I first noted diesel prices in an online forum about 10 years ago. It was $0.899... at the very same Sunoco, ironically.
The same amount of fuel would have ost me just $27.63 back then. This is a 269% increase you're gawking at on your left.
I had never hit triple-digits before. Last week was a personal best at $92.55 (diesel was a full dime cheaper), although it wasn't my first venture into the 90s. For those of you who watch/remember the movie Smokey and the Bandit, when Snowman (Jerry Reed) stops at a roadside diner/station to fill up the Kenworth, the price was just $73.84(++) for what was likely somewhere close to 200 gallons of diesel. That was in 1977 (year of film's release).
So basically, I pay in the vicinity of the barrel price of US light crude for a full tank of diesel (my Ram holds 35 gallons). A friend asked me this afternoon how long that will last... basically 6 business days, plus whatever weekends fall in that time frame - if I fill up on a Friday, I can usually squeeze two weekends in and not have to refill until the second Monday.
++ yes, I checked my copy of the movie for that amount!
 Simulated image of a black hole.
But there are black holes a lot closer to than the ones in outer space... these are the people who drive around at night with most (if not all) of their lights out. And I don't mean the guy who simple forgot to turn them on... I mean the vehicle on the highway with one or two dim headlights and nothing else lit.
I was "lucky" enough to be behind one of these dolts in a full-size van on my way home from work tonight. Headlights worked, but he had no parking lights, marker lights, or tail lights. However, when he changed lanes, his turn signal lights worked just fine... so it wasn't the bulbs themselves.
I regularly check my exterior lights since I basically am on the road every weeknight - I work noon to 8 pm, so unless I am heading home early, my lights are always necessary for the trip home. And of course, I drive a dually pickup which is certainly larger than any car. Thus, my lights are important to make sure everyone can see all the corners of my vehicle as well as the side fenders. On any vehicle I've owned, a bulb has never been dead more than 24 hours. Why others don't seem to think this is important certainly eludes me.
Once in a while, give your vehicle the once-around at night with the lights turned on. Make sure that they are all functional and at full intensity. No sense in being the next black hole on the highway.
Oct 30, 2007 -
Oooooo!
 I-287 in central NJ this afternoon.
We're at the height of fall foliage time, and the country highways are looking good. If you can make the time (and can afford the fuel), this is a good time to take a quick side trip for a reminder of what Mom Nature is capable of.
And have your passenger snap away with the camera... be it film, digital, or cell phone. you'll be surprised how much you'll like the results!
|
|
