Won't anybody think of the truck drivers?

ACT Police: “Please be nice to truck drivers. It’s hard to drive a truck.”

RiotAct: “These are my roads, you shouldn’t be on them. Truckies are all terrible drivers and terrible people. Also they don’t pay enough tax.”

Jethro said :

bundah said :

Jethro said :

bundah said :

Intel70 said :

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

“B double monstrosity in Canberra”

FTFY.

But yes, all of the B double truck I encounter once a month on Canberra roads really gets my feathers up.

You need to get out more.You’ve obviously been confined in your coop for far too long.

I would suggest you need to get out more and try driving in another city. Perhaps peak hour along the Ipswich Motorway in Brisbane will give you a taste of what driving on a road heavy with B-Doubles is like. The number of B-Doubles on Canberra’s roads is miniscule.

I reckon 3.5 MILLION kms on the roads is probably a fair bit more than you or most people have amassed so i reckon i’m reasonably qualified to impart my experiences re driving.In recent years my base is Fyshwick and guess where all the B-Doubles converge.One of my chagrins was observing countless of the farkers turning left into Ipswich St from Canberra Ave during the bridgeworks which was illegal for obvious reasons.They would take up the whole road and inconvenience everyone around them just so they could arrogantly turn left even though there were signs along that stretch indicating no left turn for heavy vehicles.Of course there was never a cop around mainly due to the fact that high visibility policing is pretty much nonexistent!

Wow… heavy vehicles going to an industrial area. If drivers are breaking the law that is a separate issue.

I go back to my comment #3 B-Doubles are excessively long at 26m and metro streets were never designed to accommodate vehicles of that size.You and others might not have an issue with that but Lindsay Fox wants B-Triples(33.5m) on NSW highways and i wonder whether given that B-Doubles are now the norm we might possibly be seeing B-Triples on our roads sometime down the track.

Of course if the guvment was prepared to upgrade our rail network to enable greater and more efficient movement of freight thereby reducing the number of heavy vehicles from our highways i and most others would probably agree that that would be a sensible step in the right direction.

bundah said :

Jethro said :

bundah said :

Intel70 said :

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

“B double monstrosity in Canberra”

FTFY.

But yes, all of the B double truck I encounter once a month on Canberra roads really gets my feathers up.

You need to get out more.You’ve obviously been confined in your coop for far too long.

I would suggest you need to get out more and try driving in another city. Perhaps peak hour along the Ipswich Motorway in Brisbane will give you a taste of what driving on a road heavy with B-Doubles is like. The number of B-Doubles on Canberra’s roads is miniscule.

I reckon 3.5 MILLION kms on the roads is probably a fair bit more than you or most people have amassed so i reckon i’m reasonably qualified to impart my experiences re driving.In recent years my base is Fyshwick and guess where all the B-Doubles converge.One of my chagrins was observing countless of the farkers turning left into Ipswich St from Canberra Ave during the bridgeworks which was illegal for obvious reasons.They would take up the whole road and inconvenience everyone around them just so they could arrogantly turn left even though there were signs along that stretch indicating no left turn for heavy vehicles.Of course there was never a cop around mainly due to the fact that high visibility policing is pretty much nonexistent!

Wow… heavy vehicles going to an industrial area. If drivers are breaking the law that is a separate issue.

RadioVK said :

HenryBG said :

I’ve got an idea – as soon as the owners and operators of these heavy vehicles start paying their fair share of registration costs (considering their operations are what cause about 98% of the wear and tear on our roads), THEN maybe I’ll worry about poor old truck drivers.

Currently we subsidise businesses that run heavy vehicles more than we subsidise any other business, thanks to years of blackmail and threats from the TWU.

Most of this freight should be on the railways, and heavy vehicle rego should be upped by a factor of about 100x.

What are they? A bunch of commies, wanting to live off government subsidy?

Tell me, do you actually know how much it costs to register a heavy vehicle? Or how much fuel they burn on a daily basis, and therefore, how much money in taxes they contribute to the public purse?

Commies? Generally the reddest thing on a truckie is the neck…

Truck registation is ‘relatively’ cheap considering weight and KM done.

Station Wagon $454 + $569 CTP
Small Truck $542 – $1,021
Truck Registration (only) $1,164 (2 axles) – $5,030 (4 axles)
Double $9,457 – $10,402 (4 axles)
Plus for the Trailer $550-$2,200, but typically $1100 (no CTP)

+ CTP which is bizarrely a flat rate of $2,372

Truck Fuel Consumption 30-55 L/100 (ABS), so 3-5 times that of a Ford Territory, so relatively efficient considering.

In Canberra damage is no doubt done by Trucks, that’s physics, but would suggest mainly from many dirt moving trucks (HEAVY). Also dont forget buses continually plying our roads.

At the end of the day we both need and rely heavily on trucks so society is happy to subsidise.
In any case we really subsidise the businesses (Coles/Wollies/Shell) who force drivers to long hours and lower pay whilst paying off their trucks with interest (profits to banks).

Rail is way behind in investment (catching up) and the costs are relatively high, but we will need both RAIL and TRUCKS (and more of them) in the future.

A few years back I was nearly taken out by a Truck and Trailer turning left from Belconnen Way onto Belconnen way, rat running towards Macarthur Avenue. Lucky I was alert enough to swerve left.
Reported it and the construction traffic stopped going that way.
Wonder if these are what some people mean by seeing B Doubles in Canberra?

OTOH I’ve seen a semi turning right from Cooyong onto Northbourne from the rightmost lane.
The overtaking small car to his left embedded the truck’s front left into the driver’s door without the truck driver being able to do anything about it.

HenryBG said :

I’ve got an idea – as soon as the owners and operators of these heavy vehicles start paying their fair share of registration costs (considering their operations are what cause about 98% of the wear and tear on our roads), THEN maybe I’ll worry about poor old truck drivers.

Currently we subsidise businesses that run heavy vehicles more than we subsidise any other business, thanks to years of blackmail and threats from the TWU.

Most of this freight should be on the railways, and heavy vehicle rego should be upped by a factor of about 100x.

What are they? A bunch of commies, wanting to live off government subsidy?

Tell me, do you actually know how much it costs to register a heavy vehicle? Or how much fuel they burn on a daily basis, and therefore, how much money in taxes they contribute to the public purse?

Commies? Generally the reddest thing on a truckie is the neck…

Jethro said :

bundah said :

Intel70 said :

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

“B double monstrosity in Canberra”

FTFY.

But yes, all of the B double truck I encounter once a month on Canberra roads really gets my feathers up.

You need to get out more.You’ve obviously been confined in your coop for far too long.

I would suggest you need to get out more and try driving in another city. Perhaps peak hour along the Ipswich Motorway in Brisbane will give you a taste of what driving on a road heavy with B-Doubles is like. The number of B-Doubles on Canberra’s roads is miniscule.

I reckon 3.5 MILLION kms on the roads is probably a fair bit more than you or most people have amassed so i reckon i’m reasonably qualified to impart my experiences re driving.In recent years my base is Fyshwick and guess where all the B-Doubles converge.One of my chagrins was observing countless of the farkers turning left into Ipswich St from Canberra Ave during the bridgeworks which was illegal for obvious reasons.They would take up the whole road and inconvenience everyone around them just so they could arrogantly turn left even though there were signs along that stretch indicating no left turn for heavy vehicles.Of course there was never a cop around mainly due to the fact that high visibility policing is pretty much nonexistent!

I’ve got an idea – as soon as the owners and operators of these heavy vehicles start paying their fair share of registration costs (considering their operations are what cause about 98% of the wear and tear on our roads), THEN maybe I’ll worry about poor old truck drivers.

Currently we subsidise businesses that run heavy vehicles more than we subsidise any other business, thanks to years of blackmail and threats from the TWU.

Most of this freight should be on the railways, and heavy vehicle rego should be upped by a factor of about 100x.

What are they? A bunch of commies, wanting to live off government subsidy?

Can’t say I’m regularly inconvenienced by B doubles in this city. Sure, there are a few around but it’s not the plague of epic proportions that some of the drama queens on here are making it out to be. No doubt there would be complaints of a different nature from the same people should the b-doubles be banned and freight costs of goods go up.

Driver attitude towards larger slower vehicles in this town isn’t just limited to the big trucks either. I regularly drive a small truck and cop the same crap the big ones do.

bundah said :

Intel70 said :

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

“B double monstrosity in Canberra”

FTFY.

But yes, all of the B double truck I encounter once a month on Canberra roads really gets my feathers up.

You need to get out more.You’ve obviously been confined in your coop for far too long.

I would suggest you need to get out more and try driving in another city. Perhaps peak hour along the Ipswich Motorway in Brisbane will give you a taste of what driving on a road heavy with B-Doubles is like. The number of B-Doubles on Canberra’s roads is miniscule.

if you can’t see the truck’s side mirrors, the driver can’t see you

This is the 21st century … cameras and screens are a few hundred $ at most, it’s about time they were mandatory for vehicles with big blind spots like trucks – buses, vans, caravans and utes too.

“Driving a heavy truck, particularly in slow-moving traffic, is difficult enough”….so trukkies stop yappin on your mobile phone and drive with some responsibility and care towards other road users.

How_Canberran said :

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

C’mon bundah, there is nothing like a hugh Kenworth right up your clacker to know your’e alive!

Haha i just had a flashback to Duel (1971) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MtAMc4i8OA.

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

C’mon bundah, there is nothing like a hugh Kenworth right up your clacker to know your’e alive!

If most Canberrans could actually control a car it wouldn’t be an issue.

Very Busy said :

bundah said :

we DO NOT need B-Doubles in Metropolitan areas.They are excessively long and need a sh*tload more room to negotiate bends.Semi-trailers are far less of an obstacle and do the job and did so for decades.

Suck it up and get used to it princess. Move with the times. There are far more ignorant, arrogant, impatient drivers such as yourself causing issues on the roads than the odd B-double.

You need to leave a couple of minutes earlier if these things are causing you problems.

For someone who knows absolutely nothing about me your incredibly presumptuous and clueless as is evident by your reference to the ‘odd B-double’.The fact is that there are almost as many B-Doubles as Semi-Trailers on our roads so before you talk through your arse do some research dickhead.

bundah said :

we DO NOT need B-Doubles in Metropolitan areas.They are excessively long and need a sh*tload more room to negotiate bends.Semi-trailers are far less of an obstacle and do the job and did so for decades.

Suck it up and get used to it princess. Move with the times. There are far more ignorant, arrogant, impatient drivers such as yourself causing issues on the roads than the odd B-double.

You need to leave a couple of minutes earlier if these things are causing you problems.

Intel70 said :

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

“B double monstrosity in Canberra”

FTFY.

But yes, all of the B double truck I encounter once a month on Canberra roads really gets my feathers up.

You need to get out more.You’ve obviously been confined in your coop for far too long.

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

“B double monstrosity in Canberra”

FTFY.

But yes, all of the B double truck I encounter once a month on Canberra roads really gets my feathers up.

The sensible solution would be to return freight to rail. Of course that will never happen because the Government abandoned rail infrastructure long ago and the TWU would unleash hell if the trucking industry was threatened.

MelonHead said :

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

Therein lies the problem. How dare some poor bugger trying to earn a living get in the way of “me”? “I” am so important that I need get to the next red light before that stupid truck. What’s that sign on the back of the truck? “DO NOT OVERTAKE TURNING VEHICLE” This can’t apply for to me, surely not? How many times do I need to tell you how important me and my SUV really are? Just get out of my way.

Also, isn’t it great how you can all sorts of beer and wine at the shops, and out of season fruit and veg? I just love living in Canberra…mmm…. how did that stuff get on the shelves? Who knows?

DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with any transport company, just an observer of the everyday mayhem that is Canberra’s own fiercely fought selfishness competition, otherwise known as commuting by road.

There’s no question trucks are an essential part of freight but we DO NOT need B-Doubles in Metropolitan areas.They are excessively long and need a sh*tload more room to negotiate bends.Semi-trailers are far less of an obstacle and do the job and did so for decades.

The cops say that heavy vehicle drivers are generally safe and law abiding.The number of times i have witnessed Dog Trailers and Cement trucks roaring around Canberra roads doing anywhere from 10-30 kph above the speed limit and running red lights most people would find unbelievable.Yes i am on the roads often.

bundah said :

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.

Therein lies the problem. How dare some poor bugger trying to earn a living get in the way of “me”? “I” am so important that I need get to the next red light before that stupid truck. What’s that sign on the back of the truck? “DO NOT OVERTAKE TURNING VEHICLE” This can’t apply for to me, surely not? How many times do I need to tell you how important me and my SUV really are? Just get out of my way.

Also, isn’t it great how you can all sorts of beer and wine at the shops, and out of season fruit and veg? I just love living in Canberra…mmm…. how did that stuff get on the shelves? Who knows?

DISCLAIMER: I am not affiliated with any transport company, just an observer of the everyday mayhem that is Canberra’s own fiercely fought selfishness competition, otherwise known as commuting by road.

Potential compatability issues? Well if there weren’t so many B-Double monstrosities on Canberra roads there would be far fewer actual compatability issues that drivers would be confronted with.